Information By: SHELLHAMMER DIRT TRACK – LEESPORT, PA – Seven A-Mains For 145 Laps Has a 9:24 Final Checker. There isn’t enough that can be said about the racers, race teams,officials and Dave’s track prep for constantly putting on fantastic racing that keeps the fans interested and heading home at a decent hour.
1st up was the 270 micros and they were the $500 to win class tonight. It was a battle to turn 1 to assume race dominance and Dylan Kuronya had enough to keep John Maurer at bay for the first 8 laps.Entering the picture was 5 time winner Matt McAnally and he virtually tried every groove on the high banks to get by Kuronya,but to no avail.Behind this trio it was the Chase Ziegenfuss,Adam Buchel battle with Adam and Chase swapping positions from lap 5 to lap 13 before Buchel made a turn 4 pass to slot in for 4th, a position he would not lose.McAnally had 1 more crack at getting by Kuronya on lap 18 but had to settle for 2nd with Dylan getting his 3rd win of the season. Maurer bested Buchel for 4th as Ziegenfuss finished 5th just ahead of Austin Mieczkowski.
The All Star Slingshots zipped through their A Main with only 1 race stoppage and Lindsey Garl had no issues from the opening green to claim her 3rd win of 2024. Hard luck had to go to 2nd starting Wyatt Taschler who was part of the 1st lap caution sending him to the infield. The race for 2nd was now the show with Colton Williams,last week’s winner Jason Dunkelberger and Jocelynn Darinsig mixing it up for the first 14 laps before Williams and Dunkelberger broke free and had a race of their own.Williams was 2nd by.2 seconds over Jason with Darinsig and Gerber following.Faith Turnbaugh turned in a strong run for 6th.
The Pa Micro Midget 500 class was on the event list for their annual Speedweeks races. There was no stopping the 1st three starters at the drop of the green. Todd Walls gave Matt Kiefert no chances of taking the top spot and Matt held back the advances of Mason Noble with these 3 taking the podium positions.Jeremy Sperlien and Jonathan Schill stayed close to Noble but slotted in for the 4th and 5th place payout.A nice field of 20 cars was entered.
With Trevor Kobylarz in a borrowed 600 micro ride from Luke McCloskey,it was trial and error in the heat race and a distance set up for the 20 lap main. Trevor had to first deal with Matt McAnally for the 1st 8 laps,then it was Chase Wehr entering the run to the front.Next up was Adam Buchel, Damian Bower and at the halfway point Aiden Svanda was on a mission to the front. Having passed Wehr,Buchel and McAnally,it was only Kobylarz left to overtake and on a lap 17 restart Svanda took turn 2 just a little lower than the berm tires would allow and it threw the 76 into a spin.The last 2 laps Buchel had enough to get to the right side rail of Kobylarz ,but not enough through the turns to get by giving the new Kobylarz / McCloskey team it’s 1st Shellhammer win.Buchel’s 2nd place run was only .152 seconds behind Trevor. Another solid run for McAnally getting 3rd, with the 4th place run coming down to the checker as Donny Smith just bested Geezer “Flash” Fanelli.Rebounding from the late race caution was Svanda for 6th.
Again the Junior Slingshots continue to get the race fan’s attention as the wheeling and dealing in the early stages of the 20 lap main saw Lily Barrett, Barry Seaman,Aubrey Romig Cheyenne Snodderly, Hailey Burnatowski and Hailey Eroh not keeping the same positions for the 1st 13 laps. At lap 14 Eroh got by Barrett for 1st with Seaman,Burnatowski and Romig 3rd through 5th. The only race yellow on lap 14 found 5th place running Snodderly getting collected by a slower car which gave Gavin Wolfe some newfound speed once the 5 lap signal was given. Wolfe took the lowside of turn 1 to just nudge 5th from Burnatowski.Eroh claimed her 6th win,Barrett ran a strong race for 2nd with Seaman holding off Romig for 3rd.
The Pa Micro Midget 300s went clean and green with Chris Ott in an area code all by himself getting the 20 lap win in 3:39 taking the win by 7 seconds over Dakota Thomas with Alyssa Hackart just .2 seconds behind for 3rd.
The final event of the night was the 125 micros and behind race leader AJ Gerhart the 3 car battle between Easton Miller,Chris Dolan and Seth Gregory was the show to watch. Miller and Dolan ran side by side from lap 7 to lap 13 before Dolan made a high side pass on Miller in turn 2.Miller tried to regain 2nd but to no avail as Gerhart got win # 2 quite easily as the 16 of Dolan claimed 2nd with Miller 3rd.The scramble for 4th was now between Gregory,Shane Davis and Corey Harting with Gregory besting both Harting and Davis at the checker.
Final checker was thrown at 9:24,final payout was 9:40.
After some incredible racing the last few weeks,there is no reason to go anywhere else. Great track surface,fantastic car count payouts and a well run show that keeps the race teams and fans happy.
The Race Track by the River has 1 more Wingless Weds. racing program before the 2 week shutdown August 14th and 21st.
It was announced tonight that Cordier Family Productions will be honoring our past and present members of the armed forces. Show a valid armed forces ID and admission to the grandstand is free.