JENNERSTOWN, September 2 – Barry Awtey had the fastest time in single car time trials on Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway. But a random drawing inverted the top ten cars, making Awtey work through traffic for his ninth win of the season.

The Martella’s Pharmacies Late Models ran a special 75 lap race presented by Zoom Internet from Armstrong. The cars barely took the green flag when the caution flew on the first lap. Ethan Myers was slow to get started and stacked up the starting grid. Jeremy Shaffer and Todd Price crashed on the front stretch, ending both of their nights.

After the restart, Brandon Marhefka, who started on the pole, took the lead. The caution came out once again when Joe Peifer was in a single car spin on lap four.

Marhefka led the first 15 laps until Owen Houpt made the pass around him. Houpt drove off to a huge five second lead. Just over halfway through the race, the yellow came out again. This time for a competition caution that was in the rules if 35 consecutive laps were ran under green. The drivers had the opportunity to come to pit road. The top six cars did not pit.

Awtey restarted on the front row with Houpt. Houpt was able to clear Awtey and regain the lead. In all, Houpt led 42 laps of the race, but it wasn’t enough. Another yellow stacked up the field when Gary Wiltrout had an issue in turn four and came to a stop on the track with 19 laps to go.

On the restart, Awtey took the lead away from Houpt and drove off with a big gap. With just one lap remaining, the caution flew yet again. Jarred Barclay spun in turn four setting up a green-white-checkered finish. This time Awtey was the control car on the restart. He easily cleared Houpt into turn one and took his ninth checkered flag of the season.

With just three weeks left in the season, Awtey is well on his way to a second consecutive championship.

The Stoystown Auto Wreckers Modifieds ran two features on Saturday night. The first was a makeup feature from a rainout on Aug. 6. The caution flew three times in the early race. Doug Glessner grabbed the lead on the restart with 12 laps to go and never looked back. The win is his fifth of the season.

In the later feature, Anthony Aiello started on the front row and led all 20 laps in route to his third victory of the season. In the closing laps, Jason Busch and Glessner were catching Aiello, but they ran out of time and settled for second and third respectively.

Will Hemminger returned to his winning ways in the One Stop Auto Sales Pro Stocks. Like Aiello, Hemminger started on the front row and led all 20 laps of the feature in route to his third win of the year.

The Farmers Union Co-Op Chargers displayed tremendous racing in the final laps. Ken Burkholder took the early lead, but the caution flew just five laps into the race. On the restart, Nate Valente restarted on the outside of Burkholder.

The two battled for all ten laps to the checkered flag. Valente did everything he could to get around Burkholder, but just could not make the pass despite peaking inside several times and running bumper-to-bumper. The win is Burkholder’s third of the season.

Dale Kimberly continues to perform well late in the year. The former track champion has now won the last three Ron’s Collision Center Street Stock features. Kimberly started in the eighth position and made his way through the field. With 12 laps to go, Kimberly made the pass around points leader Greg Burbidge for the lead.

With five laps left, Burbidge spun on the backstretch smacking the wall and bringing out the yellow. The restart didn’t matter to Kimberly. He cleared for the lead and celebrated in Stoney’s Beer Victory Lane once again.

After some misfortune in the back half of the season, points leader Johnathan Haburcsak returned to his winning ways in the Somerset Trust Fast N’ Furious 4’s. He and Caleb Vasos combined have won more than half of the season’s features. The pair quickly worked their way through traffic and emerged in first and second place on the first lap.

Vasos got right to the bumper of Haburscak early in the race, and the two drove away from the rest of the competitors. As the race went on, Haburscak’s lead grew over Vasos and he pulled away for his fifth win of 2022.

Jennerstown Speedway will have free admission next week on Saturday, Sept. 10 in honor of National Suicide Prevention Week which runs Sept. 4 through Sept. 10. The Super Cup Stock Car Series makes its return to the racetrack. Visit jennerstown.org for more information.