FRANKLIN, Pa. – Sye Lynch scored his first Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint Car victory of the season Sunday evening at Tri-City Raceway Park.
“We’ve been fast here at Tri-City, but we don’t have the results to show for it,” Lynch said. “We were finally able to put a whole night together.”
Clay Riney sat on the pole for the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint Car feature. Rolling off second was Lynch. Bob Felmlee and Jeremy Weaver were in the second row, with Carl Bowser and Brandon Spitahler next in line. Dan Kuruger made his first Tri-City start from the seventh position, with last week’s winner, Brandon Matus next to him. Darin Gallagher lined up next to his mentor, Jack Sodeman, Jr. in row six.
Lynch blasted out to a commanding lead at the start of the 410 sprint car feature. Felmlee settled into second, followed by Spithaler, Riney, Weaver, and Sodeman. The man in the move early was Brandon Matus, who took third on lap three and second on the next round of the big half mile. By then, Lynch was way out front.
A caution on lap four for a spin by Francis Sesco brought Lynch back to the rest of the field, but it did not take him long to move away again from the second place car of Brandon Matus. Spithaler’s car stumbled on the restart, and Riney drove by, but he was flagged for jumping the start and penalized when the next restart took place.
That would come on lap 22. The race was stopped due to a crash by Rod Jones between turns one and two. Jones was unhurt, but his night was done.
On the restart, Lynch led the way, followed by Brandon Matus. They finished in that order. Felmlee, Bowser, and Sodeman completed the top five. Gallagher made a charge on the outside, picking up a few spots, but he was stuck on the outside and faded back at the finish. Brent Matus snuck by him for sixth on the final lap. Spithaler, Riney, and Bob McMillin rounded out the top ten.
Kyle Inman made the tow down from Western New York and started on the pole in the Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modifieds. Lonny Riggs was on his flank. Eric Beggs and Kevin Hoffman were in the second row. Kyle Fink, the defending track champion, lined up in fifth, with another New Yorker, Greg Martin, next to him. Jimmy Holden and Jeremiah Shingledecker, the winner of the last two events, were in row four. Behind them were Tom Holden and Max Smoker. Todd Gabriel made his season’s debut in the 11th position, and Ryan Riffe started on his outside.
Inman took the early lead with Martin, Shingledecker, Riggs, and Beggs following. The New York contingent was looking strong, as Inman held control for the first eight laps before handing the baton off to Martin.
Martin remained out front for several laps but Shingledecker, who worked his way up from eighth on the grid, began to flex some muscle after the halfway mark. He took second by getting a nose under Inman coming off turn four. A lap or two later, he went to the outside to drive by Martin in turns one and two to take the lead.
Shingledecker withstood a pair of late race restarts that put Martin on his inside. Inman challenged Martin but he could not get the grip on the outside for second.
Kevin Hoffman was fourth and Travis Shingledecker came home fifth. His crew needed commendation for fixing the car after it caught fire in the heat race.
Taking the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stock feature was Curtis J. Bish. Justin Bailey snapped the three-race win streak of Dalton Speer in the 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks.
