Exciting Night at Shellhammer's

Newer Faces in Higher Places

The racing at Shellhammer's was off the wall with plenty of A Main passing with some drivers getting their best finishes of the year.With the cooperation from everyone the checkered was thrown at 9:45 sharp.

The Junior Slingshots led off the night with a few surprises,as it was a jinx to be an early race leader as both Chase Schott and Hailey Eroh had misfortune.Eroh got tangled with a slower car sending her to the rear and Schott had mechanical issues on lap 13.The race really got interesting in the later laps as Anthony Ciccone,Miles Zehner and Zack Gerber were inseparable until 2 to go when things opened up for the top 3.Behind these 3 was another 3 car battle with Aubrey Romig,Gavin Wolfe and Lily Barrett mixing it up with Romig distancing herself at the finish.Ciccone gets win # 1 with Zehner and Gerber 2nd and 3rd.Romig claimed 4th with Wolfe just nudging out Barrett for 5th.

Car count was low ,but the racing was entertaining as the front 5 runners in the 125 main all had different lines around the speedway.Easton Miller overtook Blaire Schoenly on lap 2 and was not going to be denied the trip to victory lane as he warded off Schoenly and a hard charging Sam Borger.Shane Davis charged up from his 7th spot early to be a top 5 factor.Early race top 5 runner AJ Gerhart pulled off the speedway on lap 11.Davis got by Abby Witter on lap 10 in finishing 4th.Witter held on for 5th over Dylan Yeingst.Davis was the winner of the Strapped In TV Show Driver of the Week Pit Pass.

A solid 18 car All Star Slingshot field had some position jockeying throughout the 20 lap main.Wyatt Taschler found early race misfortune as the race leader headed to the infield on lap 5 turning the top spot over to Tucker Cole. The front running trio of Cole,Colton Williams and Griffin Hendershot were now joined by Brett Bieber and Jason Dunkelberger to make for quite a spirited race.Williams saw the break he needed as Cole got mixed up with a slower car giving him the top spot .Tucker rebounded quickly to just miss getting his 3rd win by .087 seconds behind Williams.Bieber got to 3rd on lap 15 and held firm to the end.A nice showing for Hendershot in 4th and Dunkelberger getting 5th.Bieber's car owner and teammate Tess Horvath was 6th.

Dan Lane,Jr. and Lavar Scott had the 600 field wired but behind these 2 speedsters,it was anyone's guess on the finish.Matt McAnally and Chris Kurtz got past 3rd starter Dakota Barlet on lap 3 and the charge for 3rd was underway. At the 5 to go signal Adam Buchel passed Barlet and had Kurtz in his sights for 4th.McAnally was becoming a late race force to the leaders but had to slot in for 3rd place money as Lane.Jr. and Scott were not to be denied the front 2 spots as Lane,Jr. got win #2 on the season.A lap 18 pass propelled Buchel into 4th with Kurtz rounding out the top 5 just ahead of Barlet.Richie Hartman and Wayne Scott both headed to the infield before a lap could be completed.

As the saying goes when an old door closes a new one will open and that is what happened in the Stage 1 Mod main.Colin Cox and AJ Gerhart were the early race stars battling for the top spot.These 2 were joined by Riley Wanamaker and Bryce Dodig for the 1st half of the 20 lapper.Lap 15 Dodig headed off the speedway in his # 4 hot rod while running 4th.Mark Mohr saw the new door open on lap 16 as Cox and Gerhart pushed their limits and took it high off of turn 2 giving the low running Mohr the opening he needed to pass the pair and claim the win.Gerhart notched 2nd ahead of Cox with Wanamaker slotting in for 4th just ahead of a quick closing Matt Mertz,who passed 3 cars in the last 2 laps for 5th.Johnny Fugelo rebounded from an early race yellow to get 8th behind Stephen Smith III.

Ending the night was the 270s and this race went down to the wire and even afterwards to tech.Jarrett Imler lead all 20 laps but after lap 7 his lead was never more than .6 seconds over Matt McAnally and Louden Reimert.Imler had a nice middle groove run with McAnally and Reimert splitting the top and bottom lines at each end of the high banked 1/8th mile.Lap 8 Adam Buchel joined the threesome only to turn his # 10 to the infield after lap 9 was completed.Entering the fray was Jacob Neff,Matt Hoffman and Matt Bangs.The run to the checkered was a classic with Imler deemed the winner,but the 17J failed tech giving the win to McAnally.Reimert took the runner up payout with Bangs getting by Neff and Hoffman for 3rd.Hoffman was 4th and Neff had a solid 5th place run.Cooper Schoenly advanced 7 spots to get 7th after the checkered was thrown.

Track surface held firm for the night,with no holes,ruts or dust and a cushion on the high side which many drivers took advantage of.

It was nice seeing some of the new faces showing their talents at the Race Track By the River,Shellhammer Dirt Track.

Track and event info can be found at Shellhammer Dirt Track Fan Page on Facebook.