Winchester (VA) Results 97-08-24

The Pennsylvania Posse ventured south of the Mason Dixon on Sunday night, invading Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Virginia. It was the Posse's fist visit to the three eighths mile high bank oval since June of 1992, when Fred Rahmer took home the victor's laurels.

Jeff Shepard drove his new 4j sprinter to victory in a race stopped twleve times for caution periods. Seventeen of twenty two starters finished, despite the high number of caution periods.

The track was hard and slick at the start and things were made worse by drivers cutting the corners on the one lane track. Winchester Speedway usually has large tractor tires to keep cars from cutting corners but they were pushed back against the infield guardrail for this evening's sprint car race. During a yellow turned red for refuleing, the tires were pushed to their normal position, marking the inside of the turns.

Racing was difficult on the slick one lane track. Lance Dewease, who was sent to the rear of the field when he and Dave Haight caused a yellow on lap eleven for getting together in turn four, drove passed half the field to finish seventh. Dave Haight finished ninth.

Bobby "Scruffy" Allen arrived at Winchester at 7:26 p.m. for a race that scheduled warmups at 6:30 and racing at 7:00. Track crews were late getting the track into racing condition and Allen missed his warmup session. Scruffy unloaded the car, started last in heat two and finished second to Jeff Thompson, who started on the front row. Allen started fourth and finished third in the feature.

Fred Rahmer started sixth in the feature event. Rahmer passed Jeff Thompson and Don Kreitz at the start to take fourth at the end of lap one. Bobby Allen and Fred Rahmer swapped third palce on the next two laps. Rahmer held third on lap four and set his sights on Dave Haight in second. Two laps later, Rahmer passed Haight to take second place. Bobby Allen moved around Haight on lap ten.

Rahmer followed Shepard around the slick track until the last caution period with 23 laps complete. The green flew with two laps to go and Rahmer made his move on the restart coming out of turn four. Rahmer led across the line but did not protect the low line, that everyone had been running, in turn one. Shepard stuck his front wing in next to Rahmer on the low side and the two raced side by side through turn two. Miraculously, both cars continued without incident down the backstretch with Shepard on the inside, the only lane with any traction.

Jeff Shepard's win comes two weeks after joining the 4j sprint team. Shepard had been driving the Jim Shuttlesworth #41 car this season at Williams Grove and Lincoln.

Heat One Results (10 laps/6 qualify): 1. 461 Lance Dewease, 2. 88 Todd Shaffer, 3. 17e Cris Eash, 4. 707 Marshall Whitsell, 5. 8j Dan Jones, 6. 8 Dan Dietrich Time: 2:28.56

Heat Two Results: 1. 07 Dave Haight, 2. 1a Bobby Allen, 3. 10n Jeff Thompson, 4. 88x Sean Michael, 5. 77e Dave Ely, 6. 29 Jeff Thomas, 7. 94 Glendon Forsythe, 8. 6f Bill Fannasy No Time

Heat Three Results: 1. 77 Fred Rahmer, 2. 4j Jeff Shepard, 3. 69k Don Kreitz 4. 30 Darly Stimeling, 5. 55 Mike Wagner, 6. F1 French Grimes 7. 1/2 Von McGee No Time

Feature Results (25 laps) 1. Jeff Shepard ($3,000) 2. Fred Rahmer 3. Bobby Allen 4. Cris Eash 5. Don Kreitz Jr. 6. Dan Jones 7. Lance Dewease 8. Darly Stimeling 9. Dave Haight 10. Sean Michael 11. Mike Wagner 12. Jeff Thomas 13. Bill Fannasy 14. Von McGee 15. Glendon Forsythe 16. Dan Dietrich 17. Mike Dillman 18. Dave Ely (DNF) 19. Marshall Whitsell (DNF) 20. Todd Shaffer (DNF) 21. French Grimes (DNF) 22. Jeff Thompson (DNF)

David Reininger - Motorsport News International