SELINSGROVE, PA – Mark Smith of Sunbury started off the Mach 1 Chassis National Open weekend with a dominating performance in the 360 Sprint Cars. Smith won the 25-lap preliminary event worth $3,000 and set a new track record for the distance in 7:54.603. Smith’s new record was more than 15 seconds faster than the standing record coming into the night. The win also locks Smith into the feature event for this Sunday night’s 17th Annual National Open Finale.
Smith took the top spot on lap three from Steve Collins in the nonstop feature event. Davie Franek moved to second on lap ten and began to try to close the gap on Smith. The lead would only shrink for a small time before Smith drove back away to the five second advantage he had at the end of the event.
Franek came home second while Cody Keller, Nate Snyder, and Steve Collins were the top five game. Curt Michael was sixth followed by Robbie Stillwagon, Josh Weller, Jason Schultz, and Ryan Kissinger.
Heat races for the 360 Sprint Cars were won by Michalski, Franek, Eric Tomecek, while Chris Coyle won the B-Main.
Donnie Schick led the first half of the Jeff’s Auto Body and Recycling Center Super Late Model feature. Schick had opened up an impressive lead over Jeff Rine once Rine got to second on lap ten. Rine then began to close the gap on Schick. Schick’s straightaway lead dwindled over the next ten laps before Rine caught and passed Shick.
A yellow flag gave Shick a second chance, but Rine would complete the pass after the restart to take the lead away for second time. Rine led the rest of the way for his 106th career Selinsgrove Speedway win.
Rine took the checkered flag over Schick, Bryan Bernheisel, Gene Kanub, and Tony Adams. Hayes Mattern was the sixth car across the line with Steve Campbell, Kenny Treveitz, Luke Hoffner, and Dan Green the top ten.
Bernheisel and Rine won the heat races for the Late Models.
Jake Buck brought the A&A Auto Store Pro Stock feature to the green flag on Saturday night. Shaun Lawton was able to wrestle the top spot away from Buck to lead lap number two. Once out front it looked like Lawton was going to drive to his third win of the season.
A yellow on a lap five restart reset the field nose to tail and allowed point leader Tommy Slanker to go to work. Slanker restarted fourth, but soon went past runner up Kyle Bachman to give chase to Lawton. On lap eight Slanker made an outside move around Lawton to secure the lead for good. Slanker drove to his fifth win of the season.
Lawton, Bachman, Dustin Snook, and AJ Stroup were the top five finishers. Johnny Bouse crossed the line in sixth followed by Brandon Moser, Jake Buck, Peanut Heintzelman, and John Schoch.
Heat races for the Pro Stocks were won by Bachman and Lawton.
This Sunday, July 30, will be the Mach 1 Chassis 360 Sprint Car National Open. The 17th annual running of the event will pay $6,000 to win. The PASS 305 Sprint Cars and Econo Late Models will also be in action. Racing at 7:30. General Admission will be $15 with students paying $8. Kids 11 years of age and younger will be admitted FREE.
Next Saturday, Aug. 5, the speedway kicks off the final full month of racing this season with the Sunbury Eagles Club Night and the Eastern Museum of Motor on-hand for the rescheduled Firecracker 30 for the 360 Sprint Cars plus Super Late Models, Pro Stocks, and Econo Late Models.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 29 July 2017
360 Sprint Cars -31 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) M1 Mark Smith 2) 28F Davie Franek 3) 99K Cody Keller 4) 56 Nate Snyder 5) 67 Steve Collins 6) 5G Curt Michael 7) 89 Robbie Stillwaggon 8) 63 Josh Weller 9) 29 Jason Shultz 10) 66 Ryan Kissinger 11) 73B Brett Michalski 12) 35 Chad Layton 13) 76 Larry Kelleher 14) C4 Jim Shuster 15) 49S Mallie Shuster 16) 22 Troy Betts 17) 56C Chris Coyle 18) 13 Ryan Higgins 19) 22G Bryn Gohn 20) 19 Colby Womer 21) 7K Kris Lilick 22) 1W Eric Tomecek 23) 706 Mark Sasso 24) 77 Derek Locke 25) 47C Adam Carberry
Heat Winners: Brett Michalski, Eric Tomecek, Davie Franek, Mark Smith
B-Main Winner: Chris Coyle
Late Models – 14 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 2J Jeff Rine 2) 6 Donnie Schick 3) 119B Bryan Bernheisel 4) 1 Gene Knaub 5) 88 Tony Adams 6) 9 Hayes Mattern 7) 2 Steve Campbell 8) 61 Ken Trevitz 9) 15 Luke Hoffner 10) 46 Dan Green 11) 63 Nathan Long 12) 10 Dave Stamm 13) 7M Meade Hahn 14) 77D Dick Houtz
Heat Winners: Bryan Bernheisel, Jeff Rine
Pro Stocks – 18 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 40 Tommy Slanker 2) 92 Shaun Lawton 3) 99B Kyle Bachman 4) 15 Dustin Snook 5) 26 AJ Stroup 6) 28J Johnny Bouse 7) 8M Brandon Moser 8) 11B Jake Buck 9) 99 Peanut Heintzelman 10) 89 John Schoch 11) 14C Bill Conrad 12) 88 Matt Hornberger 13) 40G Nick Gentile 14) 28 Dan Condo 15) 6C AJ Hoffman 16) 86 Wayne Shaffer 17) 55 Lori Croop 18) 55T John Troxell
Heat Winners: Kyle Bachman, Shaun Lawton
