SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Dylan Cisney won Sunday night’s Opperman/Bogar Memorial winged sprint car race at Selinsgrove Speedway, which doubled as night three of Pennsylvania Speedweek.
A multi-car melee unfolded as the field charged off the fourth turn to take the green flag at the start of the 410 sprint car feature, collecting Danny Dietrich, Ryan Smith, Freddie Rahmer, Mike Walter and Kyle Moody, with all but Dietrich able to rejoin the race.
Polesitter Blane Heimbach shot to the front when the race got restarted. He was followed by Cisney, Kyle Reinhardt, Lucas Wolfe and Tony Stewart.
Reinhardt smacked the second turn wall on lap three bringing out the caution flag.
Heimbach opened a lead while the battle on the track was for third between defending race winner Wolfe and Stewart. Heimbach had built up a three-second lead by the time he drove into lapped traffic and by the midway point Stewart had started to make a charge to the front and was dogging Cisney for second.
Stewart shot into second on lap 17 coming off the fourth turn but Cisney battled back for the position.
The red flag came out when Smith, who had returned to the field after the first lap crash, lost his top wing and crashed hard into the first turn fence. A palpable silence hung over the speedway until it was announced the popular Smith was all right and a loud cheer from the fans broke the silence.
A lengthy break was needed to clean up the fuel that was spilled. During the stop, Heimbach changed his wing and was sent to the back of the pack, handing the lead to Cisney.
Wolfe used the outside lane on the restart to get by Stewart for the runner up position while Brock Zearfoss took over third. He and Stewart performed a high-speed dance around the speedway as Cisney drove away.
“That race belonged to Heimbach and it’s too bad what happened but I’d rather be lucky than good.” Cisney said. “Back in 2002 my dad and I stood here after my first kart win so this is unbelievable. I got some new sponsors this year and it has allowed us to travel a little bit but I’m still not good on little tracks so it feels good to get back here.”
Cisney beat Stewart by 1.5 seconds followed by Wolfe, Zearfoss and Anthony Macri.
Ken Duke topped the 20-lap 305 sprint car main event.
The finish:
Dylan Cisney, Tony Stewart, Lucas Wolfe, Brock Zearfoss, Anthony Macri, Chase Dietz, Jason Shultz, Freddie Rahmer, Justin Barger, Blaney Heimbach, T.J. Stutts, Kyle Moody, Steve Buckwalter, Cody Keller, Jared Esh, Mark Smith, Michael Walter, Dave Blaney, Ryan Smith, Jessie Attard, Ryan Linder, Darren Mollenouyx, Kyle Reinhardt, Danny Dietrich.