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LINCOLN SPEEDWAY Jun 30, 2007, 23:47 Nat Tuckey wins 4th in-a-row, 6th of the season in thundercars
Elsewhere around the country, it’s known as a "slider," and Hodnett performed the maneuver to perfection in sliding under Smith exiting turn four of lap 27. From there, he pulled away to a 2.11-second victory, his fifth of the year in the Pigeon Hills. Despite the fact that the only caution of the race came out for a spinning Mike Erdley in turn two of lap 11, the leaders never caught lapped traffic. And Hodnett was quick to credit the competitive field upon exiting the Jim and Sandy Kline-owned J&S Fabrication/Macri Concrete/Rock-It Pizza & Subs #22. "This is a very competitive field of cars. We are fortunate to be up here. Great drivers...great equipment...and great facility tonight. It was real tough to pass, but we just kinda’ hung in there and hung in there...and kinda’ gotta’ an opportunity there towards the end," said Hodnett, "We never got to lapped traffic, and it was probably fortunate for me because I’ve been struggling in traffic and tight stuff. Everybody’s very fast, and starting position has been an absolute premium. We have to take advantage of it any time we can get it." An inversion of eight coupled with the failure of Cory Haas and Jeff Busby to qualify in their heats put Nike Young and Fred Rahmer on the front row for the start. Rahmer, who became Lincoln’s all-time winningest driver two weeks ago, brought out the caution on the first lap when he bicycled and struck the outside wall while racing with Young for the lead on turn four. Rahmer was uninjured but done for the night. The restart saw Smith move to the outside of row one, and he followed Young for the first four laps before driving around Young on lap five. Hodnett, who lined up fourth for the restart, drove by Young for second on lap 10, and pulled onto Smith’s back bumper when the caution came out for Erdley. Smith pulled away to as much as a one-second lead at the mid-point of the event, but Hodnett began to close after beating back the challenges of Brian Leppo on laps 18 and 19. Hodnett learned something from the challenge, and used that knowledge to mount his race-winning charge with three laps to go.
Leppo caught Smith for second on the final lap, with Smith settling for third, Lucas Wolfe fourth, and Doug Esh fifth. Completing the top ten were Jeff Shepard, Young, Josh Wells, Alan Krimes, and Mark Smith. Sprint heats were won by Rahmer, Brian Montieth, Esh and Mark Smith, with Busby winning the B-Main. Lucas Wolfe set fast time in time trials over the 42-car field with a one lap time of 13.076 seconds (103.243 MPH). Combined with last week’s Sal Scarpitta Memorial top prize ($5,900 plus a $500 bonus from Don Ott Racing Engines), Hodnett’s two-week take at Lincoln totaled more than $16,000. The event was the 8th Annual Kevin Gobrecht Memorial, and the thought wasn’t lost in Hodnett’s post-race comments. "We had a chance to race and become friends," Hodnett said of Gobrecht, "When I started running for the Apple car, Lee Stauffer was good friends with Kevin. He was just a good guy. You can’t say enough for not only Kevin, but the entire Gobrecht family. Still to this day, they treat me as good as gold...the same way they treat every fan. Their very appreciative of what we do as part of this Memorial event, but what the fans do, and without fans the game can’t go on." Biglerville’s Nat Tuckey continued his winning ways by winning his fourth thundercar feature in-a-row in exciting fashion. Tuckey and Duane Watson battled side-by-side over the final four laps with Tuckey taking the win by a mere 16-hundredths of a second to register his 20th career win and move into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time Lincoln Thundercar win list. Danny Beard drove into the lead from his outside frontrow starting spot over Randy Menges at the drop of the green and raced out in front for the first 16 laps in his quest for his first career win. But Tuckey methodically drove from his ninth starting spot and chased down Beard to make his winning pass on the 17th lap. David Prunkl came from 11th to finish third, with 14th-starting Neil Smith was fourth. Rookie racer Rob Rudisill had the run of his life by coming from 18th to finish fifth. Completing the top-10 were Bobby Beard (Substituting for Craig Wagaman), Scott Fisher, Nate Topper, Ronnie Thomas and Gino Comi. Heats for the 22 thundercars on hand were won by Danny Beard, Smoke Christine and Tuckey. Lincoln Speedway returns to action next Saturday, July 7th at 7 PM with big 4-division/5-feature show. Two open-wheel divisions (358 Sprints & Super sportsman) will be joined by a pair of fendered divisions (358 Late Models & Thundercars). In addition to the four features for the competing division, the thundercars will be making up there rained out feature from April 28th. Gates will open at 5 PM. The Cindy Rowe Auto Glass 410 Sprints will have the night off at the Pigeon Hills oval to give them the opportunity to compete in Pennsylvania Speedweek action. To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s "Premier" Saturday night race track - The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway. RACE RESULTS Lap Leaders - Niki Young (1-4), Stevie Smith (5-26), Greg Hodnett (27-30) 1st Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 51-Fred Rahmer; 2. U1-Chad Layton; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe; 4. 25-Lance Dewease; 5. 7-Keith Kauffman; 6. 11C-Cory Haas; 7. 7E-Cris Eash; 8. 45B-Billy Brian Jr.; 9. 13-Cliff Brian; 10. 45-AJ Michael. Time - 2:18.035 2nd Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 92-Brian Montieth; 2. 12-Kevin Nouse; 3. 10N-Niki Young; 4. 19-Stevie Smith; 5. 1-Jeff Shepard; 6. 39-TJ Stutts; 7. 35-Alan Cole; 8. 17B-Steve Buckwalter; 9. .08-Joe Ilg; 10. 6K-Chris Knopp. Time - 2:21.407 3rd Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 30-Doug Esh; 2. 22-Greg Hodnett; 3. 6W-Josh Wells; 4. X-Bobby Weaver; 5. 11-Mike Erdley; 6. 47J-Jeff Busby; 7. 59-Jim Siegel; 8. 20-Ryan Taylor; 9. 4-John Rudisill; 10. 03-Clark Simonton Jr.. Time - 2:24.387 4th Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 07-Mark Smith; 2. 71-Brian Leppo; 3. 87-Alan Krimes; 4. 88-Todd Shaffer; 5. 0-Rick Lafferty; 6. 38N-Nick Schlauch, Jr.; 7. 30C-Steve Clabaugh; 8. 93-Jonathan Eriksen (DNF); 9. 3-Bob Bennett (DNF); 10. 84-Dave Brown (DNF); 11. 26-Pat Cooper (DNS). No Time B-Main (12 Laps/4 to qualify) - 1. 47J-Jeff Busby; 2. 7E-Cris Eash; 3. 11C-Cory Haas; 4. 39-T.J. Stutts; 5. 17B-Steve Buckwalter; 6. 59-Jim Siegel; 7. 20-Ryan Taylor; 8. 35-Alan Cole; 9. 13-Cliff Brian; 10. 38N-Nick Schlauch, Jr.; 11. 30C-Steve Clabaugh; 12. 08-Joe Ilg; 13. 45B-Billy Brian, Jr.; 14. 45-A.J. Michael; 15. 4-John Rudisill; 16. 93-Jonathan Eriksen; 17. 03-Clark Simonton, Jr. (DNF); 18. 3-Bob Bennett (DNF); 19. 6K-Chris Knopp (DNS). No Time Time Trials - 1. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 13.076 seconds (103.243 MPH); 2. 1-Jeff Shepard, 13.092; 3. 22-Greg Hodnett, 13.213; 4. 71-Brian Leppo, 13.239; 5. 11C-Cory Haas, 13.275; 6. 19-Stevie Smith, 13.309; 7. 47J-Jeff Busby, 13.411; 8. 87-Alan Krimes, 13.423; 9. 51-Fred Rahmer, 13.428; 10. 10N-Niki Young, 13.430; 11. 30-Doug Esh, 13.485; 12. 3-Bob Bennett, 13.492; 13. 7-Keith Kauffman, 13.530; 14. 92-Brian Montieth, 13.532; 15. 6W-Josh Wells, 13.534; 16. 07-Mark Smith, 13.536; 17. U1-Chad Layton, 13.545; 18. 12-Kevin Nouse, 13.602; 19. X-Bobby Weaver, 13.611; 20. 93-Jonathon Eriksen, 13.617; 21. 7E-Cris Eash, 13.620; 22. 39-TJ Stutts, 13.644; 23. 11-Mike Erdley, 13.671; 24. 0-Rick Lafferty, 13.689; 25. 25-Lance Dewease, 13.724; 26. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 13.739; 27. 59-Jim Siegel, 13.745; 28. 88-Todd Shaffer, 13.747; 29. 13-Cliff Brian, 13.748; 30. 35-Alan Cole, 13.785; 31. 20-Ryan Taylor, 13.819; 32. 38N-Nick Schlauch Jr., 13.878; 33. 45B-Billy Brian Jr., 13.920; 34. 6K-Chris Knopp, 13.935; 35. 03-Clark Simonton Jr., 13.945; 36. 30C-Steve Clabaugh, 13.958; 37. 45-AJ Michael, 14.074; 38. .08-Joe Ilg, 14.136; 39. 4-John Rudisill, 14.315; 40. 84-Dave Brown, 14.434; 41. 9-Craig Keel, NT; 42. 26-Pat Cooper, NT. UNOFFICIAL SPEEDWEEK POINTS AFTER NIGHT #1: 1. Greg Hodnett (173 pts.); 2. Lucas Wolfe (156); 3. Brian Leppo (147); 4. Stevie Smith (136); T5. Jeff Shepard & Doug Esh (127); 7. Niki Young (114); 8. Alan Krimes (106); 9. Josh Wells (104); 10. Mark Smith (97). Thundercars: Lap Leaders - Danny Beard (1-16), Nat Tuckey (17-20) 1st Heat (8 Laps) - 1. 60-Danny Beard; 2. 81S-Sam Gallagher; 3. 3W-Duane Watson; 4. 33-Gino Comi; 5. 61M-Mike Slaybaugh; 6. 6-Nate Topper; 7. 8-Bill Brown, Jr.; 8. 129-Jimmy Combs. Time - 2:43.43 2nd Heat (8 Laps) - 1. 35-Smoke Christine; 2. 61-Randy Menges; 3. 21A-Mike Zeigler Jr.; 4. 54W-Roy Warehime Jr.; 5. 1-Neil Smith; 6. 30-Bobby Beard; 7. 1E-Greg Emlet Jr.; 8. 29-Jeff Zinn (DNF). No Time 3rd Heat (8 Laps) - 1. 22-Nat Tuckey; 2. 8MD-David Prunkl; 3. 76-Bob Bare; 4. 20-Scott Fisher; 5. 21-Ronnie Thomas; 6. 7R-Rob Rudisill; 7. 4R-Jason Watson. Time - 2:42.59 © 2010 Copyright by Sel-Wil, Inc.
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