SELINSGROVE, Pa. – June 17, 2006 Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove made a late-race pass by Adrian Shaffer of York for his win in Saturday night’s 30-lap Joe Whitcomb Memorial for 358 sprint cars at Selinsgrove Speedway.
The win was Heimbach’s fourth of the season at Selinsgrove while driving the Goff Racing/Paul Stine Chevrolet No. 12 for car owner Jeff Creasy. Bob Beidleman of Walnutport was the fast qualifier with a lap time of 18.586. Whitcomb, of Millersburg, succumbed to injuries sustained in a sprint car racing crash that occurred on June 21, 2003, at the speedway. Whitcomb’s parents, Joe, Sr., and Gladys Whitcomb, and former crew members were in attendance for the third annual tribute race.
Randall Paxton of Dalton won his first career late model race at Selinsgrove in the 25-lap non-stop event of 9:33.76, while AJ Hoffman of Richfield scored his fourth 15-lap pro stock main of the year. Donnie Murphy of Minersville won his fourth 12-lap roadrunner race in a row.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the Firecracker 40 for 358 sprint cars at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 24. The 40-lap main event will pay $2,500 to win and $200 to start. Late models, pro stocks, roadrunners and fireworks will also be on the program. Gates open at 5 p.m.
Second-place starter Adrian Shaffer pulled away from the field at the start of the sprint car feature. Shaffer was trailed by polesitter Bryan Golden and fourth-place starter Len Krautheim.
By lap eight, Shaffer began to encounter slower traffic and stretched his lead to more than a straightaway. Blane Heimbach started the event in the fifth position and moved into second at the midway point of the race.
The event went non-stop until the 28th lap when Pat Cannon stopped his racer in turn three with a blown tire. The caution flag wiped out Shaffer’s straightaway lead and regrouped the field with Heimbach starting right behind the leader.
A multi-car accident occurred on the restart in which Kyle Bachman’s sprinter soared out over the first turn guardrail. No driver injuries were reported. On the ensuing restart, Heimbach powered under Shaffer in turn one for the lead. Heimbach then pulled away from Shaffer and posted a 1.018 second margin of victory. Nate Snyder, Krautheim and Beidleman completed the top five.
Second-place starter Randall Paxton wired the field for his first late model win at Selinsgrove. Polesitter Terry Neitz held the runner up position for 22 laps before seventh-place starter Chris Shuey moved into the runner up position. At the same time, defending champion Donnie Schick advanced to third.
Shuey set his sites on Paxton but did not have enough laps to reel in the leader. Paxton scored the win by a straightaway over Shuey, Schick, Neitz and Jeff Rine.
Second-place starter Chris Badger took the lead at the start of the pro stock feature. Badger was chased by fourth-place starter Larry Hare and fifth-place starter AJ Hoffman. The trio raced in a close three-car battle, and Hare was scored as the leader on the sixth circuit. Badger put his pro stock back in front from laps seven through 11 before Hoffman made the winning pass on the 12th circuit. Hoffman then held off ninth-place starter Gerald Kratzer for the win. Hare, Badger and Dave Brouse Jr. completed the top five.
Polesitter Dave Kamp led the first two laps of the roadrunner feature before eighth-place starter Donnie Murphy powered into the lead on the frontstretch. The final laps saw ninth-place starter Ray Rothfuss charge into the second position and reel in Murphy. At the finish, Murphy was victorious by a narrow margin over Rothfuss, Kamp, Zack Lingle and Chad Davis.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SUMMARY – 17 June 2006
Sprint Cars – 34 Entries
30-Lap A-Main: 1) 12 Blane Heimbach $2,071 2) 4B Adrian Shaffer 3) 5 Nate Snyder 4) 3K Len Krautheim 5) 81 Bob Beidleman 6) 3 Pat Cannon 7) 12G Bryan Golden 8) 12B Todd Hestor 9) 10 Jeff Furlong 10) 21 Duane Mausteller 11) 63 Mike Walter 12) 77 John Matrafailo 13) 71 Charlie Anderson 14) 5W Phil Walter 15) 19 Jordan Frontz 16) 6 Kevin Nouse 17) 43 Doug Dodson 18) 99 Kyle Bachman 19) 45 Kevin Nagy 20) 42 Alan Spriggle 21) 2 Jason Shultz 22) 98 Jamie Schwartz 23) 99B Nyle Berkes 24) 37 Scott Flammer
Time Trials: Beidleman 18.586; Cannon 18.645; P.Walter 18.828; Heimbach 18.855; Hestor 18.909; Krautheim 18.910; Brian Nornhold 18.913; Berkes 188.958; Snyder 18.959; Shaffer 19.014; Golden 19.019; Adam Romig 19.040; Spriggle 19.044; Shultz 19.049; Frontz 19.051; Anderson 19.066; Nagy 19.100; Schwartz 19.133; Dodson 19.138; Furlong 19.163; Bachman
19.181; Matrafailo 19.192; Nouse 19.251; Steve Gettle 19.335; Scott Tate 19.344; Jake Raudabaugh 19.392; Flammer 19.479; Chris Weiss 19.536; Cale Reigle 19.564; M.Walter 19.952; Del Shoner 19.996; Billy McNeal 20.580 Heat Winners: Blane Heimbach, Phil Walter, Len Krautheim, Nate Snyder Consolation: Brian Nornhold (DNS A-Main due to engine trouble)Late
Models – 24 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 92 Randall Paxton 2) 21 Chris Shuey 3) 6 Donnie Schick 4) 68 Terry Neitz 5) 2J Jeff Rine 6) 215 Al Shauver, Jr. 7) 27 Jim Yoder 8) 4S Dave Shulski 9) 45 Eric Hons 10) U10 Bud Witmer 11) 7 Dustin Hoffman 12) 61T Ken Trevitz 13) 88 Tony Adams 14) 64 Chris Wilkinson 15) 14 Dave Reed 16) 0 Brett Schadel 17) 116 Travis Mease 18) 90 Kyle Rhoads
19) 1 Gary Beward 20) 8 AJ Stroup 21) 38 Rob Baker 22) 98 Bob Croop 23) 00 Leo Bomboy 24) 12 Robbie Smith (DNS)
Heat Winners: Randall Paxton, Terry Neitz, Dustin Hoffman
Pro Stocks – 24 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 21 AJ Hoffman 2) 10 Gerald Kratzer 3) 19H Larry Hare 4) 13 Chris Badger 5) 14B Dave Brouse Jr. 6) 28 Jason Smith 7) 115 Troy Miller 8) 99H Peanut Heintzelman 9) 76 Brad Trump 10) 1 John Wert 11) 14 Dave Brouse Jr. 12) A18 Roger Stoneroad 13) 19 Gary Beward 14) 26 AJ Stroup 15) 5 Neil Langtry 16) 6 Dan Jensen 17) 711 Jim Jurasich 18) 8 Jace Cresswell 19) 4 Rick Spriggle 20) 23 Jim Somers 21) 6F Frank Reisser 22) 7 Meade Hahn 23) 83 Heath Moyle 24) 70G Bill Glass (DNS)
Heat Winners: Gary Beward, Jason Smith, Larry Hare
Roadrunners – 20 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 23 Donnie Murphy 2) 17 Ray Rothfuss 3) 9 Dave Kamp 4) 22 Zack Lingle 5) 19 Chad Davis 6) 48 Matt Drum 7) 27 Wayne Weist 8) 69 Tim Campbell 9) 1 Kyle Miller 10) 29 Ricky Bender 11) 31 Branden Shultz 12) 67 Anthony Munn 13) 41 Dennis Conrad 14) 5 Dave Adams 15) 57 Mark Spencer 16) 3 Chris Herman 17) 00 Nathan Engle 18) 69 Scott Dunham 19) 12 Doug Minium 20) 11B Keith Bissinger (DNS)
Heat Winners: Ray Rothfuss, Donnie Murphy
