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LUCAS WOLFE CLAIMS 17th ANNUAL CINDY ROWE AUTO GLASS SPEEDWEEK CROWN
Lucas Wolfe earned the 2007 Cindy Rowe Auto Glass Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek point title in an exciting down to the wire finish with Greg Hodnett. The outcome of the Speedweek crown was in doubt right up to the end of the final feature on Sunday July 8 at Selinsgrove Speedway.
In fact over the closing laps, Wolfe and Hodnett swapped the point lead several times before Wolfe gained enough of an edge on the final lap to secure the title by eight points.
Wolfe, the driver of Jim and Laura Allebach's Beerhill Gang #5w sprinter, didn't win a feature race during Speedweek, but was consistently near the front of the field. He started the series with a fourth place run at Lincoln Speedway on June 30. Wolfe followed that up with a fifth at Bedford, second at Grandview, second at Hagerstown, second at Williams Grove, 12th at Port Royal, and third at Selinsgrove. Wolfe also set fast time at Lincoln and Williams Grove, and won heat races at Hagerstown and Selinsgrove.
The only night Wolfe was out of the top ten, the next to last race at Port Royal, he and Hodnett waged a stirring battle for the 11th spot with Hodnett edging Wolfe for that position. The two drivers had entered the Port Royal show tied in the point chase, but went into the finale' at Selinsgrove with Wolfe facing a 17 point deficit. Wolfe timed five places ahead of Hodnett at Selinsgrove to narrow the gap to 12 points, but each driver won a heat race, so they entered the feature with Hodnett up by those 12 points. Wolfe finished third in the feature race, with Hodnett seventh, giving Wolfe an eight point margin in the final tally.
Wolfe earned $16,750 for the week.
Hodnett lost the point title by eight points, but came away the big money winner for the week. He earned wins in the two biggest shows, the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial at Lincoln, and the Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove. Each of those races offered $10,000 to win, and added greatly to Hodnett's Speedweek take of $28,100.
In addition to the wins, Hodnett had finishes of third at Bedford, fourth at Grandview, fifth at Hagerstown, 11th at Port Royal and seventh at Selinsgrove. While he didn't earn fast time during the week, Hodnett did win four heat races.
The only other double winner of this year's series was Keith Kauffman. Kauffman earned wins at both Bedford and Port Royal. The win at the Port could have been termed Lucky 7's Night. Kauffman drove car #7 to a $7000 win on 7/7/07. His take for the week totaled $15,850
Todd Shaffer won the Grandview show, his first ever win at the track, and earned $10,550 for the week. Lance Dewease returned to the site of his first career victory, Hagerstown Speedway for his sole Speedweek win this year. Dewease earned $12,675 for the week. Sean Michael only competed in three Speedweek programs, but earned the win the final night at Selinsgrove. Michael driving for former Selinsgrove champ Jim Nace, who has been battling a serious illness, had finishes of fourth second and first in his three appearances. He earned $8700 in those three races.
Stevie Smith was the third place finisher in the point chase, and was the only driver to record top ten finishes in all seven races. Smith started with a third at Lincoln, followed by second at Bedford, sixth at Grandview, third at Hagerstown, eighth at Williams Grove, fifth at Port Royal and second at Selinsgrove. Smith earned $12,600 for the week.
Speedweek king Fred Rahmer had a trying week with finishes deep in the pack during the first three races before rebounding later in the week. For the first time in many years, Rahmer didn't earn a Speedweek win, and he finished up sixth in the final point chase. Rahmer did earn the Rae Peters Memorial Heat Race Win bonus with his four heat wins. His take for the week was $9400.
A total of 78 drivers contributed to the average car count of 34 cars per night. The high car count of the week was at Williams Grove where 45 drivers took part. The low was at Bedford where just 24 cars competed. Sixteen drivers ran all seven shows. The scheduled Thursday show at Port Royal was rained out.
2007 Cindy Rowe Auto Glass Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek
FINAL POINTS
listting position car number, driver, points, and races attended
1. 5w Lucas Wolfe 968 7
2. 22 Greg Hodnett 960 7
3. 19 Stevie Smith 916 7
4. 25 Lance Dewease 795 7
5. 7 Keith Kauffman 704 7
6. 51 Fred Rahmer 693 7
7. 88 Todd Shaffer 668 7
8. U1 Chad Layton 605 7
9. 39 T J Stutts 594 7
10. 71 Brian Leppo 577 7
11. 30 Doug Esh 545 7
12. 1 Jeff Shepard 543 4
13 12 Kevin Nouse 506 6
14. 6 Sean Michael 450 3
15. 21 Brian Montieth 386 5
16. 07 Mark Smith 357 7
17. 35 Alan Cole 355 7
18. 11 Mike Erdley 341 4
19. 55 Mike Wagner 330 4
20. 10n Niki Young 325 5
21 87 Alan Krimes 244 3
22. 9 Craig Keel 235 5
23. 13 Cliff Brian 200 7
24. 3 Bob Bennett 180 7
25. 12 Blane Heimbach 170 3
26. 17B Steve Buckwalter 139 4
27. 93 Jonathan Eriksen 126 7
28. 11t T J Winegardner 106 5
29. 6w Josh Wells 104 2
30. 30c Steve Clabaugh 95 5
31. 55 Billy Pauch 78 1
31. 69k Donnie Kreitz Jr. 78 2
33. 11c Cory Haas 74 1
34 121 Judi Bates 72 3
35. 20 Ryan Taylor 65 2
36. 47j Jeff Busby 54 1
37. 461 Tommy Beavers 52 2
38. 63 Mike Walter 51 1
39. .08 Joe Ilg 50 2
40. 16h Matt Horst 46 2
41. 4 Todd Hestor 39 1
41. 14 Matt Heimbach 39 1
43. 19 Cale Grubb 38 2
44. 15 Jay Reichart 36 1
45. 8 Rich Eichelberger 35 1
45. 2H Dave hahn 35 2
47. X07 Billy Schoffstall 34 1
48.. X Bobby Weaver 33 1
48. 18 Ryan Bohlke 33 1
48. 0 Rick Lafferty 33 3
51. 44 Joey Hershey 31 2
51. 7e Cris Eash 31 2
53. 63 Josh Weller 26 1
54. 03 Clark Simonton Jr. 24 3
55. 98 Dan Shetler 15 1
56 21 Duane Mausteller 10 1
57. 7 Jim Kennedy 9 1
58. 8m Chris Meleason 8 1
58. 33 Scott Lutz 8 2
60. 59 Jim Siegel 7 2
61. 1w John Westbrook 6 2
61. 1f Richie Fitz 6 1
61. 15 Mark Bitner 6 1
64. 49 Bob Howard 5 2
65. 38n Nick Schlauch Jr. 4 2
66 10 Justin Seigler 2 1
66. 45 Billy Brian Jr. 2 2
66. 45 A J Michael 2 2
69. 007 Josh Dressler 1 1
69. 18 Daryl Stimeling 1 1
69. 41 Scott Geesey 1 1
69. 47 Billy Kimmel 1 1
69. 6K Chris Knopp 1 1
69. 4 John Rudisill 1 1
69. 84 Dave Brown 1 1
76. 56 Nate Snyder 0 1
76. 26 Pat Cooper 0 1
76. 74 J R Berry 0 1
Rae Peters Memorial Heat Race Winners
Fred Rahmer 4
Greg Hodnett 4
Lucas Wolfe 2
Mark Smith 2
Todd Shaffer 2
Keith Kauffman 1
Stevie Smith 1
Billy Pauch 1
Kevin Nouse 1
Brian Montieth 1
Doug Esh 1
Cliff Brian 1
Alan Cole 1
Niki Young 1
Bob Bennett 1
Chad Layton 1
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