Shingledecker Takes Checkered Flag Friday Night At Lernerville On Autism Awareness Night
Information By: GARY HEEMAN / LERNERVILLE SPEEDWAY – SARVER. PA – For the first time in 2019, chamber of commerce weather surrounded The Action Track on Friday night. And a lightning quick racing surface produced some hammer down racing throughout the night as another Fab4 Friday night Revved up with Marburger unfolded before the crowd on hand.
It was a night that saw another four drivers making their first appearance of 2019 in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane which included a win from a driver that saw a long personal drought come to an end.
In Peoples Gas Sprint Car main event action, Jack Sodeman Jr. started outside of pole sitter Jeremy Hill and quickly assumed the lead. Meanwhile, AJ Flick moved forward quickly from his 10th starting spot and began applying pressure to the leader in the second half of the 25 lap race. Sodeman maneuvered through lapped traffic with precision and purpose though, and hit his marks consistently en route to his first win of the 2019 campaign.
Michael Norris looked primed to possibly lap the field at one point early in the Precise Racing Products Late Model main event by amassing a full straightaway advantage over second running Ken Schaltenbrand. However, the race took an unexpected turn when Norris gradually developed a tire going down after the 15 lap mark, causing him to enable Schaltenbrand and Kelvin Kohan to become unexpected players for the win. Schaltenbrand Norris lost the tire for good late in the race, setting up a green, white, checker finish that saw Kohan and Schaltenbrand duel for the main event win in which Schaltenbrand used a good restart to push past Kohan on his way to victory lane for the first time since 2010.
Steve Feder and Will Thomas brought the field of Diehl Automotive Big Block Modifieds to the green flag, and Thomas made the most of his starting spot. He quickly assumed command of the field while Jeremiah Shingledecker patiently waited for his moment to make his move. Shingledecker managed to draw up to the bumper of Thomas in lapped traffic around the midpoint of the main event, and made his way around him at the lap 17 mark after contact in turn four. From then on, the race belonged to Shingledecker who was able to keep the formidable duo of Rex King Sr. and Rex King Jr. behind him over the final five laps. Points leader Brian Swartzlander fell out of contention when he suffered a late blown tire with three laps to go.
Tyler Dietz had normally kept his office at The Action Track on the bottom groove over the course of his Millerstown Pic A Part DIRTcar/RUSH Pro Stock career, and had been finding tremendous success doing so. However, on Friday night, Dietz was more than comfortable on the top side of the speedway and was the fastest car on the track. After passing Lernerville Hall of Famer Joe Kelley for the lead early on, Dietz took control of the field and looked to be cruising to his first feature win of the season. However, points leader Joey Zambotti was able to make it a thrilling battle to the finish as he found a way to pull nearly door to door with the leader in the second half of the 20 lap main event, but came up short on his attempts to pass Dietz for the lead.
The Action Track Podcast was recorded live following the night of racing and contains victory lane interviews with all of Friday’s feature winners as well as race recaps and analysis and special guest Tyler Dietz who spoke about his new Late Model program for 2019.
Peoples Natural GasDIRTcar 410 Sprint Feature: (25 Laps)
(23jr) Jack Sodeman, Jr
(2) A.J. Flick
(56) Ralph Spithaler
(11) Carl Bowser
(55) Gary Kriess, Jr
(4n) Jimmy Morris
(21N) Frankie Nervo
(38) Leyton Wagner
(91) Sadie Siegel
(14) Jeremy Hill
(6) Todd Burgard
(00) Alan Free
(4K) Kip Edwards
Precise Racing Products DIRTcar Late Models Feature: (25 Laps)
(29) Ken Schaltenbrand
(15*) Kelvin Kohan
(23) Tony Burke
(77) Tyler Dietz
(9) Clayton Kennedy
(72) Michael Norris
(44P) Joe Petyak
(81) Chuck Sarver
(48) Colton Flinner
(1c) Mike Pegher, Jr
Diehl Automotive DIRTcar Northeast Big Block Modified Feature: (25 Laps)
(37MD) Jeremiah Shingledecker
(65) Rex King
(165) Rex King, Jr
(9) Will Thomas
(45) Steve Feder
(22) Kevin Long
(75) Mark Flick
(25) Chris Rudolph
(12w) Travis Walsh
(13) Rodney Beltz
(4J) John Mollick
(88) Shawn Fleeger
(61) Dave Murdick
(71) Randy Chronister
(5) Brian Sadler
(83) Brian Swartzlander
(29) Garrett Krummert
(27R) Dave Reges
(25B) Steve Barr
(18) Colton Walters
Millerstown Pic-A-Part RUSH/DIRTcarPro Stocks Feature: (20 Laps)
(27) Tyler Dietz
(948) Joey Zambotti
(66) Joe Kelley
(25) Brett McDonald
(C33) Corey McPherson
(28Y) Terry Young
(26) Mike Bordt
(13x) Ryan Moyer
(10) John Hartman
(35b) Jake Dietz
(310) Dale Tuche
(22jr) Chase Lambert
(29B) Scott Byers
Glassmere Fuel SeriviceHeat 1 for Peoples Gas Sprints:
(11) Carl Bowser
(55) Gary Kriess, Jr.
(91) Sadie Siegel
(21N) Frankie Nervo
(4n) Jimmy Morris
(00) Alan Free
(4k) Kip Edwards
