Four First Time Winners Call Central PA Speedway Victory Lane Home

Bill Walker

5/14/04

With the pits nearly at capacity and the racing surface as tacky as fresh bubble gum, Jason Walker, Shawn McGarvey, Bill Krause and Zoltan Laska picked up their first career victories at Central PA Speedway. Levi Ardrey won for the second time in the three week season that proved to be the best week of racing to date.

Fist onto the racing surface were the Shortway Services Inc. Pro Street Stocks with Skip Lindermuth on the pole flanked by Dayton Nixon. As flagman Alan Luzier waved the green flag Nixon jumped to the point with the 1 of Jason Walker and 44 of Dan Smeal following his lead. While working lap two Walker moved his Ford Taurus past Nixon’s ride to claim the top spot. Walker was trying to drive away and build a lead but Smeal just kept hounding from that second position. By the midpoint, last weeks feature winner Denny Fenton got by Eric Baun for the fourth position and began to challenge Emory Reinhart Jr. for third. The top four machines race close together for the last half of the race and in the end it was Walker holding off Smeal, Reinhart, Fenton and Baun for the victory.

In a pre race interview Shawn "Sheetz" McGarvey commented “that the crew has this car right on tonight and we are looking forward to getting out and running.” Yvette Hahn however had different plans as she grabbed the lead from her outside front row starting position and build up a sizeable lead. It didn’t take long for the fast moving McGarvey to reel her in from his fourth starting position and by lap three had moved by Hahn to claim the lead. Hahn did not go away easy as she continued to shadow McGarvey at every move. Just past the halfway mark, current point leader Luke Hoffner made his presence felt and slipped by Hahn for second and then the race was on. Hoffner closed on McGarvey and began to pull out his bag of tricks but the tested veteran was unable to find the right combination and McGarvey claimed victory number one of the 2004 season. Following McGarvey at the line were Hoffner, Dwayne Taneyhill (up from the 12th starting position,) Hahn and New Washington’s Bernie Whiteford.

The Stocker Chevrolet Subaru Small Block Modifieds took to the racing surface with thirteen “Monsters of the Midway” ready to do battle. Scott “Snuffy” Smith and Bill Krause were on the front row and at the dropping of the green Krause wasted no time in moving out front. For the first couple of laps Smith was able to keep pace but Krause then found a sweet spot and began to drive away. By the midway point two time feature winner Jimmy Holden was challenging just outside the top five. With two laps remaining Holden was able to get my Smith for second and then hoped for a caution that would give him a final shot at victory. Krause would not be denied as the race remained caution free for the remainder and he bagged his first career Central PA Speedway feature. The top five in running order behind Krause were Holden, Smith, Bob Garvey and Brad Rapp.

The next scheduled event was the King of the Mountain Challenge for the Lias Tire Pure Street Stocks that invites drivers from all area tracks to compete against each other and truly crown a King of the Mountain. Frank Little and Dan Clark showed the way as twenty racing machines took the green flag. At the onset Clark moved out to the early lead trying to become the first 2004 King of the Mountain winner. Fifth place starter Todd Bainey quickly moved into contention for the top spot and by lap four snatched it away from Clark. Bainey set a torrid pace and looked to be well on his way to the victory when his engine began to smoke more and more as laps went by. On lap number ten it gave up for good in turn four and seventh place starter Zoltan Laska inherited the lead and never looked back as the picked up his first career victory at Central PA Speedway. Aaron Walker, Clark, Little and Josh Jacoby rounded out the top five.

The Sunoco Race Fuels Pro Four Cylinders being paced by Levi Ardrey and Mike Mains were the final event of the evening. Ardrey wasted no time moving out front and away from the rest of the field. Working lap two Ken Erskine and George Bailey found their way to second and third respectively and began to track down Ardrey. A caution on lap four due to a broken Randy Luzier gave the duo what they had been looking for and put the pair on the rear bumper of Ardrey. At the restart Ardrey once again drove off into the proverbial sunset and left Erskine and Bailey to battle for second. In the end it was Ardrey over Erskine, Bailey, Alan Barnett and Cooter Wolfe.

Next weeks racing action will feature the Hub City National 150 Qualifier for late models, all Central PA Speedway rules apply. Chargers will also be on the card for the second time this season and a regular show for the rest of our Central PA Speedway competitors.

NOTE: Drivers will no longer be lining up heat races according to points. All drivers will be required to do a pill pull for your heat race starting lineup.

See you all next week at the BIG BEAR!

Summary:

Shortway Services Inc. Street Stocks:

1.Jason Walker 2.Dan Smeal 3.Emory Reinhart 4.Denny Fenton 5.Eric Baun 6.Gary Little 7.Tom Williams 8.Gary Conklin 9.Rich Howell 10.Bob Roseman 11.Jamie Price 12.Mike Hummel 13.Skip Lindermuth 14.Ray Billotte 15.Todd Mathews 16.Denny Curry 17.Ron Mitchel 18.Dayton Nixon 19.Craig Lobb 20.Lester Hudson 21.Mark Forsythe Jr. 22.J.R. Emig 23.Sam Swaugar

Budweiser Late Models:

1.Shawn McGarvey 2.Luke Hoffner 3.Dwayne Taneyhill 4.Yvette Hahn 5.Bernie Whiteford 6.Chuck Kennedy 7.Matt Gaston 8.Jerry Lower 9.Richard Maxim Jr. 10.Kevin Weyant 11.Rick Isadore 12.Loren Sallack 13.Doug Ishler 14.T.J. Fleck 15.Jason Witherite 16.Chris Clark 17.Shawn Claar 18.Bob McMillen 19.Robbie Black 20.Brady Wonderling 21.Bill Davis 22.Ed Connor 23.Tim Sties

Stocker Chevrolet Subaru Modifieds:

1.Bill Krause 2.Jimmy Holden 3.Scott “Snuffy” Smith 4.Bob Garvey 5.Brad Rapp 6.George Sankey 7.Dereck Rodkey 8.Mark Frankhouser 9.Ron Butterworth 10.Marvin Williams 11.Rich Whitney 12.Mike Butterworth 13.Kevin Dickson

Lias Tire Pure Stocks:

1.Zoltan Laska 2.Aaron Walker 3.Dan Clark 4.Frank Little 5.Josh Jacoby 6.Chad Bender 7.Jason Bainey 8.Ralph Reed 9.Todd Bainey 10.Rob Bailey 11.Don Geer Jr. 12.Ryan Jacoby 13.Jeff Mease 14.Gary Hepler 15.John Hummel 16.Craig Bainey 17.Nick Brown/Scott Wise 18.Jamie Antonelli 19.Fuzzy Fields 20.Mike Duck

Sunoco Race Fuels Pro Four:

1.Levi Ardrey 2.Ken Erskine 3.George Bailey 4.Alan Barnett 5.Cooter Wolfe 6.Jim Bechtold 7.Scott McCartney 8.Mike Mains 9.Bill Washek 10.Randy Luzier 11.Dan Witherow 12.Brian Godissart 13.Eric Lucas