FEATHERS WINS A CLOSE ONE AT BEDFORD
By Dave Harclerode
BEDFORD, PA - It was Blackburn Russell night at the Bedford Speedway Friday, and the evening's racing event was a good one. Potentially damaging midweek heavy rains had little affect on the Speedway surface, and the track was smooth and fast, as it has been for most of the season. Bo Feathers won his third Miller Auto Parts Super Late Model feature of the season, in a thrilling race which saw four lead changes in the first 5 laps. Brian Lowery ended a long cold streak by winning the Bedford Valley Petroleum Limited Late Model feature, and Bob Jay continued his dominance, winning the TC Race Cars Street Stock feature event. In the Ritchey Sandblasting Hobby Stock division, point leader Chuck Weyant took his fourth win of the season.
Bo Feathers and Jeff Rine made up the front row of the starting lineup for the Super Late Model main event, and immediately the pair got down to business. Very reminiscent of the incredible show the duo put on back on May 4th, Feathers and Rine ran side by side, exchanging the lead several times early in the race. In the May 4th event, it was Rine running the top side, with Feathers giving chase on the bottom. The roles were reversed on Friday night, with Feathers rolling the top, and Rine giving chase on the bottom. The pair raced like that the entire event, with Feathers gaining a slight advantage each lap up to the mid-race mark. Meanwhile, Wayne Johnson and seventh starting Steve Everhart were mirroring the front pair. Johnson on top, Everhart on the bottom, the pair battled fiercely lap after lap. One of the big stories of the evening was weekly crowd thriller Jack Pencil. Pencil, who had to leave the pre-race staging area for a quick pit stop, was relegated to the last place starting position just before the field took the green. From his last place position, Pencil took off, taking the field to school like a good middle school math teacher would. By lap 19 Pencil was in the 5th position, but his charge to the front got a little bit tougher when he came upon the Johnson and Everhart duo. As those two drivers battled side by side for the third position, Pencil worked hard for some racing room to get by. Pencil found his speed on using the top side of the track, but this is where Johnson had his best line. Several times the the trio came off of turn 4 three wide, but Pencil always managed to get squeezed back to the tailgunner position. At the front of the pack, Jeff Rine's bid for the lead started to wane in the final few laps, and Bo Feathers went on to victory by five car lengths. Second place Rine had a tire go down on the cool down lap, and was very fortunate there wasn't a late race caution. The three car battle for third ended up with Johnson securing the spot at the line, followed by Pencil and Everhart. Chris Harr, who ran solid all race finished sixth, and Nick Dickson, Scott Rhodes, Dave Troutman, and Scott Haus rounded out the top ten. Haus won his heat race event in convincing style, completely decimating the field as he ran blistering lap times. That magic seemed to slip away at feature time though, as Haus slipped five positions during the event. Other heat race winners were Harr and Johnson.
Brian Lowery earned his first ever Bedford Speedway Limited Late Model feature win, but it wasn't easy. Running the top groove, Lowery was pressured by DJ Troutman for much of the race. Troutman actually took the lead from Lowery on lap 11, but a caution for Lincoln Ritchey negated the lead change. The pair, both hailing from Hyndman, PA, ran 1-2 for the remainder of the race. Lowery made contact with the outside wall with two laps to go, but stayed in command and took home the win. Troutman settled for second, and Mike Shoemaker, Tim Smith, Jr., and pole sitter Andy Teno completed the top five. Sixth through tenth went to Shawn Claar, Travis Calhoun, Tyler Ritchey, Robbie Black, and George Beckett. Claar and Calhoun won the heat events.
Bob Jay started seventh in the Street Stock feature, and it only took 9 laps to get to the top spot. Michael Stiffler took the lead from Travis Brown on the second lap, but mechanical problems slowed Stiffler's ride, and Jay had a relatively easy time winning the event. Brandon Hoover wound up second, his career best finish at Bedford. Rick Cragan, who suffered a late race flat, recovered for third, Brown finished fourth, and newcomer Chris Chamberlain brought his new Chevy home in fifth. Stiffler won the heat race. The win was Jay's 19th career Bedford Street Stock win, which puts him 2 wins behind all-time division win leader Kevin Weyandt.
Chuck Weyant extended his point lead in the Hobby Stock division by earning his ninth career win at the big Bedford oval. The race got off to a rough start when a lapped car bunched the leaders up in turns three and four on the fourth lap, which led to a big mid pack pile up. Gary Morder, Ray Shepherd, Justin Milburn, Eric Weyant, and Jason Gilliland sat in a mangled pile just past the scoreboard. Weyant and Gilliland retired from the race with heavy damage, including a fire under Weyant's number 88e which was put out by the Bedford Fire Dept. When racing resumed, all went smoothly as Chuck Weyant led Reed Stickel to the finish. Charlie Walter finished third, Shawn Dunmyer fourth, and Brandon LaSalle fifth. Rounding out the top ten was Mike Siegele, Ryan Beckett, Shepherd, and Milburn. Chuck Weyant and Charlie Walter won the heat races.
Originally just a regular four division show, this Friday's event has been turned into a grand affair. Friday, August 17th, the Super Late Models will be racing Twin 20's for a $1,000 to win each. The Limited Late Models will be running Twin 15's for $ 500 to win each. There will be a $500 Bonus to any driver who can win both features in their division. Qualifying for the events will be via pill draw and heat races for the first feature. The first winner will then draw a pill for inversion for the second feature. The extra purse money doesn't stop with the late models, as the Street Stocks will be running for $ 400 to win, and the Hobby Stocks will be racing for double the regular purse. The annual Powder Puff will be the nightcap for what will be a great night of racing. Fans will be permitted to enter the pits at 6:15pm for driver autographs. Hot laps will be begin at 7pm, with racing starting at 7:30. General admission will be $15, and $25 for the pits.
SUPER LATE MODELS
FEATURE: 1. Bo Feathers 2. Jeff Rine 3. Wayne Johnson 4. Jack Pencil 5. Steve Everhart 6. Chris Harr 7. Nick Dickson 8. Scott Rhodes 9. Dave Troutman 10. Scott Haus 11. Ron Delano 12. Greg Fetters 13. Larry Wright 14. Chuck Clise 15. Gary Beck 16. Andy Martz 17. TJ Wright 18. Eric Zembower 19. Shane Beegle (DNF) 20.
Jack Thornton (DNF)
HEAT 1: Haus, Feathers, Rine
HEAT 2: Harr, Rhodes, Dickson
HEAT 3: Johnson, Everhart, Clise
LIMITED LATE MODELS
FEATURE: 1. Brian Lowery 2. DJ Troutman 3. Mike Shoemaker 4. Tim Smith, Jr. 5. Andy Teno 6. Shawn Claar 7. Travis Calhoun 8. Tyler Hershey 9. Robbie Black 10. George Beckett 11. Craig Perigo 12.
Travis Stickley 13. Howie Bussard 14. Donnie Farlling 15. Eddie Cornett 16. Jerry Bard 17. Lincoln Ritchey (DNF)
DNS: Nathan LaSalle
HEAT 1: Claar, Troutman, Teno
HEAT 2: Calhoun, Smith, Stickley
STREET STOCKS
FEATURE: 1. Bob Jay 2. Brandon Hoover 3. Rick Cragan 4. Travis Brown 5. Chris Chamberlain 6. Michael Stiffler (DNF) 7. Jason Douglas 8. Greg Imler (DNF) 9. Donald Wyles (DNF)
HEAT 1: Stiffler, Jay, Cragan
HOBBY STOCKS
FEATURE: 1. Chuck Weyant 2. Reed Stickel 3. Charlie Walter 4. Shawn Dunmyer 5. Brandon LaSalle 6. Mike Siegele 7. Ryan Beckett 8. Ray Shepherd 9. Justin Milburn 10. Mandy Jay 11. Shawn Wyles (DNF) 12.
Gary Morder (DNF) 13. Jason Gilliland (DNF) 14. Eric Weyant (DNF) 15.
Terry Thomas (DNF)
DNS: Mark Shope, Donnie Imler
HEAT 1: C. Weyant, Wyles, LaSalle
HEAT 2: Walter, Stickel, Beckett |
