Lernerville Speedway
August 8, 2014
_______________________________________

Johnson is victorious on Nostalgia Night at Lernerville Speedway

SARVER, PA (August 8)  After years of either being rained out or suffering through sweltering heat, Nostalgia Night was finally privy to perfect weather and dozens of legendary drivers came back to the Action Track for the annual Nostalgia Night hosted by Don Gamble and his crew.  With his Hall of Fame grandfather on hand and celebrating his 20th Birthday, Brandon Matus was hammer down around the top of both turns to win his second Peoples TWP Sprint feature of the season.  Future Hall of Famers Davey Johnson and Brian Swartzlander held off young guns Jared Miley and Rex King Jr. to make their triumphant returns to Sheetz Victory Lane.  And after a dramatic and disappointing finish to last week’s Pic-A-Part Sportsman feature, Jim Fosnaught dominated this week’s feature to record his fifth win of the season; the most in all of Fab Four Racing.

Local legends Chub Frank and Davey Johnson led the Precise Racing Products DIRTcar Late Model field to green for the Dave Hoffman Memorial, but a slow roll to the green by Frank resulted in a huge pile-up behind him before several drivers could even take the green flag; Mike Pegher Jr. and Dan Swartzlander broke and were scored DNF even though they didn’t really even get to start.  After a complete restart, Johnson took the lead around the top of turns one & two and Miley challenged Frank for second.  By lap three, Miley got past Frank and started to reel in Johnson.  Miley briefly took the lead on lap eight, but Johnson fought back and regained the lead on lap nine around the top of turns one & two.  Unfortunately, a series of wrecks behind them spoiled what could have been an amazing race, but the finish was well worth the wait. 

The final caution waved on lap 17 when longtime rivals John Flinner and Gary Lyle battled door-to-door in turns three & four and down the front chute, but eventually clipped Herman Bertolini who spun hard into the wall.  The result was another multi-car pile-up and a red flag was shown to clear the wreckage.  Chub Frank surrendered fifth by taking his car to the pits under caution, but did return to tail the field.  On the restart, Johnson and Miley were on the front row, while title combatants Alex Ferree and Russ King rolled back to green from the second row.  Johnson beat Miley to turn one and held the lead coming out of two and while Miley tried high and low at both ends of the Action Track, he never did find his way back around Johnson who rolled to Sheetz Victory Lane for the 11th time in his career.  A longtime traveler, Johnson would surely be much, much higher on the all time wins list if he focused on local competition, but has been a fan favorite for decades and it’s always great to see him back in Sheetz Victory Lane.  Especially happy to see him win was Mary Hoffman, wife of the late Hall of Fame driver Dave Hoffman whom the race was memorialized for.

Jared Miley chased him the whole way to the checkered flag for a second place finish ahead of Russ King, Alex Ferree and Michael Norris.  John Garvin Jr. was sixth, Chub Frank recovered to finish seventh, Modified greats Brian Swartzlander and Dave Murdick finished eighth and ninth ahead of Ken Schaltenbrand in tenth.  Alex Ferree and future Hall of Famer John Flinner won their respective heat races.

A-Main
1 1J Davey Johnson
2 H1 Jared Miley
3 56 Russ King
4 10 Alex Ferree
5 72 Michael Norris
6 J4 John Garvin
7 1* Chub Frank
8 111 Brian Swartzlander
9 1 Dave Murdick
10 29 Kenny Schaltenbrand
11 55 Chris Schneider
12 88 Chuck Sarver
13 B1 Brandon Wearing
14 10L Gary Lyle
15 7x Herman Bertolini
16 91 Tommy Beck
17 4T8 John Flinner
18 75 Colton Flinner
19 29K Garrett Krummert

Heat #1
1 10 Alex Ferree
2 1c Mike Pegher
3 1J Davey Johnson
4 1* Chub Frank
5 72 Michael Norris
6 29K Garrett Krummert
7 91 Tommy Beck
8 29 Kenny Schaltenbrand
9 88 Chuck Sarver
10 7x Herman Bertolini
11 1 Dave Murdick

Heat #2
1 4T8 John Flinner
2 H1 Jared Miley
3 J4 John Garvin
4 75 Colton Flinner
5 3 Dan Swartzlander
6 56 Russ King
7 111 Brian Swartzlander
8 B1 Brandon Wearing
9 10L Gary Lyle
10 55 Chris Schneider