Path Valley race report 2002-04-19

Path Valley Speedway Park, Spring Run, PA,
April 19, 2002

First-timers and Champs split Path Valley Friday wins.

Spring Run, PA_ Three first time winners and three past champion veterans claimed wins in crash and spin filled features Friday night at the Path Valley Speedway Park.

Doug Gray of Quincy said he has waited five years for his first win after outrunning past champions Jim Callahan, Jimmy Brookens and Donnie Hendershot in the 600 Sprints main event. An eight sprint inversion pill draw put Gray on the pole and he led all the way as Callahan, Jim Young, Brookens, Pat Klose and Hendershot fought it out for third through sixth. Five cautions in the first ten laps thinned and settled the field and then Gray, Callahan, Brookens, Hendershot and Klose formed a non-stop train around the fast, smooth track.

Six cautions in the first five laps thinned the 270 Sprint field with Tony Jackson of Quincy leading each restart. Then Jackson went on a fast long run into lapped cars until a red flag when Randy Morrall flipped out of turn four into the front wall regrouped the field. Down to the final one lap shootout Jackson stayed ahead of the front-runners Dusty Shatzer, Dave Socks, Rodney Glass and Sean Good.

In the longest race of the night Eddie Benedict took the Dwarf Car lead on lap 17 as the field thinned from 18 starters to eight that finished. The Elizabethtown driver said his first win was well worth the long trip as he finished comfortably ahead of Denny Landy in another final lap shootout.

Veteran and past champion Butch Brough of Newville led every lap in the fast Legends Cars feature with his #4x in patriotic colors threatened but never caught by Ray Swank and Lawrence Garrison all the way from start to checkers.

Defending four-cylinder thunder champion Mike Beidel of Fayetteville led from the start as past champion Terry Smith chased him to the finish about three lengths behind and pole sitter Brenda McCartney third. In the four-cylinder mini stocks past champion Ricky Harper started fifth and took the lead from Kyle Wiser on lap three. Then he held the inside groove to put defending champion Arlin Brougher in second place at the finish.

The V-8 Street Stocks return from their regular monthly night off next week, along with the PA 305 Sprints and the Cyclones make their second visit to Path Valley. Gates open at 5 p.m. for the Friday night races with warm-ups at 6:30.

Then Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28, the Pennsylvania Dirt Karters Association will bring some 300 karts to Path Valley for the first leg of the six-race PDKA State Championship Series. Special events coming up include the Kid's Bike Race May 3 and the Quads and Burris Karts' Spring National May 11.

The next Junk Car Race at Path Valley is that evening, May 11, with gates open at 5 p.m. for the four, six and eight cylinder junk cars and the Vintage Car Club feature.

Path Valley races sprints, Legends and stock cars on Friday nights, karts and quads Saturday afternoons, and special programs including AMA Motorcycles, Junk Cars, and Enduros some Saturday evenings.

The new phone number at the track for promoter Ken Geesey is 717-349-7111. The Path Valley Speedway Park is located in Spring Run PA a mile north on PA Route 641 from the intersection with PA Route 75, halfway between Port Royal and Hagerstown. It is five miles east from the Willow Hill Exit 14 of the PA Turnpike.

For information on the 2002 schedule and track, race teams and fans can call the owners at 717-426-4756 or 717-426-2910, consult the website at www.pathvalley.com, or they can email them at twp@pathvalley.com.

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