ED LYNCH JR. TRAVELS FROM KNOXVILLE TO WIN TRI-CITY SPRINT MAIN;
KEVIN BOLLAND DOMINATES DIRT MODIFIEDS;
BRENT RHEBERGEN CONTINUES E MOD SUCCESS;
BRUCE SMITH SCORES FIRST STOCK CAR WIN OF THE SEASON
by Brian Spaid
FRANKLIN, PA … Entering the final stretch of the regular season, it was an action packed Sunday night of racing at Tri-City Speedway as Ed Lynch Jr. (NorthPointe Automotive Super Sprints), Kevin Bolland (Schwab’s Ford DIRT Modifieds), Brent Rhebergen (RE/MAX 1st Oil Country E Mods) and Bruce Smith (E.F. Rogers Plumbing & Heating Stock Cars) won feature events at the half-mile oval on Venango County 4-H Fair Night.
Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo, Pa., captured his third Super Sprint feature win of the season at Tri-City after an exciting duel with Daryl Stimeling in the 20-lap event. Lynch traveled over 13 hours from the Knoxville Nationals in Iowa and ended the win streak of point leader Rod George at four races.
“We tinkered with the car at Knoxville, and we took ourselves out of contention in the big race, so we wanted to check out the car tonight,” said Lynch while beside his Indy Recycling J&J No. 2L. “We’ll sleep well after this one. Daryl ran a great race and the track was fantastic despite all this hot weather and the dry conditions we’ve been having.”
Stimeling nearly won his first career main event at Tri-City. Starting on the outside pole of the 20-lap event, Stimeling jumped into the lead while Lynch worked his way into second on the fourth circuit. By then, Stimeling had a huge lead as he raced through lapped traffic. Only one caution slowed the race on the first lap. After that, the race was caution-free, which allowed Stimeling to run away from the field.
Gradually, however, Lynch closed on the leader. At the halfway point, Lynch was right behind Stimeling. On three of the next four laps, Lynch tried to race under Stimeling off turn four, but Lynch could not make the pass. Finally, with two laps left, Stimeling drifted high off turn two amidst lapped traffic. Finding the break he needed, Lynch dove under Stimeling and grabbed the lead. Lynch held on for his 13th career win at Tri-City despite a valiant charge by Stimeling on the final lap.
“Ed was decent enough to give us a strong challenge,” noted Stimeling after his best career finish at Tri-City. “This run makes it all worthwhile racing here.”
George maintained his point lead by finishing third. He was no match for the frontrunners on this night. Ricky Ferkel and Chad Hill rounded out the top five. Only eight cars finished on the lead lap. Lynch and George won the Super Sprint heats for the 20-car field.
Kevin Bolland of New Brighton, Pa., dominated the 20-lap DIRT Modified main for his third win of the season at Tri-City. Last week, Bolland ran sixth in the Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series Oil Heritage Region Classic 100. This week, Bolland blew out the competition. Taking the lead from Josh Skarzenski on the opening lap, Bolland raced his Brighton Hot Dog Shop/Cintas Uniform Bicknell No. 777 to his seventh career win at Tri-City.
“We’re trying some new things on the car after last week,” said Bolland, who also won Friday night at Lernerville Speedway. “We learned a lot last week at the DIRT show. There was a little smoke from under the hood during the heat and the engine got a little hot in the feature. We’ll pull the motor out this week and check it out.”
Skarzenski led the field into turn one on the opening lap, but Bolland charged under Skarzenski off turn three to lead at the line. From there, Bolland stretched his lead as he ran faster laps midway through the race, which went nonstop. Behind the leaders, Andy Priest piloted Ted Hull’s DIRT Modified through the top five over the final half of the race. The story was Bolland, however. In the end, the 1985 and 2000 DIRT Modified track champion was a half-lap ahead of Skarzenski. Priest finished third over Skip Moore and Del Rougeux Jr. Combined with a seventh place finish for Dave Murdick, Skarzenski now leads the DIRT Modified standings by 10 points over Murdick. Skarzenski and Bolland won the heats for the 21-car field.
Brent Rhebergen of Clymer, N.Y., continued his dominance of E Mod division as he won the 15-lap feature to extend his win streak to eight races. It was his ninth win of the season in Bruce Steadman’s Sharp Tool & Die Pierce No. 69. He nearly had a close call with runnerup Bruce Powell on the 10th circuit. The incident caused Powell to spin into the infield, but he recovered to finish second for the fourth time this season.
“Bruce got up into me off turn four and I was as high as I could go,” said Rhebergen. “He tagged me in the left rear quarter panel, and that’s not characteristic of Bruce. He must have lost control a little. We changed the left rear tire compound tonight, and I didn’t like the way it made the car handle, but it all worked out.”
Starting third, Rhebergen drove under Jim Frontz to lead at the line to complete the first lap. Although four cautions dotted the event, Rhebergen was never challenged until Powell made it to second place on the fourth lap. Powell tried to catch Rhebergen, but was unable to do so until the ninth lap when a caution slowed the field. On the lap after the restart, Powell drifted into Rhebergen off turn four and hit him. Powell spun into the infield, which created a cloud of dust. He made it back onto the track, but Kari Petrosky stopped in turn two. Her problem combined with the dust cloud caused the final caution. Under Tri-City rules, Powell resumed in second on the restart.
Rhebergen easily led the final five laps for his 21st career E Mod win at Tri-City. Powell finished second over Mike Potosky, Jeff Taylor and Russ Dempsey. Jim Frontz crossed the line in fifth, but he and Chuck Kennedy, who originally finished seventh, were disqualified for illegal tires following the race. Ironically, Frontz and Kennedy won the E Mod heats for the 18-car field.
After a year’s hiatus, Bruce Smith of Rocky Grove, Pa., won his first feature of the season in the 15-lap Stock Car main. He held off the stout challenges of Danny Exley for his second career victory at Tri-City. At one point, Smith lost the lead to Exley, but he charged back to the front for a thrilling win.
“I’d like to thank Danny for not crowding me,” said an emotional Smith. “I knew we had the setup to beat these guys tonight, so I wasn’t worried about getting back out front. Dad built a great engine, and I’d like to thank him and the whole team.”
Jason Reagle led at the start, but Smith took command off turn four before completion of the first lap. Reagle then battled with Exley and Scotty Carbaugh for second over the next four laps. By the fifth lap, Exley was securely in second and chasing down Smith. He tried to challenge Smith on the inside several times, and waited for a miscue. That finally occurred on the 10th lap after a restart when Smith slipped wide in turn two and allowed Exley to move past for the lead. On the next circuit, Smith nearly took command again before the third and final caution of the race slowed the pace.
On the restart, Smith charged back. Racing hard under Exley off the fourth turn, Smith reassumed the lead on the 11th lap. Exley then tried every move in the book, but Smith would not be denied his first win since August 20, 2000, in his D/B&S Cabinets Pontiac No. 36. Reagle finished third over Carbaugh and Bobby Whitling, who maintained his point lead over Smith. Exley, Gary Norman and Carbaugh captured the Stock Car heats for the 35-car field. Matt Miller won the B Main.
At the end of the night, Tom Willis of Titusville, Pa., (Cars) and Chadd Uber of Franklin, Pa., (Trucks) won the Venango County 4-H Fair One-on-One Spectator Races.
Next Sunday August 18th, Tri-City Speedway hosts another four-star show of the NorthPointe Automotive Super Sprints, Schwab’s Ford DIRT Modifieds, RE/MAX E Mods and E.F. Rogers Plumbing & Heating Stock Cars. It will be Joy Manufacturing Employee Night at the track as the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Senior Series visits for the second time this season. Gates open at 4 p.m. and racing starts at 6 p.m. Adult grandstand admission will be $10.
SUPER SPRINTS (20 Laps): 1. ED LYNCH JR., 2. Daryl Stimeling, 3. Rod George, 4. Ricky Ferkel, 5. Chad Hill, 6. Jack Sodeman Jr., 7. Gregg McCandless, 8. Scott Bonnell, 9. Jason Jacoby, 10. Scott Priester, 11. Ed Etzel, 12. Andy McKisson, 13. Andy Hillenburg, 14. Brent Matus, 15. Brian Hartzell, 16. Karl Baker, 17. Mary Anne Williams, 18. Butch Beasley, 19. Gale Ruth. DNS: Curt Bish.
DIRT MODIFIEDS (20 Laps): 1. KEVIN BOLLAND, 2. Josh Skarzenski, 3. Andy Priest, 4. Skip Moore, 5. Del Rougeux Jr., 6. Chris Schiffer, 7. Dave Murdick, 8. Kevin Hoffman, 9. Joe Crawford, 10. Nick Ritchey, 11. Chad Reitz, 12. Carl Murdick, 13. John Braymer, 14. Dave Shook, 15. Brian Turk, 16. Lee Miller, 17. Chanda Reitz, 18. Scott Ferry, 19. Lenny Leibold Jr., 20. Rich Landgraf. DNS: Dave Schrader.
E MODS (15 Laps): 1. BRENT RHEBERGEN, 2. Bruce Powell, 3. Mike Potosky, 4. Jeff Taylor, 5. Russ Dempsey, 6. Fred Bratchie, 7. Shawn Domhoff, 8. Mike Samuelson, 9. Butch Lambert, 10. Matt Swanson, 11. Shawn Shingledecker, 12. Mike Anderson, 13. Ron Jaeger, 14. Kari Petrosky, 15. Frank Brocious, 16. Jim Frontz (DISQ), 17. Chuck Kennedy (DISQ). DNS: Jim Abbott.
STOCK CARS (15 Laps): 1. BRUCE SMITH, 2. Danny Exley, 3. Jason Reagle, 4. Scotty Carbaugh, 5. Bobby Whitling, 6. Dave Ferringer, 7. Darrell Bossard, 8. Ben Blake, 9. Jason Johns, 10. Andy Thompson, 11. Billy Beiter, 12. Mike Miller, 13. Jamie Shetler, 14. Doug Calvert, 15. Gary Sullivan, 16. Denny Crawford, 17. Jeff Heeter, 18. Duane Grinnell, 19. Rod Laskey, 20. Matt Thomas, 21. Gary Norman, 22. Joe Lockhart, 23. John Sutley, 24. Scott Peterson. DNQ: Bob Bean, Rusty Kellogg, Lonny Blair, Andy Miller, Ray Bailey, David Atkinson, Don Baughman, Dave Gadley, Bret McCarthy, Dick Pascorell, Brian Hurt.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Aug. 18 – Super Sprints, DIRT Modifieds, E Mods, Stock Cars and Pittsburgh Circle Track Club
Senior Series (Stock Cars) (Joy Manufacturing Employees Night)
Aug. 25 – Super Sprints, DIRT Modifieds, E Mods and Stock Cars (Points End!!!)
Sept. 14 – Mod Madness VI 100 (BRP Modified Tour Kodiak Memorial 40, York Triathlon E
Mod Series 30, Sportsman Modified 30) (Raindate Sept. 15)