News Director 
Story By: GARY HEEMAN / LERNERVILLE SPEEDWAY – SARVER, PA – Chamber of commerce type weather greeted fans and drivers alike as the Precise Racing Products Late Models returned to the Fab4 racing lineup on Friday night following nearly a month away from weekly action. The annual Autism Awareness Night also took place on Friday night as an array of gift baskets, door and wing panels, t-shirts and the like were turned into cherished prizes for fans who helped raise money for Autism Pittsburgh via auctions and raffles.
On the track, Carl Bowser made his first appearance of the season in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane following his dominant performance in the 25-lap Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car feature while Michael Norris charged forward from the tail of the Precise Racing Products Late Model feature to collect his sixth win of the season. Rex King Jr. found the track to his liking as well as he moved forward from his 10th starting spot to take the checkered flag in the Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified main event. Meanwhile, the battle between the Schneider’s waged on as Christian edged Chris Schneider at the end of 20 laps to take his third win of the season in Friday’s Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock action.
Bowser Notches First Peoples Sprints Victory of Season
The Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Cars ran third in the order but were presented a surprising ‘cowboy up’ style surface with a tricky cushion to boot, most likely causing a few hurried setup changes before their 25 lap main event. Carl Bowser came into the race the author of six top five finishes in nine features thus far this season, but his hard work had not been rewarded with a victory to date. However, on Friday night, he proved to be the class of the field as he stayed out front for the majority of the race, mastering the surface conditions on hand in the process.
Three time feature winner in 2024, Brandon Spithaler started on the front row, driving a backup car from the Matus stable alongside polesitter David Kalb Jr. and when the green flag waved, Spithaler was in command of the field followed by Bowser who had moved forward on the start from his fourth spot. Will Fleming, Kalb and Michael Bauer made up the chase pack in the early going when the yellow flag came out for a Matt Farhnam spin with two laps down. The stoppage was extended by a few minutes for a medical emergency requiring the use of the infield ambulance, creating the need for an open red period. When action resumed, Spithaler picked up where he left off, creating space between himself the rest of the field with Bowser following in the second spot riding the high side of the speedway as Spithaler started getting into lapped traffic. Then with eight laps down, Spithaler went over the cushion and came to a stop in turns three and four, bringing out the yellow flag.
Bowser inherited the lead as the drivers lined back up with Bauer restarting second and Fleming third. When the green flag waved, Fleming made his way back around Bauer while AJ Flick began to come forward from his fifth starting spot. Out front Bowser was setting a torrid pace, creating a near half straightaway advantage while entering lapped traffic at the halfway mark. With eight laps remaining, Flick caught up to the tail tanks of both Bauer and Fleming, drawing wheel to wheel with Bauer, making his way around for the third spot with seven laps left. Out front, Bowser held a two plus second advantage when the caution came out with six laps left as Brent Matus and Gale Ruth Jr. both wound up facing the wrong way coming out of turn two.
After one more caution with two laps to go, Bowser once again got off to a great start while Flick went to work on Fleming for second. He was able to make the pass for the spot with one lap to go but unable to catch Bowser out front who took a convincing victory.
“Honestly, we were really good in clean air,” Bowser said. “It looked like the bottom coming off of two was pretty good. I didn’t have to venture down there but I watched some lappers pull me off of the top of two but there was so much momentum around the top and definitely in three and four the top was the place to be.”
Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car Feature: (Finish-Name-Start) 1. 11-Carl Bowser[4]; 2. 2-AJ Flick[5]; 3. 79W-Will Fleming[3]; 4. 11J-David Kalb[1]; 5. 46-Michael Bauer[6]; 6. 08-Danny Kuriger[8]; 7. 33-Brent Matus[9]; 8. 35-Jared Zimbardi[15]; 9. 22-Brandon Spithaler[2]; 10. 3J-Jacob Begenwald[13]; 11. 7NY-Matt Farnham[12]; 12. 3P-Denny Peebles[16]; 13. 55*-Matt Sherlock III[17]; 14. 44-Pete Landram[18]; 15. 5-Jeremy Weaver[7]; 16. (DNF) 76-Davey Jones[20]; 17. (DNF) 24-Gale Ruth Jr[10]; 18. (DNF) M4-Louie Mattes[11]; 19. (DNF) 3-John Jerich[14]; 20. (DNF) 4K-Todd Burgurd[19]; 21. (DNS) 13-Brandon Matus
Norris Goes Last to First in Sixth Victory of the Season
Coming into Friday night, Michael Norris had won five of six Late Model features on the season and looked as convincing as ever in doing so. However, he faced the penalty for winning three main events in a row. That being, starting last on the grid on Friday night, placing his winning streak in a good deal of jeopardy considering that on the front row was six time track champion Alex Ferree followed by two time track champion Ken Schaltenbrand and recent champions Colton Flinner and John Garvin Jr. as well as two time champion Jared Miley who started seventh and found himself back behind the wheel of the #10 Joe Corrado owned machine.
Ferree took off from the opening green flag like he’d been shot out of a cannon ahead of Flinner, Garvin, and a charging Miley who gained three spots in the early laps. Many eyes were on Norris in the early going as he went forward to the sixth spot in just four laps, joining the action up front with Tyler Wyant situated in the fifth spot for the time being. Norris quickly dispatched Wyant one lap later and set his sights on Miley directly ahead of him.
Meanwhile, out front Ferree had put some distance between himself and Flinner running second with seven laps down and lapped traffic ahead of the leader. Ferree’s car was strong and he was able to work all three grooves to make his way around. With eight laps down, Norris had caught up to Miley’s bumper and began applying pressure for the position. Norris then wound up a slide job entering turn three with tremendous momentum and upon its execution in turn four, Norris made contact with Miley, causing him to fall off the pace dramatically, bringing out the yellow flag. When action resumed, Norris made his way under Garvin for third and brought Schaltenbrand with him into the top four as Norris and Schaltenbrand exchanged the third spot briefly with nine laps down. At the halfway point, Ferree had found some extra speed and used it to put a two plus second gap between himself and Flinner in second as Norris made his presence felt for the second spot by challenging door handle to door handle while Ferree added a few tenths of a second to his lead.
With just 10 laps to go, Norris went to the bottom of turn one under Flinner and came up with the second spot coming out of turn two but still had a considerable gap to cover to reach Ferree out front as the laps started dwindling. Norris began to close the gap down to a one second advantage for Ferree with five laps left when the yellow flag waved for Mike Miller. Ferree elected to start on the bottom of the speedway and immediately went to the defense of the lead as Norris first tried to overtake on the top side coming out of turn two, then looked for more momentum on the bottom of turns one and two as he came up with his final pass of the night with two laps remaining and cruised to yet another feature win.
“I feel bad because the caution was for me,” Norris said. “I drove it so hard into the bottom that I hit the berm and shot up into Jared. I still don’t know if I was going to catch him.”
Precise Racing Products Late Model Feature Finish: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 72-Michael Norris[14]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree[1]; 3. 48-Colton Flinner[3]; 4. J4-John Garvin Jr[5]; 5. 00-Tyler Dietz[13]; 6. 9-Levi Yetter[10]; 7. 10L-Gary Lyle[9]; 8. 24-Tyler Wyant[2]; 9. 81-Mike Miller[8]; 10. 15-Kodie Checketts[11]; 11. (DNF) 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[4]; 12. (DNF) 75-RJ Dallape[6]; 13. (DNF) 10-Jared Miley[7]; 14. (DNS) 63-Ethan Thompson
King Jr. Charges Through Diehl Big Blocks
Rex King Jr. was a man on a mission on Friday night. The three time track champion seemingly had all the answers to the questions after the 25 lap Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified main event. Those questions included how he was going to overcome a 10th starting spot with a track that had been worked tirelessly all evening long, providing a tricky cushion at the top of the surface, as well as make his way around a stacked deck in front of him in terms of fast cars and talented drivers.
Tom Holden and Will Thomas brought the field to the green flag where Thomas got out to the early advantage with a speedy Steve Feder directly behind. With five laps down, points leader Garrett Krummert had pushed forth from his seventh starting spot all the way to third just before the yellow flag waved for Lenny Leibold. Thomas elected to start on the bottom groove of the speedway and when action resumed, Feder powered his way around to take the lead from Thomas while Krummert, Dave Murdick, Rick Regalski and King made up the chase pack behind him. Passing was at a premium as the next five laps unfolded with King mired in sixth, and in a hard battle with Regalski for the fifth spot with the laps starting to tick away. Out front Feder maintained the lead though he had his progressed slowed as he toyed with the cushion up top, shaving tenths off his lead until he finally went over the edge in turns three and four with 12 laps down, giving the lead back to Thomas as the caution flag waved again with Jeff Miller and Jordan Ehrenberg tangled up in turn two.
When action resumed Krummert drew door to door with Thomas in turns one and two and then managed to take the lead on the top side of the speedway coming out of turn four. While King made the climb to third and then set his sights on Thomas for second. King made his way around for the second spot with 10 laps to go when the yellow flag waved yet again with Ayden Cipriano stopped sideways in turn two following contact with Holden. Krummert elected to re-start on the bottom and perhaps guessed wrong as King was able to make his way past on the top side, crossing the finish line just before Feder again jumped the turn four cushion. King started on the bottom on the ensuing re-start and kept Krummert behind him with a car that seemingly got faster all race long as he started stacking car lengths between himself and the field, going unchallenged over the final five laps to collect his fourth feature win of the year.
“We had a lot of luck,” King said. “Restarts went our way. The track is the heaviest it’s been in a while, but it raced pretty good. I think everybody was cowboy up and getting after it. It was pretty gnarly coming out of turn four and I thought I was going to eat that wall.”
Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 165-Rex King Jr[10]; 2. 29-Garrett Krummert[7]; 3. 9-Will Thomas[2]; 4. 61-Dave Murdick[5]; 5. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[3]; 6. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[8]; 7. 20P-Mike Kinney[16]; 8. 45-Steve Feder[4]; 9. 35-Steve Slater[9]; 10. 5A-Austin Eyler[6]; 11. 3K-Shawn Kozar[15]; 12. 60-Tom Holden[1]; 13. 23-Darin Gallagher[20]; 14. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[13]; 15. 10-Chelsie Gallagher[17]; 16. (DNF) 75-Jeff Miller[12]; 17. (DNF) 8M-Macey Adamik[18]; 18. (DNF) JD57-Jordan Ehrenberg[14]; 19. (DNF) 6-Lenny Leibold[11]; 20. (DNS) 14S-Justin Shea
Schneider Bests Schneider in Pro Stock Thriller
The Schneider’s were the story coming into the evening as Christian Schneider led Chris by a mere five points in a battle that has had all eyes on them out front for most of the season in Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock action. And, with Chris starting last on the grid, coming off of three straight feature wins, another layer of intrigue was added as Christian had an opportunity to potentially add to his lead and then some depending on the outcome.
Cody Koteles and Brett McDonald brought the field to the green flag with Koteles taking the early lead with Christian Schneider took just one lap to vault from fifth to second after going three wide with Nick Kocuba and Brett McDonald in turns three and four. Following a caution for a stopped Jim Kurpakas, Christian wasted no time in taking the lead away from Koteles with Tyler Schneider, McDonald, Jason Fosnaught and Nick Kocuba making up the chase pack. Chris Schneider moved from the tail of the field to the sixth spot with just five laps down and then into third past Koteles with nine laps down, setting up a battle for the win as the caution flag waved near the halfway mark for a stopped Mike DiFrancesca.
Christian restarted on the top side and bolted to the lead once again as Chris moved underneath Tyler Schneider for the second spot. Chris was able to pull door to door with Christian working the bottom side of the surface but was unable to pull off the pass for the lead. Chris had one last chance as a restart with five laps remaining put him alongside Christian. Christian got a good jump on the restart, giving himself just enough gap to keep Christian at bay down the stretch thanks to some skilled defensive driving in the closing laps with the lead.
“Hats off to him (Chris),” Christian said. “He deserves all the credit in the world, he’s a fierce competitor and I’m proud to race with him weekly.”
Millerstown Pic-A-Part Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 56-Christian Schneider[5]; 2. 55S-Chris Schneider[17]; 3. 20J-Jason Fosnaught[6]; 4. 155-Tyler Schneider[4]; 5. 25-Brett McDonald[2]; 6. 10-Nick Kocuba[3]; 7. 26-Mike Bordt[11]; 8. 948-Joey Zambotti III[9]; 9. 0-Larry Kugel[7]; 10. 72B-Jim Kurpakus[8]; 11. 7A-Tom Robertson[12]; 12. (DNF) 1K-Cody Koteles[1]; 13. (DNF) 47-Dalton Gabriel[10]; 14. (DNF) 29-Curt J Bish[16]; 15. (DNF) 9-Mike DiFrancesca[14]; 16. (DNS) C33-Corey McPherson; 17. (DNS) 68-John Peterman Jr
