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LINCOLN SPEEDWAY Apr 7, 2007, 22:19 Rich Eichelberger, Bobby Beard claim super sportsman, 358 late model wins
Salfordsville’s Fred Rahmer’s climb to the top of Lincoln Speedway’s all-time win mark reached milestone win number 150 Saturday night, tying him with Steve Smith atop the all-time win standings. Rahmer charged from his familiar 12th starting spot to chase down race-long leader Niki Young and grab the lead on the 16th lap and easily pulled away to pick up his 150th career win in the 25 lap 410 sprint feature on a frigid-cold night at the Pigeon Hills oval. "Absolutely, in all honesty, this is unbelievable to me," said Rahmer reflecting on his record-tying run. "Because I know actually how much ability I have, and it’s nothing near what Mr. Smith, Bobby Allen and all those other guys that have raced here...but I guess through perseverance and just surrounding myself with good people, I ‘ve been very fortunate." "I ‘ve been wanting to get this out of the way because I didn’t want to get this close and leave it get by. We still have work to do. There’s only one man that will ever beat me, and that’s Mr. Smith...and I don’t doubt that he couldn’t come back out and do it." Outside front row starter Young grabbed the lead over polesitter Doug Dodson at the outset with Dodson, Jeff Busby, Brian Leppo and Ryan Taylor in tow. Disaster struck rookie racer Taylor on the third lap when he tangled with Cris Eash at the end of the backstretch and flipped. Eash was able to keep moving, but Jim Siegel, Doug Esh, Chris Knopp and TJ Stutts ended up in the crash. Taylor emerged unhurt, with several cars taking advantage of the lengthy caution to make repairs and return to action. Young pulled away from Dodson on the restart and quickly opened up a 1.39-second lead before Knopp stopped in turn three to bring out the caution on the fourth lap. Once again Young pulled away once the racing action resumed with Leppo, who started fifth, making a charge to the front and moved into the runner-up spot on the 10th lap. Meanwhile Rahmer was starting to make his familiar charge, and after moving into the top-five on the fifth lap, passed Eash for fourth on the 10th lap, Dodson for third on the 12th lap and then Leppo for second on the 13th lap. At the time, Young held on to a 1.51-second advantage. But Rahmer was on a mission, and wasted no time tracking down Young and making his race-winning move exiting the fourth turn of the 16th lap. From there, Rahmer easily pulled away over the remaining laps to take the checkered 3.59-seconds ahead of Leppo for his second overall win of 2007. "It’s pretty incredible," Rahmer quickly added following his historic win. "But I’ve got to thank all the fans...you’re a better group of people than me, because I’d be home sitting watching TV if it was this cold." "We really appreciate you all for coming out and for the Leibys for putting in the effort and for Fred (Putney) for having the track together." "I’m pretty old, so I’ve got to take my time getting up through," said Rahmer with a smile after being asked about how far back he was early in the feature. "I was lucky to get through that crash on the back (stretch)." "The only difference between this year and last year is Tim Elwell," said Rahmer about his early-season success. "We’ve got a good group here and they give me good equipment and good sponsors...they’ve got the car a little better and I’m driving a little smarter, but we still have a long way to go though." "Of all the wins I have here I would bet that 99.9 percent of them were with Don Ott Engines." Young settled for third, with Eash fourth and 15th-starting Lance Dewease fifth. Completing the top-10 were Alan Krimes, Esh, Dodson, Busby and Brian Montieth. Heats for the 27 "410" sprinters were won by Young, Rahmer and Leppo, with Chad Layton winning the consolation. Rich Eichelberger picked up where he left off last year in claiming the win in the 20-lap Lincoln opener for super sportsman. The Dillsburg veteran, winner of last year’s Sportsman 100, started beside Dave Berkheimer on the front row and led every lap. Frankie Herr started seventh and moved into second when he passed Duaine Smith on the 11th lap, but he didn’t have anything for the winner on the final two restarts. Eichelberger earned $1,200 for his 1.54-second win over Herr, with Jason Fry third, Paul Miller fourth, and Smith fifth. Completing the top ten were Dave Socks, Russ Mitten, John Stehman, Glenn Keller, and Danny Hager.
Heats for the 25 super sportsman were won by Scott Dellinger, Herr and JR Fry. McSherrystown’s Bobby Beard added another division to his late model win total by claiming the 20-lap feature for "358" late models. It was his second overall Lincoln win of the year, after winning earlier in a back-up Slaybaugh car in the thundercar division. Beard started on the pole and led every lap, crossing 2.24-seconds ahead of runner-up Carl Billet. Those were two of the eight cars which were not involved in a vicious first-lap 16-car pileup on the backstretch which saw Steve Kent barrel roll his XXX late model. Kent crawled out of the car with assistance several minutes after the crash, and was checked over by track EMT’s. Third through fifth were Derrick Mease, Tyler Armstrong, and Jerry Bard. Completing the top ten were Gene Knaub, Mike Walls, Mike Shoemaker, Pat Beard, and John Moser, Jr.
Heats for the 35 "358" late models were won by Dave Sokoloski, Bard, Armstrong and Pat Beard. Twin consolations were won by last week’s winner Tyler Hershey and Larry Baer. Next Saturday, April 14th, at 6 PM, Lincoln Speedway will have all three regular point divisions in action - the Cindy Rowe Auto Glass 410 Sprints, 358 Sprints & Thundercars. It will be the first of 11 races scheduled in 2007 for the 358 Sprints at the Pigeon Hills oval. Gates will open at 4 PM. 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 (1-15), Fred Rahmer (16-25) 1st Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1. 10N-Niki Young; 2. 87-Alan Krimes; 3. 6K-Chris Knopp; 4. 43-Doug Dodson; 5. 12-Mike Bittinger; 6. 30C-Steve Clabaugh; 7. 49-Bobby Howard; 8. 25C-Aaron Ott; 9. U1-Chad Layton (DNF). No Time 2nd Heat (10 Lap/6 to qualify) - 1. 51-Fred Rahmer; 2. 47J-Jeff Busby; 3. 20-Ryan Tyler; 4. 67-Cris Eash; 5. 59-Jim Siegel; 6. 17B-Steve Buckwalter; 7. 89-Cody Darrah; 8. 1F-Richie Fritz; 9. 45-AJ Michael. Time - 2:35.84 3rd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1. 71-Brian Leppo; 2. 21-Brian Montieth; 3. 39-TJ Stutts; 4. 6W-Josh Wells; 5. 25-Lance Dewease; 6. 30-Doug Esh; 7. 44-Joey Hershey; 8. 21A-Ed Aikin; 9. 4-John Rudisill. Time - 2:35.31 Consolation (10 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1. U1-Chad Layton; 2. 89-Cody Darrah; 3. 49-Bob Howard; 4. 1F-Ritchie Fitz; 5, 44-Joey Hershey; 6. 21A-Ed Aikin; 7. 25-Aaron Ott; 8. 4-John Rudisill; 9. 45-AJ Michael. No Time SUPER SPORTSMAN: Lap Leaders - Rich Eichelberger (1-20) 1st Heat (8 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1. 30-Scott Dellinger; 2. 00-Rick Barr; 3. 58-Paul Miller; 4. 8-Rich Eichelberger; 5. 9G-Glenn Keller; 6. 2A-Carmen Perigo Jr.; 7. 66-Leroy Martin; 8. 93-Jake Raudabaugh; 9. 73K-Rocky Magaro. Time - 2:12.78 2nd Heat (8 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1. 99-Frankie Herr; 2. 55-Danny Hager; 3. 318-Duaine Smith; 4. 5-Dave Berkheimer; 5. 1-John Stehman; 6. 25-Bobby Hockenberry; 7. 07-Mike Enders; 8. 11-Steve Fannasy. Time - 2:17.11 3rd Heat (8 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1. 22H-JR Fry; 2. 24-Jason Fry; 3. 45-Dave Socks III; 4. 77-Russ Mitten; 5. 33-Ryan Rupp; 6. 29-Gregg Foster; 7. 14-Chris Reed; 8. 64-Stan Wanner. Time - 2:14.49 358 LATE MODELS: Lap Leaders - Bobby Beard (1-20) 1st Heat (8 Laps/4 to qualify) - 1. 11-Dave Sokoloski; 2. 1W-Mike Walls; 3. 21B-Arlin Brougher; 4. XXX-Steve Kent; 5. 4M-John Moser; 6. 73-Mike Duck (DNF); 7. 38S-Randy Shaeffer (DNF); 8. 17-Jake Lettick (DNF); 9. 116-Travis Mease (DNF). No Time 2nd Heat (8 Laps/4 to qualify) - 1. 41F-Jerry Bard; 2. 21-Derrick Zirkle; 3. 10H-Fred Harden; 4. 8-Mike Shoemaker; 5. 74-Tyler Hershey; 6. 47-Bob Scott Jr.; 7. 9E-Erick Metzger; 8. 02-Jeremy Knoll (DNF); DNS - 15-Jared Miller. No Time 3rd Heat (8 Laps/4 to qualify) - 1. 84-Tyler Armstrong; 2. X-Bernie Beard; 3. 18-Derrick Mease; 4. 1J-Shaun Jones; 5. 4-Gary Potts; 6. 78-John Ebersole; 7. 5-Charles Potts; 8. 30-Bob Minnich; 9. 08-Zack Kauffman. No Time 4th Heat (8 Laps/4 to qualify) - 1. 7-Pat Beard; 2. 23-Bobby Beard; 3. 1-Carl Billet; 4. 1K-Gene Knaub; 5. 0-Larry Baer; 6. 28-Mike Spangler; 7. 6-Josh Kimmel; 8. 5T-Rick Schaffer. No Time 1st Consolation (Reduced to 5 Laps/4 to qualify)- 1. 74-Tyler Hershey; 2. 4M-John Moser, Jr.; 3, 47-Bob Scott, Jr.; 4. 9E-Erick Metzger; 5. 73-Mike Duck (DNS); 6. 38S-Randy Schaeffer (DNS); 7. 17-Jake Lettich (DNS); 8. 02-Jeremy Knoll (DNS); 9. 116-Travis Mease (DNS); 10. 15-Jared Miller (DNS). Time - 1:29.60 (Establishes 5-lap track record for 358 late models) 2nd Consolation (8 Laps/4 to qualify)- 1. 0-Larry Baer; 2. 4-Gary Potts; 3. 28-Mike Spangler; 4. 5-Charles Potts; 5. 6-Josh Kimmel; 6. 78-John Ebersole; 7. 08-Zack Kauffman; 8. 30M-Bob Minnich; 9. 5T-Rick Scheffer. No Time © 2011 Copyright by Sel-Wil, Inc.
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