CROUSE & BARD WIN T.A. WARD CONSTRUCTION & T.B.’s AUTO BODY SPONSORSHIP OF $500
By Judy McGee Timmons
Aidan Crouse picked up his first career feature win at Path
Valley Speedway in the T.A. Ward Construction 270 Micro
Sprints division, collecting $500, sponsored by T.A. Ward.
Kevin Bard was the winner of the Cisney Auto Parts 4 Cylinder
Thunder Car feature event, also collecting $500 from sponsor,
Tim Burkholder, Owner of T.B.’S Body Shop in Shippensburg.
The evening’s feature winner trophies were supplied by
Community State Bank, who had representatives available
for all questions concerning your banking needs, and also
supplied many handouts to the fans.
Aidan Crouse & Alex Lukacs led the 24 car field to the
green with Crouse taking the lead as Lukacs ran 2nd,
5th place starter, Bradyn Kuhn, pulled into 3rd, as Teegan
Kauffman & Zach Glass ran the top five spots, where they remained for the entire 20 lap feature event, with the exception of Kuhn passing Lukacs on a restart, on lap eight, to take 2nd at the finish.
Activity on the track included Cory Myers pulling from the oval on green, Jason Houtz coming to a stop on the frontstretch, after one complete lap, retiring to the pits, as did Stacey Galanis. Brett Kauffman’s racer developed issues as he left the oval with 4 laps complete, Brad Cowan took a wild flip out of turn 1, with 7 laps in the books, resulting in being towed to the pits, Chase Roberts got out of shape with his ride in turn four, going to the rear, & Mac Wert was pushed to the pits after a 7 lap run. Crouse took the win ahead of Kuhn, Lukacs, Kauffman, & Glass, traveling 75.885 MPH in 11.860 seconds in his best lap.
Jeremy Eutzy & Ronnie Garlock lll, were in charge of the front line of the Cisney’s Auto Parts 4 Cylinder Thunder Cars, with Eutzy pulling to the lead on the start. Roger Traxler pulled by Garlock to claim 2nd while Brock Foster came from 5th to 3rd, & Charlie Stallman raced from 7th to 4th on the 1st lap, as Kevin Bard held 5th.
Wesley Young entered the pits, Stallman went to the rear after stopping, & Ronnie Garlock lll, lost a tire out of turn two & was towed, by the third lap. Eutzy held a strong lead as the top five shifted spots, until lap 9, when a caution for Robert McQuade, put Bard at Eutzy’s bumper on the restart, giving Bard an advantage to pass, taking the lead at midrace. Foster pulled beside Eutzy to take 2nd but Eutzy held the position, while Foster, Jackson Eutzy, & Kenny Hill were in the top five, where they remained till lap 13 when Foster’s racer turned in front of Hill, causing contact & putting both top runners out of the race. The top five remained the same for the final 6 laps, as Bard took the checkered, followed by Jeremy & Jackson Eutzy, Doug Sales & Roger Traxler. Bard had the best lap speed, going 61.513 MPH in 14.631 seconds.
The Kathy Baker Coldwell Banker Realty Modified division was escorted to the green by Beau Aikey & Darin Hoover. Aikey took the lead, followed by Kirk Baker, Reese Fedder, Sam Reeder & Hoover. Baker passed Aikey on lap 6, followed by Hoover, getting his racer sideways in turn 1, & Jake Shoup getting out of control in turn 3, resulting in both going to the rear. The reline was Baker, Fedder, Aikey, Reeder, & Hoover, for the top 5, where they ran for the remaining 6 laps, as Baker claimed the checkered flag. Baker also had the best lap speed traveling 69.029 MPH in 13.038 seconds.
The Cordell Construction Late Models had a prelap accident derby involving Gunner Walls, Daniel Beatty, Michael Blazer, Mike Walls, Cayden Ranck, Shawn Liddick, Darrell Henry & Brad Benton. Liddick & Beatty left the race, as the reconstructed lineup put Trent Merkel, Frankie Gordon Jr., Steve Lowery, Brandon Little & Jaxton Garman in the top five positions on the wave of green. Merkel had positioned himself in a comfortable lead by lap 8, maintaining it as he encountered lapped traffic. Gordon, Lowery, Little & Garman held their places for 14 laps, till mishaps put Brad Benton & 3rd place runner, Steve Lowery, to the rear, resetting the top five to Merkel, Gordon, Garman, Gunner Walls, & D.J. Myers. On green, an immediate battle between Gordon & Garman for 2nd place began, as Gunner Walls also got into the mix, ending with another top five adjustment, with Merkel, Garman, Walls, Kenny Yoder, & Taylor Farlling, holding the positions for 10 laps to the finish. Merkel had the best lap speed going 70.258 MPH in 12.810 seconds.
The Macri Concrete 600 Sprints feature began with polesitter, Dakota Sheaffer, taking the lead, as Taylor Smith, Randy Kunkle, Jarrett Cavalet & Jim Young were in pursuit for 7 laps till a caution for Cole Thompson was waved, putting the racer to the rear. Sheaffer led the competitors to green as Cody West moved into 5th & Chase Robinson moved into 6th. Lapped traffic added to the tension of the final five laps, but Sheaffer stayed strong at the front, while 8th place starter, Trevor Gach, was moving his ride into the top runners, placing 4th behind Sheaffer, Kunkle, & Smith & ahead of Robinson for the top five as they completed their 20 lap event. Sheaffer had the best speed lap, running at 75.853 MPH in 11.865 seconds around the circuit.
The Randy Burkholder Racing Supplies Strictly Stocks, started with a lot of racers trying the 3 & 4 abreast route resulting in Ron McCartney’s racer going into a major flip in turn two, on the wave of green, resulting in it being towed to the pits. Matt Kauffman & Jason Goss led the field on the restart with Robert Cutshall pulling to the lead for 6 laps, till Rusty Garlock came from 8th starting position to pass Cutshall & take the lead. Nate Wray, Jaymen Goss, Nevin Rosenberry & Jason Goss Jr. had left the oval, putting the competitor count down to 14 racers. The running order was now, Garlock, Cutshall, Justin Williamson, Latavin Spriggs & Josh Norton at the top. Norton, Anthony Varner Jr., Sylar Goss, & Corbin Rosenberry had entered the pit area by lap 13, as Garlock gained a marginal lead ahead of the remaining racers as they ran non-stop with Jason Goss Sr. moving into the top five position with 6 laps remaining. Garlock collected the win ahead of Cutshall, Williamson, Spriggs, & Goss Sr. Garlock had the best lap speed, traveling 62.570 MPH in 14.384 seconds.
Path Valley returns to racing on June 14th & will be running the T.A. Ward Construction 270 Micro Sprints, Macri Concrete 600 Sprints, Metzler Auto Truck & Trailer Wingless Super Sportsman, Cisney’s Auto Parts 4 Cylinder Thunder Cars, Randy Burkholder Racing Supplies Strictly Stocks, & the Friese Bus Transportation/ Zachary Crouse DVM East Coast Legends. The Legends will also be running their feature event for the May 31st race, which was canceled due to track saturation. For information, go to www.pathvalley.com
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: T.A. Ward – Tim Burkholder – Community State Bank.