By Nathan Aldrich and Kayla Peting
Night One of the 2022 King of the Can went off with a bang as 107 cars stuffed the pits at Penn Can Speedway vying for the title of King of the Can. When the night wrapped up 4 new Kings were crowned as Jerry Lobdell Jr, Jimmy Zacharias, Buck Mills Sr. and Chris Bonoffski took their seats on the golden throne. With 30 laps and $2,222 on the line for the Mike Petrilak memorial, a strong field of street stocks battled for the throne.
Don Russell Jr. and Damon Decker brought the field under the green as Decker grabbed the lead. Jerry Lobdell Jr. worked to Russel’s inside quickly, taking the second spot away on the first lap. Lobdell pulled alongside Decker as the race for the lead was on down the backstretch. Lobdell would capture the lead as the yellow came out to start lap 3, with Gary Roberts slowing to a stop on the front stretch. Russell would get turned around on the ensuing restart, leading to a second try. As Lobdell took the inside and pulled away, Decker came under fire from Glenn Writenhour for second. Writenhour would capture the second spot on lap 5 as just behind John Carpenter ripped the fourth spot away from Doug Stack Sr. That battle would be halted by another yellow as Russell went around in turn 3. As Lobdell and Writenhour brought them back to green, Decker and Stack would get feisty, taking Writenhour 3 wide for the second spot. Decker would grab the spot as Kyle Spoor, Tyler Stoddard, Dave Stalker and Nick Bonham wadded them up in turn 4 with 9 laps complete.
The next restart brough Writenhour, Decker and Stack 3 wide through the second turn as Stack backed out down the backstretch. As Spoor spun around in turn 2, Decker slowed to a stop down the frontstretch. After getting some attention from his crew, Decker would return for the restart. Through the cautions Shane Wolfe Jr was working his way forward, working the bumper of Stack Jr for fifth on lap 18. Stack would head pitside under a lap 22 yellow along with Writenhour to shake up the top 5 spots. The top 5 of Lobdell, Carpenter, Stack Sr, Wolfe and Gene Sharpteen would come back to green single file with 8 laps to go. The top 5 would stay consistent as Wolfe got around Stack for third before the checkered flag. Writenhour would charge back up to sixth before heading pitside on the white flag lap. Feature winner Jerry Lobdell Jr. has put together a strong season including a track championship at Thunder Mountain Speedway and 15 wins on the season. After leading the way for all 30 laps Lobdell was quick to thank Glenn Writenhour for his help and the Penn Can team for having the street stocks visit on King of the Can weekend. He would like to thank Denny Decker Logging, Pop’s Automotive, Moose Racing Engines and Lobdell Construction.
With nearly 50 602 Crate Sportsman signed into the pits it was an uphill battle to make the feature with a stacked field of home track talet and invaders. At the conclusion of heats, and after a pair on consis the 27 car field was set. Jimmy Zacharias and Brandon Edgar would charge out of turn 4 as Zacharias gained the advantage. Brad Weaver challenged Edgar for second from the jump as the pair battled door to door while the field jostled behind them. Contact between Gary Smith and Mike Schane would send Schane’s car high out of the groove and check up the field. Alan Komar would be the unfortunate bystander as his car slowed in turn 4 to bring out the first yellow. Weaver and Edgar would battle for second on the restart staying door to door through lap 3. With Weaver taking the spot, Gary Smith and Mike Nagel Jr. battled for fifth. Nagel would lose the spot to Smith but fended off Aj Konopka to keep sixth. Zacharias’ lead would evaporate on lap 9 as the yellow flag regrouped the field.
Zacharias lined up with Weaver to his outside and pulled ahead as the pair exited turn 4. Tyler Johnston became Edgar’s new challenger as the Accord regular took away the third spot. With one lap shy of halfway, Dave Dickey would end up facing the wrong direction in the bottom of turn 3. Zacharias once again took the inside on the final double file restart, launching ahead as Johnston and Weaver battled behind him. Smith battled Edgar for fourth, taking the spot as the race passed halfway. With the final restart coming on lap 21, the battle for sixth got dicey between Edgar, Ray Leonard and Konopka. Leonard would take the inside of Edgar in turn 3 as Edgar defended the inside wall. Contact between the two brought Edgar to the inside of Konopka the following lap as all three fit under a blanket. Konopka would keep the fifth spot as back up front Weaver worked every line on the track while chasing Zacharias. Zacharias wouldn’t make the mistake Weaver needed however as he made it to the checkers first, with Johnston, Smith and Edgar rounded out the top 5.
Feature winner Jimmy Zacharias was kept out of lapped traffic for the most part but the mix of short runs that were broken up by cautions. Zacharias has a strong confidence in himself on restarts however, and didn’t let his changing dancing partners shake his confidence. Starting on the front row made it a little bit easier, but the former Penn Can regular said his team has proven before that they can move up through the field. It was Jimmy’s first King of the Can win, keeping with their plan throughout the night and letting the track come to them. He would like to thank Chris, Seth, Bryce, Adam, Liam, Ray, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, TJ and Ash. As well as sponsors: Midstate Basement, Insinger, Sunoco, Signworks Fleet Graphics, Enders Race Engines, Dig Race Products, B.K. Nalepa Well Drilling Pump and Softeners, Wicked Tees and Bicknell Race Products.
The Ray Ayers Memorial added some extra prestige to the King of the Can event for the factory stocks as Lanson Albanese and Buck Mills Sr. led the way. As the pair drag raced down the frontstretch they stayed side by side all the way around for the first lap. Mills would gain the advantage to lead at the line. Jason Rhodes would make his way to third by the time of the first caution on lap 3 for a Todd Sutliff spin in turn 3. Mills took the outside for the restart as Albanese once again stayed with him for the first lap. A slew of cautions would follow over the next six laps bringing Charlie Gilbert up into the third spot with Charlie Towner fourth. Kevin MacDonald would look to the inside of Brad Chilson to claim the ninth place spot. Lap 5 would see a caution as Carter Bixby and Austin Manzer would both spin in turn 2. Mills Sr. would once again select the outside with Albanese to his inside. Mills Sr. would gain the upper hand to take the lead while battles would follow closely behind him. Gilbert would look to the high side of Rhodes to battle hard for third. Gilbert would gain the spot while a few positions back Kurtis Stickle would battle with Towner for fifth, but would be unable to claim the spot. Towner would look inside Rhodes for fourth, but would be unable to make any other moves as a caution would come out for Rhodes slowing between turn 1 and 2 on lap 8.
Mills Sr. would select the high side with Albanese to his inside, off the start Albanese would gain the lead, but it would be short lived as the caution would return for Blake Furman and Sutliff who would spin and rejoin at the end of the field. Mills Sr. would once again put Albanese to his inside. Mills Sr. would quickly gain the lead while Towner and Gilbert would battle back and forth for third with Gibert claiming the spot. Rhodes would battle his way back towards the front by looking inside of Chislon to move into ninth. Lap 14 would see a caution for Ryan Brockner would go up in smoke and head pit side. The restart would see Mills Sr. on the outside with Albanese to the inside, Mills Sr. would get the early lead and the field would spread out until the next caution would come for Albanese coming to a stop in turn 1 before heading pit side. Mills Sr. would lead the field in single file fashion and off the green Rich Sharpsteen would look inside of Rhodes to take over fourth. Lap 25 would see the last caution of the feature with Mitch Quail Jr. spinning in turn 3. With 3 laps remaining the field would go single file with Mills Sr. leading the way, as laps counted down battles would begin. Towner would look to the inside of Gilbert to try and gain a position, but Gilbert was holding steady in second. Sharpsteen would look to the outside of Towner to make a move to slide into third in front of Towner. Buck Mills Sr. would take the checkered flag followed by Gilbert, Sharpsteen, Albanese and Rhodes would round out the top 5.
The Gary’s U-Pull It SCDRA 4 Cyliners had a strong field of 20 cars show up for the King of the Can race. Dave Nixon and Chris Bonoffski would lead the field to green. Unfortunately there would be an abundance of yellow flags for the class and several cars would not return to the track. At lap 9, there would be a string of green flags that would be led on the restart by Bonoffski. Josh Wilder would look to the inside of Shawn Furman for fifth and Wilder would take the spot out of turn 4. Wilder would keep his momentum and look inside Rich Wagner for fourth and would claim the spot as Wagner would slow along the front stretch before heading pit side. Unfortunately for Wilder he would pull to the infield with a flat, but would quickly pull back to join the field. Furman and Nixon would also pull to the infield as there were two laps remaining. Bonoffski would claim the win followed by Adam Delgrosso, Collin Mills, Rob Sterling and Jamie Radley would round out the top 5.
Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of King of the Can weekend…
Powells Sales and Service & T Brennan Heavy Equipment King Of The Can Night 1 Results
Mike Petrilak Memorial Street Stocks
WINNER - 2L - JERRY LOBDELL JR
2.) J12-John Carpenter 3.) 77-Shane Wolfe Jr. 4.) 34-Doug Stack Sr. 5.) 7-Gene Sharpsteen 6.) 109D-Don Russel Jr. 7.) 14A-Brian Rhodes 8.) 23S-Kyle Spoor DNF 15-Glenn Writenhour, 41S-Doug Stack Jr., 23-Michael Morse, 00-Jason Rhodes, 89Jr-Damon Decker, 37S-Tyler Stoddard, 37-Dave Stalker, 41-Nick Bonham, 33k-JR Kobbe, U2-Gary Roberts, 1i-Shane Moshier
Ray Ayers Memorial Factory Stocks
WINNER - 187V - BUCK MILLS SR
2.) 28-Charlie Gilbert 3.) 83T-Rich Sharpsteen 4.) 14A-Lanson Albanese 5.) 57nd-Jason Rhodes 6.) 5T-Charlie Towner 7.) 27M-Kevin MacDonald 8.) 10T-Kurtis Stickle 9.) 711-Blake Furman 10.) 88M-Mitch Quail Jr 11.) 23B-Brad Chilson 12.) 89-Ryan Brockner 13.) 617-Austin Manzer 14.) 9x-Carter Bixby 15.) 0-Todd Sutliff 16.) 10-Justin Slezak 17.) 5-Buck Mills Jr. 18.) 69er-Billy Shoemaker
602 Crate Sportsman
WINNER - 17X - JIMMY ZACHARIAS
2.) 1A-Brad Weaver 3.) 5-Tyler Johnston 4.) 7UP-Gary Smith 5.) 57-Brandon Edgar 6.) 14K-AJ Konopka 7.) 3R-Ray Leonard 8.) M7-Mike Nagel Jr. 9.) 14X-Brian Malcolm 10.) 7-Ralph Mele 11.) 7X-Ryan Stortini 12.) 226-Matt Martino 13.) 138-Dana Davis 14.) 10K-Kolyn Schane 15.) 79-Eric Windsor 16.) 123-Dale Welty 17.) 40-AJ Costley 18.) 23T-Dave Dickey 19.) 70J-Joe Novak 20.) 197-Mike Schane 21.) 17Z-Seth Zacharias 22.) 88-Alan Komar 23.) 55-Marty Goodwin 24.) 3-TJ Frost 25.) 7R-Tommy Groover 26.) 39B-Matt Brewer 27.) 57B-Dusty Barton
DNQ 16-Ned Fitch, 32-Eddie Kudrako, 44-Jim O’Hara, 14A-Brian Franco, 226-Matt Martino, 3D-Brett Wooster, 88A-Amanda Scholtisek, 111-Jason Wilson, 14B-Art Bray, 33Y-Stephen Yankowski, 28A-Doug Polhamus, 44S-Gordon Smith, 133-Josh Landers, 28-Jim Gould, 35-John Seidlecky, 71-Eddie Owens, 9-Todd Titus, XXX-Damien Crist, 1*-Gene Beadle, 22S-Dane Hedlund, 79-Eric Winsor, 78-Steve Winsor
SCDRA 4 Cyl
WINNER - 16B - CHRIS BONOFFSKI
2.) 11-Adam Delgrosso 3.) 71M-Collin Mills 4.) 71S-Rob Sterling 5.) 6-Jamie Radley 6.) 5-Josh Wilder 7.) 76-Dave Nixon 8.) 49Z-Shawn Furman 9.) 7F-Rich Wagner 10.) 66-Josh Storms 11.) 77-Brian Salmini 12.) 21-Scott Beach 13.) 56-Jeff Sterling 14.) 27-Jason Seymour 15.) 21MJ-Mike Jenks 16.) 107-Tim Vandemark 17.) G55-Dakota Fuller 18.) 38-Dave Simms 19.) 8-Phil Burns 20.) M1-Mike Girjatowicz
Modified Match race winner - 34 - RUSTY SMITH