ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 7/11/09 - Doug Esh said he almost forgot how to get victory lane at Lincoln Speedway.

His last win came back on September 20, 2008 and even his rookie teammate beat to him to victory lane this season. But Saturday night, the Lancaster driver came from his 14th starting spot to capture the 25-lap sprint car feature.

Esh’s win came just before midnight as the speedway was hit with rain prior to the night’s events and then a few more small showers kept the track crew working hard to get the speedway into race shape. The delay was over two hours.

"We’ve been bad and I haven’t been driving real good," said Esh, after his 22nd career track win. "You get your head messed up a little bit. It feels like it’s my first win and it seems like forever since I came out here. I almost forgot where to go."

It was almost like a full moon as the Sprint car feature took the green flag at 11pm but several early yellow and red flags turned the race into a marathon.

Jim Siegel got into the first turn wall on the initial start to bring out a yellow and then on the restart, Cris Eash made contact with several cars and spun in turn four. Defending track champion Brian Montieth and one-time feature winner Danny Dietrich were both involved in the melee.

Randy Baughman set the pace on the restart but on lap two, Cody Darrah and Jeff Busby made contact in turn four resulting in a Busby flip. He was not injured.

The red flew on the next lap when Tim Glatfelter got out of shape in turn two, collecting Aaron Ott and Niki Young. Ott’s car rolled in the crash to bring out another red flag.

Baughman continued to set the pace as Esh moved into the top five early and then took third place on lap 11 from Chad Trout.

Esh was making his moves all over the speedway and after a slight bump with Ed Aiken, Esh drove past him for the runner-up spot on lap 17. He then used a slider to steal the lead from Baughman in turn two to lead lap 19.

While Esh appeared to have the race in hand, Trout’s good run ended on lap 23 when he came to a stop on the track.

This set up a two lap shootout with Esh and all-time track win leader Fred Rahmer, who originally lined up 19th in the lineup.

"I’m sure he had one out for me because we’ve been at each other alittle lately," Esh said of Rahmer. "He’s one of the best to ever come out of Central PA and I love to race with him and I love to beat him."

Rahmer didn’t have anything for Esh on the late restart as Esh easily rolled to the win aboard the Trone Outdoor Motorsports, Kinard Trucking, Leach’s Automotive, Benkowitsch Custom Counters No. 39.

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 6/27/09 - "I guess Kevin was sitting in this thing tonight," were the words from an emotional Brian Montieth after dominating opening night of the 19th annual Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway.

Montieth was referring to the late Kevin Gobrecht, who the race was run in memory as his Jerry Parrish owned team raced a car that was painted identical to the Amoco No. 93 sprint car that Gobrecht last drove before his untimely death ten years ago while racing with the World of Outlaws.

Montieth’s win was the fifth of the season at Lincoln and his 14th career win for the defending track champion. It was also Montieth’s first career Pennsylvania Speedweek feature win and puts him on top of the early Speedweek point chase.

"It was an honor to drive this car tonight," stated the Phoenixville driver following his $7,000 payday. "The Gobrecht family means a whole lot to this entire team."

Montieth made it known early that he was the car to beat.

Lining up on the pole for the 30-lap feature, he quickly jumped out front before Mike Erdley brought out a yellow with one lap complete with a spin in turn two. Two laps later, Erdley stopped again in turn three with mechanical problems while Cory Haas also stopped on the track with drive line issues.

Montieth set the pace on the restart over Brian Leppo and Greg Hodnett as 10th starting Cody Darrah began to show strength, moving into the top five by lap nine.

Darrah passed Hodnett for third place on lap 17 and drove under Leppo a lap later to move into the runner-up spot.

And like so many times this season, the Montieth-Darrah Shootout was about to begin!

With lapped traffic playing into the equation, Darrah closed on the leader with seven laps to go. Montieth got the break he needed on lap 24 when the rear end locked up in Leppo’s car sending him for a hard flip in turn three to end his great run.

It was just what Montieth needed as he drove away from Darrah over the final laps to capture the popular win n front of a packed house.

"It was mine to lose," Montieth stated. "It’s always better to run second in traffic. I thought I was gonna be going backwards. I’m sorry for Brian to bring out the red but I really needed a yellow and that’s what I got. This is all sort of a haze right now and we’ll see how long it keeps going."

Montieth’s win came in a Maxim chassis that has over 200 races on it. Parrish summed it up best in victory lane.

"I think we have the driver that best represents Kevin Gobrecht sitting in this car," Parrish said. "I told the guys today, if we can park this car in victory lane, they might tear the fence down."

It certainly was a storybook night for the Premier Motorsports team and the family of Kevin Gobrecht.

Darrah of Red Lion finished second with Thomasville’s Hodnett third.

Lancaster’s Doug Esh drove around Rahmer for the fourth spot coming off the fourth turn for the checkered flag.

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 5/2/09 - In less than a month, Fred Rahmer will be officially inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. So it was only fitting that Rahmer’s 500th career feature win would come during the month of May and it came against at stellar field of competitors in Saturday’s O’Reilly’s All Star Circuit of Champions event at Lincoln Speedway.

Rahmer started on the front row but settled into second for the first 13 laps before making the winning move and never looking back in taking his 164th career Lincoln Speedway feature win. The win was worth $5,000 to the Chad and Jen Clemens owned sprint car team.

"It’s nice to win my 500th win on an All Star show," stated Rahmer, after his third win of the 2009 season at Lincoln. "I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys. Dale Blaney, Greg Wilson, Danny Smith and the whole group of other guys are real good and it’s nice to win against them. I feel very fortunate."

Brian Leppo, who paced the 38-car field during time trials grabbed the early lead over Rahmer and All Star kingpin Dale Blaney.

Doug Esh, who started fourth was making some noise, taking third on lap three and racing his way by Rahmer on the sixth lap.

But the event’s only caution came out for Mark Smith, who was sitting against the inside guardrail in turn two. According to All Star rules, the field was reverted back to the prior lap, putting Rahmer back into the runner-up spot.

"The real race was when they put me back in front of Doug on that caution," said Rahmer, of Salfordville. "They came over the radio and said I was ahead of him the lap before."

Rahmer went on defense and turned it into another milestone win. He followed Leppo, who was tight on the bottom for several more laps before driving around Leppo off the second turn to lead lap 14.

Rahmer caught the rear of the field during the final laps of the race as Leppo, Esh and Alan Krimes began to close the gap but he never missed a beat.

"I kept waiting for Brian to move up but that’s what happens when you start on the pole," he said. "He led all those laps on the bottom so I just kept working him and working him until we finally got by. The track was really good tonight and you could move around and race. It made for good entertainment and I appreciate everyone spending their money to come watch us race."

Esh, of Lancaster was able to get around Leppo on the final lap for a runner-up finish with Leppo, of New Oxford third, Krimes of Denver fourth and Hartford, Ohio’s Blaney fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Stevie Smith, Lance Dewease, Daryn Pittman, Greg Hodnett and Niki Young.

Heats for the 38 All Star sprinters were won by Daryn Pittman, Brian Montieth, Chad Layton and Niki Young with Jim Siegel winning the B-Main. Brian Leppo paced time trials with a one lap time of 13.174 seconds. Fred Rahmer won the 6-lap Dash.