By Paul Harkenrider (Selinsgrove, Pa) | A strong field of 26 drivers from all over the Northeast converged for the first 360 Sprint Car race of 2020 in the region.
The first race certainly did not disappoint as the super fast speedway produced multi-lane racing from the start with Mark Smith and Blane Heimbach jumping out in front of the field with Heimbach being scored as the leader in the opening laps.
Smith and Heimbach would go toe to toe with Smith primarily using the middle to upper top of the race track as Heimbach was able to maneuver his car anywhere he wanted too.
This gave Heimbach the advantage when lap traffic was encountered as he had no issue getting by any the lap cars.
As the two leaders broke away from the rest of the field, another battle was happening between Ryan Smith, Justin Barger and Paulie Colagiovanni for that final podium spot.
The only caution that occurred was on lap 13 when Brett Wright had a left rear tire explode in turn two.
This put the leaders back out in clean air but only for a few more laps before lap traffic was met once again which made it even more challenging for the lead for Mark Smith. Smith was able to get by Heimbach and be scored for the lead on lap but[PH1] [PH2] it was only a lap or two later before Heimbach reclaimed the lead.
Meanwhile Colagiovanni and Ryan Smith would continue to battle for the third spot with Adam Carberry and Justin Barger still contesting within the top five.
With three laps remaining, Heimbach’ s car got loose and he would brush the turn one wall and his lead was all but gone. Ironically, at the same time Smith appeared to be losing power and would slow down significantly.
As Heimbach crossed the line as the winner, Mark Smith would completely lose power allowing Ryan Smith, Paulie Colagiovanni, Adam Carberry and Justin Barger and would end up falling to sixth. It was indicated that Smith ran out of fuel on the final lap. The official podium was Blane Heimbach, Ryan Smith and Central New York’s, Paulie Colagiovanni came home in third.
Two PST representatives were heat race winners in Dave Axton and Colagiovanni, Ryan Smith was the other heat race winner. Adam Carberry was the Fast Tees Fast time award winner with a time of 17.861.
The next race on the PST Schedule is Wednesday, June 17 at Land of Legends. No fans will be permitted but it will be streamed on Land of Legends TV. Each race on the 2020 calendar will be pending as PST Officials continue to work with the track owners and promoters.
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Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
Joe Whitcomb Memorial- Selinsgrove Speedway
A-Main: 1) BLANE HEIMBACH (1) 2) 72- Ryan Smith 3) 10-Paulie Colagiovanni 4) 47C- Adam Carberry 5) 5B-Justin Barger 6) M1- Mark Smith 7) 22- Jonathan Preston 8) 66- Ryan Kissinger 9) 35- Chad Layton 10) 10K- Joe Kata 11) 2- Dave Axton 12) 77- Derek Locke 13) 22K- Mike Koehler 14) 79- Jordan Thomas 15) 55- Dallas Schott 16) 39- Eric Parker 17) 121- Steve Glover 18) 7t- Mike Thomas 19) 11- Ryan Stillwaggon 20) 14B- Brett Wright 21) 1- Jake Hummel 22) Davie Franek 23) 07- Colton Hoover 24) 3- Todd Gracey 25) 17- Todd Gracey 26) 1W- Matt Campbell
Heat 1: 1) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni 2) M1-Mark Smith 3) 47c-Adam Carberry 4) 66- Ryan Kissinger 5) 22k-Mike Koehler 6) 55- Dallas Schott 7) 1-Jake Hummel 8) 14B- Brett Wright 9) 17-Jason Wagner (DNF)
Heat 2: 1) 72- Ryan Smith 2) 5-Justin Barger 3) 10-Joe Kata III 4) 1W-Matt Campbell 5) 11- Ryan Stillwaggon 6) 7t-Mike Thomas 7) 79-Jordan Thomas 8) 77-Derek Locke (DNF) 9) 39- Eric Parker (DNF)
Heat 3: 1) 2- Dave Axton 2) 12-Blane Heimbach 3) 3-Todd Gracey 4) 35-Chad Layton 5) 22- Jonathan Preston 6) 28f-Davie Franek 7) 121 Steve Glover 8) 07-Colton Hoover
Time Trials: 1) 47c-Adam Carberry (17.861) 2) 72-Ryan Smith (18.142) 3) 12- Blane Heimbach (18.197) 4) M1-Mark Smith (18.199) 5) 77- Derek Locke (18. 238) 6) 3-Todd Gracey (18.442) 7) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni (18.443) 8) 5B-Justin Barger (18.488) 9) 22-Jonathan Preston (18.513) 10) 66- Ryan Kissinger (18.518) 11) Joe Kata (18.585)) 12) 2- Dave Axton (18.642) 13) 55- Dallas Schott (18.652) 14) 11-Ryan Stillwaggon (18. 666) 15) 35- Chad Layton (18.718) 16) 22r-Mike Koehler (18.769) 17) 79-Jordan Thomas (18.783) 18) 28f-Davie Franek (18.791) 19) 1-Jake Hummel (18.882) 20) 1W- Matt Campbell (18.901) 21) 07-Colton Hoover (19.159) 22) 14B- Brett Wright (19.300) 23) 39- Eric Parker (19.375) 24) 121- Steve Glover (19.483) 25) 17- Jason Wagner (20.204) 26) 7t-Mike Thomas (NT)