410 Sprint Cars Saturday At Sharon

By Mike Leone

Hartford, OH August 9, 2016 Sharon Speedway will welcome back the “410” Sprint Cars this Saturday night (August 13) as the 87th anniversary season rolls on. The Winged Sprint Cars will be joined on Lincoln Electric/Quail Hollow Night by the Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds, Gibson Insurance Agency Stock Cars, HTMA/Precise Racing Products Econo Mods, and the Deforest Used Parts Mini Stocks all for just $10 grandstand admission. Race time is 7 p.m. The Big-Block Modifieds and RUSH Sportsman Modifieds have the night off.

Coming off two successful Arctic Car All Star Circuit of Champions events in June and July for Ohio Speedweek and the “Lou Blaney Memorial” won by the late Bryan Clauson and Danny Holtgraver, the “410” Sprint Cars will appear Saturday in a non-sanctioned, regular event paying $1,500 to-win, $200 to-start for the 25-lap feature. If 24 or more cars are present, the payoff will increase to $2,000 to-win, $225 to-start. The complete payoff is posted below. The national “410” Hoosier Tire rule will be in effect. Mufflers are not required. Drivers will draw pills for the heat race line-ups with an invert up to eight for the feature lineup. There are no registration, membership or entry fees.

Last year, Jimmy Seger won this event for his first career Sharon victory and his first since returning to racing following a terrifying accident in 2014 at Williams Grove Speedway. Seger was a teammate on this night to Jack Sodeman, Jr. Sodeman has been red hot on the circuit this year scoring seven victories including four at Mercer Raceway Park and three at Lernerville Speedway. He also leads the points at both tracks over A.J. Flick. Sodeman, of North Jackson, Ohio, won the last two track championships at Sharon when the Sprints competed regularly in 2009 and 2010 and owns 12 career wins at the track.

Dan Shetler, who won the 2008 title, is coming off a strong weekend in which he finished second at Lernerville and fifth at Mercer. Gary Edwards, who competed at both of the earlier Sprint shows this year, is the only other active racer who owns a championship at Sharon. Edwards won the 2000 title on the old half-mile track. The now retired Ed Lynch, Jr. leads the all-time win list with 50 victories. Ed’s son Sye is a weekly competitor at Lernerville.

Carl McKinney returned to victory lane for the first time in over two years on Saturday and remained in the Summit Racing Equipment Modified championship hunt. Though McKinney is 44 points behind leader Job Gabrielson in fifth, he’s only four points from the third position. Joe Gabrielson currently has an 11-point lead over Jeff Johnson, who is still searching for his season’s first win.

Jacob Billyk has been fast over the last two season running weekly at Sharon and last Saturday night finally put 15 solid, fast laps together to earn his first career win in the Stock Cars holding off a strong field of challengers. Billyk finds himself fifth in points. Atop the standings is last week’s runner-up finisher, Paul Davis, who is inching closer to his first Sharon championship. Davis has a 32-point lead with just three nights of points remaining. Mike Miller, Andy Buckley, and Mike Clark are second through fourth in points, but time is running out for those three racers. In fact, Clark trails by 61 points in his bid for an unprecedented four straight Gibson Insurance Agency Stock Car titles.

The last two events have featured season high car counts for the Econo Mods; in fact, last Saturday night’s 20 cars was the highest in nearly two years dating back to the 2014 “Apple Festival Nationals” special. Even with the additional cars, Steve Haefke has still proven to be the guy to beat. Haefke won his second straight 15-lap feature last Saturday night and fifth in the last seven events! Even more impressive is Haefke’s run of 15 straight top two finishes dating back to last season, which will get tougher to continue as he can start no better than 12th this Saturday night. If Haefke wins a third straight, he’ll be relegated to the tail the following week. Haefke has opened up a commanding 52-point lead over Brandon Blackshear with four nights of points remaining in the division. Brad Blackshear is third in points utilizing a GM 602 crate engine. Wayne Daniels and Kyle Miller are fourth and fifth in points.

In 2010, Steve Walker II won the only Mini Stock feature of his career in route to the inaugural championship on the Friday night program. Fast forward six seasons and the Greenville, Pa. driver is having quite a year as he’s been victorious three times and has a 29-point lead over standouts Joe Campbell and Bill Fuchs. Second year racer, Matt Rubright, is fourth in the Deforest Used Parts points over Logan Keney.

“410” Sprint Car Payoff for less than 24 cars: 1. $1,500 2. $900 3. $725 4. $600 5. $550 6. $475 7. $425 8. $350 9. $325 10. $275 11. $250 12. $225 13-24. $200. $100 Tow

“410” Sprint Car Payoff for 24 or more cars: 1. $2,000 2. $1,000 3. $725 4. $600 5. $550 6. $475 7. $425 8. $350 9. $325 10. $275 11. $250 12. $230 13-24. $225. $100 NQ/Tow

Hovis Auto & Truck Supply will again award a pair of complimentary pit passes to a lucky driver in the division that competes first and a pair to a lucky fan. Summit Racing Equipment will award $25 gift cards to the hard charger in the Modified, Stock Car, and Econo Mod divisions. Thanks to an anonymous donor, a $50 bonus will be posted to the driver that finishes fifth in the Stock Car feature.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. on Saturday with grandstands at 5. Sprint engine starts will be at 6:30 p.m. following by warm-ups for the Sprints only. Heat races begin at 7 p.m. Grandstand admission for those 14 and over is $10. Pit passes are $30. Children $13 and under along with parking and camping are free. Sharon has a no carry-in cooler policy.

Sharon Speedway is owned by the Blaney, Weller, and Kirila Families and is a 3/8-mile dirt track located on Custer-Orangeville Road in Hartford, Ohio near the intersection of Routes 7 & 305. For more information, check out the website at www.sharonspeedway.com or call 330-772-5481. Become a fan of Sharon Speedway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonspeedway and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sharonspdwy.