Logan Wagner Upset Winner In BAPS 410 Opener At Susquehanna

Story By: BRAD VORES / SUSQUEHANNA SPEEDWAY – YORK HAVEN, PA – It’s no secret that Logan Wagner hasn’t had much success at Susquehanna Speedway in a 410 Sprint car.

So what does a driver do about that? Go back and put on a show.

And that’s exactly what the young Harrisonville, PA driver did in Sunday night’s 30-lap BAPS Auto Paints and Supplies 410 Sprint Series feature.

“First race here last year, I wadded it up on the opening going into one and the last time we were here, we dumped it in three and ended up wadding it up again and everybody said why are you going back to Susky, every time you go there you wreck and I said I’m going there to win and we did, it was badass man,” stated Wagner after his popular upset win and first ever 410 sprint car win at the York Haven oval.

Not only did Wagner win, but he made a move on a lap 16 restart that saw him drive by both leader Doug Esh and runner-up Greg Hodnett as the trio raced into the first turn. That move was the race winning move and Wagner would never look back enroute to the $3,200 payday.

Kyle Reinhardt grabbed the lead early in the event and held the point until a lap five restart, when Esh got into him in turn two sending Reinhardt’s No. 91 into a series of flips.

Esh would leave until the lap 16 restart when Wagner took the lead as eighth starting Greg Hodnett moved by Esh on lap 17 and was racing a car length behind Wagner when his right rear tire exploded with 23 laps in.

Wagner again held the point on the restart, keeping Esh and Lance Dewease at bay and as Esh and Dewease battled, Wagner drove off aboard his All Things Automotive #7W sprinter to score the win.

“We’re negative five grand in the bank account for racing and the only option is to win,” Wagner said.

Wagner drew the #1 envelope in victory lane and was presented another $500 bonus from race sponsor Wintermyers Auto Salvage. Wagner donated half of that bonus to Reinhardt for his “bad luck.”

Esh finished second ahead of Dewease, Brock Zearfoss and Freddie Rahmer with Aaron Ott, 21st starter Lucas Wolfe, Brian Montieth, Alan Krimes and Chad Trout.

Ott, Krimes and Dewease won heats for the 28 410 Sprints. Tyler Ross was the consolation winner.

Doug Hammaker muscled his way around leader Chandler Leiby on a lap 14 restart and drove to the win in the 25-lap 358 Sprint car feature.

Leiby led the first 13 laps from his pole starting spot but Hammaker, who started third got the upper hand on the restart for the race winning move.

Leiby settled for the runner-up finish ahead of Kevin Nouse, Steve Owings and 13th starting Brent Shearer with Todd Gracey, Cody Fletcher, Chris Frank, Jeff Halligan and Dwight Leppo completing the top ten.

Heats for the 29 358 Sprints were won by Gracey, Steven Drevicki and Nouse with JB Cunningham winning the consolation.

Put Gene Knaub on the pole of any race and nine chances out of ten, the race will be for the runner-up spot.

That’s exactly what happened in Saturday night’s Bernheisel Race Cars 358 Late Model main at Susquehanna Speedway as the Dover driver drew the pole position for the 25-lap feature and led green to checkered to pick up his first win of the season. It was also Knaub’s first start of the year at the York Haven track.

Knaub was slowed by six cautions during the event, including a late race yellow with 19 laps complete but that didn’t slow him down from becoming the third different winner in as many races this season, driving under the checkered flag ahead of point leader and defending track champ Randy Christine, Jr. who started eighth. Chase Billet moved up from 10th to finish third with Daulton Bigler earning the ArtWerks Hard Charger Award after advancing from 15th to fourth. Fifth went to Sean Merkel followed by Justin Ehrhart, Sam Rial, Cory Merkel, Dave Latsha and Matt Murphy.

Heats winners for the 18 car field were Taylor Farlling and Knaub.

Zach Newlin picked up the season opening win for the Freedmont® Mortgage Lending PASS IMCA Sprints.

Mark Watkins set the early pace, leading until a lap seven red flag for Nick Sweigart, who flipped.

Under the red flag, Watkins’ team made a wing adjustment and was disqualified from the race by PA Sprint Club officials.

Newlin assumed command held on despite many more caution flags during the 20 lap feature.

Tyler Reeser came from his 19th staring spot to finish second earning the Artwerks Hard Charger with Ken Duke, Jr., Kyle Ganoe and Stephanie Dodson completing the top five finishers. Sixth through tenth were Dave Brown, Scott Ellerman, Alex Potosky, Billy Ney and Jaremi Hanson.

Rick Stief, Darren Miller and Ellerman won heats for the 27 305 Sprints. Reeser was the consolation winner.

Patrick McClane and defending track champ Alex Updegraff exchanged the top spot several times before McClane got the upper hand with 11 laps complete and drove to his first win of the year in thee 20-lap Superior Homes Extreme Stock feature. Updegraff settled for the runner-up finish ahead of Keith Bissinger, Kyle Emig and Ronnie Buck.

Michael Smith was the single heat winner for the 11 car field.

Mason Chaney took the lead from Harlon Leppo on lap four of the 20-lap ServiceMaster Clean Central PA Legends feature and never looked back in taking his first win of the season.

Chaney survived five caution periods before the win over Scott Houdeshell, Jeff Herbst, 15th starting Rick Hartwig and 11th starting Chris Transeau with 24th starting Chandler Pagotta, Scott Smith, Justin Mitchell, Bill Diehl and Leppo completing the top ten finishers.

Hayden Pascoe, Travis McClelland, Bob Stough and Travis Perry won heats for the 35 Legends with Trent Yoder winning the consolation.

Susquehanna Speedway returns to action Saturday, April 15 on Legends of Susquehanna Night presented by Hanover Auto Team. The racing program will see the return of the Credit Connection Auto Sales Super Sportsman joined by the Bernheisel Race Cars 358 Late Models, Morgan Paving, Aqua Fun Pools Street Stocks and the Superior Homes Extreme Stocks. It will also be York County Racing Club Night at the speedway. Racing begins at 7PM.

Next up on the BAPS Auto Paints and Supplies 410 Sprint Series event will be the Select Collision Kevin Gobrecht Classic presented by Hessiron.com on Sunday, May 7 honoring the life of the late 410 Sprint car star and brother of Susquehanna Speedway track owner Scott Gobrecht. Racing will begin at 7 PM.

Bernheisel Race Cars 358 Late Models ( 25 Laps)

1)1 Gene Knaub 2) 74 Randy Christine, Jr. 3) 22 Chase Billet 4) 24 Daulton Bigler 5) 118 Sean Merkel 6) 69 Justin Ehrhart 7) 55 Sam Rial 8) 16 Cory Merkel 9) 19L Dave Latsha 10) 21m Matt Murphy 11) 13x Ben Whitaker 12) 22H Eric Hohol 13) 8 Taylor Farlling 14) 57 Brad Shank 15) 19 Drew Weisser 16) 116 Travis Mease 17) 5 Charles
Potts 18) 3B Cameron Benyou

Freedmont® Mortgage Lending PASS IMCA Sprints (20 Laps)
1) 11z Zach Newlin 2) 5T Tyler Reeser 3) 67 Ken Duke Jr. 4) 0 Kyle Ganoe 5) 20 Stephanie Dodson 6) 44x Dave Brown 7) 8D Scott Ellerman 8) 92 Alex Potosky 9) 83 Billy Ney 10) 35 Jaremi Hanson 11) 11 Austin Bishop 12) 5 John Walp 13) 69K Kassidy Kreitz 14) 9s Rick Stief 15) 50 Jay Krout 16) 880 Drew Ritchey 17) 17c Keith Anderson 18) 99 Cale Reigle 19) 8 Nick Sweigart 20) 51 Dave Graber 21) 77 Andrew Hake 22) 9c Darren Miller 23) 14 Kyle Craker 24) 17 Mark Watkins

Did Not Qualify: 2 Erin Statler, 17A Colby Dice, 75 Dylan Shatzer

Superior Homes Extreme Stocks (20 Laps)
1) 55 Patrick McClane 2) 1 Alex Updegraff 3) 11B Keith Bissinger 4) 10 Kyle Emig 5) 7 Ronnie Buck 6) 97 Donnie Broderick 7) 76 Michael Smith 8) 37 Mallory Duvall 9) XR7 Jerry Blauch 10) 78 Tonya Lance 11) 97B JR Rodriquez

ServiceMaster Clean Central PA Legends (20 Laps)
1) 8CR Mason Chaney 2) 5 Scott Houdeshell 3) 18H Jeff Herbst 4) 9 Rick Hartwig 5) 18 Chris Transeau 6) 75 Chandler Pagotta 7) 2 Scott Smith 8) 91 Justin Mitchell 9) 53 Bill Diehl 10) 15H Harlon Leppo 11) 7md Nate Renfro 12) 3AU Hayden Pascoe 13) 51 Travis McClelland 14) 69x Justin Forbes 15) 19 Travis Perry 16) 15 Lucas Montgomery 17) 0 Bob Stough 18) 66 Trent Yoder 19) 8 Robert Shaw 20) 85 Chad Earnst 21) 519 Tim Osheehan 22) 19L Donnie Leiby 23) M1 John Kooti 24) 27 Greg Burd

Did Not Qualify: 4 Eli Dodge, 21H Cody Haines, 25 Cody Madison, 99 Wayne Welsh, 6 Todd Rahley, 58z Zachary Settle, 2A Ken Boyce, 30 Alex Robinson, 14w Stephen Wurtzler, 41 Robert Rice, 18s Jorje Sweger