ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 3/31/07
No sophomore jinx for Alan Krimes. The 2006 Lincoln rookie of-the-year turned around his season with an impressive win in the “410” sprint feature at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.
In doing so, the Denver driver became the third winner in as many Lincoln races this year, and pulled even with his dad on the all-time Lincoln win list.
“I almost forgot about that,” said Krimes with a laugh in victory lane when told he tied his dad Larry with three career wins, “I was hoping to tie him last year when we won those two, and I couldn’t get another one before the end of the year. I guess this ties us with the old man. Hopefully I can win a couple more than he does, you never know.”
Krimes started fourth and grabbed the runner-up spot from polesitter Brook Weibley on the second lap. But hard racing in the top five kept him busy while front-row starter Darren Eash pulled away to a lead of more than four seconds by the time Eash caught lapped traffic on lap seven. As the leaders maneuvered through lapped traffic, Krimes began to close on Eash, cutting his lead to less than 2.5 seconds by the tenth lap. Krimes continued to close through each set of turns, finally driving under the E&G Classics/Maryland Industrial Coaters #7E exiting turn two of lap 16.
“I got up into second real quick and Darren kind of got away from me,” explained Krimes, “And then he started to get into lapped traffic and I ran him down…and he tried to get around a lapped car going into turn one and I snuck underneath him.”
“I knew the bottom of the race track was going to be the place to race here in the feature,” Krimes quickly added. “The track really slicked-off and we’re pretty good on the bottom…I was good on the bottom last year and this is the same car we ran here last year.”
Krimes built a healthy lead by the time the first caution of the event came out for Eash and Siegel, who tangled while racing for second entering turn three of lap 20. Also collected were Cory Haas and the lapped car of John Rudisill. Eash and Rudisill were done for the night, with Siegel and Haas coming back to finish tenth and 11th.
A red on the restart ended the night for Eash’s brother Cris, who dropped off the pace and collected the #6W of Josh Wells, who flipped on the backstretch. At the time, Cris Eash was third and Wells was fifth.
The two incidents allowed defending champ Doug Esh to advance from fourth to second and nine-time track champ Fred Rahmer to advance from seventh to third.
But four lapped cars helped Krimes keep some distance between the challengers, and Krimes actually increased his lead from 1.35 seconds on lap 21 to 1.89 seconds over Esh at the finish.
“I saw on those last couple of restarts that Doug and Fred were behind me, and those guys are real tough to beat here. I know we had some lapped cars between me and them, but I was still sweating it those last couple of laps, said Krimes, “This sure feels good. We’ve been kind of struggling here since the season got started…but I got a real good starting spot and that was a big difference.”
“It’s good to hear I was pulling away from those guys,” Krimes added,”You know, this motor is the only one we have together right now. It’s about ready to be rebuilt ,and probably shouldn’t have run it this week. And this is the car we ran here last year and probably has 40 or 50 races on it. We have a new one at home, but we figured we would start the year with this one since it worked so well for us last year and why change something that works so good. We do the best we can with what we have.”
Finishing fourth and fifth behind Esh and Rahmer were T.J. Stutts and Cody Darrah, who started seventh and ran most of the race without power steering. Completing the top ten were Chad Layton, 19th-starting Jeff Busby, Steve Buckwalter, Chris Knopp, and Siegel.
Heats for the 29 “410” sprinters were won by Wells, Weibley and Darren Eash, with Busby winning the consolation.
Before Saturday, 16-year-old Tyler Hershey of Mercersburg had never even seen Lincoln Speedway. By night’s end, he was looking forward to coming back.
The 2006 Bedford and Hagerstown rookie of-the-year started on the pole and led every lap in claiming the 20-lap season opener for “358” late models. Hershey was never seriously challenged, crossing 1.73 seconds in front of Sterling Kinard, with Heston’s Mike Shoemaker third, Arlin Brougher fourth, and last week’s thundercar winner Bobby Beard fifth. Completing the top ten were Larry Baer, Pat Beard, Derek Mease, Bernie Beard, and Carl Graves.
Pat Beard and Carl Graves came from the back after an early-race melee that involved 10 cars in turn three and blocked the track, leading to a red flag.
Heats for the 37 “358” late models were won by Bobby Beard, Baer, Rick Scheaffer and Graves. Twin consolations were won by Cory Houck and Carl Billet.
Defending track champion Neil Smith became the third different winner in three events by winning the 20-lap thundercar feature.
Smith, who started 12th, immediately drove to the bottom groove on the dry-slick surface and began racing his way to the front while polesitter Duane Watson and Nat Tuckey raced out in front. A sudden mechanical problem for the race-leading Watson on the second lap handed the lead over to open-day winner Tuckey.
By the third lap Smith had moved into third behind Tuckey and got under fourth-starting Smoke Christine on the fourth to move into the runner-up spot. Smith’s low-groove run allowed him to catch the high-groove running Tuckey and made his race-winning pass on the sixth lap.
Tuckey immediately dropped to the low groove and began to try and get under the Hanover-racer in every turn. But Tuckey was only ever able to pull along side the 39-time thundercar winner exiting turn two with Smith out-racing the Biglerville-racer into turn three each time.
Smith took the checkered 1.26-seconds ahead for the win over Tuckey, with 11th-starting Sam Gallagher finishing third, Christine fourth and Bob Stough fifth.
Completing the top-10 were Danny Beard, Mike Slaybaugh, David Prunkl, Ronnie Thomas and Al Cramer
Heats for the 30 thundercars were won by Smith, Watson and Tuckey, with Slaybaugh winning the consolation.
Next Saturday, April 7th, at 6 PM, Lincoln Speedway will feature the second of eight events for the 358 late models who will be joined by the first appearance of the super sportsman, with the Cindy Rowe Auto Glass 410 Sprints rounding out the evening’s racing action. Gates will open at 4 PM.
To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s “Premier” Saturday night race track – The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.
RACE RESULTSSaturday – March 31, 2007
LINCOLN SPEEDWAYAbbottstown, PA
410 SPRINTS:
Feature (25-Laps) – 1. 87-Alan Krimes ($3,000); 2. 30-Doug Esh; 3. 51-Fred Rahmer; 4. 39-TJ Stutts; 5. 89-Cody Darrah; 6. U1-Chad Layton; 7. 47J-Jeff Busby; 8. 17B-Steve Buckwalter; 9. 6K-Chris Knopp; 10. 59-Jim Siegel; 11. 11C-Cory Haas; 12. 92-Brook Weibley; 13. 20-Ryan Taylor; 14. 71-Brian Leppo; 15. 49-Bobby Howard; 16. 21-Brian Montieth; 17. 30C-Steve Clabaugh; 18. 44-Joey Hershey; 19. 67-Cris Eash (DNF); 20. 6W-Josh Wells (DNF); 21. 7E-Darren Eash (DNF); 22. 4-John Rudisill (DNF); 23. 28-Brian Paulus (DNF); 24. X-Bobby Weaver (DNF). No Time
Lap Leaders – Darren Eash (1-15), Alan Krimes (16-25)
1st Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 6W-Josh Wells; 2. 51-Fred Rahmer; 3. 20-Ryan Taylor; 4. 67-Cris Eash; 5. 11C-Cory Haas; 6. 6K-Chris Knopp; 7. 71-Brian Leppo; 8. 47J-Jeff Busby; 9. 45-AJ Michael; 10. 5-Adam Lawrence. No Time
2nd Heat (10 Lap/6 to qualify) – 1. 92-Brook Weibley; 2. 89-Cody Darrah; 3. 59-Jim Siegel; 4. 17B-Steve Buckwalter; 5. X-Bobby Weaver; 6. 4-John Rudisill; 7. 21-Brian Montieth (DNF); 8. 28-Brian Paulus (DNF); 9. 25-Aaron Ott (DNF); DNS – 10N-Niki Young. Time – 2:35.85
3rd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 7E-Darren Eash; 2. 87-Alan Krimes; 3. 30-Doug Esh; 4. 39-T.J. Stutts; 5. U1-Chad Layton; 6. 49-Bob Howard; 7. 30C-Steve Clabaugh; 8. 44-Joey Hershey; DISQUALIFIED – 43-Doug Dodson (failed to report to scales). Time – 2:30.97
Consolation (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 47J-Jeff Busby; 2. 71-Brian Leppo; 3. 28-Brian Paulus; 4. 21-Brian Montieth; 5. 30C-Steve Clabaugh; 6. 44-Joey Hershey; 7. 45-AJ Michael; 8. 25-Aaron Ott; 9. 5-Adam Lawrence; 10. 10N-Niki Young; DNS – 43-Doug Dodson. No Time