Heated Racing Warms Chilly Fans At Shellhammer Dirt Track; 115 Entries In Pit Area
Story By: MIKE FELTENBERGER / SHELLHAMMER’S SPEEDWAY – LEESPORT, PA – The racing at Shellhammer Dirt Track was literally blazing as 115 entries took to another stellar racing surface prepped by Dave Cordier,Jr. and crew.
The qualifiers were run off with just a few yellows setting the stage for the 6 A Mains that left no one disappointed.
A solid field of 20 Jr. Slingshots gave the fans some excitement in their 25 lap feature as Chase Schott,Parker Hendricks and Weston Doklan ran 3 wide for a full lap before Schott took it into turn 1 a little harder and grabbing the lead off of turn 2.These young racers have won the hearts of many fans and last night’s race kept it going.As these 3 were battling it out all eyes were now focusing on the 4X of Griffin Hendershot and the 15 of Chase Zimmer as they were making their way through the field.As the 5 lap signal was being shown Dylan Hahn started to rebound from an early race setback and now pressured Schott for the lead with Hendricks and Colton Williams staying close.Schott took the win followed by Hahn,Hendricks and Williams.Hendershot settled in at 5th from 16th and Zimmer trailed right behind from his 17th starting spot.Abi Hendricks had a solid run for 7th with Weston Doklan having late race handling issues but holding on for 8th.
The 125 micros had some early race red flag fever,but it didn’t put a stop to some great front of the pack racing as Chris Dolan and Chase Layser,swapped the lead a few times for 3 laps with a strong Michael Hoffmaster within challenging distance before catching a berm tire and taking a tumble in turn 2.The restart now added 3 more challengers as last weeks winner John Maurer joined the mix with Blaire Schoenly and Jesse Smith in hot pursuit.Quite a few positions were swapped in the last 4 laps as Layser took the win and Maurer coming under the checkered 2nd. Dolan took the 3rd spot.4th through 8th wasn’t decided until 2 to go with Easton Miller having some late race speed for 4th.Jesse Smith looking strong nabbed 5th.AJ Gerhart put his 44g in 6th with Chase Wehr and Schoenly locking up for the 7th spot with Wehr getting 7th.
One for the highlight reels was the overall excitement in the 20 lap All Star Slingshot main.Polesitter Lindsey Garl was dialed in for the 1st 15 laps but lapped traffic would tighten up the top 3 for the remaining 5 laps with Dave Carraghan and Tyler Hoch now applying some pressure on the 17L driver.Not to be left out was Brett Bieber and Dylan Hoch,who needed some open space to tighten things up a little more.The final turn is what many fans said might’ve been the highlight of the evening as Garl and Carraghan both had to find the fast line around slower cars and Carraghan had just enough room on the high side to make a bid for the win and got the checkered by .044 seconds. Hoch warded off the Bieber challenge for 3rd and Bieber kept Dylan behind him to get 4th.Dylan Hoch just bested a hard charging Ryan Raidline for 5th.Raidline was 6th followed by Tucker Cole and a badly smoking 42T of Tess Horvath.
Another race that had the top spot challenged for most of the race was the 25 lap 600 micro feature.At the drop of the green it became the Connor Gross,Richie Hartman show as the 2021 point champion Hartman,tried everything in his racing arsenal to overtake Gross.It was only a matter of time before former point champion James Morris would become a contender and his high side antics reeled in the leaders with 5 to go.These 3 were all using different lines and the fantastic racing surface held tough to give these racers 3 sometimes 4 grooves to work with.Behind this trio it was all out for 4th,5th and 6th until Matthew Warner gained an advantage.Gross held tough for the win with Hartman and Morris getting the podium spots.Warner got a 4th place payout.Jacob Severn just nosed out a steady James Roselli for 5th.Not to be ignored was the wheelings of 19th place starter Trevor Kobylarz who had an impressive 7th place finish.Rounding out the top 8 was steady Fred Heinly.
A strong field of 19 Stage 1 Modifieds had a few early race yellows but when the green was out the racing was hot.2021 champion Matt Mertz wasted little time showing he was not going to be denied the win but the pink 6 with Mike Glass aboard had other ideas and he shadowed Mertz’s every move for 8 laps and even got to Mertz’s right rear tire,but didn’t have enough to make the pass.Opening day winner Anthony Chrobak worked his way for a 3rd place run from his 9th starting spot.It was the AJ Gerhart,Mark Mohr show the last few laps to see who could claim 4th with Gerhart getting the nod.Mohr was 5th with Bryce Dodig just missing an early race tangle getting 6th.Respectable showings for 2 new drivers as Jamie Cassel and Stephen Smith III were 7th and 8th.
With wind chill temps in the high30’s,the fans were heated up by another incredible A Main.Polesitter Dakota Barlet remembers opening night when he let the bottom side open giving Louden Reimert the room to get by for the win,but tonight was different.These 2 again had their own private race and for every Reimert challenge ,Barlet had the answer to take a well earned victory.Current point leader Reimert kept pace for 2nd and was starting to get pressured from his teammate Richie Hartman who stormed through the field from his 13th starting spot for a well deserved 3rd.Matt Hoffman had his 21H on threat alert as Adam Buchel rebounded from an early race incident to pass 5 cars in the last 3 laps just falling short of getting Hoffman at the line for an impressive 5th.The 6th through 8th drivers just continue to impress with their consistent finishes as Brandon Confer,Jarrett Imler and Jeffrey Confer rounded out the top 8.
There isn’t enough thanks we can give out for the race team and fan support as a chilly night of racing was definitely warmed up by what was seen on the speedway.
When drivers tell you that the racing surface is the best that they ever raced on and is saving them countless $$$ by not burning off tires,it keeps the race teams and the fans returning for the outstanding action on the high banked 1/8th mile,Shellhammer Dirt Track.
