Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

It appeared that we were headed to a possible upset for the Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek championship. But after the long grueling week came to an end Sunday night, it was veteran driver and defending Speedweek champion Greg Hodnett coming out on top of the Speedweek series after a consistent week aboard the Jim and Sandy Kline-owned No. 22 Maxim. While Hodnett put together a week consisting of a feature win, three runner-up finishes, a third, a fourth, a seventh and an eighth place finish, it was Alan Krimes that was stealing the spotlight through the first six races of the week. In fact, Krimes had to change weekend vacation plans to continue racing because he was leading the points going into the final two races, in which he originally planned not to compete. But as it turned out, Krimes would have mechanical failure at Port Royal on Saturday night, missed time trials but after getting a part from the J & S Fabrication team, Krimes was able to compete in his heat and eventually finished 12th in the feature. That dropped him from the points lead and he did not race on Sunday night. “It was a long tough week for everybody and because of that, it’s very rewarding to be able to come away with the title because it is a long tough deal,” Hodnett said Monday after his third career Speedweek title. “I thought everybody did a nice job and we were very consistent through the last half of the series to be able to come away with the title. Daryn (Pittman) did a nice job all week and Alan had a great Speedweek. I wish he would not have had the problems he had at Port and been able to come out Sunday and see what happened. But he had a great week.” Hodnett had 1,122 total points for the week with Pittman finishing second with 1,087, Lance Dewease (951), Mark Smith (908), Krimes (887), Fred Rahmer (870), Chad Layton (750), Danny Dietrich (706), Brent Marks (566) and Stevie Smith (559) completing the top 10 point paying Speedweek positions. Mark Smith won the opener at Lincoln Speedway with Ed Lynch, Jr. taking the win at Bedford Speedway. Tyler Walker won the Grandview show and then was out for the balance of the series after an injury to his ACL when doing his backflip,. Krimes came through with his first Speedweek win at Hagerstown as Dewease got his win in the Thursday night show at Lincoln. Pittman won the big prize-the $10,000 to win Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove while Hodnett scored the Port Royal win and Pittman became the only repeat winner in the series finale at Selinsgrove. Seventy-seven different drivers competed in at least one Speedweek show with 11 drivers making starts in all eight races. Pittman led the week in earnings with a total of $25,400 including point money and fast time awards. Hodnett earned $22,900 for the week, which included a $2,000 bonus for his Speedweek title along with another $1,300 for winning the Rae Peters Memorial Heat Race Challenge. He won five heat races during the week. Dewease cashed in with $16,650 in earnings followed by Mark Smith at $15,850, Krimes $15,050, Rahmer $12,300, Dietrich $8,400, Layton $7,975, Marks $5,900 and Brian Montieth $5,850. Car counts were about average for the series with an average of 30 per meet, ranging from the high of 35 cars for the series opener at Lincoln to a low of 23 cars at the Bedford show. The Speedweek title was also the third for car owners Jim and Sandy Kline. They also have one with former driver Fred Rahmer. “We’re very happy to win Speedweek again but I know the boys were dragging on Sunday night,” said Sandy Kline. “I feel that as much as teams sacrifice to race this series, people taking off work to do it and those things, that the tracks could put more money in the pot to make it more worthwhile for everyone involved. It’s nice to win it with the prestige and all but it’s time someone makes this deal something sweet and very special for whoever can win the deal. A lot of time and money goes into this from the team’s end and I think it’s time for the tracks to step up to the plate and make the point series something special.” The overall point fund is $8,000 (barring no rainouts) and split among the top 10 drivers. “It’s a tough deal, not just for the crews but also for the car owners, because it wears people out and it’s very expensive to race everyday and that’s why a lot of teams don’t run every race,” Hodnett said. We’ve had a “tweak” in the format for the Speedweek series so maybe it’s time to “tweak” the payoff as well to make it more attractive for teams to compete for the title. Congratulations to Greg Hodnett, Jim and Sandy Kline and the entire #22 team on their Speedweek championship.

PIT STOPS Lincoln Speedway has moved its starting time back to 7:30pm beginning this Saturday. The time change will run through the end of September and hopefully provide a little extra time for the track crew to make the racing surface better each week. The dry and hot weather is making track conditions less than ideal at all area speedway’s…. Lincoln Speedway will host the largest 358 Sprint car paying event in the area on Saturday, August 7 as World Energy Systems and the track have joined forces to pay the winner a cool $5,500 that night. Based in Greencastle, World Energy Systems sponsor the car of Austin Reed on the 358 Sprint car tour. The event will be a time trial event leading up the big payday for one driver that night. A raindate of September 11th will be used if needed… It will be Kids Night this Saturday at Lincoln where games, prizes and a moon bounce await the youngsters. All kids will receive a white t-shirt that can be used at an autograph session with all of the drivers to sign. All the fun begins at 5:30pm. It will also be Kids Night at Port Royal this Saturday… Keith Kauffman will be competing this weekend at Williams Grove and Lincoln Speedway’s in the Trone Outdoor Motorsports No. 39 sprinter. Speedweek didn’t go quite as well as the team had hoped but Keith certainly excited his fans in his heat race run Friday at the Grove… Sammy Swindell and Jason Meyers were winners on the World of Outlaws sprint tour last weekend. Swindell won Thursday at Huset’s Speedway over Steve Kinser and Lucas Wolfe while Myers got his series leading seventh win Saturday at North Central Speedway over Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana. The top three in WoO Sprint points are only separated by 27 total points… Email reaches me at Bvores@comcast.net…

Heading into the month of July, the upcoming Independence Day weekend brings a flurry of big races to the midstate area.
Of course, the 20th annual Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek will be still be in full swing heading into the weekend with races tonight at Hagerstown Speedway followed by a second Speedweek date Thursday night at Lincoln Speedway. Friday night will be the $10,000 to win Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove and two weekend races at Port Royal and Selinsgrove Speedway’s.
The best in 410 Sprint car racing will be competing for the 2010 Speedweek crown, which pays $2,000 to the championship team.
Selinsgrove Speedway will feature a big paying 358 Sprint car show on Saturday night as they present the Middleswarth Potato Chips Firecracker 30 paying a cool $2,000 to win. Pat Cannon has won the last four races at the Snyder County track and will certainly be looking for the increased payoff this week.
If late models are your thing, Hagerstown Speedway features the 50-lap Johnny Roberts Memorial on Saturday night while the 358 late models go in the second leg of the Tri-Track Shootout Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway. The Tri-Track Shootout is a three race series at Williams Grove, Lincoln and Trail-Way with an extra points fund for the top finishing drivers. Gene Knaub won the opener at Williams Grove last week.
GRAVEL WINS OHIO SPEEDWEEK
David Gravel had the biggest week of his brief 410 Sprint car career last week.
The young Connecticut racer captured his first career 410 Sprint car feature win at Limaland Motorsports Park and then came out on top of 85 other cars to win the 2010 O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Speedweek crown.
Gravel nearly had several other wins during the week but late race problems cost him the wins but he was still consistent in all nine events to secure the championship.
Gravel, who just celebrated his 18th birthday last week had finishes of 10th, fifth, seventh, eighth, second, sixth, 11th, first and fifth during the week in the DDR Motorsports sprinter.
Ohio Speedweek produced six different winners in the nine events with All Star champ and current points leader Tim Shaffer leading the way with three wins. Shaffer won the big show Saturday at Fremont Speedway, passing Stevie Smith on lap 45 to bring home the $10,000 payday. Dale Blaney was a two-time winner during the week while Byron Reed, Rob Chaney, Brad Sweet and Gravel were other feature winners.
Gravel had 854 points compared to Shaffer’s 851 with Blaney (837), Dean Jacobs (814) and Lee Jacobs (810) the top five point finishers.
PIT STOPS
Congratulations to Mifflin’s Julie Colyer on her first career Powder Puff feature win last Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Colyer led all 10 laps of the event in her Juniata Tire Sales, Stong’s Auto Body, DK Motorsports No. 12J. She is the daughter of late model veteran Dave Kepner and she also happens to be my boss! Pretty neat to have a boss in an accounting department that knows what dirt track racing is all about!…
Tyler Walton won night two of 600cc Pennsylvania Micro Sprint Speedweek at Lincoln Speedway on Sunday night. Walton beat Heath Hehnly, Jerrod Wilson, Ben Murphy and Jimmy Brookens. Joe Robertson won the Sidewinders 1000cc feature over Alex Schanz, Ben Murphy, Gary Funck and Mike Kiser…
Ronnie DeHaven, Jr. won Saturday’s Three State Flyers Red Nininger Memorial for late models at Winchester Speedway. He beat Jeremy Miller, Jason Covert, TJ Spence and Roy Deese, Jr…
Brooke Tatnell and Steve Kinser were World of Outlaws winners last weekend. Tatnell’s second WoO win of the season came Friday at Junction Motor speedway in front of the largest crowd in track history. He beat Craig Dollansky, Donny Schatz, Jason Meyers and Lucas Wolfe. Kinser’s fourth win of the season and 556th “A-Main” win of this Outlaws career came Saturday at Lakeside Speedway over Jac Haudenschild, Sammy Swindell, Dollansky and Kraig Kinser…
Speaking of Swindell, he has been hired as the fulltime driver for one of the Big Game Tree Stands team replacing long-time driver Terry McCarl. Swindell has been subbing for McCarl this season as McCarl recovers from an arm injury but McCarl’s recent antics at Knoxville probably didn’t help his chances at keeping his ride…
Shane Clanton cashed in on the $30,000 payday after his big win in Saturday’s Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway for the WoO Late models. He defeated Darrell Lanigan, Jimmy Mars, Tim McCreadie and Dale McDowell…
Email reaches me at Bvores@comcast.net…

Gary Kauffman made a big investment over the winter months.
Kauffman, 49, of Biglerville became the new 410 Sprint car owner in Central Pennsylvania and hired young Danny Dietrich to pilot his Sandoe’s Fruit Market No. 48 sprinter on the tough Pennsylvania sprint car circuit.
Kauffman wasn’t worried about the fact that the young Dietrich, just 22 years old, was a rookie in 2009 and never raced a 410 sprint at Williams Grove Speedway until this season. What he did see was a boatload of talent in the second generation Aspers driver.
Now, in just mid June during his rookie car owner season, Kauffman has two feature wins-one at Lincoln Speedway and most recently, this past Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway. And he nearly had his third win Saturday night where his driver finished a very close runner-up and needed maybe one more lap and he would have been the first driver to repeat wins this season.
“I always enjoyed sprint car racing and I went to Lincoln and Williams Grove and I got attached to it,” said Kauffman, a long-time resident of Upper Adams County. “I always wanted to own my own sprint car team and I figured if I was going to do it, now was the time to do it.”
Dietrich was hired during the winter months and helped build Kauffman’s team into what it is today, one of the top in Central Pennsylvania and with the recent addition to long-time veteran crew chief Dennis Kohler, the team can only get better.
“I watched Danny last year and I really thought he was a good driver and did very well with what he had and I like young, aggressive drivers and that’s what he is,” Kauffman said of his driver, who won twice driving a family-owned car at Lincoln last season. “We struggled at the beginning of the year and I knew we had a better team than what we were showing on the track and I felt Danny was doing too much on the car. He’s the driver so I am glad I made the call to Dennis Kohler. It’s really gonna help Danny out and help us as a team. I told everyone that if Dennis couldn’t get our Sandoe car up front, no one could. Now Danny can concentrate on driving the car and Dennis can give him a good car to race each night.”
Sandoe’s Fruit Market is located along Route 34 in Biglerville and is a wholesale and retail dealer.
“We’ve been in business since 1953 and I’ve worked here for 36 years,” he said. “I started when I was 13 and I bought the business back in 1991. I’m a fruit broker and we have a very good business, here in the retail market and also wholesale. We ship fruit all over the state and also a lot to New York.”
Kauffman doesn’t plan to be a fly by night car owner.
“I invested a lot into this deal and I plan to be here for quite a few years,” he stated. “I work seven days a week but I also just need to get away from work because at this age, I don’t need to work as much as I do. I love going to the races and that’s my enjoyment. I like seeing my car on the track and of course, I’m in it to win races and I want to go out there and win every weekend.”
While the season did start alittle slow for Dietrich and the GKR Motorsports team, the team has shown steady improvement recently including last weekend when Dietrich raced by Brent Marks on the final lap to win at Williams Grove and nearly scored the win the next night, a night when Marks collected his first career win as well.
“As a car owner, I’m a rookie and I’m gonna learn a lot this year and carry that over into next year,” Kauffman said. “Jerry Parrish has been a great help to me and he talks to me about this business every now and again. I get excited when I’m at the track and I get excited thinking that we are clicking right now to win races with what we have in place. A weekend like we just had puts a lot of confidence in everyone on the team and hopefully that can carry into the rest of the season.”
Kauffman’s team plans to compete in all of the Pennsylvania Speedweek events.
PA SPEEDWEEK UP NEXT
The 20th annual edition of Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek is set to kick off this weekend at Lincoln Speedway and will continue through next Sunday, July 4 where it will come to an end at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Greg Hodnett enters Speedweek as the defending series champion after a very consistent effort a year ago in the J & S Fabrication sprinter. Hodnett, who won Port Royal’s Speedweek race last year, amassed 1,062 total points for the week after putting together seven top five finishes along with setting quick time on three nights.
Daryn Pittman was second in Speedweek points last year followed by Mark Smith, Chad Layton and Chad Kemenah.
Besides Hodnett, other Speedweek winners a year ago included Brian Montieth at Lincoln and at the Grove’s Thursday night show, Kemanah at Grandview and Selinsgrove, Pittman won the Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove and Stevie Smith at Bedford.
Lincoln kicks off the latest version of Speedweek Saturday night with the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial followed by a Sunday night date at Bedford Speedway. The track holds a Monday night raindate.
Speedweek then moves to the Thunder on the Hill series Tuesday at Grandview Speedway then heads south to Hagerstown Speedway next Wednesday. Lincoln’s second show of the series will be held on Thursday followed by Williams Grove’s Mitch Smith Memorial next Friday. Port Royal and Selinsgrove round out next week’s final two Speedweek events.
PIT STOPS

Keith Kauffman will make his return to the speedway beginning tomorrow night at Williams Grove Speedway.

The Man From Mifflintown will be the new driver of the Trone Outdoor Motorsports #39 sprinter and the team will compete at the Grove and hit as many PA Speedweek shows as Kauffman can attend. According to car owner John Trone, "We will sit down and evaluate things after Speedweek and see if Keith is still interested in being in the car for the rest of the season." Trone's driver Doug Esh left the team again to pilot a car owned by Pancho Lawler.

     Rod Stroup was released from Hershey Medical Center on Monday after his horrible crash Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Stroup sustained a two compression fractures to vertebra, several broken ribs and a knee puncture. Cards can reach Stroup at Evendale Tire Sales, C/O Rod Stroup, 265 End Rd, Richfield, PA 17086...
     John Westbrook Racing will have Eric Tomecek piloting the No. 1W 358 Sprint car Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway. Westbrook and TJ Stutts parted ways last week…
     Byron Reed, Tim Shaffer and Dale Blaney (two wins) were the first four winners during Ohio Speedweek. Tyler Walker’s best finish through Monday night was at Waynesfield, where he finished third. Stevie Smith had two top five finishes through Monday night…
     Email reaches me at Bvores@comcast.net…

Rick Eckert had a tough decision to make last week.
As a driver, it would have been an easy one. But as a car owner, the decision had to be a different one.
Eckert, the car owner, came out on top of the battle as the York driver enjoyed a great Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek and took home the lions share of the points money.
Eckert had one win at Winchester (VA) Speedway, three top five finishes and one top ten finish in the five events ran, which was good enough to secure the overall points championship and the $4,000 first place prize posted by title sponsor Century Link. Eckert also earned another $1,000 from Sunoco Race Fuels.
“I’m the owner and the driver now so I gotta look at things a little differently than before,” Eckert said on Monday night. “As a driver, I really wanted to go to the Dream (at Eldora Speedway), but as a car owner, I have to look at my expenses. I figured I’d have at least $2,000 tied up in going to Eldora and you’d have to run 12th just to break even. I mean, if you’d win, you’d be way ahead but you’d have to run 12th to even break even. It just didn‘t make sense as a car owner.”
Eckert knew he had something great right here in his own backyard and he took advantage of it.
“To be able to race that many night’s in a row, you can race close to home and the races were all good payoffs,” he added about the second annual Speedweek series. “Plus they have a real nice point fund for the deal so it was a good deal to just stay home and support it.”
Eckert ended the week with 714 total points compared to runner-up Jeremy Miller, who garnered 655 points after winning once during the week as well.
Nick Dickson won the opening night at Selinsgrove Speedway, Eckert won last Monday at Winchester, Gary Stuhler won at Williams Grove, Jeremy Miller won at Port Royal and Coleby Frye won at Bedford. Hagerstown and Lincoln Speedway’s were both rained out.
“It’s a really cool deal and it’s amazing the car counts that supported it,” stated Eckert. “I know this is sprint car country but I don’t think there’s every been a Sprint Speedweek that had an average of close to 50 cars.” Port Royal had a series high 55 cars while 38 cars signed in at the finale at Bedford.
Eckert said the length of the programs could be looked at for next season.
“I think when you’re gonna race every night of the week, maybe there could be a format change to make things go quicker,” he added. “A couple of nights went pretty long during the midweek.”
Eckert, who is currently seventh in world of Outlaws late model points says his York Excavating, J & K Salvage sponsored team is racing weekend to weekend.
“As of now, we plan to follow the Outlaw tour but basically it’s one weekend at a time right now,” Eckert added. “We could use a lot more sponsorship money so we’re going on what we’ve got and trying to make due. Plus we’ve had some motor issues and we still don’t have all of them back yet.”
NO MORE CONFLICT
According to All Star Circuit of Champions President Guy Webb, there won’t be a scheduling conflict in Central Pennsylvania on September 25.
Two weeks ago when the All Star sanctioned Bob Weikert Memorial was rained out for a second time at Port Royal Speedway, the track announced the event would be made up on Saturday, September 25. That’s two weeks after the track is scheduled to close and also goes head to head with one of Lincoln’s big races-the Kenny Weld Memorial.
“We won’t be racing that night against Lincoln at Port Royal,” Webb said Saturday night during the All Star visit to Lincoln. “We certainly don’t need to make waves in here and we’ll just come back and race there next year. Plus we need to get the problems there situated and make things good for next year.”
Lincoln Speedway promoter Don Leiby put it simply.
“They (the All Stars) need us more than we need them,” he said. “We enjoy having them here but we also want to see our Kenny Weld race be a success as well.”
The All Stars brought six cars to Central PA last weekend for a three-race series.
PIT STOPS
Pat Cannon had a great weekend in the Highlands Tire and Service Centers sprinter with wins at Selinsgrove and Susquehanna. Cannon strengthened his lead in the Central PA 358 Sprint Point series with his two wins and is up to six overall wins this season…
The national sprint car community was saddened by the news of Terry Hannagan’s deadh on Monday. Hannagan was the car owner for his brother Randy Hannagan…
Locally, the sprint car community was saddened by the passing of Bob Rohrbaugh, father of 358 sprint car driver Jeff Rohrbaugh. Bob was a big supporter of the York County Racing Club and his son’s racing as well. Incidently, Jeff is back driving for car owner Roy Vincent…
Jenn Heintzelman is currently working on Kids Night for Lincoln Speedway which will be held on Saturday, July 10th. Kids Night will consist of camera and autograph sessions with the drivers, a moon bounce, games and prizes. She is looking for race night sponsors for donations in the form of money, gift cards or other items that can be used for the kids. Please contact her at 570-204-3374 or by email at tlheintz@tricountyi.net…
Sammy Swindell and Joey Saldana won WoO Sprint events at Dodge City, Kansas last weekend. Saldana’s win was his fifth of the season as he continues to lead the point standings…
All Star Sprint Ohio Speedweek kicks off Friday night at Attica Raceway Park and runs through next Saturday, June 26 at Fremont Speedway. Stevie Smith and Tyler Walker are both entered for the Ohio series…
Email reaches me at Bvores@comcast.net…

When the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions invade Central Pennsylvania this weekend, there’s a good chance of the Posse pulling off a clean sweep.
Williams Grove and Lincoln Speedway’s along with Big Diamond Raceway play host to Guy Webb’s travelers for a second time this weekend and the results will most likely be the same.
The last time the All Stars were in town, Lance Dewease won at the Grove and Fred Rahmer won at Lincoln.
Dewease’s Grove win was the 21st straight Posse win versus the All Stars while Lincoln regulars have been dominate over the years as well.
The All Stars stand a chance at Big Diamond, which is sort of neutral turf for everyone.
Should a Posse win at Williams Grove Friday night, the streak for local drivers beating outside racers will extend to 10 as Posse drivers have won the last nine All Star and World of Outlaws sanctioned events at the track.
Defending champion Tim Shaffer leads the All Star contingent into the area this weekend and will bring the likes of Greg Wilson, Bill Rose, David Gravel and Jared Ridge, who recently raced in some Keystone Cup events, along with him. There is a chance that Dale Blaney will be in attendance as well. Blaney won last week’s All Star event at Lernerville Speedway but is no longer in the top 10 in ASCoC points for some reason.
The battle to beat the All Stars won’t be the only battle as two close points races are going on at both tracks as well.
Greg Hodnett leads Fred Rahmer by just 10 points at Williams Grove in the battle for the Lawrence Chevrolet championship while Chad Layton sits just 65 points out of first and Brian Montieth is just 115 points out.
Montieth sits on top at Lincoln by a 60 point margin over Rahmer while the top 10 drivers are separated by just 255 total points.
Time trials set the stage all three nights.
LATE MODEL SPEEDWEEK
The second annual Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek is in full swing after Nick Dickson raced to the win in Sunday’s opener at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Dickson led all 40 laps in earning the $5,000 payday over Rick Eckert, Jeremy Miller, Frankie Plessinger and Steve Campbell.
Dickson’s win also ended Jeff Rine’s fifth race win streak at the track. Rine won the first five regular shows at the track this season.
Selinsgrove had 51 cars in the pits.
Monday night at Winchester Speedway, York’s Eckert came out on top of the 40-lap event for the $5,000 payday. Eckert defeated Josh Richards, Jason Covert, Jimmy Mars and Keith Jackson.
Winchester had 46 cars on hand.
Speedweek continues tonight at Port Royal Speedway and concludes Friday night at the Bedford Speedway.
STUHLER, GEESEY TOP GROVE
Late model veteran Gary Stuhler ended a long winless streak after he led all 40 laps of Tuesday night’s Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek event at Williams Grove Speedway.
Stuhler, one of the best late model racers in the history of local racing also gave new car owner Paul Crowl his first win. Stuhler, of Greencastle now has 21 career Williams Grove wins.
Stuhler kept 19-year-old Keith Jackson at bay with Vic Coffey third, DJ Myers fourth and Jimmy Mars fifth.
Points leader Rick Eckert finished sixth over Coleby Frye, Jeremy Miller, Nick Dickson and Scott Haus.
Myers set fast time over the 50-car field with a lap of 22.319 seconds. Heats went to Frye, Miller, Coffey, Jackson and Eckert with Jamie Lathroum and Andy Anderson topping the consolations.
Wellsville’s Scott Geesey took the lead from Kevin Nouse on the final turn to win the 20-lap 358 Sprint car feature on Tuesday night.
Geesey came from his ninth starting spot for his first win of the season followed by Nouse, Pat Cannon, Cory Haas, Chad Trout, Ted Thomas, Todd Rittenhouse, Jr., Danny Massey, Danny Dietrich and Blane Heimbach.
PIT STOPS
Port Royal Speedway will be extending its season two weeks after postponing its Bob Weikert Memorial until September 25. That’s the same night as Lincoln Speedway’s Kenny Weld Memorial… Mother Nature has taken her toll on area tracks already this season with last weekend nearly being a total washout other than Bedford Speedway racing on Friday night and Selinsgrove on Sunday night…
Stevie Smith will be in town this weekend as the Zemco team plan to compete in all three All Star events. Smith flew in from Oklahoma last week to race at Port Royal, which turned out to be a wasted trip…
Tim Shaffer won Monday night’s All Star show in Canada over Jessica Zemken, Aaron Ott, Greg Wilson and Danny Holtgraver. Mark Coldren was ninth while Fred Rahmer did not start the A-Main…
Email reaches me at Bvores@comcast.net

Not even Daryn Pittman thought he would have the week he just had during the fourth annual Ksystone Cup Sprint Series.
In just his second week in the Heffner Racing Enterprises owned sprint car, the Oklahoma native had a near perfect week as he earned the KC title for car owner Mike Heffner.
After finishing fifth on opening night at Grandview Speedway, Pittman spun off three consecutive wins at Hagerstown, Lincoln and Selinsgrove and nearly pulled off a final lap victory in the finale on Monday at Port Royal but settled for the runner-up spot.
“It’s been a whirlwind of a week,” Pittman said after earning the first place payoff for the mini-Speedweek series. “Thanks to Mike Heffner and this whole Lelands team. I’m glad to get the championship for him. It was his main goal and I’m glad we were able to win three races as well. It was an enjoyable week and I couldn’t have asked for a much better week.”
Pittman was one of three drivers to win in the five races. Tyler Walker and Mike Erdley won the other two.
Ironically, Walker finished second in Keystone Cup points in a car that Pittman spent the last year in but was unable to find the fast way around the track most nights.
All three winners were using Mechanicsburg-based Rider Racing Engines as well.
Heffner, a relatively new car owner, was thrilled with the KC title.
“It’s a dream that this crew, Daryn and our sponsors made come true for me,” he said on Monday night. “It was a great experience this week and Daryn has made it so enjoyable. He’s been a blessing to this team. Racing has its up’s and down’s and we’ve had our down’s this year and this is certainly one of the up’s.”
Aside from Pittman’s streak of top five finishes, Lance Dewease had four top five runs in the five nights while Fred Rahmer had three. Walker, Greg Hodnett and Stevie Smith each finished in the top five two times. Seven other drivers had one top five finish.
An average of 27 cars attended the extra paying events, with Lincoln Speedway turning in the high car count at 37 while Port Royal and Grandview each had 22 cars.
LATE MODELS UP NEXT
The second annual Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek starts Saturday night at Hagerstown Speedway and runs every night through next Friday when it concludes at Bedford Speedway.
After a huge success a year ago when Josh Richards edged Jeremy Miller by one point for the week-long series championship, the stakes have been raised this season thanks to sponsor CenturyLINK who has come on board and increased the week-long point fund.
This year’s winner earns $4,000 with second place getting $2,250, third place pays $1,200 while the top eight drivers in points receive a check.
Last season 107 drivers entered at least one Speedweek show that saw Richards win twice while Jason Covert, Rick Eckert, Miller and Steve Francis also scored wins.
Selinsgrove hosts the series Sunday followed by Winchester (VA), Williams Grove, Lincoln and Port Royal before ending at Bedford.
PIT STOPS
Jesse Hockett, a sprint car driver who raced anything and everything was killed tragically last week when he was electrocuted while working on his race trailer. Hockett, who spent some time racing in Central PA in various car was just 26 years and recently married. He was laid to rest on Monday….
Central PA 358 Sprint racer Keith Prutzman will be competing in the Master’s Classic this week at Knoxville Raceway. Prutzman recently won a career first race at Lincoln Speedway. While Prutzman will be racing a 360 sprint car, several local 410 sprint drivers will be competing at Knoxville in the WoO Hall of Fame Classic this weekend including Adam Wilt, Tyler Walker and Daryn Pittman…
Good to hear Danny Dietrich is still the driver of the Gary Kauffman Racing sprint car. Dietrich, among several other drivers have been among the rumor mill all weekend long…
Doug Esh quit the Trone Outdoor Motorsports sprinter Saturday night after a dismal effort at Lincoln Speedway. But on Tuesday, Esh had a change of heart and met with car owner John Trone and will return to the seat of the No. 39 this weekend. Esh will be try a Maxim chassis to see if that makes any difference for him….
Donny Schatz (Charlotte) and Jason Sides (Tri City) were World of Outlaws Sprint winners last weekend while Steve Shaver won both WoO Late model mains in West Virginia. Lucas Wolfe had a great weekend with the WoO, finishing third at Charlotte and fourth at Tri-City and moved up to seventh in points…
Lincoln Speedway hosts the Weldon Sterner Memorial this Saturday night while the All Star Sprints are back at Port Royal for the Bob Weikert Memorial…
Email reaches me at Bvores@comcast.net…