7.4.21 Pennsylvania Sprint Series Results
By: Frank Buhrman
Garrett Bard took another step toward recreating the magic of his 2020 IMCA/RaceSaver National Championship season Saturday night, winning a furious “young guns” battle with Derek Hauck to claim the 20-lap PA Sprint Series feature at Selinsgrove Speedway.
The victory was Bard’s third in PASS this season in the CG Racing Engines/Barnett Self Storage/Environmental Earth Tech #95, after an incredible 10 wins last year (and the PASS and Selinsgrove championships), and it was the Wells Tannery driver’s third in nine days, including a Laurel Highlands Sprint Series checkered flag Friday night at Clinton County Speedway.
“We’ve been getting this figured out,” Bard said in Victory Lane. “We won last week, we won Friday, we were able to win this. Hopefully, we can keep it rolling.”
The win didn’t come easily. Bard had heat-race winners (and feature winners earlier this year) Mikell McGee of Doylesburg and Derek Hauck of Allenwood starting ahead of him on the front row. McGee took the initial lead, but Hauck quickly assumed command and would be Bard’s race-long challenger, providing excitement competition for July 4 fireworks.
Following an early caution, the two swapped the lead, and then pulled away from the rest of the field, with Hauck still leading. Bard was finally able to make his move into first in traffic on lap 13.
A somewhat comfortable lead was wiped out on lap 17 when the race’s only serious incident brought out the red flag. Domenic Melair brushed the wall while battling for position with Will Brunson, and with nowhere to go, Tyler Snook hit Melair’s #36 and rolled over. Neither driver was injured.
The restart after the red gave Hauck one last chance to re-take the lead, but Bard had other ideas.
“I was trying to confuse him a little,” the winner explained, “to make him think I was going down to the middle. At the last second I tried to turn down. The car didn’t really seem to take off. I saw him at the last second, I saw the shadow of his front wing, but at that point I was really committed, and I didn’t want to screw myself up and end up about fifth or sixth.
“It was really good running with Derek. I’m glad we could get another win here, and hopefully we can continue to build off of that.”
Hauck held on for the runner-up finish in his Fultz Auto Body of Lock Haven #33, but the late restart scrambled the rest of the finish. “Nitro Nick” Sweigart rocketed into third, after having struggled for much of the race to get in the top 10, and Doug Dodson likewise advanced to claim fourth. Veteran Mike Alleman, who ran in the top five the entire race, came home fifth.
Completing the top 10 were Ken Duke Jr., Devin Adams, McGee, Austin Reed and Georgia visitor Jeff Oliver.
Mike Melair, who had completed an impressive early charge to fourth place, was a restart victim, slipping to 11th.
Duke claimed the evening’s Hard Charger Award and $300 from his own sponsor, Apache Tree Service, which also sponsors PASS at Selinsgrove.
Heat race winners for the 33-car field were Hauck, McGee, Bard and Drew Young. Josh Spicer claimed the B-Main.
Hauck’s finish was made sweeter by a case of oil from VP Lubricants as the highest finisher running that brand.
Next week PASS returns to Selinsgrove for a Saturday night appearance, supporting the Mach 1 Chassis 21st Annual 360 Sprint Car Open with URC. Roadrunner stocks also will be part of the program. Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.
For the latest PASS news and schedule information, visit www.pasprintseries.com, the PA Sprint Series Facebook page, or @pasprintseries on Twitter.
Results from Selinsgrove Speedway July 4
HEAT 1 – 1. 33-Derek Hauck; 2. 10-Jake Waters; 3. 46-Mike Alleman; 4. 99-Devin Adams; 5. 56-Tyler Snook; 6. 71-Josh Spicer; 7. 97-Kenny Heffner; 8. 2-Erin Statler; 9. 83-Larry McVay.
HEAT 2 – 11M-Mikell McGee; 2. 29-Jeff Oliver; 3. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 4. 20-Doug Dodson; 5. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 6. 1M-Paul Moyer; 7. 55B-Rick Romig; 8. 83K-Kristina Pratt.
HEAT 3 – 1. 7-Drew Young; 2. 54-Mike Melair; 3. 8-Nick Sweigart; 4. 19-Kruz Kepner; 5. 31-Roger Weaver; 6. 5-Logan Spahr; 7. 25-Dustin Young; 8. 11W-Donnie Wise.
HEAT 4 – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 36-Dom Melair; 3. 8-Will Brunson; 4. 34-Austin Reed; 5. 5-John Walp; 6. 51-Dave Graber; 7. 9-Ronnie Rough; 8. 301-Chad Connor.
B-MAIN – 1. 71-Josh Spicer; 2. 1M-Paul Moyer; 3. 5-Logan Spahr; 4. 97-Kenny Heffner; 5. 25-Dustin Young; 6. 55B-Rick Romig; 7. 2-Erin Statler; 8. 83-Larry McVay; 9. 83K-Kristina Pratt; 10. 51-Dave Graber; 11. 301-Chad Connor; 12. 11W-Donnie Wise (DNF). DNS – 9-Ronnie Rough.
FEATURE – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 33-Derek Hauck; 3. 8-Nick Sweigart; 4. 20-Doug Dodson; 5. 46-Mike Alleman; 6. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 7. 99-Devin Adams; 8. 11M-Mikell McGee; 9. 34-Austin Reed; 10. 29-Jeff Oliver; 11. 54-Mike Melair; 12. 97-Kenny Heffner; 13. 5-Logan Spahr; 14. 8-Will Brunson; 15. 25-Dustin Young; 16. 71-Josh Spicer; 17. 1M-Paul Moyer; 18. 55B-Rick Romig; 19. 31-Roger Weaver; 20. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz (DNF); 21. 36-Dom Melair (DNF); 22. 56-Tyler Snook (DNF); 23. 19-Kruz Kepner (DNF); 24. 10-Jake Waters (DNF); 25. 5-John Walp (DNF); 26. 7-Drew Young (DNF). DNQ – 2-Erin Statler; 83-Larry McVay; 83K-Kristina Pratt; 51-Dave Graber; 301-Chad Connor; 11W-Donnie Wise; 9-Ronnie Rough.