Path Valley results 2004-07-02

Morrow, Brookens and Good Top Path Valley Winners Roster

Spring Run, PA_ Josh Morrow of Hamburg was the only new winner, in the Central PA Legends Cars, as experienced racers took advantage of an exceptionally smooth track to win five of the six features at the Path Valley Speedway Park Friday night.

Jimmy Brookens of Fayetteville raced out of a number 12 spot start to win in the 600 Sprints while in the 270 Sprints defending Valvoline Cup national champion Sean Good of Middleburg outran defending track champion Brian Walker of Somerset.

From their pole starting spots Randy Patterson of Shippensburg won in the V-8 Street Stocks and John Rasp of McConnellsburg won in the 4-Cylinder thunder cars, but Gary Dehart of Mercersburg had to work from a sixth place start to get his third win the Mini Stock feature.

Next Friday night, July 9, is a make-up of the rained-out Auto Locator Race Night with trophies, an extra $100 for each winner, and other prizes from the popular tabloid. The PA 305 Sprints and the Dwarf Cars will be featured, along with the weekly 600 Sprints, 270 Sprints, Thunder Cars and Mini Stocks.

Chad Criswell led the first eight laps of the 600 Sprints feature and it was a very special night for the Criswell family because he was racing against his father, former super sprints chauffer Chris Criswell. The older Criswell had several 410 Sprints wins at tracks like Lincoln, Selinsgrove, Susquehanna and Port Royal. He was racing the #30 of Bill Gawler in the 600 class for his return to the racetrack at Path Valley. The Creswell's said that this was a kind of passing of the torch from generation to generation.

Father and son agreed that two generation sprint family racing is not that unusual. Chad explained, "At Path Valley, there's myself, Aaron Eichelberger (whose dad is Rich Eichelberger), Ben and Jake Murphy (whose dad is John Murphy), and Tony Jackson (whose dad is Bill Jackson). Someone once said that seeing all of those names and car numbers in the pits was like walking through the pits at Williams Grove 20 years ago," Chad said.

Chad's hopes of his second season win were not to be as past champion Jimmy Brookens worked his way forward from the twelfth, handicap, starting spot reserved for the previous race winner. After three cautions helped Brookens advance, he caught up to the younger Criswell and Aaron Eichelberger on lap four and took second from Eichelberger on the next circuit. On lap nine the two encountered Chris Crull in the #65 and Brookens went to the inside and passed while Crull dodged up and Criswell went even wider to make his own pass.

Through the final laps Brookens held his lead amid lapped cars and at the finish Brookens and Criswell had lapped all the sprints behind Criswell's dad, Chris, who finished fourteenth after hurriedly repairing a fuel injection issue between the hot laps and heat races. The front five were Brookens, Criswell, Jim Young, Eichelberger, and Mark Hendershot. Tim Barrick, Brookens and Richie Fitz won the heats.

"I like racing with these guys because you can race them and not worry about them trying to wreck you," John Rasp told announcer Rob Keller in victory lane. Rasp said he had his hands full holding off Lyle Barnes through four restarts in the early first ten laps, but the second half the race went without a caution and at the finish the front five were Rasp, for his fourth win of the year, followed by the front five of Lyle Barnes, Terry Smith, Tony Weller, Ricky Rosenberry, and Jeff Christy. Chuck Ingram and Melvin Bigler won the heats.

Past champion Jimmy Callahan led the first nine laps of the 270 Sprints feature, then showed outstanding sportsmanship after his engine blew on the front stretch by drifting into the pits without drawing a yellow caution flag. While Callahan led, Sean Good and Brian Walker had vied for second since starting to lap cars in lap seven. After the only restart on lap 11, defending champions Good and Walker went wheel to wheel but Good kept the lead as they lapped the slower cars. He said his car was a little tight, and he regretted not getting a chance to catch Callahan in the 01. "It was a good clean race and the track was just outstanding," he said. The front five were Good, Walker, Chad Thomas, Rodney Glass and Tom Tice, and the heats went to Glass, Walker and Colby Womer.

Josh Morrow in the Legends Cars victory lane echoed other winners that, "It was an awesome track." The young Hamburg driver noted that while it was his first Path Valley win this season, he won two features here last year.

Nathan Fisher passed Allen Felix for the Legends lead on lap two and went side by side with Bill Harris on lap nine. Through lap ten and 11 two Legends lengths separated Fisher, Morrow and Harris, and on lap 12 Morrow went to the outside on turn three to take the lead for good. The front five were Morrow, Harris, Fisher, Ray Swank and Felix. Harry Garber and Swank won the heats.

FINISH ORDER:

Legends -- Josh Morrow (started 6), Bill Harris, Nathan Fisher, Ray Swank, Allen Felix, Greg Burd, Andy Lupfer, Jason Ewing, Bob Murray,

Randy Patterson led every lap for his second V-8 Street Stock win of the season, and only two cautions gave the field a chance to catch him on a restart. The front five were Patterson, Wayne Hawbaker, Kevin Keefer, Alan Crum, and Joe Gearhart, and Patterson won the single heat race.

From back in the pack, Dehart worked for his Mini Stock win, passing Dave Staley for the lead on lap five and then playing tag with Frankie Gordon through the final laps. The only red flag of the night came on lap nine when Micheal Kendrick powered head on into the front stretch wall out of turn four. Lack-Tuscarora Ambulance paramedics took Kendrick from the track but he did not require immediate transport to a hospital.

From a lap 16 restart, Dehart stayed a length or less ahead of Gordon to the checkered flag. "The track crew deserves all our thanks for such a good track," he said after his third win. Dehart, Gordon, Staley, Kyle Wiser and Tim Burkholder were the front five finishers and Jerry Bard and Mike Beidel won the heats.

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. The new phone number at the track is 717-349-7111. For information on the 2004 schedule and rules, race teams and fans can consult our website at www.pathvalley.com or they can email Two Wheel Promotions at twp@pathvalley.com.

Harry Garber, Darryl Bloom, Edward Wentz, Randy Fetterolf, James Black, Gerry Eldridge, Paul Fitzsimmons, Robert Sobieski, Denny Rothermel. Heats to Garber, Swank.

600 Sprints -- Jim Brookens (12), Chad Criswell, Jim Young, Aaron Eichelberger, Mark Hendershot, Justin Frontz, Gary Linderman, Rod Schell, Tim Barrick, Doug Dodson, Jordon Frontz, Greg Kone, Dan Kanagy, Chris Creswell, Dusty Faust, Steve Dull, Chris Smith, Chris Crull, DJ Holland, Richie Fitz, Donnie Hendershot, Lyle Stroman, Colby Womer, Adam Dimm, Rich Latchaw. Heats to Barrick, Brookens, Fitz.

V-8 Street Stock -- Randy Patterson, Wayne Hawbaker, Kevin Keefer, Alan Crum, Joe Gearhart. Heat to Patterson. (1)

Mini Stock -- Gary Dehart (6), Frank Gordon, Dave Staley, Kyle Wiser, Tim Burkholder, Steve McCartney, Kevin Thomas, Glenn Gipe, Jerry Bard, Mike Beidel, Dave Bivens, Bryan Neff, Micheal Kendrick, DNS Ricky Harper. Heats to Bard, Beidel.

270 Sprints -- Sean Good (2), Brian Walker, Chad Thomas, Rodney Glass, Tom Tice, Colby Womer, Craig Myers, Steve Dunmire, Brian Hart, Chad Myers, Scott Fick, Brad Weber, Earl Hoon Jr., Ray Myers Jr., Ryan Pilli, Nate Snyder, Chuck Skias, Aaron Lynch, Jeff Hoover, Roy States, Josh Dressler, Zack Zook, Jim Callahan. Heats to Glass, Walker, Womer.

Four-Cylinder Thunder Cars -- John Rasp (1), Lyle Barnes, Terry Smith, Tony Weller, Ricky Rosenberry, Jeff Christy, Wes Scofield, Melvin Bigler, Chuck Ingram, Tim Barnes, Joe Walker, Rocky Payne, Richard Cline, DQ Ken Lawrence Jr., DNS Keith Armolt. Heats to Ingram, Bigler.

-pvs-

*PHOTO NOTE: Path Valley publicity photos are Photos by Walt Cox and are supplied to media at 150ppi and 4" X 6" because most print media use them in Black and White. They are also available in all other PrintShop formats on special request, and as no-compression jpeg of tiff images at sizes like 8x10 at 300ppi and up to 6 megabytes file size for full page and magazine cover use. At normal compression these jpeg images average 1-3 meg.

Uncompressed .tiff files are approximately 17meg and can be USPS mailed on CD.

Have Camera, Will Travel Photos by Walt Cox Custom and Commercial Photography 814-652-6138 or coxxcomm@earthlink.net "...let us run with patience and perseverance the race that is set before us." -- Hebrews 12:1 The information contained in this message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the information without retaining any copies. Thank You