8/25/2024
Lernerville Speedway
Action Track Recap- Smith Cruises in Peoples Sprints; Priest Makes it Two in a Row with AST 305s; Myers Scores Big Win in RUSH Sprints
Jason Brown Photo
Sarver, PA (August 25, 2024) Under the cover of complete chamber of commerce weather, the annual Sprint Car Spectacular presented by Peluso Roofing rolled onto The Action Track. And, fans were treated to a three division Sprint Car bonanza as the Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Cars, Allegheny Sprint Tour 305s and the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Sprint Car Series brought fans to the edge of their seat with their racing programs on Saturday night. The highlight of the night, the $5,000-to-win Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car program brought out a decent number of invaders from outside the area as Central PA pilot Mark Smith bested the 27 car field to take the payday back home. Andy Priest was once again class of the field in the 20-lap Allegheny Sprint Tour main event as he held off a hard charging Jim Pattock in the final laps to collect his second straight tour victory at Lernerville. And in RUSH Sprint Car action, Blaze Myers scored an important win in his battle for the series championship with seasoned pilot John Mollick.
Smith Cruises in Peoples Sprints
Mark Smith has not exactly been a stranger to The Action Track over the past couple of seasons scoring a win in 2023 and 2024 while dropping in for select special events. And with a field containing fellow Central PA driver Justin Whittal, Knoxville Raceway driver Tori Knutson and defending track champion AJ Flick piloting the familiar green and black Indy Race Parts number 71 entry, Smith appeared to have his work cut out for him.
Jared Zimbardi and Dan Kuriger brought the field to the green flag where it took exactly one lap for Chris Verda to bring out the yellow flag as he slowed at the top of turn two. Most recent feature winner Cody Bova took the lead on the ensuing restart moving forward from his fourth starting spot for a brief moment before he spun in turn two with two laps down to bring out caution period two, giving the lead back to pole sitter Zimbardi as green flag laps proved hard to come by in the early going. When action resumed, Zimbardi went straight to the high side and got some distance on the field with Smith moving around Kuriger for the third spot, David Kalb running fourth and Dan Shetler rounding out the top five in the first five laps. Kalb made his way around Kuriger for the third spot with six laps down as Smith started to reel in Zimbardi with heavy lapped traffic directly in front at the 10 lap mark. Justin Whittal then slowed all forward progress as he brought out the yellow flag after he had trouble with the cushion in turn four causing him to wind up going the wrong way in turn four. Kuriger then suffered a flat tire causing an early end to his night.
When the green flag waved again, Flick began to make progress towards the front from his ninth starting spot, bringing Conner Morrell with him as Flick entered the top five with 11 laps down and Morrell moving to sixth up from his 11th starting spot. Meanwhile, Zimbardi had his hands full with Smith on his tail tank at the halfway point as the two battled for the lead. Smith came up with the pass with 12 laps down as he moved under Zimbardi in turn four and completed the slide job, moving Zimbardi to second with Kalb still running third. Flick then went straight to work on Kalb for third while Smith had a complete straightaway over the field. Flick took third from Kalp with 12 laps to go while out front, Smith was looking at heavy lapped traffic once again. Flick took the second spot away from Zimbardi in the waning laps, however, he was unable to catch Smith out front who hit all of his marks and maneuvered through the lapped cars with patience and persistence en route to Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane by a four plus second advantage with Flick and Morrell rounding out the podium.
“I didn’t know I was out ahead that far,” Smith said. “I would prefer it to be a little slower, it’s easier on equipment. I have a pretty good motor but it’s not as good as some of these guys have. This car has been really good, I’ve been driving it all year and I like coming out here.”
Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car Feature: (Finish-Name-Start) 1. M1-Mark Smith[3]; 2. 71-AJ Flick[9]; 3. 28M-Conner Morrell[11]; 4. 11J-David Kalb[5]; 5. 35-Jared Zimbardi[1]; 6. 29S-Dan Shetler[6]; 7. 29-Logan McCandless[10]; 8. 13-Brandon Matus[13]; 9. 11-Carl Bowser[14]; 10. 20B-Cody Bova[4]; 11. 67-Justin Whittall[12]; 12. 6-Bob Felmlee[7]; 13. 46-Michael Bauer[21]; 14. 95-Garrett Bard[8]; 15. 31C-Chase Metheney[18]; 16. 5K-Adam Kekich[15]; 17. 79W-Will Fleming[16]; 18. 14K-Tori Knutson[23]; 19. 33-Brent Matus[24]; 20. 55*-Matt Sherlock III[17]; 21. (DNF) 08-Danny Kuriger[2]; 22. (DNF) 3J-Jacob Begenwald[19]; 23. (DNF) 3V0-Chris Verda[20]; 24. (DNF) 22-Jeremy Kornbau[22]
Priest Makes Goes Back to Back in AST 305 Action
Veteran pilot Andy Priest picked up right where he left off back on Friday, July 26 when he made his first appearance in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane in quite a few years on the second visit of the season with the Allegheny Sprint Tour 305s. And in round three on Saturday night, he was once again the class of the field in the 20-lap, $800-to-win main event. Priest powered to the early lead on the opening lap and following a lap one caution, once again assumed command of the field while Jim Pattock charged forward with authority from his sixth starting spot to second on lap two.
Behind them, Roman Gephart, Greg Dobrosky and Jeremy Kornbau took up positions three through five in the early going, with previous feature winner Jake Gomola in sixth and looking to move forward with three laps in the books. With five laps down, Pattock started reeling in Priest with lapped traffic just ahead of the race leader. Kornbau had nearly made his way around Dobrosky for the fourth spot on the outside of turn one when the yellow flag waved for a Ryan Beatty spin with seven laps down. When action resumed, Priest re-gained some separation from Pattock in clean air as Kornbau finally made his way around Dobrosky, then made his way around Gephart for the third spot with nine laps down.
Priest reeled in the tail of the field with eight laps to go giving Pattock new life as he raced back to within striking distance with five laps left. Pattock began taking looks underneath the race leader in turn four with four laps to go when Aaron Marano slowed on the front stretch to bring out the caution flag one last time. On the ensuing restart, Priest once again drove away in clean air in the final two laps en route to his second consecutive victory at Lernerville Speedway with Pattock and Kornbau rounding out the podium.
“I was better on a clean race track with clean air and the cushion wasn’t as good for me as it was,” Priest said. “I seemed to be able to get around the bottom pretty good.”
Allegheny Sprint Tour 305 Sprint Car Feature: (Finish-Name -[Start]) 1. 21N-Andy Priest[2]; 2. 42-Jim Pattock[6]; 3. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[3]; 4. 01-Timmy Bittner[8]; 5. 88-Greg Dobrosky[4]; 6. 20M-Vivian Jones[12]; 7. 4J-Jacob Gomola[7]; 8. 21G-Roman Gephart[5]; 9. 22K-Mike Koehler[9]; 10. 21-Hunter Hite[13]; 11. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[10]; 12. 10J-Jay Fry[11]; 13. 3J-Bella Begenwald[19]; 14. 4G-Justin Kovach[18]; 15. 36H-Seth Harrelson[20]; 16. 25G-Nolan Groves[14]; 17. 316-Brandon McWilliams[17]; 18. (DNF) 34M-Aaron Marano[16]; 19. (DNF) 3-Ryan Beatty[15]; 20. (DNF) 99-AJ Barton[1]
Myers Scores Big Win in RUSH Sprint Feature
Blaze Myers and Brett Rhebergen started on the front row of the 20-lap, $600-to-win main event and after two failed attempts at getting underway, the third time was the charm as Myers bolted out to the lead while Rhebergen, Ryan Frayley, Gale Ruth Jr and Arnie Kent made up a formidable chase pack. With two laps down, Ruth slipped off the back stretch just enough to lose several spots which helped series points leader John Mollick move towards the front from his ninth starting spot. Mollick came into the night with a 10 point advantage over Myers and began aggressive pursuit of Kent and Frayley, passing both while moving up to the third spot with 6 laps in the books.
Meanwhile, out front Myers had accumulated a three plus second advantage over Rhebergen who now had a tail tank that was being caught by Mollick with each lap. Mollick made the pass for second with seven laps to go and a large gap to make up to the race leader. Mollick slipped slightly in turn two, giving back the second spot to Rherbergen. Mollick began reeling Rherbergen back in while Myers found himself mired in lapped traffic until Mollick suffered a shredded right rear tire, ending his night and hurting his championship chances a bit, bringing out the caution flag with eight laps down.
Mollick’s misfortune was Myer’s open door and he quickly took advantage of it. Following a caution on the restart, Myers rocketed to the lead once again and never looked back. Behind him, Ruth and Kent battled wheel to wheel for the second spot making contact on occasion until Ruth took the spot for good with five laps left. But the story on Saturday night was authored by Myers who was near letter perfect managing his car on the cushion without going over on his way to victory lane.
“At the beginning I didn’t know where Brent was going to go and I figured I’d try the bottom,” Myers said. “Later on in the race the top was looking like it was still there and I kept looking on the board to see who was coming up. I don’t know what happened to John (Mollick) but I knew he was moving up there and it was working for him so I moved up there too and it all worked out.”
Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Sprint Car Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 41-Blaze Myers[1]; 2. 24-Gale Ruth Jr[6]; 3. 9-Arnie Kent[5]; 4. 17-Trent Marshall[7]; 5. 68-Brent Rhebergen[2]; 6. 1T-Ricky Tucker Jr[4]; 7. 55-Luke Mulichak[8]; 8. 19-Jeremy Kornbau[19]; 9. 12-Ryan Fraley[3]; 10. 23-Charlie Utsinger[12]; 11. 43S-Billy Myers[13]; 12. 29-Brandon Shughart[10]; 13. 54-Devon Deeter[22]; 14. 5Z-Shane Heath[11]; 15. 13K-Kevin Kaserman[15]; 16. 18-Brandon Fiedler[16]; 17. 56-Tyler Clark[20]; 18. (DNF) 83-Cullen Hutchison[17]; 19. (DNF) 17M-Charles McClintock[14]; 20. (DNF) 4J-John Mollick[9]; 21. (DNS) 5B-Joe Buccola; 22. (DNS) 48T-TJ Rosario; 23. (DNS) 58-Mike Hover
Submitted By: Gary Heeman