Bedford Speedway
June 15, 2012
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Haus leads first time winners at Bedford Speedway

by Dave Harclerode
BEDFORD, PA (June 15) - Three first time winners graced victory lane Friday night at the Bedford Speedway, two of them the sons of former big winners at the track. Andy Haus, The son of the all time leading Late Model winner at Bedford became the 124th different Late Model with a thrilling come from behind win in that 25 lapper. Mike Altobelli Jr, Whose father was a Semi Late legend, scored his first Limited event win. Tim Brown completed the new winners list with a Pure Stock win. In between, Zane Weicht added to his Semi Late total and Dave Lambert took the 4 cylinder event.

DJ Troutman was the early leader in the Late Model event after he got by Eric Zembower on lap one. With only a couple early cautions, Troutman was able to stretch out a decent early lead over first Zembower, then Matt Sponaugle who took over on lap 6. Andy Haus finally emerged in second on lap 12 and began his charge

Haus closed on Troutman a bit each lap but Jeff Rine was fast closing on both of them after he shook the pack.

Each lap Haus closed the distance but that closing rate became unimportant on lap 19 as Troutman impacted the spinning lapped car of Ron Coleman. The crash was such that it brought out the red flag with Haus as the leader. During the red flag delay, Rine, the new second place man who had been closing on Haus retired to the pits, but Haus had other problems as the oil light on his panel was aglow.

Sponaugle regained second with the dual retirements as the field went green, But Jack Pencil had arrived on the scene. He took second one lap later but his car broke two laps later and he brought out the yellow flag. As Haus sprinted away, Sponaugle was again second until Matt Parks finally arrived from deep in the field. Parks took over second on l;ap 22 but Haus was gone and heading to his first ever Bedford win. Parks was the sixth and final secons place runner in the event, finishing ahead of Sponaugle and Cory Weaver who came from 11th in the field. Wayne Johnson, Zembower, Chad Hollenbeck, Lincoln Ritchey Ernie Millon and Pencil completed the top 10. Haus and Troutmn won the heats.

Rance Garlock was the early leader and had the Limited field under control early. But a snarl ran in his wake as Matt Howsare, Robby Black, Mike Altobelli and Tim Smith went at it for the next few spots. The event was rudely interrupted on lap 10 as Craig Perigo got squeezed into the front stretch wall and crashed hard.

By that time Altobelli had made it up to second and was all ovre Garlock on the restart. It took several laps but Altobelli forged by Garlock on lap 15 and ran to the historic win. Garlock fell back a bit at the finish and had to hold off fast closing Tim Smith to score second. Howsare was fourth ahead of Josh Berrier, Robby Black, Ralph Morgan, Donnie Farlling, Ron Bottenfield and Mike Duck. Black and Morgan won the heats.

Randy Wible was the early Semi Late leader but Don Wyles took over on lap three. Zane Weicht was on the move though And was all over Wyles one lap later. Wyles fought hard and the pair went four laps side by side before Weicht slid by. From that point on Weicht ran off to the win. Wyles held off Kerry Molovich to take second. Molovich, Chris Chamberlain, Wible and George Beckett completed the top six. Chamberlain hit the wall on the last lap and finished with a heavily smoking car. Weicht and Darryl Whetstone won the heats.

Tim Brown survived a race long dogfight to score his big Pure Stock win. Charlie Walter was the early leader but Chad Gambol ran him down. Gambol took over on lap 8 but he headed to the pits only a lap later with a flat during a caution brought out by Walter. Brown emerged with the lead but then had to hold off Terry Norris for the remaining laps for the win. Travis Group and Ryan Beckett trailed in a mob to the finish. Gambol returned from his pit stop to take fifth, ahead of Brad Feight, Bil Kennell and Walter. Beckett and Walter won the heats.

Dave Lambert scored yet another 4 cylinder win with a late rally. He was the early leader but fell to a charge by three time consecutive winner Mike Lauffer. Lauffer took over on lap thre and held off pesky Lambert until his car broke on lap 9. At that point Lambert retook the lead and held off Andrew Pluta to the end. Pluta faltered at the white flag allowing Ron Valentine to score second at the line, ahead of Cale Martin, Steve Hollingsworth, Steve Frederick, and EJ Johnson. Hollingsworth and Lauffer won the heats.

LATE MODEL 25 LAPS 1 Andy Haus, 2 Matt Parks, 3 Matt sponaugle, 4 Cory weaver, 5 Wayne Johnson, 6 Eric Zembower, 7Chad Hollenbeck, 8 Lincoln Ritchey, 9 Ernie millon, 10 Jack Pencil, 11 DJ Troutman,,12 Jeff Rine, 13 Ronald Coleman, 14 Chuck Clise, 15 Greg Fetters, DNS Chris Harr

LIMITED 20 LAP 1 Mike Altobelli Jr, 2 Rance Garlock, 3 Tim Smith, 4 Matt Howsare, 5 Josh Berrier, 6 Robby Black, 7 Ralph Morgan, 8 Donnie Farlling, 9 Ron Bottenfield, 10 Mike Duck, 11 Travis Calhoun, 12 Troy Swindell, 13 Kris Eaton, 14 Craig Perigo, DNS Doug Weller, Nathan Lasalle.

SEMI LATE 15 LAP 1 Zane Weicht, 2 Don Wyles, 3 Kerry Molovich, 4 Chris Chamberlain, 5 Randy Wible, 6 George Beckett, 7 Taylor Farlling, 8 Paul Gambol, 9 Bob Jay, 10 Darryl Whetstone, 11 Jerry Fifield,

PURE STOCK 12 LAP 1 Tim Brown, 2 Terry Norris, 3 Travis Group, 4 Ryan Beckett, 5 Chad Gambol, 6 Brad Feight, 6 Bill Kennell, 8 Charlie Walter, 9 Rob Varner, 10 Adam Daniels,

4 CYLINDER 12 LAP 1 Dave Lambert, 2 Ron Valentine, 3 Cale Martin, 4 Steve Hollingsworth, 5 Steve Frederick, 6 EJ Johnson, 7 Garrett Watkins, 8 Phil Best, 9 Matt Diehl, 10 Andrew Pluta, 11 Terry Norris, 12 John Diehl, 13 Tyler Beckett, 14 Mike Lauffer, 15 Irv Fleegle, 16 Robert Pluta, 17 Dan Jackson, 18 Juan Ryan, 19 Tyler Defibaugh, Josh Datko.