Eiford collects first career win. Cindy Rhodes paces 4’s. Hoffman 3-peats.

Published: July 26, 2015

Eiford collects first career win.  Cindy Rhodes paces 4’s.  Hoffman 3-peats.

Jennerstown, PA  (July 25, 2015 ) :   A beautiful summer evening greeted fans on Saturday as Jennerstown Speedway Complex hosted Fan Appreciation Night presented by the Somerset County Chamber of Commerce.  For $5, spectators enjoyed the speedway’s action-packed, five-division program.  It was double points night for the competitors which can significantly alter the division standings.  Two track regulars, Cindy Rhodes (Somerset Trust Company Fast ‘N Furious 4’s) and Matt Sever (Martella’s Pharmacy Late Models) raced to their first victories of 2015 at the Laurel Highlands half-mile oval.  Modified driver, AJ Poljak, visited Victory Lane in the J&J Truck Bodies and Trailers Street Stocks.  Lonnie Hoffman (Modifieds) remained perfect with his third win in three starts at Jennerstown.  And, Ron Eiford, Jr. (Chargers) picked up his first career victory.

More and more Late Model drivers are coming from far and wide to compete at the Somerset County speed plant.  This week, Akron, Ohio’s Mike Smith and Geno Steigerwalt, a regular at Mahoning Valley Speedway, made their 3-plus hour treks to Jennerstown.  Jeannette’s Jayme Back and Jeremiah Kuntz from Mahaffey started on the front row for the 40-lap Martella’s Pharmacy Late Model feature.  Beck, who won one of two heat races earlier in the evening, jumped to the initial lead while the second row contingent of points leader Barry Awtey and Matt Sever quickly passed Kuntz before one lap was completed.  For the first half dozen laps, Awtey would look to make a move under Beck for the lead while Sever began to work to the outside of Awtey for the runner up position.  Sever would take the spot from Awtey on Lap 10.  Like Awtey earlier in the race, Sever would attempt to take the lead from Beck by getting the nose of his car under Beck’s, only to have Beck slam the door on her challengers entering the turns.  On Lap 16, contact between the lead duo sent Beck spinning in turns 3 and 4.  Although undamaged, Beck had to go to the tail of the field which had already seen some attrition in the early stages of the race.  The Top 5 at this point were Sever, Awtey, Kuntz, rookie Teddy Gibala and Bedford’s Todd Price.  Price would go pit side under caution moving Beck into the 5th spot on the restart.  Beck would overtake Gibala for 4th place on the restart while Sever and Awtey pulled away from Kuntz; a gap that increased to a quarter of a lap over the remainder of the event.  With two laps to go, Awtey was able to get the nose of this car under Sever’s, but could not gain enough momentum to complete the pass of the leader.  Sever appeared to push high exiting Turn 4 on the last lap, opening the door for the veteran from Jenners to capture the win.  Yet, Sever held on to beat Awtey to the stripe by a car length.  It was the West Mifflin driver’s first victory of 2015 after several wins last season.  Kuntz finished a distant 3rd.  Beck and Gibala waged a spirited battle for the 4th spot with Beck holding onto the position.  With his feature victory and a heat race win earlier in the program, Sever has closed the gap to one point behind Awtey for the title.   Garry Wiltrout, a two-time winner in the Martella’s Pharmacy Late Models this season, took a huge hit in the points standings as his ride suffered engine woes prior to the feature.

Cindy Rhodes, the current points leader and a feature winner at Jennerstown in 2014, started on the pole for the 15-lap Somerset Trust Company Fast ‘N Furious 4’s feature.  Frieden’s Casey Fleegle, a convert from dirt, started to her outside.  The Somerset driver would pull out to the early lead while Andrew Pluta, from his 6th starting position, would charge to 2nd before one lap was in the books.  Defending champion Steve Settle also got by Fleegle on the first lap to move into the 3rd spot.  By Lap 3, Evan Nibert and Joe Laposky had shuffled Fleegle to the outside of the top 5.  By this time, Rhodes had a lead of about a second over Pluta, who maintained about the same gap back to Settle in 3rd.  Over the remainder of the caution-free event, Rhodes would slightly increase her lead over Pluta on the way to her first victory of 2015.  Settle, Nibert and Laposky rounded out the Top 5.  Rhodes now enjoys a 20 point advantage over Settle in the standings.  Paul Koffler, Jr., who experienced an engine failure during his heat race, borrowed the car of fellow competitor Eugene Zerfoss to remain in the title hunt.  Heat wins went to Pluta and Settle.

Last week, defending Chargers champion, Steve Long, turned his car over to his friend Steve Singo, who had not raced in a year due to illness.  This week, Long gave up the wheel to Jon Scott, whose engine expired before the division’s heat race on Saturday.  For the 15-lap contest for the Chargers, Port Vue’s Justin Shipley, making his first ever start at Jennerstown, would start outside of the front row beside polesitter, Ron Eiford, Jr.  Scott, from the 3rd starting spot, would take the runnerup position from Shipley before the first lap was completed.  Two laps later, Scott made a charge on Eiford for the lead only to lost ground during the move to fall back into contention again with Shipley.  Eiford, who came into the night with the points lead, would open up a two second gap over Scott during the latter stages of the race to garner his first career victory.  Shipley held onto 3rd Place over rookie PJ Molnar.  Steve Long won the Chargers heat race before turning his car over to Scott who salvaged some points for the evening, but trails Eiford by 32 going into next week’s program.

Scottdale’s Bryan Shipp started on the pole position for the 20-lap Modified feature.  To his outside was Tom Golik, who came into the night second in points behind Shipp.  Lonnie Hoffman, who had won both features he entered this season, started 3rd, but was in the 2nd spot before the first circuit was completed.  Golik brushed the wall on the first lap and retired from the event on Lap 2.  Hoffman would take command of the field on the second lap with Shipp in close pursuit.  Jason Busch, who started the race in 4th, moved into the 2nd position by Lap 3.  Lou Botti would shuffle Shipp back to 4th during the same lap.  Early in the race, Hoffman would run a little higher than Busch through the turns yet Busch could not take advantage of the opportunity to seize the lead.  Just past the halfway point, Hoffman began to run the low line to fend off Busch who ran only a car length behind in 2nd.  A spin by Brad Milburn on Lap 15 set up a five-lap shootout.  Hoffman would get the jump on Busch on the restart while Shipp would retake 3rd from Botti one lap later.  Down the stretch, Hoffman would open the gap between himself and Busch and cruise to his third victory at Jennerstown in as many appearances this season.  Shipp held off Botti to finish 3rd and stretch his lead over Golik to 22 points.  Milburn recovered to finish 5th.  Hoffman won the division’s heat race on Saturday.

In 2014, AJ Poljak won every points-paying race at Motordrome Speedway on his way to the division title.  This season has seen the Pittsburgh driver competing in the Modifieds, including an appearance at Jennerstown just weeks ago.  Yet, on Saturday, Poljak was behind the wheel of the #00 HB Motorsports Street Stock usually driven by teammate Scott Aiello.  For the 25-lap J&J Truck Bodies and Trailers Street Stock feature, Poljak would start in the 6th position.  Stoystown’s Jason Holder led the field to the green with Ron Eiford III to his outside of the front row.  Eiford may have had some extra incentive to win this week as he became a father on Tuesday.  Yet, at the drop of the green it was obvious that Poljak was the man on a mission.  He passed Adam Kostelnik, Mel Wilt, Bill Ashton and Holder to take over 2nd by the time the cars had completed Lap 1.  One lap later, Poljak would take the lead from Eiford.  While Poljak was pulling away from Eiford in the early laps, points leader Anthony Aiello was also charging through the field; claiming the 3rd position by Lap 3 after starting in the 8th spot.  Kostelnik and Holder held the 4th and 5th spot respectively through the first 14 laps before Kostelnik slowed and went to the pits.  This moved rookie Rick Anderson, a former PA Legacy Cars competitor at Jennerstown, up to 5th.  Poljak would stretch out his lead over Eiford lap after lap to claim his first victory at Jennerstown in 2015.  Aiello, Holder and Anderson completed the Top 5.  Eiford and Aiello won their respective heat races.  Aiello holds an eight point lead over Eiford in the standings.

Five-division racing returns to Jennerstown Speedway Complex this Saturday, August 1st, with our Boy Scout Night.  Also, the first 1,000 fans through the front gate will receive a Martin Oil Can Koozie compliments of Martin Oil Company.  Spectator gates open a 4PM.