SELINSGROVE, Pa. September 16, 2006 - Chad Layton of Harrisburg won the 24th Annual Salem RV Center National Open for 410 Sprint Cars Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway with a last-lap pass by race-long leader Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove.
The $5,000 win in the 30-lap contest was the second of Layton's career and season at the Snyder County oval in 410 sprint car competition and the ninth overall of 2006.
A lap 26 fuel stop set up a four-lap chase to the checkered flag in fog that started to blanket the speedway at about 10:45 p.m.
Kenny Jacobs of Holmesville, Ohio, was the night's fast qualifier with a lap time of 16.588 (114.936 average MPH). Jacobs, however, did not start the main event because of motor failure after his third-place finish in the first sprint car heat race.
Heat races for the 35 sprint cars were won by Alan Cole of Berwick, Greg Hodnett of York, Keith Kauffman of Mifflintown and Fred Rahmer of Salfordville. The sprint car B-main was won by Mike Erdley of Elizabethville.
Track champion Gary Beward of Thompsontown won his eighth pro stock feature of the season in the 15-lap main event.
Pro stock heat races were won by AJ Hoffman of Richfield, Jason Smith of Williamsport, and Peanut Heintzelman of Troxellville. The National Open concluded the 2006 racing season at Selinsgrove Speedway. Track officials will host the annual awards banquet on Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Wyndham Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel.
While the sprint car main event was lining up on the track, 13th-place starter Doug Esh of Lancaster stopped on the speedway and was forced to withdraw from the race. At the drop of the green flag, second-place starter Heimbach beat polesitter Mark Smith of Tower City for the lead entering turn one. By lap five, Heimbach began to encounter slower traffic and was being chased by Smith and fourth-place starter Rahmer.
The event's first caution flag unfurled on lap 14 when Hodnett stopped on the backstretch with a flat tire. On the ensuing restart, Heimbach continued to set the pace with Smith, Rahmer and fifth-place starter Lance Dewease of Fayetteville in pursuit. On the 20th circuit, sixth-place starter Layton passed Rahmer for third, then drove by Smith for second on the 23rd lap. Layton began to reel in Heimbach and got the break he needed when Todd Shaffer of Millerstown stopped on the backstretch on lap 26.
A chase to the checkered flag unfolded between Heimbach and Layton with four laps to race. On the final lap, Layton and Heimbach made contact racing for the lead in turn two. While Heimbach's disabled race car moved slowly down the backstretch, Layton went on to victory by 2.62 seconds over Rahmer, Smith, Lucas Wolfe of Mechanicsburg and Erdley.
Second-place starter Gary Beward led wire-to-wire for his win in the pro stock feature. Beward was chased by polesitter Jason Smith for the duration of the event. A post-race inspection found the race cars of second-place finisher Smith and fifth-place finisher Bill Glass to be illegal.
The official finish awarded Beward, Jim Somers, Matt Johnson, Rob Baker and Peanut Heintzelman with positions in the top five.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY - 16 September 2006
410 Sprint Cars -35 Entries
30-Lap A-Main: 1) 12 Chad Layton $5,000 2) 22 Fred Rahmer 3) 1 Mark Smith 4) 5W Lucas Wolfe 5) 11 Mike Erdley 6) 4 Todd Hestor 7) 25 Lance Dewease 8) 63 Mike Walter 9) 77 Greg Hodnett 10) 88 Todd Shaffer 11) 39 TJ Stutts 12) 35 Alan Cole 13) 26 Curt Stroup 14) 10N Niki Young 15) 12 Blane Heimbach 16) 21 Brian Monteith 17) 18 Ryan Bohlke 18) 93 Brooke Weibley 19) 7 Keith Kauffman 20) 9 Craig Keel 21) 65 Johnny Mackison 22) 69 Michael Carber 23) 87 Alan Krimes 24) 30 Doug Esh DNS
Time Trials: Kenny Jacobs 16.588; Chad Layton 16.618; Lance Dewease 16.679; Fred Rahmer 16.685; Mike Erdley 16.731; Lucas Wolfe 16.753; Blane Heimbach 16.769; Rick Lafferty 16.785; Mark Smith 16.801; Michael Carber 16.822; Todd Hestor 16.828; Mike Walter 16.850; Alan Krimes 16.893; Todd Shaffer 16.927; Doug Esh 16.999; Brooke Weibley 17.036; Alan Cole 17.053; TJ Stutts 17.064; Keith Kauffman 17.088; Curt Stroup 17.104; Craig Keel 17.175; Greg Hodnett 17.211; Cliff Brian 17.221; Johnny Mackison 17.235; Josh Wells 17.260; Niki Young 17.264; Ryan Bohlke 17.452; Justin Seigler 17.475; Len Krautheim 17.517; Steve Buckwalter 17.535; Brian Monteith 17.546; Karl Baker 18.096; Mike Kostic 18.202; Neil Petock DNT; Brian Krautheim DNT
Heat Winners: Alan Cole, Greg Hodnett, Keith Kauffman, Fred Rahmer
B-Main Winner: Mike Erdley
Pro Stocks - 21 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 19 Gary Beward 2) 23 Jim Somers 3) 70 Matt Johnson 4) 4B Rob Baker 5) 99 Peanut Heintzelman 6) 19H Larry Hare 7) 6F Frank Reisser 8) USA1 Lon Savage, Jr. 9) 14B Dave Brouse, Jr. 10) 6 Dan Jensen 11) 55 Brian Rehbein 12) 81 Todd Kiger 13) 28J John Bouse 14) 18 Roger Stoneroad 15) 10 Daryl Walters 16) 21 AJ Hoffman 17) 26 AJ Stroup 18) 4
Jim Payne 19) 14 Bill Conrad 20) 28 Jason Smith DQ 21) 70G Bill Glass DQ
Heat Winners: AJ Hoffman, Jason Smith, Peanut Heintzelman
