HESSTON, PA – Dave Swanger picked up his first win of the season at Hesston Speedway in the street stock division on Valley Car Care Race Night
Repeat winners included Tim Smith Jr. in the limited late models, Nathan Gramley in the PA 305 Sprints and Curtis Heath in the pure stocks.
The late model feature started out with Jake Griffith and Chad Walters on the front row with Griffith taking the lead. While Griffith led, Walters settled into second and Rick Singleton was third. The top three were fighting for position when Griffith spun in the turn, giving the lead over to Walters.
On the restart Walters was setting the pace with Tim Smith Jr. headed to the front from his ninth place starting spot. By the 15th lap, Smith had made his move to the outside of Walters and once out front, Walters didn’t roll over and play dead, he fought back but Smith held off the challenges and took the win. Walters, Mike Altobelli Jr., Matt Parks and Mike Shoemaker completed the top five. Heat wins went to Chad Walters, Jake Griffith and Rick Singleton.
The sprint feature saw Reed Thompson and Joe Zap on the front row with Thompson taking the lead. As he led Nathan Gramley was quickly approaching the leader and took the lead with an outside pass off the fourth turn on lap four.
Mark Watkins moved to second by lap eight and a caution on lap 11 tightened the field. Watkins looked under Gramley in the first and second turns and Watkins wheel hopped Gramley’s left back, Watkins front end broke and he was along for the ride across the track in front of the field. Zap was unable to avoid Watkins and the pair collined, hitting the inside wall and Watkins flipping with Zap on top of him. Luckily no one was hurt.
In the restart Gramley led with Roger Irvine a close second trying to steal the win, but Gramley held on as the races second and final red waved just after the checkered flew for a flipping Brent Hockenberry. He wasn’t hurt. The top five were Gramley, Irvine, Zap, Craig Robinson and George Riden. Heat race wins went to Craig Robinson, Rodney Peters and Mark Watkins.
The street stock feature had Dave Swanger and Bill Heffner on the front row, with Swanger taking the lead and setting the pace for the first three laps. By the fourth lap, Bill Henney had worked his way around the Swanger car on the outside in turns three and four for the lead. Henney went on to win easily over Swanger, but in a post race inspection, Henney was found to be illegal and was striped of the win. Swanger became the winner over Scott White, Cris Edwards Jr., Tim Brindle and Kris Leonard. Heat wins went to Cris Edwards Jr. and Tom Williams.
The hobby feature had a smashing start for Dale Claycomb as he got tagged and flipped into the third turn wall. He was out for the night, but uninjured.
On the complete restart Ryan Sager took the lead from fellow front row starter Mark Snyder. Sager held the top spot for 11 laps, with Joe Dearmitt, Joe Hammers and Curtis Heath all jockeying for position and trying to get past the leader, finally on lap 12 it was Heath who found it way past the leader. When the race ended three laps later it was Heath getting the win ahead of Dearmitt, Hammers Darren Desch and Curtis Guyer. Sager was fourth but due to actions after the race, was disqualified. Heat wins went to Joe Dearmitt, Jake Gongloff and Curtis Guyer.
PIT NOTES: 81 cars filled the pits, including 18 limited late models, 25 sprints, 17 street stocks and 21 hobby stocks…Coming up this week is the hobby stock special paying $200 to win plus a regular show for the street stocks, limited late models and sprints. It will be the final point race for the sprints. The racing is sponsored by Walter’s Auto Wrecking and Salvage…More information is available on the website at www.hesstonspeedway.com
SUMMARY
Limited Late Models: 1. #39 Tim Smith Jr.; 2. #38 Chad Walters; 3. #79 Mike Altobelli Jr.; 4. #15 Matt Parks; 5. #8\” Mike Shoemaker; 6. #72 Steve Bard; 7. #19 Rance Garlock; 8. #11 Lincoln Ritchey; 9. #77 George Dixon Jr.; 10. #37J Jimmy Andrews; 11. #50 Jake Griffith; 12. #88 Barry Welch; 13. #55 Tom Barron; 14. #39J Jeff Geake; 15. #99 Rick Singleton; 16. #1J Jim Andrews Sr.; 17. #73 Mike Duck DNS: #5* Derek Byler
PA 305 Sprints: 1. #23 Nathan Gramley; 2. #12 Roger Irvine; 3. #33z Joe Zap; 4. #16 Craig Robinson; 5. #99 George Riden; 6. #R6 Reed Thompson; 7. #8H Mike Heckman; 8. #23J Dave Youtzy; 9. #1 Brian Sweitzer; 10. #21C Ryan Lynn; 11. #71 Nicole Bittner; 12. #79 Mel Light; 13. #6 Tim Kline; 14. #84 Cliff Conner; 15. #27Brent Hockenberry; 16. #7 Jim Kennedy; 17. #17W Mark Watkins; 18. #7X Eddie Schlegel; 19. #4 Rodney Peters; 20. #27K Allan Kumpf; 21. #22 Jim Marquette; 22. #47 Tom Worrick Jr; DNS: #12J Bill Jones Jr., #32 Todd Lynn, #3 Johnny Hagen
Street Stocks: 1. #151 Dave Swanger; 2. #13 Scott White; 3. #66 Cris Edwards; 4. #45 Tim Brindle; 5. #34 Kris Leonard; 6. #22 Jessie Snyder; 7. #6M Matt Mellott; 8. #8T Tom Williams; 9. #88 Khi Swanger; 10. #59 Mike Desch; 11. #24 Mike Duguay; 12. #87 Eric Irvin; 13. #77 Dave Shives; 14. #64 Bill Heffner; 15. #24 Mike Duguay; DNS #3 Chad Parks: DQ Bill Henney
Hobby Stocks: 1. #71 Curtis Heath; 2. #21 Joe Dearmitt; 3. #29 Joe Hammers; 4. #D16 Darren Desch; 5. #8C Curtis Guyer; 6. #10 Jake Gongloff; 7. #1 Gary Morder; 8. #44 Brian Ayers; 9. #36K Keith Russell; 10. #30 Russell Lightner; 11. #60 Bill Replogle; 12. #77 Lou Wannyn; 13. #81 Darren Lucas; 14. #0 Dereck Graybill; 15. #8\” Jeff Shoemaker; 16. #22S Mark Snyder; 17. #36 Dan Tremmle; 18. #14 Bobby Witters; 19. #32 Dale Claycomb. DNS
#77P Gerald Price