Danny Johnson records Saturday RoC Modified Win at Selinsgrove.
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03/20/11 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE – THANK YOU
NEWS FROM RoC ICEBREAKER IV WEEKEND AT SELINSGROVE
A JOE KAMINSKI, JR. PROMOTION
DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN FOR THE DOCTOR AS HE INHERITS INSINGER PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS RoC ICEBREAKER 40 WIN.
BY JR KENNERUP
Selinsgrove, Pa… The saying of baseball legend Yogi Berra came true once again on Saturday evening at the Selinsgrove Speedway. “It was déjà vu all over once again.”
Two years in ago in this same event it appeared that Ryan Godown was the winner of the feature until coming up 17 pounds light at the scales and that handed the win to Danny Johnson who was driving the Mike Petruska owned Teo Pro car.
On Saturday evening at the Selinsgrove Speedway it appeared that first time visitor Dale Planck wired the star studded field for the feature win. However at the scales Planck came up 15 pounds light and after being weighed several times, he was disqualified.
Pat Ward who crossed in second rolled his car on the scales and he too came up 15 pounds light. The Ward car was weighed several times also and he was also disqualified.
Danny Johnson who started 16th and crossed the line in third made weight and was named the winner of the race. The Rochester, NY driver wheeling the Mike Petruska owned Teo Pro car claimed the $5,275 feature win.
Billy Decker who started 17th ended up second with 12th place starter Brett Hearn winding up third. Dan Vauter who started 19th finished fourth with Jimmy Horton, Jr. who started eighth but had to pit to replace a flat left rear tire on lap eight came all the way back to fifth.
“Hard to believe that I won another feature here in the same way I did two years ago,” said the smiling Danny Johnson in victory lane.
Pat Ward and Billy VanInwegen brought the 30 car starting field to green. Ward who said that he wanted to get to the top first in the first turn got the lead over Dale Planck, Billy Pauch, Jr., Craig Von Dohren, and VanInwegen.
Planck in his first ever appearance at the track motored past Ward to take the lead on lap two. Meanwhile defending RoC Champion Stewart Friesen was starting to show his strength as he moved into fifth. Friesen got past Von Dohren for fourth on a lap three restart and into third two laps later.
While the top three pulled away a fierce battle for positions four through tenth involved Pauch, Jr., Von Dohren, Todd Burley, Danny Johnson, Billy Decker, Brett Hearn, and Gary Tomkins. These seven drivers were a show within themselves as they were exchanging positions every lap while running two, three, and at times four wide.
Planck was holding close to a three second lead before he entered heavy lapped traffic on lap 17. The lead would be down to less than a half a second when a caution on lap 19 for the slowing car of Von Dohren.
The last double file restart of the race created more excitement as Friesen got past Ward for second with Danny Johnson from 16th to fourth and Todd Burley into fifth.
During the red flag period on lap 21 Burley was forced into the pit area with water leaking from his radiator, this moved Hearn into fifth.
Ward showing some mid race quickness flew past Friesen for second on lap 24 and started to reel in Planck for the lead. The great run for Friesen ended on lap 32 as the left rear wheel came off in turn two.
On the restart Dan Vauter brought the crowd to their feet with an outside wall brushing run from ninth to fourth. However once everyone got heat back into their tires Billy Decker vaulted from sixth to fourth while Hearn regained fifth.
The running order remained the same for the final three laps until the final outcome was decided at the scales.
Danny spoke highly of his Mike Petruska crew. “Those guys worked really hard today and they work really hard on the cars all the time. Last night we brought the car home in pieces and I said to them today we can either bring the car home in one piece and park it in the trailer or we could roll the dice and try to come out of here with a feature win.”
Despite inheriting the win Johnson impressively came from 16th to third. “We got the car hooked up and going good for the feature and it always good to start the year off with a win.”
Danny spoke about his reuniting with the Mike Petruska owned team. “They are great people and I’m glad to have the opportunity to be a part of the Mike Petruska owned team.”
Second place finisher Decker commented after the feature, “If a knew the top two were light maybe I would have given a little more bumper to Danny when we were racing hard against each other there late in the race.”
ICEBREAKER MELTINGS: what a difference a day makes as windy and much cooler conditions greeted the large crowd on this day as the sunny and windy conditions played havoc with the racing surface. The drivers ran right up against the outside guardrail all show long creating some very exciting racing throughout the day. Richie Pratt, Jr. pulled off the move of the day with a slide job in the consi to go from third to first in just one turn. Mike Iles spun in his heat race on the last lap while in a transfer position and he was only 500 yards from the start finish line. In the consi Iles was rapidly closing in on a transfer spot until smacking the outside retaining wall with one lap to go. After the initial round of the Middleswarth Heat Race Winners Challenge the next driver was given one lap to get heat in their tires before the race started. Craig Von Dohren scratched from this event due to mechanical issues with his car and his crew had not completed repairs in time for the event. Jeff Strunk was offered the Grandview Speedway Provisional but opted not to take it. A hard grinding homestretch accident in the feature that involved Willy Decker and Kevin Bates, with Bates flipping several times. Both drivers walked away uninjured but both of their cars could be considered a write off. Many trackside observers felt the late rash of yellow fever of four yellows within the last nine laps of the feature caused the weight issue. RoC ICEBREAKER V Weekend at Selinsgrove will take place March 16th & 17th, 2012.
INSINGER PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS SATURDAY RACE REPORT RoC ICEBREAKER IV WEEKEND AT SELINSGROVE RoC MOD TOUR RACE #2
CAR COUNT: 57
FINISH: Danny Johnson, Billy Decker, Brett Hearn, Dan Vauter, Jimmy Horton, Jr., Rick Laubach, Wade Hendrickson, Matt Sheppard, Bobby Varin, Billy Pauch, Rob Bellinger, Danny Creeden ( 16x ), Billy Van InWegen, Danny Tyler, Larry Wight, Rich Scagliotta, Stewart Friesen, Richie Pratt, Jr., Todd Burley, Gary Tomkins, Willy Decker, Kevin Bates, Glenn Strunk, Brett Tonkin, Craig Von Dohren, Billy Pauch, Jr., Jason Rood, Larry Solomon.
DQ; Dale Planck, Pat Ward.
RoC PROVISIONAL; Creeden, Sheppard.
PENN – CAN PROVISIONAL; Tonkin.
FIVE MILE POINT PROVISIONAL; Bates.
NEW EGYPT PROVISIONAL; Laubach.
UTICA – ROME PROVISIONAL; Rood
LAP LEADERS; Ward ( 1 ), Planck ( 2 – 40 ).
UTICA – ROME SPEEDWAY NEW YORKER 200 GUARANTEED STARTING SPOT $1,000 CASH; Johnson.
SMALL BLOCK BONUS $500 CASH; Pauch.
MIDDLESWARTH POTATO CHIPS HEAT WINNERS CHALLENGE CHAMPION $400 CASH; Bellinger.
KY RACING HALWAY HOME BONUS $200 CASH; Planck.
LENNY KRAUTHEIM AUTO SALES 3RD PLACE BONUS $150 CASH; Hearn.
CLARK’S MOTORSPORTS ART FEATURE WINNERS PLAQUE $125 VALUE; Johnson.
JGK MOTORSPORTS JACK BAGLEY DEDICATION TO RACING MEMORIAL AWARD $100; Horton.
BFP SPECIALTIES HARD LUCK AWARD $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Iles.
MIDDLEBURG IGA FEATURE WINNERS TROPHY & CAKE $100 VALUE; Johnson.
JAY FISH PHOTOGRAPHY LAST DRIVER TO QUALIFY FOR FEATURE $75 CASH; Solomon.
MARJORIE J. KENNERUP MEMORIAL AWARD TOP 5MP / PENN – CAN FINISHER $50 CASH; Friesen.
KEITH SWEIGART ELECTRIC LIGHTNING FAST LAP OF THE NIGHT $50 CASH; Iles.
FORT ERIE HARDWOOD TOP FINISHING CANADIAN DRIVER $50 CASH; Friesen.
SMI RACING CONSOLATION WINNERS $50 CASH TO BE SPLIT AMONG WINNERS; Vauter, Pauch, Pratt.
MIDDLESWARTH POTATO CHIPS HEAT RACE WINNERS CHALLENGE ROUND WINNERS $50 CASH PER ROUND; Bellinger all three rounds.
ED SCOTT HIGHEST FINISHING GRANDVIEW REGULAR $50 CASH; Strunk.
MIDDLESWARTH POTATO CHIPS HARD CHARGER AWARD; Laubach 27th to 6th.
SHILEY FABRICATION HEAT RACE WINNERS $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Horton, Van InWegen, Von Dohren, Ward, Bellinger, Pauch, Jr.
ZEMCO SPEED EQUIPMENT HEAT RACE WINNERS $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Horton, Van InWegen, Von Dohren, Ward, Bellinger, Pauch, Jr.
BAIR WHEEL REPAIR AWARD $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Johnson.
TROYER RACE CARS & PARTS TOP 3 FINISHER AWARDS $150, $100, $75 GIFT CERTIFICATES;
PENSKE RACING SHOCKS TOP 3 FINISHER AWARDS BUY 3 GET 1 FREE PROMOTION; Vauter, Van InWegen, Solomon.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY TOW MONEY $25 CASH; Jimmy Horton IV, Kevin Albert, Mike Colsten, Jeremy Markle, Mike Iles, Tommy Scheetz, Jr., Ryan Watt, Randy Sherlock, Brett Ballard, Justin Holland, Ted Lamb, Jr., Kevin Hirthler, Jeff Strunk, Doug Manmiller, Tommy Scheetz, Sr., Frank Cozze, Jr., Danny Creeden ( RC 1 ), Randy Chrysler, Mike Mammana, Danny Hieber, Neal Williams, Ron Roberts, Jr., Jimmy Phelps, Ryan Phelps, Ryan Godown, Randy Chronister, Brent Boyer.
NEXT RoC EVENT; Saturday March 26th – New Egypt Speedway – Cabin Fever 60 – Possible $11,000 to win with Gamblers Fee and Lap Money.
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