HANOVER, Pa.: Mike Bittinger couldn’t help having a flashback to last year’s 358 Sprint Car opener at racy Trail-Way Speedway.
In that event, Steve Owings passed Bittinger in the last corner to take the opening-day victory. With more money on the line in this year’s opener, the Bonneauville, Pa., ace wasn’t about to have a repeat of that episode.
One spot better is all Bittinger wanted, and he got it by leading all 25 laps to capture the 358 Sprint Summer Series event. The 21st triumph in 358 competition on the Farm was worth a nice $1,500 payday.
“It’s the perfect start to a year,” Bittinger said. “Last year up there, we led 24 and three-quarter laps, and Steve Owings passed us coming off of four. I told my guys going into this race, ‘I just want to finish one spot better.’
“That stuck with me by the end of the season, because we didn’t get a win last year. So, that was motivation, I guess.”
Bittinger started on the pole and got the jump on Travis Scott heading through the first and second corner. Brett Wanner settled into third.
While Bittinger and Scott distanced themselves from the field, a fierce four-car battle developed for third between Wanner, Steve Wilbur, Chad Criswell, and Owings, who started 10th on the grid.
Owings was pinned against the cushion and gaining ground. He surged into the top five on the 10th circuit and disposed of Criswell and Wanner on Lap 12 to take over the third position.
After a restart, Owings stalked Scott for second. He used a slingshot move through Turns 3 and 4 and dove under Scott for runner-up on Lap 18. One lap later, he was all over Bittinger for the lead.
Owings showed his nose under the leader in Turn 4 on Lap 19. Going into Turn 1 on the next circuit, it appeared both drivers were going for the bottom and made contact. Owings spun in Turn 1, ending any chance he had at another victory.
“Basically, I knew I had to get back to the bottom at all cost at that point,” Bittinger said. “I know I kind of squeezed him in three and four a little bit, and I made my mind up going up the frontstretch that if there was any way to get back to the bottom, that’s what I was going to do.
“Pretty much by the flagstand, I started to angle down, and I knew it was going to be close. I didn’t know we hit that much, but apparently, we hit harder than I realized.”
Multiple restarts gave Scott and Criswell a shot at the leader, but Bittinger was up to the task on each attempt and held the top spot.
That left Criswell to battle Scott for second. He dipped to the inside multiple times over the last five laps but couldn’t pull the trigger on a move for the runner-up spot.
Bittinger was the class of the field, at that point, and survived a restart with one lap to go to take the win by 1.030 seconds. Scott held off Criswell for second, with Wanner and Wilbur completing the top five.
“I felt pretty good on the restarts, and I kind of did the same restart every time,” Bittinger said. “That’s usually not good with people behind you, but where I picked the throttle up, I knew it was going to be hard to get a good run on me.
“I was pretty much down against the infield. I was expecting more cautions ... reason being that it was the first race of the year, they had so many more cars than we normally get, and there were guys with limited Trail-Way experience. I figured it would be a stop-and-start race and to go 16 or 17 laps without a caution, I was blown away by that.”
Wilbur, Zachary Cool, Owings, and Cody Fletcher were heat winners for the 28-car field. Austen Treuchet won the consolation.
Stephen Wurtzer captured his first career Gene Latta Ford Central PA Legends presented by Harvest Chapel main event.
Wurtzer started on the pole of the main event and beat Austin Bellemare through the first and second corner to take the lead. Chris Transeau, who started ninth, was the car on the move early, blasting into the top five on Lap 4 after starting ninth.
Transeau made a bold move to make a two-car pass on the 12thcircuit to take third. He passed Bellemare on Lap 17 and had three laps to catch the leader.
But Wurtzer was money up front. He held off the closing Transeau and took the win by .564 seconds at the stripe. Bellemare, Travis McClelland, and Seth Kearchner completed the top five.
Bill Diehl, Kearchner, Bellemare, and Wurtzer were heat winners for the 39-car field. Lincoln Kearchner and Mike Racine won the twin consolations.
Rodney Westhafer was victorious in the 600 Micro Sprint Feature, leading all 20 laps on his way to victory. It was his first career win in the division at Trail-Way.
Daniel Bair finished second in the main event, followed by Travis Keiser, Jude Siegel, and Tyler Leese. Jim Young won the lone heat race in 600 Micro competition.
In Limited Stock competition, Robbie Carroll was tops in the division, leading every lap to take the win in the 15-Lap affair by 1.508 seconds.
Carroll was followed to the line by Matt Worley, Chad Weaver, Robert Nicklow, and Travis Brown.
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, Pa.
Friday, May 14, 2021
For Immediate Release
358 SPRINT CAR SUMMER SERIES
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 12-Mike Bittinger[1]; 2. 5-Travis Scott[2]; 3. 84M-Chad Criswell[5]; 4. 54-Brett Wanner[4]; 5. 59-Steve Wilbur[3]; 6. 19D-Wyatt Hinkle[6]; 7. 77-David Holbrook[14]; 8. 2-Kody Hartlaub[15]; 9. 00-Chris Frank[7]; 10. 51-Austen Treuchet[21]; 11. 99-Zachary Cool[9]; 12. 33-Riley Emig[12]; 13. 1-Cody Phillips[8]; 14. 8CR-Mason Chaney[16]; 15. 44-Steven Cox[18]; 16. 69X-Cameron Smith[19]; 17. (DNF) 13-Bo Gordon Jr[17]; 18. (DNF) 35-Steve Owings[10]; 19. (DNF) 66A-Cody Fletcher[11]; 20. (DNF) 6-Tim McClelland[13]; 21. (DNF) 17-Andrew Hake[20]; 22. (DNF) 27-Jacob Galloway[22]; 23. (DNF) 69-Justice Forbes[23]; 24. (DNF) 2D-Dylan Orwig[24].
Lap Leaders: Mike Bittinger (1-25)
358 Sprint Car Heat 1 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 59-Steve Wilbur[1]; 2. 5-Travis Scott[3]; 3. 1-Cody Phillips[6]; 4. 6-Tim McClelland[5]; 5. 13-Bo Gordon Jr[4]; 6. 27-Jacob Galloway[8]; 7. 55-Tony Hippensteel II[7]; 8. (DNS) 23-Justin Foster.
358 Sprint Car Heat 2 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 99-Zachary Cool[2]; 2. 19D-Wyatt Hinkle[6]; 3. 54-Brett Wanner[1]; 4. 77-David Holbrook[5]; 5. 44-Steven Cox[7]; 6. 22B-Nat Tuckey[3]; 7. 26-Hank Donovan Jr[4].
358 Sprint Car Heat 3 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 35-Steve Owings[5]; 2. 33-Riley Emig[1]; 3. 84M-Chad Criswell[3]; 4. 2-Kody Hartlaub[6]; 5. 69X-Cameron Smith[7]; 6. 51-Austen Treuchet[4]; 7. 2D-Dylan Orwig[2].
358 Sprint Car Heat 4 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 66A-Cody Fletcher[1]; 2. 12-Mike Bittinger[2]; 3. 00-Chris Frank[3]; 4. 8CR-Mason Chaney[4]; 5. 17-Andrew Hake[7]; 6. 69-Justice Forbes[6]; 7. (DNF) 00R-Jeff Rohrbaugh[5].
358 Sprint Car Consolation Finish (10 Laps/Top 4 Transfer to Feature): 1. 51-Austen Treuchet[3]; 2. 27-Jacob Galloway[1]; 3. 69-Justice Forbes[4]; 4. 2D-Dylan Orwig[7]; 5. (DNF) 55-Tony Hippensteel II[5]; 6. (DNS) 22B-Nat Tuckey; 7. (DNS) 26-Hank Donovan Jr; 8. (DNS) 00R-Jeff Rohrbaugh; 9. (DNS) 23-Justin Foster.
CENTRAL PA LEGENDS PRESENTED BY HARVEST CHAPEL
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 14W-Stephen Wurtzer[1]; 2. 18-Chris Transeau[9]; 3. 32-Austin Bellemare[2]; 4. 51-Travis McClelland[6]; 5. 30K-Seth Kearchner[3]; 6. 53-Bill Diehl[4]; 7. 2A-Cody Altland[7]; 8. 1D-Owen Dimm[15]; 9. 41-Chuck Dell Jr[11]; 10. 26-Shaun Abney[12]; 11. 4J-Choya Young[14]; 12. 27-Logan Carbaugh[13]; 13. 18B-Blaine Leppo[10]; 14. 74X-Joey Racine[20]; 15. 31-Lincoln Kearchner[21]; 16. 19-Travis Perry[24]; 17. 71X-Joe Racine[18]; 18. 19J-Jonathan Robinson[8]; 19. (DNF) 25-Eric Hurst[19]; 20. (DNF) 61-Shaun Miller[17]; 21. (DNF) 19R-Roy A Denike[23]; 22. (DNF) 18J-Jorjie Anna Sweger[5]; 23. (DNF) 2G-Tyler Groft[16]; 24. (DNF) 70-Mike Racine[22].
Lap Leaders: Stephen Wurtzer (1-20)
Legend Heat 1 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 53-Bill Diehl[4]; 2. 18J-Jorjie Anna Sweger[6]; 3. 18-Chris Transeau[3]; 4. 27-Logan Carbaugh[9]; 5. 61-Shaun Miller[1]; 6. 45-Logan Jones[10]; 7. 13-Ronald Blizzard Jr[8]; 8. 63-Dave Benner[11]; 9. 9D-Brady Dillon[7]; 10. (DNS) 16-Tyler Kaylor; 11. (DQ) 4G-Josh Schrum[5].
Legend Heat 2 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 30K-Seth Kearchner[1]; 2. 51-Travis McClelland[4]; 3. 18B-Blaine Leppo[5]; 4. 4J-Choya Young[8]; 5. 71X-Joe Racine[6]; 6. 11R-Scott Musselman[9]; 7. 824-Brian Rampmeyer[3]; 8. 19-Travis Perry[7]; 9. (DNF) 27X-Michael Ohler[2]; 10. (DNF) 18T-Tyler Denike[10].
Legend Heat 3 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 32-Austin Bellemare[2]; 2. 2A-Cody Altland[6]; 3. 41-Chuck Dell Jr[4]; 4. 1D-Owen Dimm[5]; 5. 25-Eric Hurst[1]; 6. 30-Alex Robinson[7]; 7. 9-Rick Hartwig[3]; 8. 31-Lincoln Kearchner[9]; 9. 19R-Roy A Denike[8]; 10. (DNF) 22-Michael Boer[10].
Legend Heat 4 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Transfer to Feature): 1. 14W-Stephen Wurtzer[2]; 2. 19J-Jonathan Robinson[1]; 3. 26-Shaun Abney[6]; 4. 2G-Tyler Groft[3]; 5. 74X-Joey Racine[5]; 6. Z13-Vinnie Wenrich[8]; 7. 93-Brent Marquis[7]; 8. 56-Zach Baxter[4]; 9. Z12-Randy Getz Jr[10]; 10. (DNF) 70-Mike Racine[9].
Legend Consolation #1 Finish (8 Laps/Top 2 Transfer to Feature): 1. 31-Lincoln Kearchner[6]; 2. 19R-Roy A Denike[8]; 3. 13-Ronald Blizzard Jr[3]; 4. 22-Michael Boer[10]; 5. 63-Dave Benner[5]; 6. (DNF) 4G-Josh Schrum[11]; 7. (DNF) 9-Rick Hartwig[4]; 8. (DNF) 9D-Brady Dillon[7]; 9. (DNS) 45-Logan Jones; 10. (DNS) 30-Alex Robinson.
Legend Consolation #2 Finish (8 Laps/Top 2 Transfer to Feature): 1. 70-Mike Racine[10]; 2. 19-Travis Perry[5]; 3. 56-Zach Baxter[6]; 4. Z13-Vinnie Wenrich[2]; 5. 93-Brent Marquis[4]; 6. 11R-Scott Musselman[1]; 7. 18T-Tyler Denike[9]; 8. (DNF) 824-Brian Rampmeyer[3]; 9. (DNS) 27X-Michael Ohler; 10. (DNS) Z12-Randy Getz Jr.
600 MICRO SPRINT CARS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 44-Rodney Westhafer[2]; 2. 29-Daniel Bair[1]; 3. 42K-Travis Keiser[4]; 4. 2-Jude Siegel[6]; 5. 71-Tyler Leese[9]; 6. 17-Bradley Weber[12]; 7. 8-Jim Young[3]; 8. 92J-Joseph Bowling[7]; 9. 43-Ryan Meekins[8]; 10. (DNF) 91-Randy Kunkle Jr[5]; 11. (DNS) 27Q-Mike Rynard; 12. (DNS) 47-Scott Gesford.
Lap Leaders: Rodney Westhafer (1-20)
600 Micro Sprint Heat Finish (8 Laps/All Qualify): 1. 8-Jim Young[2]; 2. 17-Bradley Weber[1]; 3. 44-Rodney Westhafer[9]; 4. 29-Daniel Bair[3]; 5. 42K-Travis Keiser[8]; 6. 91-Randy Kunkle Jr[10]; 7. 2-Jude Siegel[6]; 8. 92J-Joseph Bowling[12]; 9. 43-Ryan Meekins[5]; 10. (DNF) 71-Tyler Leese[4]; 11. (DNF) 27Q-Mike Rynard[7]; 12. (DNF) 47-Scott Gesford[11].
JWE REMODELING & ROOFING LIMITED STOCKS
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 69-Robbie Carroll[1]; 2. 6-Matt Worley[3]; 3. 2-Chad Weaver[2]; 4. 77J-Robert Nicklow[9]; 5. 47-Travis Brown[5]; 6. 92-Terry Hartlaub[4]; 7. 22-Chad Martin[11]; 8. 87-Wesley Miller[12]; 9. 38-Jason Chronister[8]; 10. 82-Eric Moats[10]; 11. 77-Justin Mong[7]; 12. 8-Tyler Kline[25]; 13. 10-Bill Sherwood[19]; 14. 66-Louis Heffner III[15]; 15. 11-Ken Buck[18]; 16. (DNF) 46-Donald Smith[14]; 17. (DNF) 18-Trenton Fitz[13]; 18. (DNF) 99-Cody Klinedinst[6]; 19. (DNF) 74S-John Bumbaugh[17]; 20. (DNF) 15-Nick McDaniel[21]; 21. (DNS) 29S-Wayne Selby; 22. (DNS) 113D-Chris Dorsey; 23. (DNS) 72-Gary Claypoole; 24. (DNS) 88-Justin Oberlin; 25. (DNS) 777J-Jeff Erb.
Lap Leaders: Robbie Carroll (1-15)
Limited Stock Heat 1 Finish (6 Laps/All Qualify): 1. 69-Robbie Carroll[6]; 2. 92-Terry Hartlaub[5]; 3. 77-Justin Mong[3]; 4. 8-Tyler Kline[4]; 5. 87-Wesley Miller[1]; 6. 66-Louis Heffner III[9]; 7. 11-Ken Buck[2]; 8. (DNF) 15-Nick McDaniel[7]; 9. (DQ) 777J-Jeff Erb[8].
Limited Stock Heat 2 Finish (6 Laps/All Qualify): 1. 2-Chad Weaver[2]; 2. 47-Travis Brown[5]; 3. 38-Jason Chronister[3]; 4. 82-Eric Moats[4]; 5. 18-Trenton Fitz[7]; 6. 29S-Wayne Selby[6]; 7. 10-Bill Sherwood[1]; 8. (DNF) 72-Gary Claypoole[8].
Limited Stock Heat 3 Finish (6 Laps/All Qualify): 1. 6-Matt Worley[3]; 2. 99-Cody Klinedinst[5]; 3. 77J-Robert Nicklow[8]; 4. 22-Chad Martin[2]; 5. 46-Donald Smith[7]; 6. 74S-John Bumbaugh[1]; 7. (DNF) 113D-Chris Dorsey[4]; 8. (DNS) 88-Justin Oberlin.
Photo: Tim Basehore (WRT Speedwerx
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