The Little Track That Shouldn't Have.........Did!!!!!!
For everyone that thinks Shellhammer's is a 2nd class speedway,take note,with the help of the infield 4 wheelers and race team 4 wheelers,we didn't beat Mother Nature once,we beat her twice and the racing was fantastic. If you stayed home you missed an enjoyable night on the speedway.
May 29th Recap:
The Junior Slingshot A Main was exciting right from the start as Hailey Burnatowski,Hailey Eroh and Barry Seaman were locked in a tight threesome with Aubrey Romig and Gavin Wolfe within striking distance after 5 laps.Eroh made a lowside pass on Burnatowski on lap 8 and was never headed.The battle for top 5 spots was never settled until the checker was thrown as Seaman was infield bound on lap 11 and entering the picture was 11th starting Anthony Ciccone.With no more cautions to slow the field down Ciccone got by Miles Zehner for 3rd on lap 13 and Romig rebounded from falling out of the top 5 on lap 14.Eroh won by a comfortable margin with Ciccone slotting in for 2nd. Romig got 3rd by .5 seconds over Burnatowski as Lily Barrett went into total race mode to pass both Zehner and Wolfe for 5th.Only 1 minor caution slowed down 20 lap event.
The 125 micro feature had some position challenges for the 5 car main event as Easton Miller had his hands full early in the 15 lap race as Shane Davis was the 1st challenger,then having to ward off Dylan Yeingst, than having pressure from Chris Dolan who made a last lap bid for the win fall just .3 seconds short.Yeingst was 3rd with Davis 4th and Blaire Schoenly 5th.Blaire installed a new engine and could not keep it running.
The $500 winner's money was being awarded to the Stage 1 Modifieds and let's just say we could call this one the Brett Smith Benefit as the polesitter wasted no time in establishing early race dominance.After a lap 1 caution the 4 drivers behind Brett had separation from the rest of the 14 car field with Johnny Fugelo,Mark Mohr,Riley Wanamaker and A J Gerhart swapping positions for the rest of the 20 lap main.Mohr and Fugelo raced side by side for 3 laps before Mohr outpowered Johnny out of turn 4 to start his bid to overtake Smith.Hard luck struck Wanamaker on lap 16 as she pulled the 44 to the infield on lap 16 while running 4th. Mohr closed to within Smith's rear bumper but had to settle for 2nd. Fugelo stayed focused for 3rd with Gerhart getting 4th.13th starting Alli Cushman's mad scramble through traffic the last 3 laps netted her a solid 5th.
There wasn't a safe spot to be had in the 18 car 270 micro feature as John Maurer was pressured early by Jesse Leiby,Matt Hoffman and Matt McAnally.Behind these 4 it was anyone's game.Michael and Andrew Petock,Dustin Roberts and 11th starting Adam Buchel attracted quite a bit of attention as they scrambled to advance their running spots.McAnally got by Hoffman on lap 8 and closed the gap to leader Maurer with every lap remaining.Roberts snuck by Hoffman on lap 14 with Buchel now a top 5 runner.Lap 19 saw McAnally close to Maurer's left rear tire but had to settle for 2nd by just .249 seconds.Roberts ran a solid,focused race for 3rd with Hoffman and Buchel 4th and 5th. It was family honors being decided on the last lap as Andrew Petock got to the checker slightly ahead of Michael Petock for 6th
A 1st lap yellow in the All Star Slingshot feature was the only yellow as the 14 car field went 20 non-stop laps as the only caution involving 4 cars sent Haley Thunberg to the infield.Haley's teammate Dan Lane,Jr. took command and had to negotiate the changing track conditions wisely with Jason Dunkelberger shadowing Dan's every move.Showing some speed was Matt Miller who kept a hard charging Colton Williams behind him until Williams made a bold outside pass on lap 13 to take over 3rd.Keeping Miller honest was Jocelynn Darinsig who was now thinking about getting the 4th place payout.Dunkelberger closed the wide gap to just 3 feet as slower traffic was now in view on lap 19.Lane.Jr. held firm for the hard fought win over Dunkelberger with Williams getting 3rd. Rounding out the top 5 was Miller and Darinsig.Making some headway the last few laps was Darian Danyluk going from 8th to 6th on the last circuit.
The Young Guns Jr. Sprint main was won by Cannon Cressley who passed Paisley Crawford at the 1/2 way point.Getting 3rd was T J Baney.
The last race of the night was 1 that had the fans talking about as they headed home. The 600 micros early race highlights focused on Geezer Fanelli,Matt McAnally and Ryan Rochelle who basically raced under a blanket for 5 laps before McAnally got by Fanelli with Rochelle passing Fanelli 2 laps later.Behind this 3 car battle was another 4 car war with Trevor Kobylarz,Adam Buchel, Damien Bower and Chase Wehr.Green flag racing continued from the start until a late race caution on lap 18 bunched up the field.It was a total shootout for the final 2 laps as Rochelle could not make a low groove turn 3 move stick and continued his strong showings finishing behind race winner McAnally.Fanelli warded off the final challenge of Kobylarz for his 2024 best finish of 3rd.Finishing 5th was 2 time 2024 winner Adam Buchel.
Final checkered was thrown at 9:47,last payout was made at 10:06 and many of us were greeted with rain on our way home.
Please don't ever doubt what Dave Cordier,Jr. can do with a racetrack.When other tracks would throw in the towel,Dave sets his sights on completing an event if at all humanly possible.
Again thanks to the 4 wheelers for repacking the track after 2 bouts of showers.Thanks to the fans for your support and a BIG thanks to the race teams for realizing that a show could be completed no matter what the weathermen say.
Voucher sponsors were : ERMS Racing,JMF Inc.,Gunther Racing (Bobby Gunther Walsh) and Outten Jeep Hamburg.
