FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2011
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Jared Miley top local finisher for second straight year
Dan Stone scored a top ten in the Firecracker 100
Matt Lux took home $3,000 Uncle Sam 30 prize

June 28, 2011 (Sarver, PA) Local and regional drivers supported the Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com again this season. As always, there were some bright spots and impressive accomplishments against another deep, talented field of the best Late Model drivers in the country.

Though outmatched in finances, experience and in some cases equipment, the local and regional Late Model stars continued to shine during the three-night Firecracker 100 weekend. Rain Thursday afternoon and Friday evening created fast, heavy race tracks where big money and big motors ruled the day.

Near misses were the trend on Thursday and Friday Nights, as top local drivers missed transfers by one or two positions in heats and B-Mains. The struggles continued on Saturday Night as the heat races were lined up by virtue of a driver’s best finish of Thursday or Friday Night’s results. Once again, this stacked the deck against the local and regional contingent as all six heats were frontloaded with the fastest cars, but a dry and much slicker track leveled the playing field as talent and experience was more important than having a big motor.

Thursday Night started with time trials. Gregg Satterlee was the fastest local timer with a lap of 15.515 seconds, good for 19th quick in a 61-car field. Heat races saw local and regional stars Gregg Satterlee, Jared Hawkins, Ron Davies, Dan Stone and John Mollick miss the transfer by one spot. A handful of others missed by two or three spots, but were running with the front pack.

Even in the B-Mains, transfers were hard to come by. Chub Frank and Dan Stone won their B-Mains, while Ron Davies transferred in by finishing second to Stone. Gregg Satterlee, Davey Johnson and John Mollick each missed the transfer by one position in their respective Bs.

Without track provisionals for Preliminary features, only Davies, Frank and Stone qualified for the 30-lap A-Main. Davies was the top finisher in 17th, Frank finished 18th and Stone 24th.

Friday Night was more of the same, as rain delayed the program once again, but also produced another fast track. Gregg Satterlee improved his qualifying effort by one position with the 17th quickest lap of the night, but Boom Briggs (11th), Mike Johnson (13th) and Davey Johnson (16th) all turned quicker laps than Satterlee.

In heat race competition, Davey Johnson, Chub Frank and Dan Stone all finished in transfer positions. But, as was the case on Thursday night, a handful of drivers just missed transfers. Those drivers include Jared Hawkins, Russell King, Coleby Frye, Boom Briggs, Ron Davies, Matt Lux and John Garvin Jr. Hawkins, Briggs, Lux and Frye would, however, all move on to the 30-lap feature by way of the B-Mains, while Mike Johnson, Russell King, Gregg Satterlee and Brian Swartzlander all narrowly missed transfers.

Friday Night’s feature saw Chub Frank (9th) score a top ten, while Davey Johnson (15th) and Dan Stone (16th) finished in the top 20. Jared Hawkins finished 21st, Coleby Frye 23rd and Matt Lux 26th.

While cooler, Saturday was also dryer and the track was much different than it was for the preliminaries, taking away some of the advantage of big money and big motor!

Saturday Night started with heat races that were lined up by best finish of a driver’s results in the two preliminary nights, meaning the fastest cars started and finished up front. The end results was a shutout for local and regional drivers out of the heat races.

All three B-Mains were won by and five of the six transfers went to regional or local drivers. Jared Miley, Jared Hawkins and Dan Stone all won their B-Mains, while Boom Briggs and Ron Davies transferred into the Firecracker 100 by finishing second. Budweiser points leader Dave Hess Jr. and Gregg Satterlee started the 100-lapper thanks to track provisionals. Boom Briggs had the Mid-Season Championship provisional, but didn’t need it so it reverted back to second place in points, and thus Satterlee was in! Chub Frank started the Firecracker 100 by virtue of a World of Outlaws provisional

In the early stages of the Firecracker 100, Jared Miley ripped through the field and was running 12th by lap 22 after starting 20th. His tires seemed to go away on a restart a few laps later and he faded back to finish 17th but for the second year in a row he was on the track when the checkers waved for Jimmy Mars.

Fellow B-Main winner Dan Stone took a steadier march to the front. On lap 85, Stone passed defending Firecracker 100 Champion Shane Clanton for ninth place and was the last car on the lead lap when checkers flew for Mars. Stone is the only

After finishing ninth Friday night, Chub Frank just missed out on a second straight top ten finish. Using a WoO LMS provisional, Chub came the whole way from 25th to finish 11th behind Clanton.

Jared Hawkins finished 98 laps and finished 21st, while Ron Davies completed 97 laps and finished 23rd. Retiring earlier in the event were Dave Hess Jr. in 24th, Boom Briggs in 25th and Gregg Satterlee in 27th.

Even those that did not transfer into the Firecracker 100, excelled in the Uncle Sam 30 non-qualifiers race. Ken Schaltenbrand, Russell King and Coleby Frye missed the B-Main transfer positions, but all played a hand in the lead pack of the Uncle Sam 30.

When the green flag initially waved, it looked like Kenny Schaltenbrand jumped out to an early lead, but he did so too quickly and was penalized one row for jumping the start. Eric Wells led the early portion of the race, but Coleby Frye and Russell King were in his wake and challenging him for the lead by laps six and eight respectively. With the Delaware double-file restart, Frye and King restarted lap 11 on the 2nd row, but as they exited turn four, Matt Lux joined the hunt, making it three-wide to the flagstand and again exiting turn two. King took second on the back straightaway and Lux came to third, but they were three-wide again in turn four.

Caution waved again on lap 13, putting King and Lux on the second row. King chose the outside, giving Lux the inside and the line he wanted. As they exited turn two, Lux rocketed off the bottom and into the lead down the backstretch. Wells would break a few laps later, leaving King and Frye to battle for second. But as they did so, Lux pulled away and claimed the $3,000 Uncle Sam 30 victory.

King and Frye would follow Lux across the stripe, finishing second and third respectively. Gary Lyle, Tommy Beck and Kenny Schaltenbrand finished eighth through tenth.

At the conclusion of the Uncle Sam 30, PA announcer Dow Carnahan announced the winner of the Ms. Firecracker Pageant. For the next year, Miss Samantha McCollough will represent Lernerville Speedway as the trophy girl, replacing the Pharmacy school bound Laiken Anderson. Also competing in the pageant were Alexis Sisko, Jessica McClain and Rachael Gosnell.

A mix of local and regional stars will be right back in action this Friday, July 1 as Fab Four Racing returns. Boom Briggs won the most recent feature during the Mid-Season Championships on Friday, June 17 and Defending Track Champion Dave Hess Jr. leads the Bud Points in the Precise Late Models. The Ti22 Sprints, Diehl Mods and Pic-A-Part Sportsman will also return this Friday for Youth Sports Night as student athletes of all ages are welcomed to the speedway.