Duke Wins at home town track Selinsgrove Sprint Speedway
Ken Duke Jr. watched races at Selinsgrove Speedway as a kid and won at the historic Snyder County facility in karts and micro-sprints. Now he’s checked off the most important box – victory at his hometown track in a full-sized sprint car.
(Ritchey tops Path Valley – see below)
Duke grabbed lead early and scored a solid victory in Sunday’s 20-lap PA Sprint Series feature, run as part of Selinsgrove’s PA Sprint Speedweek program.
The win was Duke’s fifth of the season in PASS and sixth over in RaceSaver sprints. He leads the national and PASS RaceSaver point standings in his Fairfield Chevrolet, Apache Tree Service, sprintcarunlimited.com #67.
“My guys did a hell of a job preparing this car this week,” Duke said in Victory Lane. “They know how much winning here means to me, growing up here. I’ve been here since I was a kid, every week. It’s pretty unbelievable, actually. They gave us a perfect race car. It was perfect all night, from the word go, and everything we did to it just made it better.
“We’ve raced here and won here in every class we’ve ever competed in except for the sprint cars, but that’s different now.”
A wild start saw Kruz Kepner (Winfield; Good’s Construction/Stahl’s Garage/Hill Top Lawn Care #19) spin in Turns 3&4 while running fifth. Kepner hit the inside guardrail and toppled over on his side, bringing out out the red flag. Josh Spicer (Julian; TC Transports/Spicer Welding #71) also received damage and was done for the night.
On the restart, Duke jumped out in front of Cale Reigle (Newport; Don’s Performance Corner/Holly’s Outdoor Solutions #99), who lost second to Ryan Lynn (Hollidaysburg; Ken Imler’s Machine Shop/Lingenfelter’s Awnings/GBC Landscaping #26) on Lap 6.
Lynn challenged Duke for the lead on a Lap 10 restart, but Duke held off the charge, and Lynn later retired with engine woes. That put Devin Adams (Lebanon; Fredericksburg Eagle Hotel/Adams Auto Sales/Garden Spot Auto Auction #99A) in second, but he was unable to challenge Duke for the top spot.
Adams finished a full six seconds behind Duke in second, followed across the line by Reigle, Dave Grube (York Haven; Spearhead Rentals/MAN Contracting/Chiropractic Athletic #3D) and Christian Rumsey (Middletown, N.Y./Moreno Rumsey Seal Coating/Joe Algairin Paving/Behrent’s Performance Warehouse #1R).
Dylan Proctor (Lock Haven; Randy Sterling Trucking/M. Teets Transport/Sprint Fleet Services #92), Larry McVey (Bordentown, N.J.; #83), Scott Lutz (Jonestown; Fredericksburg Eagle Hotel/Speedway Mart & Car Wash/Adams Auto Sales #33), Zach Newlin (Millerstown; Scott Concrete & Construction/Heather Sims Realtor/Newport VFW #11Z) and Jake Waters (Mifflintown; The Bargain Barn/HP Engines/Huffy’s Pizza #10) completed the Top 10.
Heat races for the 30 cars in attendance were won by McVey, Rumsey and Newlin, with Kenny Heffner (Duncannon; Morgan Paving/Connie’s Chop Shop Hair Repair #97X) taking the B-Main.
Results from Selinsgrove Speedway, June 30, 2019
HEAT 1 – 1. 83-Larry McVey; 2. 71-Josh Spicer; 3. 19-Kruz Kepner; 4. 99-Cale Reigle; 5. 33-Scott Lutz; 6. 2-Erin Statler; 7. 97X-Kenny Heffner; 8. R6-Reed Thompson; 9. 23-Nathan Gramley; 10. 88-Fred Arnold.
HEAT 2 – 1. 1R-Christian Rumsey; 2. 67-Ken Duke; 3. 92-Dylan Proctor; 4. 51-Dave Graber; 5. 99A-Devin Adams; 6. 5-Wally Eshenhaur; 7. 17K-Kyle Keen; 8. 107-Colton Hoover; 9. 20-Doug Dodson; 10. 46-Mike Alleman.
HEAT 3 – 1. 11Z-Zach Newlin; 2. 3D-Dave Grube; 3. 10-Jake Waters; 4. 26-Ryan Lynn; 5. 00S-Randy Sterling; 6. 69-Landon Price; 7. 911-Mike Wenrick; 8. 55-Rick Romig; 9. 5-John Walp; 10. 21M-Cassandra Minium.
B-MAIN – 1. 97X-Kenny Heffner; 2. 17K-Kyle Keen; 3. R6-Reed Thompson; 4. 23-Nathan Gramling; 5. 88-Fred Arnold; 6. 5-John Walp; 7. 911-Mike Wenrick; 8. 107-Colton Hoover; 9. 21M-Cassandra Minium; 10. 46-Mike Alleman; 11. 20-Doug Dodson; 12. 55-Rick Romig.
FEATURE – 1. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 2. 99A-Devin Adams; 3. 99-Cale Reigle; 4. 3D-Dave Grube; 5. 1R-Christian Rumsey; 6. 92-Dylan Proctor; 7. 83-Larry McVey; 8. 33-Scott Lutz; 9. 11Z-Zach Newlin; 10. 10-Jake Waters; 11. 51-Dave Graber; 12. 5-John Walp; 13. 2-Erin Statler; 14. 97-Kenny Heffner; 15. 88-Fred Arnold; 16. R6-Reed Thompson; 17. 00S-Randy Sterling; 18. 5-Wally Eshenhaur; 19. 17K-Kyle Keen; 20. 26-Ryan Lynn; 21. 69-Landon Price; 22. 23-Nathan Gramley; 23. 19-Kruz Kepner; 24. 71-Josh Spicer. DNS – 20-Doug Dodson; 55-Rick Romig; 46-Mike Alleman; 21M-Cassandra Minium; 107-Colton Hoover; 911-Mike Wenrick.