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| Pat Miller Photo |
Mother nature was a race fan on opening night at Don Martin's Lernerville Speedway Friday night as the Fab Four divisions took to the clay for the first time in 2016 under a clear sky and comfortable temperatures. And when the dust settled, Bradford Pennsylvania's Jared Zimbardi found himself in victory lane with a convincing performance in a caution free sprint feature while Russ King wasted no time in putting the late model field to bed for his 10th career victory at Lernerville. Keeping it in the family, Rex King Jr managed to hold off a hard charging Erick Rudolph to collect the modified feature and Corey McPherson picked up right where he left off in 2015 earning the sportsman honors following an exciting battle with Bob Egley for the greater part of 20 laps.
Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Cars:
Having a great starting position may be a great thing, but it's only as good as a driver can keep a hungry pack behind him. Jared Zimbardi did that and more en route to the opening night win on Friday night. Zimbardi drew the outside pole and headed for the high side on the opening lap putting pole sitter Brent Matus behind him with relative ease. Zimbardi then stretched out to a three second lead in the early laps while behind him Carl Bowser and AJ Flick were set to due battle for the second spot once they made their way around Matus in the early going.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
Zimbardi encountered lapped traffic on lap six and he was flawless as he maneuvered in all three grooves to keep Bowser and Flick at bay. Behind them, Jack Sodeman Jr. was making a move towards the front from his 14th starting position. He climbed to a sixth place finish in the end and was the only driver making any dramatic forward charge throughout the 25 lap feature as Zimbardi kept putting one piece of lapped traffic behind him after another.
As the laps wound down, Carl Bowser looked to be headed home with a second place finish with a decent amount of distance between himself and Flick running third. The 2015 track champion then desperately tried to make up ground as he made for the bottom and began to erase the gap. By the time the white flag was displayed, Flick was in position to take the second spot on the podium and did so coming out of the last set of turns beating Bowser to the flag stand in a thrilling drag race to the checkers. But the night belonged to Zimbardi who simply would not be caught and made it look easy in the win.
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| Cheryl Miller Photo |
"We won down here a while ago, back in 2014, and we struggled in the 410's last year so we ran mostly 360 stuff and we changed chassis this year," Zimbardi said following his second career Lernerville victory. "I could go anywhere with the car and I watched a lot of youtube videos of Dale Blaney and watch the success he's had over the years here and I try to mimic that."
Top 10:
1. Jared Zimbardi
2. AJ Flick
3. Carl Bowser
4. Brent Matus
5. John Garvin Jr.
6. Jack Sodeman Jr.
7. Dan Kuriger
8. Brandon Matus
9. Scott Priester
10. Davey Jones
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| Pat Miller Photo |
Precise Late Models
It's a different year, with the same driver and same result as for the second year in a row, Russ King put his car in victory lane on opening night. But on this night, King had to hold off a different opponent as Michael Lake made his presence known both in his heat, and in the main event. Kenny Schaltenbrand and Lake brought the field to the green flag and early on it was Lake who seemed destined for victory lane. The action came to a halt when perennial favorite Jared Miley went over the top of the turn three banking on lap two.
On the ensuing restart, Michael Norris grabbed the lead briefly after splitting cars of Schaltenbrand and Lake coming out of turn two, but Lake would take it back in the next set of turns and would lead the early laps while behind him, King was on the move from his seventh starting spot. He made his way around Schaltenbrand on lap three and went to work in the low groove of the race track where he would pass Norris for second on lap six and then Lake on lap seven to take the top spot going into the middle portion of the race.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
King would enter lapped traffic on lap 10 and went to the top side to weave his way though while keeping Lake at bay until the caution flag was unfurled two laps later for Clayton Kennedy who was stopped at the bottom of turn three.
Meanwhile, the man on the move was one Dave Hess Jr. who had charged from his 20th starting spot to ninth in the first 11 laps of action. The race resumed on lap 12, and with the field re racked, King resumed his torrid pace, easing his car through the turns with a feather touch while behind him, all eyes were watching the battle between Lake, Norris and Mike Pegher Jr which would feature a door handle to door handle battle between Lake and Norris for the final ten laps. Lake held on to take the second spot after King had crossed the finish line with a convincing win.
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| Cheryl Miller Photo |
Top 10:
1. Russ King
2. Michael Lake
3. Michael Norris
4. Dave Hess Jr.
5. Mike Pegher Jr.
6. Alex Ferree
7. Matt Lux
8. Kenny Schaltenbrand
9. Charles Powell Jr.
10. Doug Glessner
Diehl Automotive Group Big Block Modifieds:
Rex King Jr. has made a statement two races in to the 2016 campaign with two wins against formidable competition. That statement probably reads something along the lines of a declaration that he has resumed the level of his capability that saw him win two track championships and a BRP Modified Tour championship in 2014. King Jr started up front and never looked back on Friday night as for the second race in a row, he kept Ransomville, New York native Erick Rudolph bay to go two for two on the young season.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
Ironically enough, both drivers would comprise the front row in the main event as King Jr. took the early lead. And it was a battle of different grooves early on as King Jr took a up a residence on the top side of the speedway while Rudolph worked the bottom in the early laps. Behind them Kevin Bolland, Jeremiah Shingledecker and Mat Williamson took up the remaining top five positions. However, there were no intense battles in the early going as the top five seemingly stretched out over half of the surface while King Jr. kept the ship running steady at the front.
The leader found his first steady dose of lapped traffic on lap 12 and made his way through with precision as Rudolph looked for anything he could find to close the gap between himself and King Jr. Rudolph was able to gain some ground at different points over the final ten laps, but it almost seemed as if King Jr. was toying with him, stretching back out to a comfortable margin when he dispatched the lapped cars.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
On lap 18, Rudolph clipped a yuke tire in turn four but was able to keep moving forward and made one last gasp at the lap 22 mark which would fall short. The eyes then turned to a battle between an oncoming Shingledecker who let it all hang out in the final lap in an attempt to get past Bolland for the third spot. Bolland was able to barely edge his car over the line ahead of Shingledecker's to take the final podium spot.
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| Cheryl Miller Photo |
Top 10:
1. Rex King Jr.
2. Erick Rudolph
3. Kevin Bolland
4. Jeremiah Shingledecker
5. Mat Williamson
6. Randy Chrysler
7. Garrett Krummert
8. Brian Swartzlander
9. Eric Gabany
10. Dave Murdick
Millerstown Pic A Part Sportsman:
To say the sportsman feature was a bit caution marred would be an understatement on this night. To say that it didn't have it's thrilling four wide battles for positions would be false. But no matter how anyone in attendance might have observed Friday night's sportsman feature, they were left entertained by a field of cars that normally put on one of the best shows of the evening.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
Corey McPherson has been the reason some of them may have had more fans watching a battle for second place in recent seasons, but on this night, the defending track champion has his hands full and then some as Bob Egley threw everything but the kitchen sink at McPherson to keep him at bay.
Paul Schreckengost and Aaron Easler lead the field to the green flag but it was Egley who jumped out to the early lead while Brandon Wearing and McPherson made it a three way battle for the lead. Egley went to work on the top shelf normally occupied by McPherson while Wearing made the most of what was left of the low side.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
By the mid point of the race, Egley was playing defense as best he could in an attempt to hold off McPherson. But following a lap 10 restart, McPherson found his way to the outside of Egley and never looked back the rest of the way despite more cautions and restarts.
Behind them, Tyler Dietz and Joey Zambotti made their way around Wearing in the waning laps, but nobody could catch McPherson once he obtained the lead.
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| Cheryl Miller Photo |
Top 10:
1. Corey McPherson
2. Bob Egley
3. Brandon Wearing
4. Joeu Zambotti
5. Tyler Dietz
6. Paul Schreckengost
7. Brett McDonald
8. Terry Young
9. Aaron Easler
10. Stan Riggle
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