Holtgraver continues to shine of the brightest stages!
Mike Miller and Jason Scoville score wins
For Danny Holtgraver the plan was quite simple; set a quick lap in time trials, transfer through the heat and go like hell in the feature! But plans are easier said than done with guys like Tim Shaffer, Dale Blaney, Paul McMahan, Danny Smith, Stevie Smith and Ed Lynch Jr. in the field. Even still, when the checkered flag waved, Danny’s plan had worked to perfection and he was standing in Sheetz Victory Lane celebrating the biggest win of his career; an All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint A-Main at Lernerville Speedway! He’s won a handful of features at Lernerville Speedway; as recently as last Friday! And he won his first All Star feature at Attica Speedway in June. But winning an All Star feature at his home track was a dream come true for Danny and his father and crew chief Dan.
As mentioned above, the plan started with time trials. The All Star format puts a lot of weight in this two laps and a good lap can carry you through the program. Danny turned the second quickest lap with a time of 13.014 seconds, less than a tenth of a second behind Quick Timer Stevie Smith Jr. He then succeeded in part two of the plan by racing from sixth on the grid to fourth on a fast track in a short 8-lap heat race. Then, after finishing fourth in the dash and thus starting fourth in the $5,000-to-win, 30-lap A-Main, Holtgraver quickly fell in line behind early leader Brian Ellenberger and two-time defending event winner Tim Shaffer. He passed Shaffer on lap six for second and then set his sights on Ellenberger, passing him in lapped traffic four laps later. Danny deftly managed lapped traffic and survived a handful of cautions with a former Knoxville Nationals Champion on his tail tank to take the checkered flag for the biggest win of his suddenly skyrocketing career!
Danny’s friend and mentor Tim Shaffer chased him to the checkered flag for second after winning the dash and starting on the pole. Ohio’s Cap Henry ran a rock solid race to finish third, Stevie Smith finished fourth and early leader Brian Ellenberger turned in a solid top five finish. All Time Ti22 Sprint feature wins leader Ed Lynch Jr. won the All Star B-Main and came from 11th to finish sixth ahead of David Gravel, Dale Blaney, Danny Smith and Carl Bowser. Heat races were checkered by Dale Blaney, Chris Bell (in the iconic Ferkel Circle), and Jack Sodeman Jr.
Mike Miller found out that defending his 2011 Track Championship was harder than winning it this season, but scored his second feature win after a few weeks of rough outings towards the end of summer. Miller started eighth, but quickly made his way to the front and took the lead from polesitter Brett McDonald on lap five. Ron Shook, (back behind the wheel of the Bill Seitz #53 just a week after Chris Schneider drove it into Sheetz Victory Lane), hounded Miller the whole way to the checkered flag to finish second. Joe Kelley continues to come on strong at the end of the season, but still hasn’t found his way back to the Sheetz Victory Lane in 2012. For now, Kelley will have to be satisfied with another podium finish, but the All Time Pic-A-Part Sportsman feature winner has sights set on this Friday’s $2,000 payday in the Sportsman/Stock Spectacular portion of Autumn-Motive Fest 2012. Brett McDonald scored another solid finish in fourth, while 2012 Budweiser Points runner-up Jim Fosnaught finished fifth ahead of AJ Flick, Chris Schneider (this week behind the wheel of the former Hanovick #1), Ryan Moyer, Pat Hanley and Matt Keith. Joe Kelley and Pat Hanley were heat race victors.
The 305 Sprints brought Friday night’s Labor Day weekend lidlifter to a close with an exciting battle for the lead between Jim Morris III, Justin Whitsell and eventual winner Jason Scoville. Morris jumped out to the lead from the pole, but Whitesell jumped into second on the opening lap and tailed Morris for nine laps before taking the lead (even after losing his front wing on lap seven). Morris, though fighting an ill-handling car, was visibly faster down the straightaway and appeared to be on his way to Sheetz Victory Lane until a late race caution for a violent flip by Rob Felix after contact with Bob McMillin brought out the red flag. Scoville jumped up on the cushion in turns one and two to take the lead down the backstretch, and Whitesell just couldn’t get through the turns well enough without the front wing to mount a serious charge to reclaim the lead. It’s been a few years since a Rudzik Excavating sponsored sprint car was in Sheetz Victory Lane, but Jason Scoville got it done like Jimmy Hawley did so many times; most recently in the Rudzik #49 in 2008. 305 Sprint heats were won by Justin Whitesell and CJ Jones.
As mentioned above, next up on the 2012 Lernerville Speedway schedules is Autumn-Motive Fest 2012 featuring the $2,000-to-win Sportsman/Stock Spectacular. As always, the Spectacular will feature open rules and open tires and a large crowd of regional stock car aces are expected to invade the Action Track for such a lofty purse! Recent winner include Rusty Martz (2008/2011), Nick Goss (2009) and Chris Schneider (2010). Autumn-Motive Fest will also include the second $1,000-to-win, 100-lap Enduro. Rules & Registration can be found on our website www.Lernerville.com under the Downloads tab on the right hand side of the page.
Contact: Lernerville Speedway
Eric J. Westendorf, Public Relations Director
(724) 664-1075 / ewestendorf@dirtcar.com
