RHODES VICTORIOUS IN BEDFORD FAIR RACE
By Dave Harclerode
BEDFORD, PA - A capacity crowd filled the fairgrounds for Bedford's annual Great Bedford Fair race, and the pits were jam packed. The fair race, dedicated to the memory of long time fairboard member Dick Koontz, was sponsored by C. Paul Ford and Protective Coatings of Pa. Scott Rhodes won his first Bedford Super Late Model feature in over two years, claiming his 19th career win. Steve Bard scored his first ever Bedford victory in the Limited Late Models, and Brian Duffy won his 14th career Bedford Street Stock feature. Charlie Walter took top honors in the Hobby Stocks, and Mike Lauffer won his fourth FWD 4-Cylinder event of the season.
With so many Bedford winners using the top of the track to claim victories, Scott Rhodes proved this week that the bottom is good too. Rhodes led every lap, fending off challenges from Greg Fetters, and later in the race Mike Altobelli, Jr. Rhodes took the checkered ahead of Altobelli, Fetters, Chris Harr, and Steve Everhart. Randy Burkholder, newcomer JT Spence, Wayne Johnson, Nick Dickson, and Shawn Claar completed the top ten for the 25 car field. Altobelli, DJ Troutman, and Everhart won the qualifying events. Point leader Scott Haus was not in attendance due to a vacation, relinquishing the point lead to Steve Everhart. Brian Booze was also vacationing, and Limited Late Model driver Mike Shoemaker ran the Gill owned # 55 in Brian's place.
Steve Bard was a happy racer in victory lane after winning his first at Bedford in the Limited Late Model division. Bard held off Donnie Farlling to take the win. Following Farlling was Derek Byler, George Beckett, and Chad McClellan. Sixth through tenth went to Tim Smith, Jr., Mike Shoemaker, Robbie Black, Howie Bussard, and Craig Perigo. Thirty cars started the feature on a slicker than usual Bedford surface, and 21 cars finished. McClellan, Byler, and Shoemaker won the heats.
Brian Duffy waited until the big fair race to score his first victory of the season in the Street Stock class. A big pile up on the first lap in turn 4 eliminated three of the divisions heavy hitters, and damaged several other cars. Bill Henney, Dave Brown, and Rick Potter (filling in for son Ricky) were eliminated in the crash, Donald Wyles and Jim Sayler suffered heavy damage, but were able to continue racing. Duffy, who started third, took the lead on the restart and held off Chris Chamberlain for the win. Chamberlain finished a solid second, with Darryl Whetstone, Bob Jay, and Scotty Grubb rounding out the top five. Sixth through tenth went to Billy Ecton, Jr., Jim Sayler, David Whetstone, Donald Wyles, and Bill Pluta. Sayler and Duffy won the heats.
The Hobby Stock division must've enjoyed the large crowd, because they wanted to stay in the spotlight all night long. The race was finally declared over several laps early after the division had seven cautions in just nine laps of racing. Charlie Walter came from his 8th starting spot to claim his third career Bedford win, holding back weekly front runner Bill Replogle. Tyler Ritchey finished third, newcomer Jake Gongloff was fourth, and Ryan Beckett fifth. Mandy Jay, Jason Gilliland, Jarrod Brown, Ray Shepherd, and Brandon LaSalle completed the top ten. Gilliland, Reed Stickel, Jr., and Chuck Weyant won the heat events.
Mike Lauffer is one tough customer in the FWD 4-Cylinder class. Lauffer's win Friday night was his fourth of the season, and there have only been 6 races for the division. Dave Lambert finished second, and was followed by Dwain Rhodes, Juan Ryan, and Bill Noll. Sixteen cars were on hand, a season high for the division. For the first time, heats were rain for the 4-cylinders, and Dwain Rhodes and Lauffer took the wins.
Bedford Speedway will be back in action this Thursday, July 31st for the LUCAS OIL Late Model show that was rained out on April 25th. Sixty-one cars have rain checks for the event, and with the series staying in the area all weekend, a large car count is expected again for the make up show on Thursday. The Limited Late Models will also be on hand for $1,000 to win. Bedford will be off on Friday, August 1st, and will return with a 5 division show and kid's bike races on August 8th.
SUPER LATE MODELS
FEATURE: 1. Scott Rhodes 2. Mike Altobelli, Jr. 3. Greg Fetters 4. Chris Harr 5. Steve Everhart 6. Randy Burkholder 7. J.T. Spence 8. Wayne Johnson 9. Nick Dickson 10. Shawn Claar 11. Chuck Clise 12. TJ Wright 13. Jim Yoder 14. Coleby Frye 15. Andy Martz 16. Eric Zembower 17. Jack Pencil 18. Daryl Dick 19. Mike Shoemaker 20. Shane Beegle 21. DJ Troutman (DNF) 22. Jeff Rine (DNF) 23. Larry Wright (DNF) 24. Derek Sala (DNF) 25. Rodney Sweitzer (DNF
HEAT 1: Altobelli, Jr., Fetters, Frye
HEAT 2: Troutman, Harr, Burkholder
HEAT 3: Everhart, Rhodes, Pencil
LIMITED LATE MODELS
FEATURE: 1. Steve Bard 2. Donnie Farlling 3. Derek Byler 4. George Beckett 5. Chad McClellan 6. Tim Smith, Jr. 7. Mike Shoemaker 8. Robbie Black 9. Howie Bussard 10. Craig Perigo 11. Rick Singleton 12. Mike Altobelli, Jr. 13. John Hedge 14. Travis Calhoun 15. Mike Duck 16. Brian Lowery 17. Brian Lessley 18. Andy Teno 19. Allen Lemin 20. Travis Fleegle 21. Bill Krause 22. Brandon Hoover (DNF) 23. Rodney Mock (DNF) 24. Tim Snare (DNF) 25. Maurice Thompson (DNF) 26. Matt Cosner (DNF) 27. Travis Stickley (DNF) 28. Kyle Wiser (DNF) 29. Daniel Cornman (DNF) 30. Lincoln Ritchey (DNF)
HEAT 1: McClellan, Black, Smith
HEAT 2: Byler, Stickley, Beckett
HEAT 3: Shoemaker, Farlling, Bard
STREET STOCKS
FEATURE: 1. Brian Duffy 2. Chris Chamberlain 3. Darryl Whetstone 4. Bob Jay 5. Scott Grubb 6. Billy Ecton, Jr. 7. Jim Sayler 8. David Whetstone 9. Donald Wyles 10. Bill Pluta 11. Kerry Molovich 12. Bill Ecton, Sr. 13. Joe Pluta 14. Dave Brown 15. Bill Henney 16. Rick Potter
HEAT 1: Sayler, Henney, Wyles
HEAT 2: Duffy, Chamberlain, Jay
HOBBY STOCKS
FEATURE: 1. Charlie Walter 2. Bill Replogle 3. Tyler Ritchey 4. Jake Gongloff 5. Ryan Beckett 6. Mandy Jay 7. Jason Gilliland 8. Jarrod Brown 9. Ray Shepherd 10. Brandon LaSalle 11. Kevin Brown 12. Preston Imler 13. Don Imler 14. Travis Group 15. Steve Fadley 16. Bill Claar 17. Chuck Weyant 18. Joe Railey 19. Reed Stickel, Jr. 20. Bruce Claar 21. Clay Logsdon 22. Alicia LeGros 23. Kevin Hinish 24. Dallas Runk
DNS: Justin Milburn, Mike Siegele, Jim Sacco
HEAT 1: Gilliland, Gongloff, Hinish
HEAT 2: Stickel, Walter, Brown
HEAT 3: Weyant, Replogle, LaSalle
FWD 4 CYLINDERS
FEATURE: 1. Mike Lauffer 2. Dave Lambert 3. Dwain Rhodes 4. Juan Ryan 5. Bill Noll 6. Paul Crynock, Jr. 7. Paul Crynock III 8. Scott Caron 9. Cindy Rhodes 10. Brian Kauffman 11. David Green 12. Irvin Fleegle 13. Joel Vinglas, Jr.(DNF) 14. Ed Vogel (DNF)
DNS: Jeff Treece, Joe Means
HEAT 1: D. Rhodes, Vogel, Ryan
HEAT 2: Lauffer, C. Rhodes, Lambert
