Watson pads point lead with fourth win of the year in thundercars

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 9/22/2012 – Sixteen years after Kenny Weld’s passing, Weld Tech cylinder heads were on the car of the winner in the Annual Kenny Weld/Hilly Rife Memorial at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

Danny Dietrich put an exclamation point on a championship season by scoring the $5,000 win in the 40-lap event. Dietrich started eighth and worked his way through the field to slide under Gerard McIntyre, Jr. for the race lead exiting turn four of lap 32. From there, he drove away to the 2.86-second win, his ninth of the year and 16^th career win in the Pigeon Hills. He also collected the $500 bonus for being the first car across the finish line with Weld Tech cylinder heads.

“I tried to bide my time,” said Dietrich upon exiting the Gary Kauffman-owned Sandoe’s Fruit Market/APM Buildings #48 in victory lane, “I looked up a couple of times at the board and it about bit me. You look up at the board and you lose your concentration. You try and pace yourself in these 40-lappers. They wear you out a little bit, and I was surprised to stay on the top for 40 laps.”

Time trials and a redraw placed McIntyre and Cory Haas on the front row. Those two swapped the lead several times, with McIntyre leading lap one and Haas scored the leader of laps two through 24.

Lance Dewease brought out the caution after stopping (while running 10^th) in turn four of lap 25. On the restart, McIntyre reclaimed first from Haas and led the next eight laps. Dietrich, who was running third for the restart, caught Haas for second on lap 28, then made the race-winning pass four laps later.

“When I went to the bottom on a restart while racing Jimmy (Siegel) there for a while, I was planning on staying there, said Dietrich, “ Then Cory went to the bottom, and I thought ‘The only way I’m going to forward is if I get to the outside of him.’”

Though he had nothing for Dietrich, Haas was strong enough to catch McIntyre for second on lap 38. McIntyre settled for third, with Brian Montieth coming from 19^th starting spot to take fourth from Alan Krimes at the line. His last-lap pass earned him the $100 Walter’s Services hard-charger award, one pass better than Logan Schuchart. Sixth through tenth were Brent Marks, Jim Siegel, Adam Wilt, 23^rd-starting Logan Schuchart, and Greg Hodnett.

Sprint heats were won by Siegel, Brad McClelland, Dewease, and Daryn Pittman, with Robbie Kendall winning the B-Main. Fast time in time trials over the 32-car field was set by Brian Leppo with a one-lap time of 13.402 seconds (100.731 MPH). Leppo received the $100 Walter’s Services hard luck award for spinning in turn four while running fifth on lap 12 of the feature. Also spinning and making contact with the outside wall at the same time was Daryn Pittman. Pittman’s night was done, and Leppo dropped out a few laps later.

Abbottstown’s Duane Watson overcame problems in his heat and charged from his 15^th starting spot to pass Todd Miller for the lead on the 10^th lap and then survived the final laps of the 20-lap thundercar feature to record his fourth win of 2012.

Watson’s 37^th career win came .81-seconds over Mikey Guise and increased his point lead over Mike Slaybaugh to 75 points with one race remaining in the battle for the 2012 Thundercar track championship.

Slaybaugh settled for third, with Roy Warehime, Jr. fourth and Wayne Dutterer fifth. Jason Townsend finished sixth. Finishing seventh, one-lap down in seventh was Kyle Martin. Only the top-seven cars were on the track from the original 19 scheduled to start.

Todd Miller, who grabbed the lead from his fourth starting position on the opening lap, ended up finishing 10^th.

Heats for the Thundercars were won by Roy Warehime, Jr. and Mikey Guise.

Bobby Beard, Randy Doty “358” late model, All-American Outlaw winners

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 9/15/2012 – Scott Dellinger came from tenth starting spot to grab the lead from polesitter Steve Fannasy, then held off a determined Scott Geesey to claim his second career “Lawrence Chevrolet Sportsman 100” win in the 38^th edition of the annual classic at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

The race-winning pass came on lap 27, and the Dellinger’s Auto Body #30 racked up $1,166 in lap money to go along with the $4,000 winner’s share in leading the rest of the way. Though he was never headed, the 2009 winner had to hold off the repeated challenges of Scott Geesey through heavy lapped traffic over the first portion of the race and then the final 30 laps of the event.

“This track used to really be hard on me,” said Dellinger, “The guys have been really patient with me this year. We’ve been struggling here the last half of the season. I’m not sure what we’ve going on here, but every time we come to Lincoln we seem to get a little better, so we tried to capitalize on that.”

“I have to thank all the guys on the crew,” continued Dellinger, “Ben Engle has been with me since I started running street stocks. I’m glad he hasn’t lost faith in me yet. He told me he wanted at least two feature wins this year. We gave a couple away at the beginning, so this counts four of them I believe.”

Geesey, who started sixth, ran strong the entire way to cross second, with ninth-starting Paul Miller, eighth-starting Carmen Perigo, Jr., and 15^th-starting and hard charger Russ Mitten completing the top five. Sixth through tenth were Jay and Steve Fannasy, Rich Eichelberger, Frankie Herr, and Gregg Foster. Only eight cars finished on the lead lap, largely due to the low number of caution flags (five) during the event.

“I guess my car was set up a little bit better for the race track,” said Dellinger, “Those guys may have been coming on a little better at the end of the first half, because I was going away.”

Super Sportsman qualifiers were won by Bobby Hockenberry and Eichelberger, with Jared Miller winning the last chance race.

Fast time in time trials over the 38-car field was set by Geesey with a one-lap time of 15.437-seconds (87.452 MPH).

Bobby Beard started on the front row, drove by polesitter Grant Adams on the first lap, and led the entire way in the 20-lap “358” late model feature. Charlie Scheaffer came from ninth starting spot to catch Adams late and finish second. Adams settled for third, with Chase Billet and 12^th-starting Pat Beard rounding out the top five.

Heats for the 26 “358" Late Models were won by Chase Billet, Randy Stoudt, and Cam Zeigler, with Travis Mease winning the consolation.

Randy Doty claimed his first career Lincoln win in the 20-lap All-American Outlaws feature. Doty, who raced in Lincoln’s thundercar division without a career win, started tenth and advanced through the field to catch Justin Cullum for the race lead as the two were coming down to the flag to complete lap 11. From there, he held off Cullum for the win, with Al Daniels, Scott Jorda, and Fred Cullum completing the top five. Fred Cullum’s fifth-place finish earned him the All-American Outlaw series championship for 2012.

Abbottstown, PA - 9/8/2012 - Severe thunderstorms, with damaging wind and possible tornadoes during the afternoon forced Lincoln Speedway to postpone it's Sept. 8th 358 Sprint Championship and 358 Sprint points finale until Oct. 6th. It will be run in conjunctioon with the Hank Gentzler Memorial/Manufacturers Appreciation Night activities.