DUANE HOWARD WIRES MODIFIED FIELD FOR BAPS OPENING DAY WIN
YORK HAVEN, Pa.: Duane Howard and his team worked hard over the Winter months, but it wasn’t the traditional things you hear from a race team.
First and foremost, Howard worked on his mental game. From there, the team just kept to themselves, didn’t talk a lot, and went through the process of preparing for a long 2023 season grind.
That work paid off on a chilly Saturday at BAPS Motor Speedway. Howard, of Oley, Pa., dominated the 30-Lap 358 Modified main event, which makes him two-for-two on the season in central Pennsylvania after winning at Lincoln Speedway a couple of weeks ago.
“What a pleasure to drive this thing,” Howard said. “We worked hard over the Winter on myself and getting back to where I need to be to win races. This car can win a lot of races, and the crew did a heck of a job.
“We are not changing much. The car was so good out of the box, and I feel so comfortable behind the wheel. I have to thank everybody on this team. The Getz family gives me everything I need.”
What the field needed was a telescope to see Howard, who took the lead on the initial lap from his third-place starting spot on the grid. The only thing that slowed his progress was a four-car incident on the opening lap.
Once the race went green, it was all Howard. With Mike Lisowski out of the way because of the crash, Howard showed the way. By the time the leader hit the checkered flag, he had a remarkable 11.4-second victory over Frank Cozze, who started on the pole.
“These guys work so hard,” Howard said. “We were in the shop the other night until 11 o’clock, because we found a brake problem. It’s just all of the family and everybody who puts a lot of time and effort into this.
“I’m telling you, it felt so good. It felt good around the bottom, and I could dive down to the bottom of three and four. It just felt so good underneath me, and I had such a feel for it. It’s going to be hard to take any other car out of the shop.”
Craig Von Dohren started fifth and followed Howard and Cozze to the stripe. Louden Reimert and Jared Umbenhauer completed the top five.
In the Meyer’s RV Harrisburg Super Sportsman main event, Kenny Edkin surged to the front in a hurry and collected the Opening Day victory in the 25-Lap affair.
Edkin was scheduled to start fourth on the grid, but he caught a slight break when front-row starter Tony Jackson couldn’t fire for the feature. Troy Rhome also used it to his advantage and jumped out to the lead on the initial start.
It was short-lived. Edkin blew around Rhome on the second circuit and drove away from the competition. His pace was slowed on Lap 17, when Jay Fannasy’s car caught on fire to bring out the red flag.
The stoppage only delayed the inevitable. Edkin dominated the final eight laps and claimed the win over eighth-place starter Scott Dellinger, John Edkin, Rhome, and Luke Deatrick.
Tanner Jones got the jump on Seth Kearchner and captured the 15-Lap Gene Latta Ford Central PA Legends presented by Baker Door Company main event to kick off the season.
Kearchner lined up on the pole, but Jones was too much on the opening lap and charged out front. A pair of cautions gave Kearchner another shot at the win, but Jones was up to task and claimed the victory.
Logan Carbaugh followed Jones and Kearchner to the line. Stephen Wurtzer advanced from 10th to fourth, with Justin Wagaman completing the top five.
BAPS Motor Speedway
York Haven, PA
Saturday, March 18, 2023
For Immediate Release
358 SPEC SEALED MODIFIEDS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15G-Duane Howard[3]; 2. 44-Frank Cozze Sr[1]; 3. 30-Craig Von Dohren[5]; 4. 16-Louden Reimert[8]; 5. 5J-Jared Umbenhauer[6]; 6. 5-Jack Butler[4]; 7. 14RR-Joe Funk[10]; 8. 67-JR Fulper[12]; 9. 05-Sean Metz[15]; 10. 17X-Kevin Beach[9]; 11. 54-Chase Rehbein[13]; 12. 187-Steve Young[7]; 13. 47Z-Zach Steffey[11]; 14. (DNF) B4-Tim Borror[14]; 15. (DNF) 15L-Mike Lisowski[2].
Lap Leaders: Duane Howard (1-30)
Modified Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5J-Jared Umbenhauer[2]; 2. 5-Jack Butler[1]; 3. 15L-Mike Lisowski[5]; 4. 187-Steve Young[6]; 5. 17X-Kevin Beach[4]; 6. 47Z-Zach Steffey[7]; 7. (DNF) B4-Tim Borror[8]; 8. (DNF) 05-Sean Metz[3].
Modified Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Craig Von Dohren[2]; 2. 15G-Duane Howard[4]; 3. 44-Frank Cozze Sr[3]; 4. 16-Louden Reimert[6]; 5. 14RR-Joe Funk[1]; 6. 67-JR Fulper[7]; 7. 54-Chase Rehbein[5].
MEYER’S RV HARRISBURG SUPER SPORTSMAN
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 75-Kenny Edkin[4]; 2. 30-Scott Dellinger[8]; 3. 35-John Edkin[9]; 4. 10-Troy Rhome[2]; 5. 5D-Luke Deatrick[5]; 6. 25-Tyler Wolford[7]; 7. 318-Devin Beidel[12]; 8. 9B-Blake Brooks[13]; 9. 6S-Shane McConnell[14]; 10. (DNF) 222-Jay Fannasy[1]; 11. (DNF) 3B-Mike Enders[3]; 12. (DNF) 7-Timmie Barrick[10]; 13. (DNF) 2M-Matt Ondek[11]; 14. (DNS) 88-Tony Jackson; 15. (DNS) 91-Lanny Hake.
Lap Leaders: Troy Rhome (1), Kenny Edkin (2-25)
Super Sportsman Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tony Jackson[2]; 2. 75-Kenny Edkin[6]; 3. 10-Troy Rhome[1]; 4. 25-Tyler Wolford[4]; 5. 35-John Edkin[5]; 6. 2M-Matt Ondek[3]; 7. (DNF) 9B-Blake Brooks[8]; 8. (DNF) 91-Lanny Hake[7].
Super Sportsman Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5D-Luke Deatrick[2]; 2. 3B-Mike Enders[1]; 3. 222-Jay Fannasy[4]; 4. 30-Scott Dellinger[6]; 5. 7-Timmie Barrick[7]; 6. 318-Devin Beidel[3]; 7. (DNF) 6S-Shane McConnell[5]
GENE LATTA FORD CENTRAL PA LEGENDS PRESENTED BY BAKER DOOR COMPANY
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 77-Tanner Jones[2]; 2. 30K-Seth Kearchner[1]; 3. 27-Logan Carbaugh[13]; 4. 14W-Stephen Wurtzer[10]; 5. 30-Justin Wagaman[3]; 6. 18J-Jorjie Sweger[12]; 7. 53-Bill Diehl[4]; 8. 80-Wes Alleman[9]; 9. 7-Preston Alleman[7]; 10. 12-Devin Friese[17]; 11. 19-Travis Perry[8]; 12. 26-Shaun Abney[16]; 13. 0-Cody Altland[15]; 14. 9-Rick Hartwig[21]; 15. 00-Eric McClane[19]; 16. 1R-Chris Transeau[11]; 17. 11R-Scott Musselman[22]; 18. 91-Benjamin Goldsmith[24]; 19. 32-Zachary Mertes[20]; 20. 31-Lincoln Kearchner[5]; 21. 66-Donald Stoudt[14]; 22. 55X-Richie Dobson Jr[23]; 23. 54-Roy Warehime Jr[6]; 24. 4G-Mike Perkins[18].
Lap Leaders: Tanner Jones (1-15)
Legend Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Chris Transeau[1]; 2. 30K-Seth Kearchner[5]; 3. 14W-Stephen Wurtzer[3]; 4. 27-Logan Carbaugh[8]; 5. 12-Devin Friese[6]; 6. 70-Mike Racine[9]; 7. 24R-Brian Rampmeyer[10]; 8. 9-Rick Hartwig[7]; 9. 9G-Grady McGrew[2]; 10. (DNS) 57-Luke Stiles.
Legend Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Tanner Jones[6]; 2. 18J-Jorjie Sweger[1]; 3. 54-Roy Warehime Jr[5]; 4. 66-Donald Stoudt[7]; 5. 4G-Mike Perkins[4]; 6. 53D-Korbyn Diehl[9]; 7. 12K-Kelby Friese[3]; 8. 7F-Austin Foster[10]; 9. (DNF) 55X-Richie Dobson Jr[2]; 10. (DNF) 1G-Josh Schrum[8].
Legend Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Wes Alleman[5]; 2. 53-Bill Diehl[1]; 3. 7-Preston Alleman[7]; 4. 0-Cody Altland[3]; 5. 00-Eric McClane[4]; 6. 91-Benjamin Goldsmith[2]; 7. 7H-Hunter McElroy[9]; 8. (DNF) 79S-Michael Stoppard[8]; 9. (DNF) 119-Brady Arndt[6]; 10. (DNS) 5-Tyler Rampmeyer.
Legend Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Travis Perry[1]; 2. 31-Lincoln Kearchner[3]; 3. 30-Justin Wagaman[10]; 4. 26-Shaun Abney[6]; 5. 32-Zachary Mertes[9]; 6. 3-Scott Montgomery[4]; 7. 11R-Scott Musselman[5]; 8. 92-Mason Chaney[2]; 9. 98-Casey Stigler[8]; 10. 85-Michael Goldsmith[7]
Legend Consi 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Rick Hartwig[5]; 2. 55X-Richie Dobson Jr[8]; 3. 24R-Brian Rampmeyer[3]; 4. 12K-Kelby Friese[4]; 5. 9G-Grady McGrew[7]; 6. 7F-Austin Foster[6]; 7. (DNF) 70-Mike Racine[1]; 8. (DNF) 53D-Korbyn Diehl[2]; 9. (DNS) 57-Luke Stiles; 10. (DNS) 1G-Josh Schrum.
Legend Consi 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Scott Musselman[4]; 2. 91-Benjamin Goldsmith[1]; 3. 119-Brady Arndt[9]; 4. 3-Scott Montgomery[2]; 5. 7H-Hunter McElroy[3]; 6. 92-Mason Chaney[5]; 7. 79S-Michael Stoppard[8]; 8. 85-Michael Goldsmith[7]; 9. 5-Tyler Rampmeyer[10]; 10. (DNF) 98-Casey Stigler[6].