By: Kayla Peting
After a troublesome weather forecast and a rocky start to the evening, Penn Can Speedway got to see some racing. With the mid-point of the racing season coming upon us rapidly and the points battles heating up, drivers were ready to do battle and fans were ready for some action. All divisions on the card were guaranteed to provide an excellent night of racing with an excellent racing surface thanks to Keith Beach, staff and some more than willing fans.
Kevin Hartnett has found his moxie after a rough beginning to the 2023 season at the Penn Can Speedway, transitioning from June to July with back to back wins. Matt Sobiech and George Kostelansky composed the front row as the field charged under Scott Stevens’ green flag. Kostelansky led the first lap before Travis Brockner came to a stop on the back stretch, receiving assistance from the hook and bringing his night to an early end. Kostelansky elected to put Sobiech on the outside, and led the way as mayhem ensued behind the lead duo. A stacked up start collected 6 cars on the frontstretch as Danny Creeden ended up on his side with Alex and Brett Tonkin, Joey Colsten, Darwin Greene, and Alex Stanton piling in. After a brief pause for cleanup, Kostelansky and Casey Plummer came back to the green. Kostelansky launched well, as Plummer surrendered second to Nick Petrilak. Another yellow reset Kostelansky, this time with Petrilak to his outside on the third lap. This time Petrilak would get the jump, with Hartnett swiping second from Kostelansky and quickly running down Petrilak. Petrilak was prepared for a fight, as the pair swapped lines and ran door to door for four complete laps. By lap 11 the pair had quickly chased down the tail of the field, where Hartnett took the advantage, slicing through lapped traffic and separating himself from Petrilak. With 17 laps complete the slowing machine of Hunter Metzger cleared the way for the leaders, setting up a single file restart just past halfway. With a good launch, Hartnett had opened up a half straightaway lead by lap 20, with Brett Tonkin and Brad Szelewski battling for seventh. Tonkin would take away the spot with 7 to go. Hartnett received the 5 to go sign as the lapped cars battled door to door in front of him. The veteran waited patiently for the cars to separate, moving to the inside and putting the pair between himself and second place running Petrilak. Hartnett would have one more hill to climb however, as a caution with two laps remaining brought Petrilak back to his bumper. Hartnett blasted away, collecting his back to back checkered flags as Petrilak, Kostelansky, Plummer and John Michael Phillips completed the top 5.
Erik Hines Trucking LLC 602 Crate Sportsman had 19 cars on hand ready to do battle before the upcoming mid-season championship race. Brett Wooster and Dave Rosa would be on the front row for the 25 lap feature. Out of turn 4 Rosa would gain the early advantage while Allen Kellogg would work the lowside of Wooster to move into second. One lap would be in the book as the yellow would come out for Mike Schane spinning in turn one. The field would settle down for a restart with Rosa selecting the low side placing Kellogg to his outside. Rosa would pull away from the field off the restart while battles would happen mid pack. Marty Goodwin would look inside Ned Fitch for sixth and unfortunately Fitch would drop back to eleventh before being overtaken by Mike Schane. Kolyn Schane would step up to challenge Mike Nagel for fourth but Nagel would remain in the spot. Ray Leonard would attempt to hold off a charging Mike Schane for tenth, Mike Schane would move up to tenth. Lap 7 would see a caution for a slowing Fitch along the front stretch. Rosa and Kellogg would lead the field once again on the restart. Rosa would once again take the early lead while Nagel would slide outside of Kellogg to move into second. Brad Weaver would look low inside of Goodwin to take over fifth. Mike Schane would follow Weaver’s line and move into sixth. Leonard would look low inside Tommy Groover to take over ninth while Nagel would challenge Rosa to take over first. After a series of cautions, the field would go single file on lap 14 with Nagel leading the field. Kolyn Schane would look high to slide around Weaver for fourth. Mike Schane would look inside Goodwin for sixth, but then would begin to slow bringing out the caution on lap 18 before heading pit side. As laps would begin to count down Leonard would look inside Goodwin to take over tenth and would soon take over ninth from Ralph Mele. Nagel would take the win followed by Rosa, Alex Konopka, Weaver and Kolyn Schane would round out the top 5.
A & E Tire and Auto Center 600cc Modifieds would see Jeff Baldwin and Jeffery Martin on the front row. Off the start, Ali Scutt would look inside Martin for second and would take over the spot. The yellow would come out before a lap could be completed for Martin spinning in turn four. Baldwin and Charlie Towner would be on the front row and Towner would gain the early lead while Nate Oropallo would look inside Scutt to take over second. Chuck Lohmeyer would slide in between Scutt and Baldwin to take over third. Lohmeyer would look to the lowside of Oropallo to try and take second, but would not be able to take the spot. By lap 8, Towner had caught the rear of the field. Lap 9 would have a caution for Ethan Johnson spinning in turn three before being pushed pit side. For the restart, Towner would select the lowside with Oropallo to his outside. Towner would take the early lead while Lohmeyer would look low to slide past Oropallo to take over second. Scutt would follow in Lohmeyer’s lane and move around Oropallo for third. After two cautions the field would go single file with Towner leading the way and after taking the green Oropallo would look outside Scutt for third but would be unable to claim the spot. Brenton Payne would look inside of Oropallo for fourth and would claim the spot. Lap 12 would see a yellow for Oropallo who would spin in turn 2. The field would regroup and take the green. Oropallo would make a pass to move into fifth place and the field would remain as is for the duration of the race. Unfortunately, due to the handicapping rule Towner would be disqualified post race for a driver swap. Chuck Lohmeyer would be the new winner followed by Scutt, Payne, Oropallo and Baldwin.
The Factory Stocks would be led to the green by Jordan Towner and Darren Davies. Off the start Towner would gain the early lead while Davies, Justin Slezak and Rich Sharpsteen would go three wide for second,but Davies would maintain the hold on second. Slezak and Sharpsteen were not going to give up the battle. Slezak would look outside of Davies to take over second while Sharpsteen would look low inside of Davies to take over third. Adam Gilbert would look inside of Davies to take over fourth. Lap 2 would see a yellow for Jason Rhodes spinning in turn two. After a series of cautions, the field would go single file led by Towner. Rhodes would pass Kyle Spoor and Adam Gilbert to fourth while Mahlon Shoemaker would look outside Slezak to take over second. Lap 4 would see a yellow for a slowing Slezak who would head pit side for a flat before returning to the rear of the field. The field would settle into a single file restart and off the green, Rhodes would look inside Spoor to take over second. Adam Gilbert would look inside of Spoor to take over fourth and Eric Beach would look inside of Brad Chilson to take over seventh. Adam Gilber would look inside Rhodes to try and take over third, but would not be able to do so. Rhodes would take over second from Shoemaker, before the caution would come up on lap 9 for Rhodes slowing before needing a tow back to the pits. Towner would lead the field in a single file restart and Charlie Gilbert would look inside of Shoemaker to take over third and Beach was hot on Charlie GIlbert’s trail and moved into fourth. Adam Gilbert would pass Slezak and Shoemaker to take over fifth while Charlie Gilbert would look inside Spoor for second but would be unable to claim the spot. Beach would look inside Spoor and Charlie Gilbert to take over second. Lap 19 would see the final caution as Spoor would spin in turn two before heading pit side. Towner would go on to claim his first win of the season followed by Beach, Charlie Gilbert, Adam Gilbert and Slezak would round out the top 5.
Gary’s U-Pull It 4 Cylinders would see Andy Bolles and Rob Sterling on the front row. Bolles would take the early lead while Mike Jenks would look inside Rich Wagner for third and take over the spot. Lap 2 would see a caution for Collin Mills spinning in turn one. Bolles and Wagner would be on the front row and Bolles would take the lead while Bryant Beach would look outside Wagner to take over second. Jeff Sterling would battle door to door with Wagner to take over the third. While Scott Beach would look outside Rob Sterling to take over eight. Lap 12 would see the caution flag for debris on the track and the field would regroup in a single file restart. Bolles would go onto to claim his first win of the season as well as the bounty followed by Bryant Beach, Jeff Sterling, Wagner, and Mills rounding out the top 5.
Penn Can Speedway will be back in action on 7/14 with Fan Appreciation Night and Powderpuff races. We will have 5 classes on hand to do battle with an intermission for fans to meet their favorite drivers. Be sure to follow The Penn Can Speedway to stay updated on everything happening at the track.
Stafursky Paving Modifieds
WINNER - 5 - KEVIN HARTNETT
2.) 72-Nick Petrilak 3.) 17-George Kostelansky 4.) 73-Casey Plummer 5.) 23JR-John Michael Phillips 6.) 280-Justin Holland 7.) 27K-Brett Tonkin 8.) 14Z-Brad Szulewski 9.) 119-Brian Malcolm 10.) 88-Alan Komar 11.) 9-Ken Titus 12.) 1-Darwin Greene Sr 13.) 22-Alex Tonkin 14.) ?-Chris Ostrowsky 15.) 57-Dan Burman 16.) 27-John Redner 17.) M85-Hunter Metzger 18.) 014-Brad Shaffer 19.) 66M-Matt Sobiech 20.) 52B-Brandon Fritsch 21.) 34-Rusty Smith 22.) 117-Alex Stanton 23.) 16X-Danny Creeden 24.) 51-Joey Colsten 25.) 484-Travis Brockner
Erik Hines Trucking LLC 602 Crate Sportsman
WINNER - M7 - MIKE NAGEL JR
2.) 61-Dave Rosa 3.) 14K-Alex Konopka 4.) 1A-Brad Weaver 5.) 10K-Kolyn Schane 6.) 117-Adam Mudge 7.) 7R-Tommy Groover 8.) 3R-Ray Leonard 9.) 70J-Joe Novak 10.) 711-Ralph Mele 11.) 55-Marty Goodwin 12.) 49-Tim Howell 13.) 84-Mike Wilcha 14.) 711X-Allen Kellogg 15.) 197-Mike Schane 16.) 11-Brett Wooster 17.) 88A-Amanda Scholtisek 18.) 16-Ned Fitch 19.) 54T-Travis Rooney
A & E Tire and Auto Center 600cc Modifieds
WINNER - 5 - CHUCK LOHMEYER
2.) 108*-Ali Scutt 3.) 11-Brenton Payne 4.) 30NN-Nate Oropallo 5.) 17-Jeff Baldwin 6.) 117-Jeffrey Martin 7.) 12J-John Dinniny 8.) 566-Ryan David Kadaronk 9.) 134-Tracy Oliver 10.) 34-Harold Oliver 11.) 67-Tori Straway 12.) 1JR-Darwin Greene Jr. 13.) 999-Ethan Johnson 14.) 99K-Phil Burns DQ 1*-Charlie Towner
Factory Stock
WINNER - 9J - JORDAN TOWNER
2.) 617-Eric Beach 3.) 28-Charlie Gilbert 4.) 28A-Adam Gilbert 5.) 35H-Justin Slezak 6.) 10-Kevin Welch 7.) 23B-Brad Chilson 8.) 98-Lynn Highhouse 9.) 23S-Kyle Spoor 10.) 7-Mahlon Shoemaker 11.) 3-Jason Rhodes 12.) 83T-Rich Sharpsteen 13.) 19-Darren Davies
Gary’s U-Pull It 4 Cylinders
WINNER - 354 - ANDY BOLLES
2.) 5L-Bryant Beach 3.) 56-Jeff Sterling 4.) 8W-Rich Wagner 5.) 23-Collin Mills 6.) 21MJ-Mike Jenks 7.) 77-Brian Salmini 8.) 21-Scott Beach 9.) G55-Dakota Fuller 10.) 71-Rob Sterling 11.) 21K-Kevin Whitman 12.) 22-David Benson 13.) Michael Girjatowicz
Limited Sportsman
WINNER - 56 - DEVON GREEN
2.) 5T-Charlie Towner 3.) 22A-Avery Decker
Bình luận