ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 4/19/2014 – Alan Krimes summed it up best in victory lane Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway.
“I don’t know if I won that race or just didn’t lose it,” said Krimes after climbing from his Midnight Antiques, Conestoga Valley Garage, Krimes Racing Engines No. 87. Sprinter in victory lane following his win in the 30-lap 410 Sprint car Spring Championship.
It was a race that saw several red flags and in one lap that saw nine of the top 10 running cars dropping from contention due to various reasons. But Krimes missed all of the crashes and won the battle of attrition to score his second straight victory in as many weeks and upped his career total to 15 in the Pigeon Hills.
“I thought it was going to be pretty tough starting back there tonight because I knew the best we could start was 12th and ended up starting 13tth,” said Krimes. “Then everybody started dropping out and I thought we might not have to pass any cars tonight if they all keep dropping out.”
All of the craziness started on lap five when Steve Owings spun, collecting Nathan Berwager, and Brian Montieth who flipped. Aaron Ott also flipped in turn three after a reported stuck throttle.
On the restart, Tim Wagaman and Adam Wilt tangled collecting point leader Danny Dietrich, who did everything but flip on the front stretch.
Second-place running Billy Dietrich then stopped on the next restart which made him the ninth car inside the top 10 to drop out. That left only Will Rose, who had led the race from the green flag, the lone top 10 car on the track.
When the dust settled, Krimes, Jim Siegel, Brent Marks and Robbie Kendall all entered the top five with Krimes storming by Rose to take the lead with six laps complete.
Krimes continued to lead Siegel as the pair closed on lapped traffic when Tyler Ross and Wilt tangled in turn three right in front of the leaders. Siegel took evasive action to miss the incident but Marks wasn’t as lucky and spun into Wilt.
Montieth advanced through the field after his flip to move into the top five on lap 18 and then took fourth on the next circuit. But that would be as far as Montieth, the four-time track champion, would make it as Krimes held off Siegel in heavy lapped traffic over the final few laps to pick up the win.
“We made a few changes under that one red and freed the car up a little bit but we could have been better,” said the Denver driver after earning the $4,000 paycheck. “Our car has been real good every time out it seems so we’re hoping for a good season. I don’t know that I’ve ever won two in-a-row, and like I said, I don’t know that we would have won tonight if everyone wouldn’t have had problems so we got lucky.”
Siegel finished in the runner-up spot ahead of Kendall, Montieth and Gerard McIntyre, Jr.
Kevin Nagy crossed in sixth with Freddie Rahmer getting his best career finish in seventh over Danny Dietrich, Austin Hogue and Cory Haas.
Sprint car heat races were won by Siegel, Dietrich and Ott with Marks topping the consolation for the 29 car field.