5/26/2024
Lernerville Speedway
Action Track Recap-Krummert Bests Diehl Modifieds; Spithaler Masters The Slick; Dietz Rolls in Precise Lates; Schneider Tops Pro Stocks
Sarver, PA (May 25, 2024) Mother Nature’s hold on The Action Track came to an end on Friday night as drivers and fans were treated to abundant blue skies and seasonal temperatures just in time for round three of Fab4 Racing Revved UP with Marburger Farm Dairy. Once again, a busy pit area containing 85 plus cars sent forth four features that saw some usual suspects winding up in Terry Bowser Victory Lane and a surprise or two along the way.
In Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car action, Brandon Spithaler took his second win of the season in the final tune up for next week’s Jean Lynch Classic as part of Western PA Sprint Speedweek, taking the lead from a hard running Brandon Matus and never looking back once in the lead. Meanwhile, Tyler Dietz had a fast car all night long and was rewarded with a feature victory after early challenger Logan Zarin suffered mechanical gremlins, and while also holding off a furious late race challenge from Colton Flinner to collect the win. Garrett Krummert took a hard fought feature victory in Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified action while Chris Schneider reminded the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stocks that he is still very much capable of taming the division on any given night with his first feature win of 2024.
Krummert Rises to the Top Once Again in Diehl Modifieds
Garrett Krummert definitely had his work cut out for him on Friday night as he found himself starting seventh on the grid and a formidable pair occupying the front row as Will Thomas and Rex King Jr. brought the field to the green flag in the 25 lap Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified main event. From the drop of the green flag, King had the advantage, separating from Thomas halfway through lap one to take the early lead as Mike Kinney made the best of his third starting spot, making his way underneath Thomas for second with just two laps down.
Krummert made his way forward from his seventh spot to fourth in just one lap and two laps later, found himself in second after stalking both Thomas and Kinney while rookie Ayden Cipriano took up position five in the early going. Tragedy then struck for Kinney who had a solid top three run going when he suffered a flat left rear tire with five laps down, ruining what could have been a career best finish at Lernerville for him as the caution flag waved with King leading Krummert, Thomas, Dave Murdick and Jeremiah Shingledecker, who made his way past Murdick following the ensuing restart.
Meanwhile, out front, King looked to have the car to beat as he held a two and a half second lead over Krummert with 10 laps down. Behind them, a wild, three car battle emerged between Steve Slater, Murdick and Cipriano for the fifth spot with the three pilots swapping grooves and positions. Cipriano then succumbed to a flat right rear as Jeff Miller also slowed then stopped on the backstretch with mechanical difficulty with 11 laps in the books, bringing out the caution flag.
When action resumed, King rocketed back to the lead and Shingledecker made his way to third, followed by a charging Brad Rapp when the yellow waved again for a spun out Lenny Leibold with 10 laps to go. King elected to restart on the bottom putting Krummert up top for the ensuing restart and when the green flag waved, Krummert bolted to the lead as King tried his best to erase the advantage in turn two but came up just short. Behind the leaders, Steve Feder and Cipriano who had re-emerged from the pits with a new tire, began a tight battle for the fifth spot which eventually went to Cipriano. Out front however, it was all Krummert who seemingly poured on more speed in clean air. Krummert would enter some lapped traffic with three laps to go but was able to keep the King and the rest of the field behind him to make it two wins on the young season while Shingledecker rounded out the podium.
“He (King) was killing me on those restarts so I had to try something different,” Krummert said. “So I went to the top instead of the middle and finally got door to door with him since he couldn’t get to the top first and when we got to turns on and two we were good. We went up to New York last weekend and crashed this car and to be honest with you we didn’t know if we would be ready, having to completely rebuild the front of the car and stuff. I have to thank my wife and my crew, we spend every night this week trying to get this thing ready and you get it all done and you don’t know if it’s really still going to be good or not but we got it really close. “
Diehl Automotive Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 29-Garrett Krummert[7]; 2. 165-Rex King Jr[2]; 3. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[4]; 4. 9-Will Thomas[1]; 5. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[5]; 6. 45-Steve Feder[14]; 7. 11R-Brad Rapp[10]; 8. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[9]; 9. 35-Steve Slater[11]; 10. 10-Darin Gallagher[20]; 11. JD57-Jordan Ehrenberg[8]; 12. 14S-Justin Shea[12]; 13. 60-Tom Holden[16]; 14. 64-Rodney Beltz[13]; 15. 18-Colton Walters[15]; 16. 6-Lenny Leibold[19]; 17. 3K-Shawn Kozar[17]; 18. 8M-Macey Adamik[21]; 19. 61-Dave Murdick[6]; 20. 75-Jeff Miller[18]; 21. 20P-Mike Kinney[3]; 22. (DNS) 5A-Austin Eyler
Spithaler Masters the Slick; Rockets to Second Win of Season
Brandon Spithaler has had one of the fastest cars in the area to start the 2024 campaign and the results he’s achieved thus far has borne that statement out in the results this year. Having already achieved a feature win on Opening Night, Spithaler has run in the top five in two World of Outlaws races, one each at Attica Raceway Park and Williams Grove and has another runner up finish at Wayne County Speedway to his credit as well. So it came as no surprise would be an immediate favorite to be in the mix for the win on Friday night.
However, Brandon Matus had other ideas when racing in the 25 lap Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car feature commenced. Tommy Jasen brought the field to the green flag alongside Dan Shetler. Not even two turns into the race Shetler found himself facing the wrong way following contact with third starting Will Fleming. Shetler restarted from the tail while Fleming retired making it an entire new looking front of the field with Jason starting alongside Matus and New York invader Denny Peebles now starting fourth. Matus and Jasen traded the lead in the early laps with Matus asserting himself as the leader with two laps in. Behind the front runners, eighth starting Spithaler and ninth starting AJ Flick both vaulted forward with Spithaler taking second from Jason and Flick moving up to fourth in the first five laps. Out front, Matus was showing speed on the top of the speedway but had a hard time creating space between himself and Spithaler as the two front runners found themselves in lapped traffic at the nine lap mark. Flick then dispatched Jasen for third while 18th starting Dan Kuriger moved to fifth.
Spithaler made his move for the lead under Matus down the back stretch with 12 laps down while Flick began stalking Matus for the second spot. Moving forward with authority was 15th starting Michael Bauer who moved into fifth behind Kuriger then made his way around for fourth with eight laps remaining. Out front, Spithaler looked unbeatable with a three second lead with five laps to go as Bauer set his sights on third running Flick, making the pass for the final podium spot with two laps to go. But, the night belonged to Spithaler who made the right moves in lapped traffic, not giving back any amount of his lead down the stretch en route to his second victory of the season, one he earned on a slick surface which normally had not been a forte of his. However, thanks to his crew, he was able to make adjustments that suited his style on a polished oval.
“We came here trying to do a test session for Western PA Speedweek and we got here and knew it would be slick and I actually wasn’t looking forward to it,” Spithaler stated. “We went with our biggest motor and this wasn’t the ideal track for it but either I’m getting better or something’s happening. I was able to pedal the car and I tightened the shit out of it. We detuned just a little bit, not as much as I wanted and I could drive it really well, the car felt great. It took me a little while in the heat race to figure out what to do, but I can’t thank everybody that helps me out enough.”
Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 22-Brandon Spithaler[8]; 2. 13-Brandon Matus[4]; 3. 46-Michael Bauer[15]; 4. 2-AJ Flick[9]; 5. 08-Danny Kuriger[18]; 6. 11-Carl Bowser[10]; 7. 12G-Tommy Jasen[1]; 8. 3P-Denny Peebles[6]; 9. 29-Dan Shetler[2]; 10. 5-Jeremy Weaver[16]; 11. 3V-Chris Verda[7]; 12. 3J-Jacob Begenwald[5]; 13. 20B-Cody Bova[11]; 14. 33-Brent Matus[12]; 15. 3-John Jerich[20]; 16. 55*-Matt Sherlock[17]; 17. 44-Pete Landram[14]; 18. 16-Jim Morris[19]; 19. 38-Leyton Wagner[13]; 20. 79W-Will Fleming[3]
Dietz Holds off Late Race Charge from Flinner for First Late Model Win of 2024
Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is more than half the battle when it comes to winning races. However, drivers who receive a lucky pill draw or lucky break now and then still need to capitalize on the opportunity and slam the door shut on the rest of the field. Such was the case for Tyler Dietz in the 25 lap Precise Racing Products Late Model main event on Friday night as he started on the front row alongside Tony Musolino.
Dietz took the early lead on the field upon dispatching of Musolino on the opening lap and was almost immediately presented a challenge from the fifth starting Logan Zarin who had come forward quickly with authority, showing Dietz the nose of his car in turn two with less than three laps down. Behind them, Musolino, Ken Schaltenbrand and John Garvin Jr. made up a formidable chase pack in the early going, occupying positions three through five. Further back in the pack, stymied for the meantime was points leader Michael Norris who had started tenth on the grid but was looking for grip on the slick surface in the early going as was Colton Flinner who resided in the sixth spot and found passing at a premium. Out front, Dietz began to stack some car lengths between himself and Zarin when Kodie Checketts who spun coming out of turn four and onto the front straightaway.
On the ensuing restart, Dietz maintained the lead as Schaltenbrand made his way around Zarin for the second spot. Norris and Flinner then started to find some momentum, working to the fourth and fifth spots respectively. Meanwhile, Zarin had found some grip on the top side of the speedway and used it to take the second spot back from Schaltenbrand. Norris then slowed in turns on and two, bringing out the yellow flag with 13 laps in the books and when action resumed, Zarin pulled ahead of Dietz on the high side and proceeded to trade the lead with Dietz, racing door to door with 10 laps to go as yet another caution flag waved for Michael Duritsky.
When action resumed, it was only for the briefest of moments as Schaltenbrand, Dan Angellichio, Andrew Wylie and Musolino stacked up coming out of turn four on the restart. Zarin elected to restart on the top side of the speedway with nine laps remaining and Dietz used the low side to propel himself to the lead as Flinner made his way by Zarin as well for the second spot. With five laps remaining, Zarin pulled off the speedway with mechanical issues, leaving the win up for grabs between Dietz and Flinner. Dietz moved to the top side and kept Flinner at bay the rest of the way as Flinner stayed close but could gain no ground over final three laps.
“We’ve been decent and we’ve won some races but tonight I went off the book and tried some stuff that I thought might work,” Dietz said. “I just did my own thing tonight and the car fit me good and it drove like a dream.”
Precise Racing Products Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 77-Tyler Dietz[2]; 2. 48-Colton Flinner[6]; 3. 10-John Garvin Jr[4]; 4. 9*-Matt Lux[8]; 5. 9-Levi Yetter[11]; 6. 72-Michael Norris[10]; 7. 75-RJ Dallape[13]; 8. 40-Michael Duritsky Jr[16]; 9. 14-Dan Angelicchio[3]; 10. 10L-Gary Lyle[12]; 11. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[7]; 12. 36-Tony Musolino[1]; 13. 81-Mike Miller[9]; 14. 11-Joshua Powell[15]; 15. 27T-Tony White[17]; 16. 10K-Zachary Kane[18]; 17. 15-Kodie Checketts[20]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[5]; 19. 84-Andrew Wylie[14]; 20. 24-Tyler Wyant[19]
Schneider Tops Pro Stocks
Chris Schneider doesn’t always draw the pole when it comes to redraws in Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock action. But when he does he’s still as formidable as ever. Proof was available on Friday night as Schneider and Joey Zambotti found themselves on the front row of the 20 lap main event. Schneider took the early lead with a familiar car right behind him as former six-time track champion Corey McPherson made his way to the second spot early on. A lap two caution halted all forward progress and when action resumed, Christian Schneider made his way to third while Tyler Dietz entered the top five as Trevor McCann and Tom Robertson became tangled to bring out yet another yellow flag.
Another caution for a Dalton Gabriel spin kept the race from having any kind of momentum in the early going until a green flag period following a lap four restart as Schneider drove away from his pursuers with ease while McPherson and Dietz battled door to door for the second spot. Dietz was able to take the spot away with 14 laps to go. Schneider’s advantage was over three seconds at the halfway mark as Dietz started looking for answers, but none came his way. Schneider drove though what lapped traffic remained ahead of him with ease to collect the win, the 35th career feature win of his Lernerville career.
“The last couple of times I started on the pole I went backwards,” Schneider remarked. “Normally I need cars in front of me so I can gauge them going into the corners. I like the slick track. It’s more technical. You have to keep the car underneath you and use your brain. “
Millerstown Pic-A-Part Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 55S-Chris Schneider[1]; 2. 00-Tyler Dietz[8]; 3. 56-Christian Schneider[6]; 4. C33-Corey McPherson[3]; 5. 25-Jason Fosnaught[7]; 6. 1K-Cody Koteles[5]; 7. 27-Jacob Dietz[15]; 8. 26-Mike Bordt[10]; 9. 948-Joey Zambotti III[2]; 10. 68-John Peterman Jr[4]; 11. 0-Larry Kugel[9]; 12. 72B-Jim Kurpakus[11]; 13. 155-Tyler Schneider[13]; 14. 00L-Cole Miller[18]; 15. 12M-Trevor McCann[12]; 16. 7A-Tom Robertson[16]; 17. 47-Dalton Gabriel[17]; 18. 66-Mike Strouse[14]
Submitted By: Gary Heeman