Path Valley race summary 2002-06-21

Spring Run, PA_ Three top sprint drivers repeated wins Friday night in hard charging Path Valley Speedway Park features. Winning the seven features were Joe Davis of Lewistown in the PA 305 Sprints, Jim Brookens of Fayetteville in the 600 Sprint and Sean Good of Middleburg in the 270 Sprints.

Splitting the two V-8 street stock features were Tony Stoneberger of Clear Spring MD and Doug Hoffman of Newville, and in the four-cylinders Ricky Harper of Three Springs won in the mini stocks and Mike Beidel of Fayetteville won in the thunder cars.

The Central PA Legends Cars that produced two 2001 national INEX champions had their scheduled night off and will return next Friday, June 28 when two features are scheduled for the thunder cars to make up for the May 31 rainout. The 600 Sprints and 270 Sprints headline that show and the street stocks have their planned one week in five off.

Next Saturday, June 29, is the third Junk Car Race of the season for the bottom-dollar V-8, six-cylinder and four-cylinder classes that run once a month. That afternoon the regular Burris Racing kart and quad races also include a motor race for a new Briggs engine. All 'boxstock' karts that can make a 345 pound minimum weight may enter the motor race.

Past champion Joe Davis of Lewistown led every lap in the PA 305 Sprint feature with defending champion Scott Ellerman right on his rear bumper all the way.

"Any top five finish is great in this gang of tough drivers," Davis said after thanking his crew and family for their support. On the final lap Rick Mayberry who leads in 305 wins flipped his #29 in turn four to add a bit of pathos to the close race. The front five finishers were Davis, Ellerman, Nathan Gramley, Todd Lynn and Von McGee.

In the 600 sprints 2001 Path Valley champion Jim Brookens of Fayetteville admitted that newcomer Ryan Greth in #71 had him beat as Greth lead all the way to lap 15. Then Duane Harbaugh overtook Greth in turn three and slid up from the inside to set the #71 spinning and flipping into turn four. Brookens inherited the lead and took his fourth win just ahead of Jim Young, Jim Callahan, Terry Peters and Dusty Heistand in the front five.

Harbaugh was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct after refusing to be sent to the rear for wrecking Greth and attempting to spin Brookens. In three classes a total of six drivers were disqualified for their conduct on and off the track and will face sanctions ranging from fines and suspensions to permanent elimination from the racing program at Path Valley.

"Along with 20 or more cars or sprints in all six classes, we also had some of the top drivers in the region racing her tonight," said Promoter Ken Geesey, "and the fans got all their money's worth in exciting racing action!"

"When we see bad racing or bad behavior, we will deal with it," added senior race director John Winsett! "The vast majority of our race teams are here to have fun and race hard and fair and we want to keep our show that way for them."

The 270 Sprint feature was equally thrilling as the full field suffered through several restarts in the first half that gave veteran Jeff Furlong futile opportunities to catch leader Sean Good. Then the second half the feature ran wide open and Good skillfully wove among lapped cars to hold off Furlong. Third through fifth were Chad Criswell, Doug Dodson and Steve Lenig.

Stoneberger took the makeup street stock feature lead from Jim Andrews on a lap ten restart and then held Randy Patterson in second place by no more than a few yards to the finish with Alan Shives, Wayne Hawbaker and Jeff Bennett in third to fifth. The second street stock feature went to Doug Hoffman despite the best efforts of Stoneberger and Alleman who wound up battling each other for second. The front five at the finish were Hoffman, Alleman, Stoneberger, Andrews and Wayne Hawbaker.

In an almost flawless mini stock thriller, past champion Ricky Harper took the lead in the first lap as defending champion Arlin Brougher worked his way through the pack from the twelfth place handicap spot he was relegated to for winning the week before. Ed Kirby in #75 held a solid second place until a restart on the last lap closed up the pack and shot Brougher into second. The front five were Harper, Brougher, Kirby, Steve McCartney and Joe Jakubic.

John Rasp appeared to have the four-cylinder thunder car feature firmly in hand until lap eight when Rasp and Beidel overtook the Shaun Linn car coming out of turn four. Beidel went to the inside and Rasp to the outside and Beidel won the drag down the front stretch into turn one. Rasp, Rosenberry, Jeremy McCartney and Melvin Bigler filled in the front five finishers.

Gates open for Friday night sprint and stock car races at 5 p.m. with warm-ups at 6:30. Saturday Burris kart and quad races see gates open at 10 a.m. and action on the track by noon. Saturday night special shows like Junk Cars, Enduro races and AMA motorcycle events see a 5 p.m. opening time. Grandstand admission to the kart, quad and motorcycle events is still free.

The Path Valley Speedway Park is located in Spring Run PA a mile north on PA Route 641 from the intersection with PA Route 75, halfway between Port Royal and Hagerstown. It is five miles east from the Willow Hill Exit 14 of the PA Turnpike. The new phone number at the track for promoter Ken Geesey is 717-349-7111.

For information on the 2002 schedule and track, race teams and fans can call the owners at 717-426-4756 or 717-426-2910, consult the website at www.pathvalley.com, or they can email them at twp@pathvalley.com.

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