ALLSTAR: Selinsgrove Results 98-08-30

All Star Sprint Race Results - Selinsgrove Speedway (Pa) - Sun. 8/30/98 - By Bill Meyer

SELINSGROVE, PA., 8/30/98 - Greg Hodnett of Memphis, TN, and the Apple Motorsports No.12 sprint car team have been searching all year for that elusive first win of 1998. Sunday night they both got what they were looking for at Selinsgrove Speedway.

Hodnett, who started the Apple Chevrolet/Cars by Dealers No.12 sprinter on the pole for the 30 lap All Star Circuit of Champions feature, grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and streaked away from the rest of the field for the entire 30 lap distance to pick-up the deserving win for both himself and his car-owner.

"The car felt great...the guys stayed up until six-thirty in the morning building this car," said a happy Hodnett in victory lane. "I guess it paid off...Lee, Troy, Todd and everybody they did a great job. I was just sitting out there holding my hands straight and gassing her up and it turned out for a win, so we’re really happy."

"The guys made the appropriate changes and made my job easy. The Chevrolet motor’s running great...Lee and Ed Stauffer built this from there own garage and I’ll tell you what, it runs great. The car was absolutely perfect all night and it just made my job that much easier."

While ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole sitter Hodnett grabbed the lead at the drop of the green to start the All Star’s Pennsylvania swing finale, outside front row starter Frankie Kerr gave chase for the first lap until fourth-place starter Kenny Jacobs took over the runner-up spot on the second lap.

Meanwhile Rahmer, who started eighth, moved around Kerr for third place on the third lap. Rahmer then moved around Jacobs for the runner-up spot following a 10th lap caution restart and took up the chase after the streaking Hodnett who had opened up a two second lead in the meantime.

Hodnett’s lead shrinked to only one second over Rahmer as they headed into slower traffic on the 15th lap.

The race’s final caution on the 18th lap allowed Rahmer one last shot at Hodnett, but Hodnett was not to be denied this night as he quickly opened up daylight between himself and Rahmer and cruised the rest of the way to take the checkered by a huge 4.73 second margin for his first win of the year. For Hodnett, the win marked his first career All Star Circuit of Champions victory and earned $4,000 for his efforts.

"I knew I couldn’t let up," said Hodnett. "I was being really cautious in traffic. I was here last week and Fred (Rahmer) taught me a very important lesson in traffic. I put it in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to get off the bottom of turns three and four, I can guarantee you that. They were going to have to drive by me on the outside. The car was just fast and it made my job really easy."

"It’s there first win...they’ve been itching for it," Hodnett added. "They’ve been second several times to Fred, which is a common theme around these parts lately, but we got lucky enough to start up front and did it tonight."

Rahmer settled for second, with Jacobs hanging on for third, Kerr fourth, and Jeff Shepard was fifth. Completing the top-10 was Todd Shaffer, Keith Kauffman, Dean Jacobs, Kevin Gobrecht, and Billy Pauch.

"We had all the time in the world, he was just a little bit better than us tonight," said Rahmer who had won both All Star features at Lincoln Speedway the night before. "I’m really glad for them guys. Greg is a heck of a nice guy and Apple Motorsports is a heck of a team. I just hope they don’t try a make a habit of this. They were definitely running good tonight and they deserved to win...I’m glad for them."

"It was a lot of fun," Rahmer added on racing Jacobs for second place. "Kenny is a real good racer and we were just a little bit better than him tonight and were able to sneak by."

Jacobs, who finished third, was pleased with his night as well.

"We thought we had a shot at them tonight, but Greg Hodnett just handled us tonight," Jacobs said matter-of-factly afterwards. "This is the same car we ran at Williams Grove on Friday night and it seems pretty nice. We’re real happy to come home third and we’ll just work real hard and maybe we’ll be better the next time we come back."

Heats were won by Brian Paulus, Billy Pauch, Kevin Gobrecht and Hodnett. Fred Rahmer won the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash, while Kenny Jacobs won the United Expressline B-Main. Fast time in time trials was set by Kenny Jacobs over the 34-car field with a one-lap time of 17.467 seconds. Tim Krape took the lead on the final lap of the pro stock feature to record his fourth win of the season at Selinsgrove.

Time Trials: 1) Kenny Jacobs 17.467; 2) Jeff Shepard 17.480 3) Frankie Kerr 17.585 4) Greg Hodnett 17.623 5) Todd Shaffer 17.628 6) Sean Michael 17.630 7) James Chesson 17.700 8) Fred Rahmer 17.731 9) Joey Saldana 17.835 10) Dean Jacobs 17.844 11) Brook Weibley 17.880 12) Johnny Mackison 17.894 13) Shawn Keen 17.919 14) Billy Pauch 17.963 15) Kevin Gobrecht 17.992 16) P.J. Chesson 18.155 17) Keith Kauffman 18.169 18) Len Thompson 18.183 19) Lance DeWease 18.189 20) George Suprick 18.226 21) Brian Paulus 18.256 22) Judi Bates 18.297 23) Todd Gracey 18.365 24) Van Gurley, Jr. 18.439 25) Todd Hestor 18.480 26) Scott Jones 18.483 27) Len Krautheim 18.781 28) Mike Erdley 18.878 29) Joey Borich 18.904 30) Troy Camp 19.124 31) Brian Smith 19.477 32) Keith Royer 19.908 33) Mick Wastitowski 20.043 34) Mike Wagner 23.575

United Expressline Heat (8 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 28-Brian Paulus; 2. 17-Joey Saldana; 3. U2-Keith Kauffman; 4. 53-Shawn Keen; 5. 88-Todd Shaffer; 6. 94-Kenny Jacobs; 7. 7M-Todd Hestor; 8. 88F-Joey Borich; 9. 3X-Mick Wasitowski. Time - 2:22.34 Southwest Expressline Heat (8 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 1Z-Billy Pauch; 2. 4J-Jeff Shepard; 3. 121-Judi Bates; 4. 88M-Sean Michael; 5. 10-Len Thompson; 6. 8R-Dean Jacobs; 7. 8J-Scott Jones; 9. 14-Troy Camp. Time - 2:28.75 Southwest Glass Heat (8 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 1-Kevin Gobrecht; 2. 25-Todd Gracey; 3. 23S-Frankie Kerr; 4. 461-Lance Dewease; 5. 22-James Chesson; 6. 32W-Brook Weibley; 7. 3K-Len Krautheim III; 8. 2+-Brian Smith. Time - 2:26.96 United Specialties Heat (8 Laps/5 to qualify) - 1. 12-Greg Hodnett; 2. 55-Van Gurley; 3. 65-Johnny Mackison Jr.; 4. 77-Fred Rahmer; 5. 87-George Suprick; 6. 117-Mike Erdley; 7. 12K-Keith Royer; 8. 76-P.J. Chesson. No Time Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash (4 Laps) - 1. 77-Fred Rahmer; 2. 4J-Jeff Shepard; 3. 23S-Frankie Kerr; 4. 88-Todd Shaffer; 5. 17-Joey Saldana; 6. U2-Keith Kauffman. Time - 1:12.12 United Expressline B-Main (12 Laps/4 to qualify) - 1. 94-Kenny Jacobs; 2. 8R-Dean Jacobs; 3. 76-P.J. Chesson; 4. 7M-Todd Hestor; 5. 32W-Brook Weibley; 6. 8J-Scott Jones; 7. 117-Mike Erdley; 8. 88F-Joey Borich; 9. 14-Troy Camp (DNF); 10. 29-Mike Wagner (DNF); 11. 12K-Keith Royer (DNF); 12. 3X-Mick Wasitowski (DNF); 13. 2+-Brian Smith (DNF); 14. 3K-Len Krautheim III (DNF). No Time A Main: 1) 12 Greg Hodnett 2) 77 Fred Rahmer 3) 94 Kenny Jacobs 4) 23S Frankie Kerr 5) 4J Jeff Shepard 6) 88 Todd Shaffer 7) U2 Keith Kauffman 8) 8R Dean Jacobs 9) 1 Kevin Gobrecht 10) 1Z Billy Pauch 11) 10 Len Thompson 12) 28 Brian Paulus 13) 53 Shawn Keen 14) 22 James Chesson 15) 32 Brook Weibley 16) 87 George Suprick III 17) 76 P.J. Chesson 18) 88M Sean Michael 19) 461 Lance Dewease 20) 7M Todd Hestor 21) 121 Judi Bates 22) 25 Todd Gracey 23) 55 Van Gurley 24) 65 Johnny Mackison. All Star Points: 1. Kenny Jacobs 4302; 2. Joey Saldana 4201; 3. Frankie Kerr 4156; 4. Keith Kauffman 3939; 5. Dean Jacobs 3937; 6. Brian Smith 2977; 7. Scott Jones 2928; 8. Judi Bates 1993; 9. Kevin Huntley 1587; 10. Sarah Fisher 1496.