ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 6/20/2012 – “The Doctor” was in the house at Lincoln Speedway Wednesday night.
New York racer Danny Johnson scored one for the North in the 60-lap, $5,000-to-win Race of Champions NAPA Auto Parts/Pioneer Pole Buildings big block modified feature after tracking down Jimmy Phelps over the course of 45 non-stop laps to end a feature that ran in temperatures reaching the upper 90’s.
A redraw placed Johnson third for the start. Polesitter and 2011 Lincoln winner Ryan Godown, who also won the RoC event at Selinsgrove on Tuesday night, led the first eight laps before fifth-starting Phelps wrestled the lead away on lap nine. After the final caution on lap 16 (when MeMe DeSantis jumped the cushion in turn four and came to a stop), Phelps drove away to a huge lead, and had a 3.59-second lead when he hit lapped traffic at the half-way point.
By lap 35, it became apparent Johnson was closing the gap. Johnson pulled onto Phelps’ back bumper with 20 laps to go.
Johnson made his race-winning move on lap 48 when Phelps went to the top of turn four to pass a lapped car. Ironically, Johnson dove low and took the lead, but both cars continued to follow the lapped car for the next several laps.
“That was one little mistake that he made, and I was able to capitalize on it,” said Johnson in victory lane, “I thought the outside would be a little better than it was “But the top was a little slippery and you had to pretty much stick to the bottom. We just had no grip up there. Once I figured that out, then we were a little bit better.”
Phelps closed on Johnson with three laps to go in a last-ditch attempt to reclaim the lead, but Johnson was able to hold on for the .53-second win.
“There are just so many people coming together for me,” continued Johnson, “We’ve been working really hard and the guys have been putting in a lot of hours to get the cars here. We’ve wrecked a lot of cars, we’ve blown up a lot of engines, and we’ve been able to keep going. Thank God I’ve got a good race team.”
Third through fifth were Godown, Jimmy Horton, and Craig VonDohren. Rounding out the top ten were Pat Ward, hard charger Billy Decker (who came from the rear after switching cars), Duane Howard, Rick Laubach, and Kevin Albert.
Heats for the 18 modifieds were won by Johnson, Phelps, and Horton.
Daryn Pittman started on the pole and claimed the win in the 25-lap Mach 1 Chassis Mid-Atlantic 358/360 URC Challenge. Despite leading every lap, the win did not come easy, with third starting Aaron Ott putting heavy pressure on Pittman over the first half of the race. Ott actually pulled alongside the Mike Hefner-owned Lelands.com #27 on several turns through sixth through ten.
After a red flag for Gerard McIntyre, Jr. and J.J. Grasso (during a caution period on the backstretch, resulting a Grasso flip), Pittman pulled away from the rest of the field.
Ott, who won the same event last year, settled for second, with front row starter T.J. Stutts crossing third, Mark Smith fourth, and Niki Young completing the top five. Sixth through tenth were Jacob Allen, Tim Wagaman, Jim Siegel (driving the Wisner family #2W), Adrian Shaffer (driving the #94V), and Chad Trout.
Heats for the 28 sprinters were won by Trout, Pittman, and Ott, with Pat Cannon winning the consolation after flipping on the opening lap of his heat race.
This coming Saturday night, June 23rd, it will be KIDS NIGHT at Lincoln, featuring the 410 Sprints, 358 Sprints & Thundercars. Gates open at 5:00, with racing to get underway at 7:30 p.m. There’ll be a driver autograph session and games for the kids in the infield before the races. Prizes will be given away to kids throughout the show.
To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up to date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s “Premier” Saturday night race track The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.
RACE RESULTS
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012
LINCOLN SPEEDWAY
Abbottstown, PA
RACE OF CHAMPIONS BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS AND 358/360 SPRINT CAR CHALLENGE
ROC BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS
Feature (60 Laps) – 1. 7Z-Danny Johnson; 2. 98H-Jimmy Phelps; 3. 88H-Ryan Godown; 4. 5-Jimmy Horton; 5. 1C-Craig VonDohren; 6. 42P-Pat Ward; 7. 91-Billy Decker (Hard Charger); 8. 4-Duane Howard; 9. 7L-Rick Laubach; 10. 3A-Kevin Albert; 11. 85-Stewart Friesen; 12. 14W-Ryan Watt; 13. 47-Gary Wagner, Jr.; 14. 46-Doug Manmiller (DNF); 15. 126-Billy Pauch (DNF); 16. 74W-John Willman (DNF); 17. 88D-Meme DeSantis (DNF); 18. OINK-Kevin Brady (DNF). No Time
Lap Leaders – Ryan Godown (1-8), Jimmy Phelps (9-47), Danny Johnson (48-60)
1st Heat (10 Laps) – 1. 7Z-Danny Johnson; 2. 1C-Craig VonDohren; 3. 42 -Pat Ward; 4. 46-Doug Manmiller; 5. 14W-Ryan Watt; 6. 47-Gary Wagner. Time – 2:47.53
2nd Heat (10 Laps) – 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps; 2. 91-Billy Decker; 3. 126-Billy Pauch; 4. 4-Duane Howard; 5. 7L-Rick Laubach; 6. 3A-Kevin Albert. Time – 2:47.53
3rd Heat (10 Laps) – 1. 5-Jimmy Horton; 2. 85-Stewart Friese; 3. 88C-Ryan Godwin; 4. 88D-Meme DeSantis; 5. 74W-John Willman; 6. OINK-Kevin Brady. No Time
358/360 URC SPRINT CAR CHALLENGE
Feature (25 laps) – 1. 27-Daryn Pittman; 2. 77-Aaron Ott; 3. 23-TJ Stutts; 4. M1-Mark Smith; 5. 65-Niki Young; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen; 7. 1-Tim Wagaman; 8. 2W-Jim Siegel; 9. 94V-Adrian Shaffer; 10. 7C-Chad Trout; 11. 3-Pat Cannon; 12. 1Z-Jessica Zemken; 13. 5-Tyler Ross; 14. 28F-Davie Franek; 15. 12-Tim Kelly; 16. 23B-Billy Pauch, Jr.; 17. 85-Nathan Berwager; 18. 67-Steve Collins; 19. 19-Scott Fisher (DNF); 20. 29-Ryan Wilson (DNF); 21. 50-Tim Berkheimer (DNF); 22. 16-Gerard McIntyre, Jr. (DNF); 23. 25-JJ Grasso (DNF);24. 73-Kramer Williamson (DNF). No Time
Lap Leaders – Daryn Pittman (1-25)
1st Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 7C-Chad Trout; 2. 65-Niki Young; 3. 29-Ryan Wilson; 4. 1Z-Jessica Zemken; 5. 94-Adrian Shaffer; 6. 16-Gerard McIntyre, Jr.; 7. 47-Scott Lutz; 8. 97-Jimmy Reppert; 9. 30C-Rodney Westhafer; 10. 3-Pat Cannon (DNF). Time – 2:38.74
2nd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 27-Daryn Pittman; 2. M1-Mark Smith; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen; 4. 73-Kramer Williamson; 5. 1*-Tim Wagaman; 6. 23B-Billy Pauch, Jr.; 7. 67-Steve Collins; 8. 19-Scott Fisher; 9. 28F-Davie Franek (DNF). No Time
3rd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 77-Aaron Ott; 2. 2W-Jim Siegel; 3. 50-Tim Berkheimer; 4. 23-TJ Stutts; 5. 25-JJ Grasso; 6. 5-Tyler Ross; 7. 12-Tim Kelly; 8. 21-Duane Mausteller; 9. 85-Nathan Berwager. Time – 2:36.72
Consolation (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 3-Pat Cannon; 2. 12-Tim Kelly; 3. 28F-davie Franek; 4. 67-Steve Collins; 5. 19-Scott Fisher; 6. 85-Nathan Berwager; 7. 47-Scott Lutz; 8. 30C-Rodney Westhafer; 9. 97-Johnny Reppert (DNF); 10. 21-Duane Mausteller (DNF). No Time