The trend of threatening weather continued this past weekend for area tracks as rain, cold temps, and even snow moved through the area. Friday morning rains let up just in time for Lernerville Speedway and Thunder Mountain Speedway to get their programs in.
(Photo of Sheldon Haudenshild – Son of sprint car great Jac Haudenschild – scored his first All-Star win of the season Friday. Photo by Rick Rarer)
At Lernerville Speedway, Tony Stewart’s Arctic Cat-sponsored All-Star Circuit of Champions made their only appearance of 2016. A strong field of forty-one sprint cars filled the pits for the event along with a full field of RUSH crate modifieds and the weekly sportsman stock cars.
The All-Star feature was a wild one on a tricky super fast track which provided some great racing action and a few scary crashes. Fans saw a great three-car battle for the lead between Sheldon Haudenschild, Danny Holtgraver, and Chad Kemenah with Haudenschild coming out the victor. Holtgraver and Kemenah would round out the podium.
The feature saw Brandon Spithaler and Eric “Turkey” Williams both involved in violent crashes ending their nights. Spithaler would walk away uninjured while Williams would leave in the ambulance but was luckily released with just bruises and a concussion.
Brian Schaffer was the winner of the RUSH modified feature at Lerenerville. Photo by Rick Rarer.
Brian Schaffer won a wild RUSH modified feature while Joe Kelley came out on top of the Sportsman feature for his first win of the season. Lernerville returns to Fab 4 racing this Friday with the Sprint Cars, Late Models, Modifieds, and Sportsman.
The All-Star Circuit of Champions program scheduled for Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park was canceled due to rain and cold temperatures. No makeup date has been announced yet.
Thunder Mountain Speedway got their season opener in the books on Friday with four divisions of racing action. Brookville racer Will Fleming started his second full season of 305 sprint car racing off on the right foot by winning the opening night feature over last year’s top winner George Hobaugh.
Other winners at Thunder Mountain included Charles Powell; late models, Brian Rhed; stock cars, and Tim Fannin in the semi-late feature. This Friday will be a huge night for the Penn-Ohio Pro Stock Series as the stock cars will be featured in a 30-lap feature that will see 2,500 dollars go to the winner.
There will also be a $500 to win dash for the stock cars. The late models and street stocks will also join the card while the 305 sprint cars will have the night off. Friday’s big show is scheduled to get underway at 7:30
Both Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio and Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway lost their shows to weather this past Saturday and will try to resume action this Saturday. Sharon will host the first “Summer Jam & BBQ Series” event this coming Friday featuring a Journey tribute band performing from 7-11pm.
On Saturday racing action resumes with a regular six division Steel Valley Thunder show highlighted by the big block modifieds along with for Fan Appreciation Night featuring FREE general admission for all fans. It will also be Autograph Night for fans who want to get autographs and meet their favorite drivers.
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