BEDFORD Speedway

SEVEN FEATURES AND FULL MOON MADNESS

By Dave Harclerode

BEDFORD, PA - The Super Late Models and Limited Late Models ran twin feature races Friday night at Bedford speedway, and fans witnessed some of the wildest racing and crashing they've seen all year. Shawn Claar earned his first ever Super Late Model win at Bedford in the first 20 lap feature, and Jeff Rine scored his third of the season in the second 20 lapper. In Limited Late Model action, Steve Bard earned his 2nd career victory in the first 15 lap feature, and point leader Derek Byler won the second feature. In other action, Daryl Whetstone won the Street Stock feature, his first win at Bedford since 1978. Point leader Charlie Walter earned his third victory of the season in the Hobby Stock class, and Mike Lauffer continued his domination of the FWD four cylinder division, winning his fifth of the year.

The Miller Auto Parts Super Late Model division struggled with the extremely fast, smooth and tacky racing surface. It all started in heat racing action when Chris Harr barrel rolled over top Tyler Ritchey in turn two. Then, as evening arrived and the full moon rose in the sky, it was evident to all on hand that it could be a long night. The first 20 lap feature had Shawn Claar and Andy Martz on the front row, two cars looking for their first Super Late Model win. Claar took the lead with Martz on his heels, as the rest of the field battled for position, often times three wide. Randy Burkholder, who caught and passed Scott Haus to win their heat race by a mere 8 inches, was battling Wayne Johnson for fourth in the feature when heavy contact was made at the end of the frontstretch. Burkholder's car slammed the outside wall and flew up into the catch fence. Both the fence and Burkholder's car received heavy damage. There was a long delay as track crews repaired the fence and a green/yellow light. When racing finally resumed, Claar ran the fast line and was able to put some distance on Martz. Jeff Rine flew past Martz in turn four to take over second and started to reel Claar in, but ran out of time to put on any kind of pressure on Shawn. Following Claar, Rine, and Martz was Brian Booze, and Scott Haus in fifth. Sixth through tenth went to Scott Rhodes, Brian Bernheisel, Steve Everhart from the last place starting position, Chuck Clise, and Jack Pencil. A pill draw on the frontstretch determined the invert for the second feature, and Claar drew the number 4 pill. This put Brian Booze and Andy Martz on the front row. This race would not go caution free either, but the damage was less severe. Matt Sala tested the durability of the turn three yuke tire, ending his evening. The only other incident was when Chuck Clise, Jeff Miller, and Brian Bernheisel had a meeting on the turn three wall. Even though cars were on top of each other, everyone continued except Clise. Andy Martz grabbed the early lead, but Brian Booze quickly stole the position as Martz faded. Jeff Rine, not satisfied with his second place finish in the first feature, set his sights for the front, and grabbed the lead. Scott Haus, Steve Everhart, Jack Pencil, and DJ Myers all found the highside to their liking, and Haus worked past Booze into second. Everhart had a heart stopping moment on the frontstretch when he got excellent bite coming off of turn four. In sprint car fashion, the car pulled a wheelie, which is a rarity in late model racing, forcing Everhart to leave off the gas. When both front tires came back to earth he almost made contact with the outside wall. Rine was fast, Haus was equally fast, and it was Rine taking the checkered. Haus, Booze, Everhart and Pencil completed the top five. DJ Myers came home sixth, from sixteenth, and Scott Rhodes, Andy Martz, Jeff Miller, and Greg Fetters rounded out the top ten. Jeff Rine is the only repeat winner all season in the division. Bernheisel and Burkholder won the heat races.

Not to be outdone, the Bedford Valley Petroleum Limited Late Models raced just as hard as the Super Late Models, but with more destruction. It all started on the first lap of the first 15 lap feature. Chad McClellan made contact with the outside wall going down the frontstretch. Chad, who started on the second row, ended up sideways in front of the entire field. In classic first lap frontstretch wrecking form, full speed racecars piled into one another with hard impacts, with cars flipping, and piling on top of each other as high as three cars deep. Remarkably, there were no serious injuries, just some destroyed racecars. The crash involved McClellan, Robbie Black, Howie Bussard, Rick Singleton, Brian Lowery, Lincoln Ritchey, Travis Calhoun, Brandon Hoover, and Donnie Hedge. McClellan, Singleton and Robbie Black's car were the only cars that were repaired in time for the second feature. When racing resumed after a lengthy cleanup under the full moon, Steve Bard jumped into the lead from the pole position and never looked back. Bard took the win, his second of the year, ahead of a hard charging Derek Byler, Tim Smith, Jr., Andy Teno, and Craig Perigo. Bard drew the number 2 pill for the second 15 lap feature, which put Byler on the pole. Byler, who's wife just had a baby less than a week ago, made another August 2008 memory by winning the feature. This time, nothing major happened and the race went through quickly. The top five went to Byler, Tim Smith, Jr., Andy Teno, and Steve Bard. Mike Shoemaker, Craig Perigo, Rick Singleton, George Beckett, driving Robbie Black's car, and Chad McClellan completed the top ten. Donnie Farlling and McClellan won the heat events.

Daryl Whetstone won the TC Racecars Street Stock feature, winning for the first time at Bedford since he won two semi-late features 30 years ago. Kerry Molovich led the first half of the race while Whetstone worked into second from his fourth starting spot. Whetstone's car was hooked up, and he took the lead from Molovich and never looked back. Following Whetstone and Molovich at the checkered was Donald Wyles. However, Wyles received a warning from tech during a postrace inspection. After much argument and dispute over the warning, the warning was turned into a disqualification, which gave third place to Bob Jay. Chris Chamberlain finished fourth, and Scotty Grubb fifth. There were no heat races for the division.

Back to back winners have been frequent this year in the Ritchey Sandblasting Hobby Stock division. Bill Replogle was going for his second in a row until bad luck ended that hope. Replogle zoomed from his seventh starting position into the lead until a mechanical malfunction sent him pitside. Charlie Walter, who started tenth, found himself in the lead, and had to battle division veteran Chuck Weyant for the win. Walter prevailed, over Weyant, Reed Stickel, Jr., Ryan Beckett, and Kevin Brown. Sixth through tenth went to Travis Group, Jarrod Brown, Alicia LeGros, Don Imler, and Preston Imler. There were no heat races for the division.

Mike Lauffer scored his fifth victory in the Thomas Chevrolet FWD four cylinder class. Cindy Rhodes led for much of the event, but Lauffer was too strong for anyone, winning by a several car lengths. Ed Vogel, Lonnie McKenzie, Juan Ryan, and Cindy Rhodes completed the top five. There were no heat races for the division.

Racing resumes on Friday, August 22nd for Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and FWD four cylinders. This will be the final point race for the Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and four cylinders. Coming Friday August 29th is the World of Outlaw Super Late Models, along with $1,000 to win Limited Late Models, and fireworks.

SUPER LATE MODELS

1ST FEATURE: 1. Shawn Claar 2. Jeff Rine 3. Andy Martz 4. Brian Booze 5. Scott Haus 6. Scott Rhodes 7. Brian Bernheisel 8. Steve Everhart 9. Chuck Clise 10. Jack Pencil 11. Jeff Miller 12. Greg Fetters 13. Darrell Dick 14. Randy Burkholder (DNF) 15. Wayne Johnson (DNF) 16. DJ Myers (DNF) 17. Matt Sala (DNF)
DNS: Tyler Hershey, Chris Harr

2nd FEATURE: 1. Jeff Rine 2. Scott Haus 3. Brian Booze 4. Steve Everhart 5. Jack Pencil 6. DJ Myers 7. Scott Rhodes 8. Andy Martz 9. Jeff Miller 10. Greg Fetters 11. Brian Bernheisel 12. Darrell Dick 13. Shawn Claar (DNF) 14. Chuck Clise (DNF) 15. Wayne Johnson (DNF) 16. Tyler Hershey (DNF) 17. Matt Sala (DNF)
DNS: Randy Burkholder, Chris Harr

HEAT 1: Bernheisel, Booze, Fetters
HEAT 2: Burkholder, Haus, Claar

LIMITED LATE MODELS

1st FEATURE: 1. Steve Bard 2. Derek Byler 3. Tim Smith, Jr. 4. Andy Teno 5. Craig Perigo 6. Donnie Farlling 7. Mike Shoemaker 8. Eddie Cornett 9. Chad McClellan (DNF) 10. Robbie Black (DNF) 11. Howie Bussard (DNF) 12. Rick Singleton (DNF) 13. Brian Lowery (DNF) 14. Lincoln Ritchey (DNF) 15. Travis Calhoun (DNF) 16. Brandon Hoover (DNF) 17. Donnie Hedge (DNF)
DNS: Kyle Wiser, Nathan LaSalle

2nd FEATURE: 1. Derek Byler 2. Tim Smith, Jr. 3. Andy Teno 4. Donnie Farlling 5. Steve Bard 6. Mike Shoemaker 7. Craig Perigo 8. Rick Singleton 9. George Beckett 10. Chad McClellan 11. Eddie Cornett
DNS: Brian Lowery, Travis Calhoun

HEAT 1: Farlling, Perigo, Singleton
HEAT 2: McClellan, Black, Byler

STREET STOCKS

FEATURE: 1. Daryl Whetstone 2. Kerry Molovich 3. Bob Jay 4. Chris Chamberlain 5. Scott Grubb 6. Bill Pluta, Jr. (DNF) 7. Joe Pluta (DNF)
DQ: Donald Wyles

HOBBY STOCKS

FEATURE: 1. Charlie Walter 2. Chuck Weyant 3. Reed Stickel, Jr. 4. Ryan Beckett 5. Kevin Brown 6. Travis Group 7. Jarrod Brown 8. Alicia LeGros 9. Don Imler 10. Preston Imler 11. Lincoln Ritchey 12. Bill Replogle

FWD FOUR CYLINDERS

FEATURE: 1. Mike Lauffer 2. Ed Vogel 3. Lonnie McKenzie 4. Juan Ryan 5. Cindy Rhodes 6. Scott Caron 7. Jeff Treece 8. Paul Crynock, Jr. 9. Irvin Fleegle 10. Philip Best 11. Dave Lambert (DNF) 12. Joel Vinglas, Jr. (DNF)