ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 9/20/08 - Doug Esh seems to always be at his best when the big money is on the line.

And it was no different at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night, as he drove around polesitter and race-long leader Lucas Wolfe in turns three and four of lap eight and drove away to his fourth win of the year in the $4,000-to-win Hank Gentzler Manufacturers Appreciation Race.

Esh started third when faster timer Wolfe drew the "0" pill for the inversion of the feature field.

He followed Wolfe and second-starting Jim Siegel for the fist five laps before getting by Siegel for the runner-up spot on lap five. It took only three laps for Esh to erase Wolfe’s .75-second lead, and he was one and-a-half seconds in front of Siegel when the only caution of the race came out for a torsion bar on turn two of lap 18.

"We were pretty good all night," said Esh in victory lane, "Dennis (Kohler) had the car real good and Dick (Leach) had the motor running real nice. You know, starting behind Lucas there...he’s run with the best and has become one of the best...I just felt like we had a little bit better car all night long. He was quick in time trials but we were able to race pretty good in the heat race.’

"We didn’t realize we weren’t allowed to put new tires on for the feature, so we ended up putting scuffs on," said Esh, "I wasn’t too comfortable running out there starting third, but it all worked out."

Siegel caught Wolfe for second on lap 10, and ran there the rest of the race, crossing 3.25 seconds behind the Pancho’s Racing Products/Leach family #30.

Ten-time track champ Fred Rahmer came from 13^th-starting spot to catch Wolfe for third on lap 20, but couldn’t catch the leaders. Cody Darrah passed Wolfe for fourth on lap 21 and finished there, with Wolfe settling for fifth.

Sixth through tenth were Cris Eash, Niki Young, Justin Henderson in his first-ever Lincoln run, track 2008 Lincoln champ Brian Montieth, and Lance Dewease.

It was Esh’s 21^st career win in the Pigeon Hills. Counting the $2,300 prize packages doled out by Hank’s Performance Products to all cars qualifying for the Manufacturers Race and $50 for finishing third in his heat, Esh’s winnings totaled more than $6,300 on the night. The value of manufacturers’ products and services distributed to competitors by Hank’s Performance Products was more than $58,000.

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 9/13/08 - There’s no substitute for experience.

Carlisle’s Frankie Herr led the first 25 laps and last 18 laps in claiming the $4,000 top prize in the Lawrence Chevrolet Sportsman 100 at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

In doing so, Herr moved alongside retired drivers Larry Jackson and Dwight Leib as the only four-time winners of super sportsman racing’s most prestigious event.

Counting the $455 in bonus lap money, Herr’s winnings were $4,455 on the night.

"I guarantee, this old man ain’t dead yet," quipped Herr in victory lane after one of racing’s most rugged events, "My guys did their job on that red flag, and they really dialed me in. I can’t give them enough credit. You (announcer Wayne Harper) could have driven that car over the last 35 laps!"

An inversion of four put Herr on the pole for the Sportsman 100. He grabbed the lead from Ryan Rupp at the outset and led until third-starting Paul Miller took the race lead on lap 26.

Miller then led the next 39 laps until a pre-determined red came out for drivers to refuel and make adjustments on lap 65. Meanwhile, tenth-starting Bobby Hockenberry was methodically working his way through the field, and he passed Herr for the runner-up spot two laps before the 65^th-lap red.

"I wasn’t worried (about third at the break)," said Herr, "We had that break and I told my guys what to do, and they knew what to do. They made this thing a whole lot faster. I knew we had a whole ‘nother feature plus a couple laps, and I thought ‘Hell, this is the best I started this year...third...we can get ‘er done!"

Hockenberry made short work of Miller when the race restarted, driving around the #55 on lap 67. Herr reclaimed second from Miller in turns one and two following a 69^th lap caution for Doug Hendricks, one of only ten cars remaining on the lead lap who spun exiting turn two. Herr chased Hockenberry through lapped traffic over the next 13 laps before diving low to grab the race lead for good through turns one and two of the 83^rd lap.

Both Hockenberry and Miller began to push in the latter stages of the race, and they tapped wheels on the front stretch of lap of lap 99, allowing ninth-starting Jason Fry to drive by both cars into second.

But by then, Herr was long gone, crossing 4.39 seconds ahead of the Fry #10.

"This is awesome," said Herr of the win, "It’s a really nice feeling to have good people behind you. I’ve been fortunate since I got my own deal started that everybody stepped up and really helped me out. That means a lot to me. I can’t thank them enough. We dedicate this win to my crew chief Randy Raudabaugh’s son Justin. I also want to mention Scott Ball (who served on Herr’s pit crew before being killed in action in Iraq). They won’t be forgotten. They was here tonight watching us, too."

Hockenberry hung on to third, with Miller settling for fourth and two-time "100" winner Rick Eichelberger fifth. The other cars on the lead lap were Carmen Perigo, Jr. sixth, Russ Mitten seventh, and Leroy Martin eighth. Ninth and tenth one lap down were Steve Fannasy and Mike Enders.

Fast time in time trials over the 33-car super sportsman field was set by Danny Hager with a one-lap time of 15.535-seconds (86.901 MPH).

Gregg Foster and Scott Dellinger won the 10-lap qualifiers.

New Oxford’s Mike Slaybaugh picked up his second career win in the 20-lap Thundercar feature. It was an emotional win as Slaybaugh’s father, Kenny, passed away a few weeks earlier after a long bout with cancer.

Slaybaugh, who started 10^th, worked his way through the field at the outset while outside frontrow starter Brad Shank grabbed the lead and led the first nine laps.

Slaybaugh, who was working the bottom of the track, suddenly switched to the middle groove while running second following a 10^th lap caution restart.

The move paid off as he drove around Shank to take the lead on the 10^th lap and then drove away to a 1.67-second win.

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 9/7/08 - In a night of championships, it was York’s Adrian Shaffer leading all 25 laps of the $1,500-to-win 358 Sprint Championship race for his first win of 2008.

And it was West York’s Jeff Rohrbaugh taking home the coveted track Keizer Aluminum Wheels track championship by posting a fourth place finish in the final point race of the season. It was Rohrbaugh’s first ever title in the Pigeon Hills.

Shaffer grabbed the lead from his outside frontrow starting position with polesitter Glenndon Forsythe and fourth-starting Frankie Herr following.

A wild flip by Mike Duncan on the backstretch of the eighth lap stopped the action. Duncan was conscious after the crash, but transported to the trauma center at York hospital with a possible neck injury. No further reports on his condition were available.

On the restart, Herr got around Forsythe to move into second with Rohrbaugh, who started fifth, getting by Forsythe a lap later to move into third.

A Craig Myers flip in turns one and two stopped the action on the 13^th lap. Myers was okay.

Shaffer held off Herr on the restart as seventh-starting Aaron Ott passed Rohrbaugh to move into third.

Herr began to pressure Shaffer as they approached lapped traffic on lap 20, but a spin by Danny Dietrich in turn four brought out the caution and gave Shaffer a clear track with five laps to go.

Shaffer then held off Herr and Ott over the final laps to pick up his fifth career win by .91-seconds.

"It’s been getting to where I was starting to run out of tries," said Shaffer in victory lane, "Friday night we started on the front row with Glenndon and he drove away, and I thought it was going to happen again tonight. I’m just glad I got the jump on him and had a clean track the whole race."