Sprint

Lincoln Results 97-09-06

Jeff Shepard was untouchable in the twenty five lap sprint car race saturday night at Lincoln Speedway. Shepard drew a front row starting position alongside polesitter Dan Dietrich. Dietrich made a great start and led the first lap. Shepard dove ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

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Jeff Shepard was untouchable in the twenty five lap sprint car race saturday night at Lincoln Speedway. Shepard drew a front row starting position alongside polesitter Dan Dietrich. Dietrich made a great start and led the first lap. Shepard dove low into turn three on the second lap, took the lead and never looked back.

Fred Rahmer was involved in an incident involving Dan Jones and Cris Eash on the initial start. Jones and Eash stopped, and were sent to the rear for the restart. Jones continued after being towed to the pits.

The yellow made its first appearance with three laps complete when Steve Siegel, driving the Sal Scarpitta #59, stopped with suspension damage.

When the green replaced the yellow, Bill Brian Jr., moved into the low groove passing Dietrich for second. Bill Brian Jr. now sits behind the wheel of the famous #29 Weikert Livestock Special. Brian takes the wheel from Jeff Thomas, who had recently replaced Mike Lutz.

Dave Ely and Von McGee tangled in turn four and the yellow flew once again with five laps complete. Jeff Rohrbaugh, who had been running in the top five, pitted with a flat tire.

While Shepard ran away and hid from the field, there was intense racing for the top ten positions. Kevin Gobrecht ran in fifth with Cris Eash close behind in sixth, when the red flag stopped the action.

Glendon Forsythe caught fire on the front straight. The small fire was out by the time safety crews arrived. Crews used the red period to refuel the cars. When all the cars were pushed off, a fuel cap was found on the front straight. Once the cap was back in place on the #7 of Kevin Gobrecht, the green flag flew for the last sixteen laps of the race.

Jeff Shepard had two lapped cars as a cushion between himself and second place Bill Brian Jr.. Shepard made a fantastic start from the point and by the time Brian cleared the backmarkers, Shepard led by the length of the front straight.

Cris Eash lined up in the sixth position for the final restart behind Dan Dietrich in fourth and Kevin Gobrecht in fifth. Jesse Wentz in the #2w, lined up eighth.

When green replaced red, Gobrecht went to work on Dietrich in fourth. Eash worked lapped traffic perfectly, passing Gobrecht when he became blocked by a backmarker. Eash immediately put pressure on Dietrich.

Several battles ensued on the race track. Bill Brian had his hands full with Rahmer trying to pass for second. Eash soon passed Dietrich to join the battle between Brian and Rahmer and Jesse Wentz moved into the top five by lap sixteen. Kevin Gobrecht followed closely in sixth.

On lap nineteen, Rahmer pulled low into turn three and took second from Bill Brian. Brian tried to return the favor with a slide job in turn one, but Rahmer was up to the challenge. Brian lost a few car lengths on that maneuver which caused him to fall into a battle with Eash in fourth.

Eash and Brian battled side by side with Wentz close behind. While all the fast cars were running close to the outside wall, Wentz got his car to work low, passing Eash for fourth with less than two laps to go.

Only seven cars finished on the lead lap.

Heat One Results (10 laps/6 to qualify) 1. 16c Cliff Brian, 2. 69k Don Kreitz Jr., 3. 45 Jeff Rohrbaugh, 4. 7 Kevin Gobrecht 5. 17e Cris Eash 6. 77e Dave Ely, 7. 07 Dave Haight, 8. 17n Niki Young, 9. 8d Billy Dietrich Time: 2:24.50

Heat Two Results: 1. 77 Fred Rahmer, 2. 4j Jeff Shepard, 3. 59 Steve Siegel, 4. 69 Shawn Weaver, 5. 1/2 Von McGee, 6. 49 Bob Howard, 7. 7s Rick Schmelyun, 8. 94 Glendon Forsythe (DNF), (DNS) 12b Brian Monteith Time: 2:23.75

Heat Three Results: 1. 2w Jesse Wentz, 2. 8j Dan Jones, 3. 29 Bill Brian Jr., 4. 8 Dan Dietrich, 5. 17k Scott Karl, 6. 43 Larry Shive, 7. 65 Christine Karnes, 8. 707 Marshall Whitsel Jr. (DNF) Time: 2:25.65

Sprint Consolation (5 laps/6 to qualify) 1. 707 Marshall Whitsel Jr., 2. 65 Christine Karnes, 3. 17n Niki Young, 4. 94 Glendon Forsythe, 5. 8d Billy Dietrich, (DNS)Dave Haight, Rick Schmelyun, Brian Monteith Time: 1:19.92

Feature (25 laps) 1. Jeff Shepard 2. Fred Rahmer 3. Bill Brian Jr. 4. Jesse Wentz 5. Cris Eash 6. Kevin Gobrecht 7. Dan Jones 8. Don Kreitz Jr. 9. Dan Dietrich 10. Cliff Brian 11. Scott Karl 12. Jeff Rohrbaugh 13. Bob Howard 14. Niki Young 15. Marshall Whitsel Jr. 16. Christine Karnes 17. Von McGee 18. Billy Dietrich 19. Larry Shive (DNF) 20. Glendon Forsythe (DNF) 21. Dave Ely (DNF) 22. Shawn Weaver (DNF) 23. Steve Siegel (DNF) 24. Rick Schmelyun (DNS)

David Reininger - Motorsport News International

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