Fab Four Heads Into Home Stretch On Big Rig Night At Lernerville

Story By: GARY HEEMAN / LERNERVILLE SPEEDWAY – SARVER, PA – The final four Fab4 Friday nights are upon us starting this Friday as we present our Big Rig night. Fans can check out some of the areas finest appearing rigs behind the grand stands before and in between racing action on Friday night.

There will also be a Chinese Raffle and Silent Auction benefiting the Steve King Foundation which supports injured drivers, crew members and their families. Everything from tshirts to door panels and other assorted donated driver items will be available for bidding.

On the track, the Peoples Gas DIRTcar Sprints, Precise Racing Products DIRTcar Late Models, Diehl Automotive DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds and the Millerstown Pic-A-Part DIRTcar/RUSH Pro Stocks will grace the clay. And as the end of the season draws nearer there are still some things left to accomplish. Two of the four points championships are far from determined and with four race nights left in the regular season, time is running out to collect a win on the 2018 season for drivers that have yet to appear in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane.

And Then There Were Two

AJ Flick and Jack Sodeman Jr. are separated by just 16 markers coming into action Friday night with Flick having the upper hand in the standings and in the feature win column as well. Sodeman will need to take advantage of every point available and seemingly has no room for error over the course of the final four weeks to have a chance to take his second track title, while Flick will simply need to avoid disaster over the remaining nights and wind up on the podium which he has done eight out of 10 nights thus far including his four feature victories.

Behind them, George Hobaugh currently finds himself in the third spot but has been reeled in as of late by Brent and Brandon Matus who both find themselves six or fewer points behind him. Both are looking for their first win at Lernerville in years as is Dan Shetler while Sye Lynch and Michael Bauer, who looked very impressive last Friday night in a second place effort will be looking for their first career victories as the weeks wind down.

Current Standings- Top 5

AJ Flick- 302
Jack Sodeman Jr.- 286
George Hobaugh- 238
Brent Matus- 235
Brandon Matus- 232

Flinner Brings Momentum Into Friday

Colton Flinner has seen an uptick in results over the course of the last few weeks both at Lernerville and beyond as he managed to cross the finish second to last week’s feature winner Jared Miley. Flinner then capped the impressive weekend with a trip to victory lane at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night and appears to be on a path to the win column at Lernerville sooner rather than later.

However, his task is not made any easier by the fact that points leader Michael Norris suffered misfortune last Friday night and should be able to redraw for a starting spot on Friday night. Norris has six wins and three losses on the season to date, not including his feature victory over the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Models in June, and has only suffered defeats at the hands of Miley and Chris Madden at Lernerville in 2018.

Fans may want to be keeping an eye on Matt Lux who is looking for his first win of the season, while Ken Schaltenbrand is in search of his first win in over five years at The Action Track.

Current Standings- Top 5

Michael Norris- 331
Ken Schaltenbrand- 251
Gary Lyle- 234
Colton Flinner- 174
Tommy Beck- 164

King Jr. Continues To Rule Modifieds

Rex King Jr has all but salted away the second track title of his career by doing what champions do, taking advantage of good opportunities to win while finishing strong when those opportunities are not as good and avoiding disaster week in and week out. Behind him, Dave Murdick has been consistently at the front of the fields all season long and will be looking for his first Lernerville feature win in a few years.

Murdick is not alone however as Rex King Sr., Garrett Krummert, Steve Feder are also in the same boat with just four regular season shows left. Of the aforementioned drivers, Krummert has been the closest as evidenced by his three runner-up finishes to date in 2018.

Current Standings- Top 5

Rex King Jr. – 369
Dave Murdick- 298
Brian Swartzlander- 269
Rex King Sr.- 256
Rick Regalski- 250

Dietz and McPherson Headed Down to the Wire

They’re separated by one point, and have been within five markers of each other seemingly all season long. Tyler Dietz and Corey McPherson have entertained fans all season with their performances and look primed to continue that into the final four weeks. Dietz has found victory lane four times thus far to McPherson’s three. The tandem’s stronghold on feature wins as interrupted last week by Joey Zambotti who managed to keep both behind him for his first win of the season while Noah Brunell managed the other Pro Stock feature win back in June.

Current Standings- Top 5

Tyler Dietz- 331
Corey McPherson- 330
Noah Brunell- 299
Joey Zambotti- 282
Ryan Moyer- 257

Pit gates will open at 4 PM with grandstands opening at 5 PM and racing starting at 7:30 PM sharp. Adult general admission is $15, $12 for seniors, $10 for students ages 11-17 and children 10 and under are free. Pit passes are available for $25 for DIRTcar Members and $30 for non-members. We look forward to seeing you there.