Blane Heimbach Prevails To Win American Sprint Car Series Race At Selinsgrove

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – SELINSGROVE, PA – Becoming the 141st winner with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com, three-time Selinsgrove Speedway track champion, Blane Heimbach, put on a dominating performance to pocket $5,000, plus a $500 bonus thanks to Mach1 Chassis, at Selinsgrove Speedway on Saturday night.

Beating the rain by minutes to wrap up the 11 Oaks Farm Battle of the Groves, Heimbach was greeted by roaring applause as he exited his car on the front stretch. An emotional moment for Blane, the driver of the Goff Racing No. 12 choked back tears when he addressed the crowd and dedicated the race to his friend, Craig Vanhorn.

“That race meant more to me than anyone here will know. I lost a crew member that has been with me since I started, and this is the first Sprint Car race I’ve won without him here. I’m not easy to work with or for, but I’ve had a group of guys that have helped me for a long time, and this winter just seemed like it was trial after trial with people having health issues, then losing one of my best guys, we’ve just started piecing together a new crew,” stated Blane.

“After working with somebody for 20 years, you don’t even have to really talk. He knows what you want, and you know what he’s going to do so working through that, it’s been troublesome at times. I really took for granted over the years how good I had it and this just makes me appreciate what they’ve done, and how long they’ve been with me.”

Earning the front row with pole sitter, Seth Bergman, through the Heat/Qualifier format, Heimbach jetted into the lead through the first and second turns as Seth was left to fend off Trey Starks. Unable to hold off the charge of the Textron Off-Road No. 44s, the caution gave the Washington native a shot at the lead on Lap 3 but was unable to mount the charge.

Working into slower traffic by the 10th revolution, the Mach1 Chassis No. 12 slipped past the backmarkers with ease. Opening to nearly three seconds over Starks, the No. 44s was able to chip away to bring the advantage to 1.967 seconds at the drop of the checkered flag.

Starks best career finish with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com, the Champion Brands No. 44s was joined on the podium by Davie Franek, who raced through the field from 10th. Posting his seventh top-five finish in just as many starts with the National Tour, Mark Smith crossed fourth in the Mach1 Chassis No. M1. Slipping back from the pole, Seth Bergman completed the top-five and reclaimed the top spot in the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com driver standings.

Derek Locke in sixth was followed by Roger Crockett. Moving up from 12th, Scott Bogucki finished eighth with J.J. Grasso advancing nine positions to pick up the CP-Carrillo Hard Charger of the Night. Blake Hahn rounded out the night’s top-ten.

A field of 41 drivers on hand dropped into five Heat Races with Ryan Kissinger, Seth Bergman, Mark Smith, Blake Heimbach, and Mike Walter grabbing wins. Three Hoosier Tire Qualifiers were won by Robbie Stillwaggon, Roger Crockett, and Eddie Strada. A pair of BMRS B-Mains went to Ryan Smith and J.J. Grasso. One point based provisional was used by Skylar Gee. A promoters provisional was awarded by Chad Layton.

The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com returns to competition with another new facility on the lineup at Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan. on Wednesday, May 9, followed by the return to Lakeside Speedway on Thursday, May 10 for the McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic.

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Capital Renegade United Race Club
Selinsgrove Speedway – Selinsgrove, Penn.
11 Oaks Farm Battle of the Groves
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Car Count: 41

Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Ryan Kissinger, [1]; 2. 77-Derek Locke, [3]; 3. 44S-Trey Starks, [5]; 4. 63-Josh Weller, [2]; 5. 10X-Ryan Smith, [4]; 6. 35-Chad Layton, [8]; 7. 5G-Curt Michael, [6]; 8. 08-Jason Clauss, [7]; 9. 1-Travis Rilat, [9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [6]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 3. 99K-Cody Keller, [5]; 4. 25-J.J. Grasso, [3]; 5. 77X-Alex Hill, [4]; 6. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [8]; 7. 76-Larry Kelleher, [1]; 8. 55-Alex Vigneault, [7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. M1-Mark Smith, [1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [2]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett, [4]; 4. 42E-Eddie Strada, [5]; 5. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [8]; 6. 88C-Chad Miller, [6]; 7. (DNF) X-Dan Mazy, [7]; 8. (DNF) 5J-Jamie Ball, [3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Blane Heimbach, [2]; 2. 21-Robbie Price, [1]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki, [4]; 4. 29-Jason Shultz, [3]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [7]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [8]; 7. 44-Chris Martin, [6]; 8. 17W-Harli White, [5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 33W-Mike Walter, [2]; 2. 1W-Eric Tomecek, [1]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek, [3]; 4. 3Z-Ryan Taylor, [7]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, [6]; 6. 2-Bill Balog, [8]; 7. 67W-Justin Whittall, [5]; 8. 19-Tyler Bear, [4]

Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)

Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [1]; 2. 44S-Trey Starks, [4]; 3. 1W-Eric Tomecek, [2]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman, [6]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 6. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [7]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, [8]; 8. 66-Ryan Kissinger, [5]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [9]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill, [10]

Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Roger Crockett, [2]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek, [1]; 3. 12-Blane Heimbach, [6]; 4. M1-Mark Smith, [5]; 5. 95-Matt Covington, [3]; 6. 25-J.J. Grasso, [7]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [9]; 8. 63-Josh Weller, [8]; 9. 99K-Cody Keller, [4]; 10. 88C-Chad Miller, [10]

Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 42E-Eddie Strada, [1]; 2. 77-Derek Locke, [5]; 3. 21-Robbie Price, [3]; 4. 28-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 5. 2-Bill Balog, [10]; 6. 10X-Ryan Smith, [9]; 7. 29-Jason Shultz, [7]; 8. 35-Chad Layton, [8]; 9. 33W-Mike Walter, [6]; 10. (DNF) 3Z-Ryan Taylor, [4]

BMRS B-Main (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 10X-Ryan Smith, [1]; 2. 29-Jason Shultz, [4]; 3. 66-Ryan Kissinger, [2]; 4. 63-Josh Weller, [5]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [3]; 6. 76-Larry Kelleher, [11]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [7]; 8. 44-Chris Martin, [9]; 9. 19-Tyler Bear, [10]; 10. (DNF) X-Dan Mazy, [6]; 11. (DNF) 08-Jason Clauss, [8]; (DNS) 3Z-Ryan Taylor, ; (DNS) 5J-Jamie Ball,

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 25-J.J. Grasso, [1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 3. 33W-Mike Walter, [2]; 4. 35-Chad Layton, [4]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, [3]; 6. 5G-Curt Michael, [7]; 7. 1-Travis Rilat, [10]; 8. 17W-Harli White, [9]; 9. 88C-Chad Miller, [6]; 10. 67W-Justin Whittall, [8]; (DNS) 99K-Cody Keller, ; (DNS) 55-Alex Vigneault,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 12-Blane Heimbach, [2]; 2. 44S-Trey Starks, [4]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek, [10]; 4. M1-Mark Smith, [7]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman, [1]; 6. 77-Derek Locke, [3]; 7. 11-Roger Crockett, [5]; 8. 28-Scott Bogucki, [12]; 9. 25-J.J. Grasso, [18]; 10. 52-Blake Hahn, [14]; 11. 42E-Eddie Strada, [8]; 12. 10X-Ryan Smith, [17]; 13. 2-Bill Balog, [13]; 14. 95-Matt Covington, [15]; 15. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [6]; 16. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [16]; 17. 21-Robbie Price, [9]; 18. 35-Chad Layton, [24]; 19. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [20]; 20. 66-Ryan Kissinger, [21]; 21. 33W-Mike Walter, [22]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee, [23]; 23. 1W-Eric Tomecek, [11]; 24. (DNF) 29-Jason Shultz, [19]

Lap Leader(s): Blane Heimbach 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: J.J. Grasso +9
FSR High Point Driver: Seth Bergman
Provisional(s): Skylar Gee / Chad Layton (Promoter)