The Story from Lernerville Autumn-Motive Fest:Carbo cashes in, Jeff Miller scores first career victory, Wolbert scores first also in RUSH Sportsman Modifieds

Despite a threatening forecast and a brief rain delay, Autumn-Motive Fest at the Lernerville Speedway provided an action packed evening of racing. Wayne Carbo cashed in on a $1000 payday in the 25 Lap Open Sportsman event with a dominant performance. Carbo, in his first visit to the speedway this season, went unchallenged leading all the way to victory despite enduring many restarts. In the Crate only Sportsman feature, Jeff Miller secured his first career victory with a strong late race restart. And in other action, the RUSH Sportsman Modifieds saw another first time winner at Lernerville, as Chas Wolbert scored the victory.

Crate Sportsman Feature:

The Crate engine only Sportsman feature began the evening's feature racing with a pill draw to determine the lineup for the 20 lap race.  Jeff Miller raced to the lead from the pole ahead of Noah Brunell.  Cautions slowed the pace on laps 3 and 4, and on the restart, Bob Egley slid under Miller to take the lead.  A major incident brought out the red flag on lap 5 after contact sent Tyler Dietz spinning in front of the field on the back stretch.  

When the green was displayed again, Joe Kelley wasted no time going from 3rd to 1st around Egley to take command. Egley would battle back the next lap, but spun off the track in turns 3 and 4 to bring out another caution.  16th place starter Steve D'Apolito now found himself starting alongside Kelley on the following restart. The two battled for the lead for several laps toward the halfway point until D'Apolito took command on lap 11 at the line prior to a caution being displayed.  

D'Apolito took to the high side on the restart and fended off Kelley in the subsequent laps. On lap 15, Kelley closed right to the bumper of D'Apolito but lost the handle and spun in front of the oncoming field.  This gave an opportunity for Miller, who had fallen back, to retake second and start alongside D'Apolito for a five lap dash to the finish.  Miller drove past D'Apolito on the inside to take the lead on lap 16. D'Apolito fought back and the two battled side by side in the following laps until Miller cleared him for good on lap 18.

Pat Miller Photo

The win for Miller was a satisfying one, his first victory after many years of competition at the Action Track. "It took us a long time to get here, a lot of hard work." Miller expressed in victory lane. "I definitely got to thank my son, he's one of our biggest supporters. He spent many, many hours out there working. My wife, she's one of the biggest supporters also. The Tomson Family; all of them are great guys. It's just a great place to be here."

Top 10 Finish: 1. Jeff Miller  2. Jim Fosnaught 3. Paul Schreckengost 4. Terry Young 5. Noah Brunell 6. Mike Bordt 7. Scott Byers 8. Ethan Siple 9. Joey Zambotti 10. Bob Egley

Open Sportsman Feature:

After a brief rain shower and reworking of the track, the 25 lap Open Sportsman feature took the green with Bob Egley and Carbo pacing the field. On the opening lap, the two made contact racing for the lead, sending Egley spinning in front of field and causing a pileup of cars on the back stretch. 

The second attempt at green saw Carbo quickly pull away from the field over Shawn Smith before another caution on lap 2. Smith headed pitside during this yellow, ending his night after a promising start.  Carbo powered back to the lead from the preferred outside starting position on the restart, while Ryan Moyer drove into 2nd around both Terry Young and Joey Zambotti.  The caution again was displayed on lap 7 for Jim Fosnaught who suffered heavy damage in an incident on the backstretch.

The lap 7 restart again saw Carbo drive away, extending to nearly a straightaway lead before another incident brought out the red flag on lap 12.  Behind Carbo, Moyer continued in 2nd while Mike Miller and Young battled for 3rd. During the subsequent red flag period, Miller would be penalized to the rear for exiting his car.

Carbo continued to execute perfect restarts to pull away from Moyer, while Young moved into third place by lap 15. However, Young pushed too hard off turns 3 and 4 on lap 18 bringing out another yellow.  Moyer had one more shot at Carbo on the final Lap 19 restart, but was no match for Carbo's momentum on the top groove.

Pat Miller Photo

Moyer suffered mechanical woes in the weaning laps, following back to 11th at the finish.  While Carbo pulled away running the topside of the speedway. Miller found speed on the bottom in the final five laps to drive all the way into a second place finish.  Egley also recovered from the opening lap issue to come home 3rd ahead of Zambotti and Kelley.

"What a night. I got to give it to the track for getting this in and not canceling it", Carbo stated following the win. "The track was perfect. The car was awesome tonight."

Top 10 Finish: 1. Wayne Carbo 2. Mike Miller 3. Bob Egley 4. Joey Zambotti 5. Joe Kelley 6. Brett McDonald 7. Terry Young 8. Paul Schreckengost 9. Mike Bordt 10. Scott Byers

RUSH Sportsman Modifieds:

Pat Miller Photo

Chas Wolbert came close to victory in last weekend's event at Lernerville before fading to 2nd in the closing laps. This time he would seize the opportunity of a front row starting spot to drive away with the victory. 

Wolbert made his way to the outside of pole sitter Jeremy Weaver at the drop of the green. By lap 3, Wolbert extended his lead, while Weaver and Jeff Schaffer battled for the runner up spot.  

Cautions on laps 5 and 7 slowed the early pace. This gave Weaver an opportunity to again challenge Wolbert for the top spot, but Weaver slid too high, giving second to Jeff Schaffer.

 The C3 of Wolbert ran primarily the middle groove in the following laps, while Schaffer looked low and Weaver chased high in a three car battle for the lead toward halfway.  But by lap 14, Wolbert had begun to check out as Schaffer and Weaver continued a close battle for second. Behind them. Kole Holden and Brian Schaffer also were closing as they battled for 4th.

With no more cautions the rest of the way, Wolbert cruised to the victory. Although behind him, the race remained close for 2nd as Jeff Schaffer narrowly edged Weaver, while Brian Schaffer secured fourth place over Holden.

Top 10 Finish: 1. Chas Wolbert 2. Jeff Schaffer 3. Jeremy Weaver 4. Brian Schaffer 5. Kole Holden 6. Kyle Martell 7. Nick Ritchey 8. Rocky Kugel 9. Josh Deems 10. Steve Slater