SELINSGROVE, Pa. - April 29, 2006 - Phil Walter of Middleburg wired the field for his second career win at Selinsgrove Speedway in Saturday night's 25-lap 358 sprint car feature.
Walter was at the wheel of the Selinsgrove Ford sponsored No. 5. The previous sprint car race at the track on April 15 was won by Phil's brother, Mike, with a last-lap pass by Kyle Bachman of Selinsgrove.
Jim Yoder of Selinsgrove won $2,000 in the 30-lap Spring Championship for late models, while AJ Hoffman of Richfield won his second straight 15-lap pro stock race of the season. Defending champion Brad Mitch of McClure won his first roadrunner feature of the year.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the Paul Stine Chevrolet/Cindy Rowe Auto Glass "Pack The Track" promotion, featuring FREE general admission, at 7 p.m. this Saturday, May 6. 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks and roadrunners will be on the racing card. Gates will open at 4 p.m.
Second-place starter Phil Walter drove into the lead at the start of the sprint car feature and never looked back. Walter was chased by 10th-place starter Colby Womer for most of the event. The red flag stopped the race on lap three when Scott Tate collided with the second turn guardrail and flipped over in his sprint car several times. Tate was not injured in the crash.
When the race resumed, Walter maintained a comfortable lead at the front of the pack. Meanwhile, 16th-place starter and two-time winner Blane Heimbach worked his way into the third position. The second half of the race saw Womer and Heimbach duel for the runner up position. At the checkered flag, Walter was victorious by 1.46 seconds over Womer, Heimbach, Larry Kelleher and Mike Walter. Larry Kellerher made the save of his life on the backstretch with just a few laps remaining, as he was trying to make the pass on Blane Heimbach in traffic. Kelleher made slight contact with another car, and his car turn abruptly sideways. He backed out of the throttle just enough to regain control of the car, and kept it pointed in the right direction.
Polesitter Dave Brouse, Sr. led the first two laps of the late model Spring Championship race before third-place starter Jim Yoder made the winning pass using the inside lane in turn four. Yoder was chased by defending Spring Championship winner and fifth-place starter Kenny Trevitz in second, while Tony Adams maintained the third position. The race was stopped on the 23rd lap for a multi-car crash in turn two; all drivers escaped injury. On the ensuing restart, Yoder held off Trevitz, Adams, Donnie Schick and Chris Wilkinson. At the finish, Yoder was victorious by 1.10 seconds for his fifth career late model win at the track over Trevitz. Adams, Schick and Jeff Rine completed the top five.
Polesitter Jason Smith powered into the lead at the start of the pro stock feature. The non-stop event saw fifth-place starter AJ Hoffman take command of the field on the third circuit. Three-time winner and current point leader Gary Beward started 10th in the 24-car field and landed in second by the 10th circuit. Beward put in several bids for the lead in the final laps to no avail. At the checkered flag, Hoffman won his second straight race over Beward, Meade Hahn, Peanut Heintzelman and AJ Stroup.
Third-place starter Brad Mitch wired the field for his win in the roadrunner feature but not without serious challenges from seventh-place starter Ray Rothfuss for most of the event. In the final laps, the top five racers broke away from the pack and drove bumper to bumper. At the finish, it was Mitch taking the checkered flag over Rothfuss, Doug Minium, Keith Bissinger and Gary Kerstetter.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SUMMARY - 29 April 2006
358 Sprint Cars - 38 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 5 Phil Walter 2) 6 Colby Womer 3) 12 Blane Heimbach 4)
L70 Larry Kelleher 5) 63 Mike Walter 6) 6M Johnny Mackison, Jr. 7) 5
Nate Snyder 8) 4B Adrian Shaffer 9) 99 Kyle Bachman 10) 2 Jason Shultz
11) 37 Scott Flammer 12) 1N Brian Nornhold 13) 81 Bob Beidleman 14) 24
Brian Buckwalter 15) 28 Keith Prutzman 16) 81B Bob Anderson 17) 3 Pat
Cannon 18) 21 Duane Mausteller 19) 12G Bryan Golden 20) 1J Jake
Raudabaugh 21) 10 Jeff Furlong 22) 98 Jamie Schwartz 23) 19 Jordan
Frontz 24) 9 Scott Tate
Heat Winners: Jason Shultz, Mike Walter, Jamie Schwartz, Scott Tate
B-Main: Bob Anderson
Late Models - 26 Entries
30-Lap Spring Championship: 1) Jim Yoder $2,000 2) 61T Kenny Trevitz 3)
88 Tony Adams 4) 6 Donnie Schick 5) 2J Jeff Rine 6) 64 Chris Wilkinson
7) 1S Brett Schadel 8) 33 Scott Haus 9) 7 Dustin Hoffman 10) U10 Bud
Witmer 11) 8H Glen Heddings 12) 88X Joel VanBuskirk 13) 38 Rob Baker 14)
4S Dave Shulski 15) 45 Eric Hons 16) 92 Randall Paxton 17) 16 Brian
Cochran 18) 32 Jeff Smith 19) 90 Kyle Rhoads 20) 17 Dave Brouse Sr. 21)
75 Terry Neitz 22) 14 Dave Reed 23) 21 Chris Shuey 24) 12S Robbie Smith
Heat Winners: Dave Brouse, Sr., Jim Yoder, Eric Hons
B-Main: Brian Cochran
Pro Stocks - 29 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 21 AJ Hoffman 2) 19 Gary Beward 3) 7 Meade Hahn 4) 99H
Peanut Heintzelman 5) 26 AJ Stroup 6) 5 Neil Langtry 7) 70G Bill Glass
8) 10 Gerald Kratzer 9) 19M Dustin Hoffman 10) 115 Troy Miller 11) 23
Jim Somers 12) 14B Dave Brouse Jr. 13) 6F Frank Reisser 14) 8 Brad Trump
15) 28 Jason Smith 16) 6 Dan Jensen 17) 54 Sammy Troup 18) 14 Bill
Conrad 19) 711 Jim Jurasich 20) 83 Heath Moyle 21) 7X Jeff Rayson 22) 18
Roger Stoneroad 23) 8 Jace Cresswell 24) 70 Matt Johnson
Heat Winners: AJ Hoffman, AJ Stroup, Gary Beward
Consolation: Bill Conrad
Roadrunners - 21 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 10M Brad Mitch 2) 17 Ray Rothfuss 3) 12 Doug Minium 4)
11 Keith Bissinger 5) 05 Gary Kerstter 6) 010 Matt Keister 7) 48 Matt
Drum 8) 5 Mark Spencer 9) 10 Tim Mitch 10) 19 Chad Davis 11) 67 Anthony
Munn 12) 69 Tim Campbell 13) 31 Brandon Shultz 14) 13 Jim Collier, Jr.
15) 9 Dave Kamp 16) 27 Wayne Weist 17) 41D Dennis Conrad 18) 1 Kyle
Miller 19) 44 Jim Collier, Sr. 20) 23 Donnie Murphy 21) 5 Dave Adams
Heat Winners: Tim Mitch, Brad Mitch
