9.18.20 Lernerville Speedway Results
Sarver, PA (September 19, 2020) A cool and crisp atmosphere surrounded The Action Track on Friday night as the Fab4 weekly racing season rolled on for a second time in September. And when the final checkers waved on the night, two first time feature winners found themselves in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane, four point standings battles either saw a new leader or a tightening of the order, and a grandstand of fans got to see an action packed night of racing on a fast and racy surface that kept drivers guessing.
Will Thomas put a machine that has been fast all season long across the line first in Precise Racing Products DIRTcar Late Model action while Max Stambaugh paid a visit away from his Ohio base of operations and was rewarded with a feature win in the Peoples Natural Gas DIRTcar Sprint main event. Erick Rudolph hauled from Ransomville, New York to claim his second win of the season with the Diehl Automotive DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds and in Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock Action, Jason Fosnaught bested the field on hand en route to the feature win.
Jayme Beck and Thomas started on the front row of the 25 lap Late Model main event, however their progress was halted almost immediately as an opening lap jingle on the backstretch involving Rusty Schlenk, Kelvin Kohan, Clayton Kennedy and points leader Ken Schaltenbrand brought out an early caution. When action resumed, Thomas wasted no time in asserting himself as the leader over Jayme Beck, Gary Lyle, Levi Yetter and two time feature winner in 2020 Tommy Beck who wasted no time himself launching to the second spot after passing Lyle and Jayme Beck in the early going. Tommy would make a bid for the lead before the halfway mark, sliding up in front of Thomas in turns one and two but found himself floating off the top of the second corner giving Thomas the lead back.
Meanwhile, coming forward with authority through the field was Tyler Dietz who moved forward from his 12th starting spot to third behind Tommy Beck as both cars tried to run down Thomas before the halfway mark. Thomas was having none of it though and stretched out a sizable advantage over his closest pursuers. Beck was able to close the gap with Thomas in lapped traffic from time to time but his night met a tragic end when he made hard contact with the turn four wall at the start of the front stretch, taking himself out of contention with four laps to go. That left a potentially precarious restart for Thomas who had a fast running Dietz, Gary Lyle and Schaltenbrand. When the green flag waved again, Thomas survived a last chance slide job from Dietz and simply drove away from the field his first Super Late Model win at Lernerville.
“I’ve got a lot of laps around Lernerville, but I don’t have a lot of laps in a Super Late Model,” Thomas remarked in victory lane. “We’ve had a lot of speed at moments this year, but it does feel good to get this monkey off our back here. I’m not the best at running a technical cushion you’ve got to run this cushion so hard and Tyler Dietz does a great job. I saw him next to me I knew we’d have a clean restart and then I saw him a little bit more next to me, more than what I wanted to in three and four and I missed my entry in one and two a little bit but we were able to get a good run off of four and hold him off for a couple of laps.”
In the Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified main event, Erick Rudolph came into the evening with 11 feature wins on the season and had his work cut out for him in to order to capture his 12th. On the grid in front of his sixth starting spot were a formidable five some consisting of fellow Niagara frontier driver Chad Brachmann, divisional heavyweights Dave Murdick and Jeremiah Shingledecker and a top row consisting of the two hottest hands in the division in points leaders Garrett Krummert and John Mollick. Krummert went to work from the opening lap with Mollick right behind him as the two leaders gained a decent bit of separation from the field. Rudolph made his way to third after passing Murdick in the early laps but found himself a near half straightaway behind the front running pair. With seven laps down, Krummert and Mollick found themselves in heavy lapped traffic allowing Rudolph to draw closer until a caution for a Kevin Long spin brought the race to a halt with 10 laps in the books.
Rudolph pegged the restart and started driving away from the field as Krummert unexpectedly started falling backward through the field over the final 15 laps. One driver that didn’t slide back virtually at all was Brian Swartzlander who used the restart to throw himself in the mix for the feature win, making it all the way to the second spot after starting ninth on the grid. Swartzlander was able to creep closer to Rudolph in the waning laps when lapped traffic became a factor, but was unable to keep up a good pursuit in clean air as Rudolph finished crossed first under the checkers. Meanwhile, Mollick was able to make his way past Swartzlander before the finish to take the second spot and the 28 points that come with it to further tighten the division points battle with Krummert now just two points ahead.
“Starting sixth tonight and bunch a competitive guys in front of us, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Rudolph said. “But as laps clicked off the car got quicker and quicker and that’s a tribute to the fine piece we brought here today. It’s a testament to the crew and a testament to the great sponsors we have on board here. You just never know what to expect when you come here, you know it’s going to be smooth, you know there’s going to be a lot of fans in the stands, the track was plenty racy I thought and hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling forward.
Max Stambaugh brought a fast hot rod on Friday night and drew the outside pole alongside a very capable Brandon Spithaler in the Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car main event and looked put it out front with authority from the drop of the green flag. However, on the opening lap, Spithaler spun in turn two in front of the field after a failed attempt at a slide job in turn two and collected points title contender Carl Bowser in the process. Bowser and Spithaler would rejoin the field at the tail, but out front, Stambaugh seemingly had the field under his command when action resumed. Behind him points leader AJ Flick and Dan Shetler battled for the second spot with Flick eventually getting a hold on it in the early going after using the top side of the speedway to make his way around. Behind the front runners, Shetler, Sye Lynch, and 2019 track champion Jack Sodeman Jr put on a fierce battle for the third spot.
With 10 laps down, Stambaugh went to work on a considerable amount of lapped traffic in front in front of him, leaving Flick alone in the second spot as Stambaugh moved through the lappers with precision and purpose. A caution with 12 laps down gave Flick another opportunity to make a move on a restart, but Stambaugh got a good jump when action resumed and never looked back en route to the feature victory. Sodeman was able to wrest the third spot away from Shetler in the second half of the race while Brandon Matus found his way to the fifth spot in the waning laps.
“We were kind of good here all night,” Stambaugh said. “This is a good group of people here, everybody likes to have fun. We started up front and did our job.”
Penn-Ohio Pro Stock heavyweight Rusty Martz made the tow on Friday night in a rare appearance and looked to have the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock feature in hand at one point, but a persistent Jason Fosnaught would not be denied. Martz started on the front row next to Brett McDonald and after the green fell, McDonald found himself in the lead. McDonald then put on a defensive clinic, not leaving Martz any mistake to capitalize on while taking away Martz’s preferred groove. Behind them, Mike Miller, Duke Davidson, Tyler Dietz and Fosnaught battled under a blanket for the third spot before the halfway mark. Miller would gain some separation eventually, but out front McDonald and Martz were still a tight running pair for the lead.
Fosnaught then went to work on the cushion, making his way around Davidson and then Dietz for the fourth spot as Martz made his way around McDonald for the lead on lap nine. Miller made his way around McDonald and went straight to work getting to the back bumper of Martz. A caution for a Tony Iarrapino spin stopped all progress with seven laps remaining. When the action resumed, Miller pulled the car off the track with mechanical gremlins, and following another caution. Fosnaught found himself next to the race leader on the restart with a handful of laps remaining. Martz elected to restart on the top side leaving the bottom for Fosnaught who pulled a great deal of momentum down the front stretch into turn one while he took the lead away from Martz and left him with precious little time to get it back. Martz would get more than one chance on some very late restarts but was unable to make his way back around as Fosnaught pegged them both and kept his car in front until the checkered flag waved.
“I always have this theory that you should re-start on the bottom if you’re the leader, even if you have a choice,” Fosnaught remarked. “There was a ton of grip down here, and when he gave me the bottom on the restart, I knew as long as I got to that tacky patch I was going to beat him to the corner. Once I had him cleared, just take the line from him and go.”
Immediately following the night of racing, The Action Track Podcast crew went straight to work recapping the night of racing was as well as talking with promising rookie drivers Levi Yetter and Leyton Wagner whom have shown some flashes of big things to come in the future. To listen to Friday night’s Action Track Podcast Click HERE
Racing returns to Lernerville on Saturday, September 26 as the World of Outlaws NoS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their second appearance of the season alongside the Allegheny Sprint Tour 305 Sprint Cars.
Peoples Natural GasDIRTcar 410 Sprint Feature: (25 Laps)
(97) Max Stambaugh
(2) A.J. Flick
(23jr) Jack Sodeman Jr.
(7K) Dan Shetler
(13) Brandon SMatus
(42) Sye Lynch
(33) Brent Matus
(22) Brandon Spithaler
(29) Michael Bauer
(23) Darren Pifer
(08) Dan Kuriger
(12G) Darin Gallagher
(12J) Jonathan Jones
(76) Davey Jones
(4K) Kip Edwards
(14H) Jeremy Hill
(14z) Wyatt Zimmerman
(38) Leyton Wagner
(154) Shamus O’Donnell
(11) Carl Bowser
Precise Racing Products DIRTcar Late Models Feature: (25 Laps)
(9T) Will Thomas
(77) Tyler Dietz
(10) Gary Lyle
(29) Ken Schaltenbrand
(9) Clayton Kennedy
(92) Jayme Beck
(01H) Ron Hall
(14R) Clay Ruffo
(16) Clinton Hersh
(91) Tommy Beck
(9Y) Levi Yetter
(15*) Kelvin Kohan
(B8) Tom Bateman
(81) Mike Miller
(91s) Rusty Schlenk
(33K) Kyle Knapp
(28) Clate Copeman- Did Not Start
Diehl Automotive DIRTcar Northeast Big Block Modified Feature: (25 Laps)
(25) Erick Rudolph
(4J) John Mollick
(83) Brian Swartzlander
(65) Rex King
(3) Chad Brachmann
(61) Dave Murdick
(165) Rex King Jr.
(29) Garrett Krummert
(18W) Colton Walters
(37md) Jeremiah Shingledecker
(45) Steve Feder
(32R) Chris Rudolph
(96) Mike Turner
(83T) Tom Glenn
(35) Steve Slater
(22) Kevin Long
(71) Randy Chronister
(3K) Shawn Kozar
(03) Mark Frankhouser
(37) Travis Shingledecker
Millerstown Pic-A-Part DIRTcar Pro Stocks Feature: (20 Laps)
(73) Jason Fosnaught
(16M) Rusty Martz
(27) Tyler Dietz
(25) Brett McDonald
(948) Joey Zambotti
(C33) Corey McPherson
(22J) Chase Lambert
(81D) Duke Davidson
(35b) Jacob Dietz
(26) Mike Bordt
(310) Dale Tuche
(66) Joe Kelley
(12M) Trevor McCann
(72A) Mike Anderson
(54E) Tony Iarrapino
(81) Mike Miller
(30) Bob Egley
(55) Chris Schneider- Did Not Start
(99T) Teddy Baumgartner- Did Not Start