6/30/06
Williams Grove Speedway
Mechanicsburg, PA
Mitch Smith Memorial
Pennsylvania Speedweek Round 4
37 cars
Fred Rahmer (28th car out to time) set quick time in time trials with a lap of 16.662 seconds on the big half. Brian Leppo (21st car out) was second quick, followed by Lucas Wolfe (27th), Brook Weibley (30th), Lance Dewease (24th), Mike Erdley (9th), Mark Smith (19th), Kyle Pruitt (10th), Jeff Shepard (16th) and Alan Krimes (32nd). Bob Bennett appeared to lose a motor in hot laps and scratched for the night. The night was Adopt-a-Kid night. It was fun to see the drivers meet with the kids beforehand, telling them a bit about the cars. The kids liked having their faces on the wings too.
Heat one (started): 1. Doug Esh 30 (1) 2. Jim Siegel 59 (2) 3. Rahmer 22 (6) 4. Shepard 4J (4) 5. Dewease 25 (5) / 6. Brian Montieth 21 (7) 7. Craig Keel 9 (3) 8. Johnny Mackison Jr. 65 (8) 9. Bill Brian Jr. 13x (9) DNS - Bob Bennett 3
Esh led the 10 lapper throughout, winning by a big margin. Siegel ran a strong second after battling early with Shepard. Rahmer took third with two to go. Dewease underwent a motor change after the heat. Brian exited on lap eight.
Heat two (started): 1. Greg Hodnett 77 (3) 2. Krimes 87 (4) 3. Rick Lafferty 0 (2) 4. Alan Cole 35 (1) 5. Erdley 11 (5) / 6. Leppo 71 (6) 7. Randy Baughman 3B (9) 8. Niki Young 10n (8) 9. Mark Coldren 07 (7)
Lafferty took the point early before a lap three stoppage for Coldren. Young joined Coldren in retiring. Hodnett who was running second took the lead on teh restart and never looked back. Krimes was hooked up and hauling, and got by Lafferty shortly thereafter. Krimes was running the high side in one and two and shooting off the bottom of turn four. Leppo couldn't run down Erdley for the final transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Michael Carber 69 (1) 2. Stevie Smith 19 (3) 3. Wolfe 5w (6) 4. M. Smith 1 (5) 5. Steve Buckwalter 17B (8) / 6. Chris Meleason 8m (2) 7. Dan Shetler 98 (9) 8. Josh Wells 6w (4) 9. Cliff Brian 13 (7)
Carber led flag to flag. On lap four, the yellow came out for a slowed C. Brian, who retired. Carber led S. Smith, Wells, Wolfe and M. Smith at the time. Two laps later, Wells pulled it in while running fourth, while Wolfe narrowly avoided disaster by checking up behind him. Buckwalter was the lucky recipient of the final transfer after he got by Meleason.
Heat four (started): 1. Don Kreitz Jr. 69K (2) 2. Keith Kauffman 7 (3) 3. TJ Stutts 88 (4) 4. Weibley 32 (6) 5. Chad Layton 12 (7) / 6. Chris Knopp 93 (1) 7. Justin Collett 69c (8) 8. Pruitt 22z (5) 9. Ryan Bohlke 18 (9)
Kreitz led the duration. Pruitt spun while holding the final transfer on lap two and restarted at teh rear. Kauffman gained second at the halfway mark. Layton got by Knopp with two to go after a fierce battle, gaining the final transfer after missing the heat invert in time trials.
B main (started): 1. Leppo (1) 2. Keel (4) 3. Young (9) 4. Montieth (5) / 5. Mackison (8) 6. Pruitt (2) 7. Meleason (3) 8. Collett (10) 9. Baughman (13) 10. Knopp (12) 11. B. Brian (7) 12. Shetler (11) 13. Coldren (6) DNS - Wells, C. Brian, Bohlke, Bennett
Leppo led the 12 lapper, flag to flag. One caution slowed the event when Shetler spun on lap nine. At the time, Leppo led Keel, a surging Young, Pruitt and Montieth. The caution negated a Montieth pass for the fourth and final transfer, but he duplicated the feat on the restart. Mackison came on strong late, but he fell one spot short of the A.
A main (started): 1. Shepard (2) 2. M. Smith (3) 3. Dewease (5) 4. Krimes (1) 5. Hodnett (12) 6. Rahmer (8) 7. Erdley (4) 8. Esh (18) 9. Wolfe (7) 10. S. Smith (13) 11. Keel (11) 12. Stutts (10) 13. Montieth (21) 14. Layton (22) 15. Kauffman (14) 16. Kreitz (17) 17. Cole (19) 18. Leppo (9) 19. Carber (20) 20. Young (23) 21. Buckwalter (24) 22. Weibley (6) 23. Siegel (15) 24. Lafferty (16)
Krimes grabbed an early lead and pulled away from second place Shepard for a time. Hodnett quickly moved from 12th up to sixth. On lap six Shepard slid under Krimes in turns one and two to take the point for good in the non-stop thirty lapper. He was never really challenged. Four laps later, M. Smith took over second, and Dewease would take third with a few more laps in the books after distpatching of Rahmer and Hodnett. Krimes held on for fourth in impressive fashion. Esh was the hard-charger, earning $100. Lafferty exited on lap 16, Siegel on lap 18 and Weibley on lap 21. The win was Shepard's first at the Grove in '06 and was worth $10,000.