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Selinsgrove Speedway
SELINSGROVE, Penn. (August 31) - Jeff Rine, of Danville, turned in a dominating performance for his third career victory in the Selinsgrove Ford Paul Long Memorial for late models Sunday night at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Rine collected $10,000 for winning the fifth annual running of the tribute race to the former two-time late model champion at Selinsgrove Speedway. The win marked Rine's fifth of the season and 46th of his career at the Snyder County oval behind the wheel of the Jeff's Auto Body & Recycling Center No. 2J.
With Sunday night's win, Rine also clinched his fourth career MAPCO Machine Shop late model track championship.
D.J. Myers, of Greencastle, was the night's fast qualifier with a lap time of 20.394.
AJ Hoffman, of Richfield, won his fifth pro stock feature in the division's 15-lap main event, while Paul Lotier Jr., of Lebanon, won his first-ever race in the new Tobias speedSTRs division.
Ray Evernham, of Charlotte, NC, a former crew chief for Jeff Gordon and current NASCAR team owner, made a special appearance at the track and competed in the speedSTRs events.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the final points race of the season for the 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
Polesitter Jason Covert, who was the fourth fastest qualifier, powered into the lead at the start of the Paul Long Memorial. Covert was chased by second-place starter Jeff Rine. Covert and Rine put on an exciting wheel-to-wheel show for the lead, with Covert running the highline and Rine working the bottom of the race track.
A race for third also unfolded between third-place starter Jim Yoder and fourth-place starter D.J. Myers. By lap 10, 15th-place starter and former Paul Long Memorial winner Gary Stuhler advanced to fifth and became a threat.
On the 12th circuit, Covert's race car broke, scattering debris on the frontstretch, ending his strong run. At this point, Rine inherited the lead, with Yoder, Stuhler, Myers, and sixth-place starter Bryan Bernheisel racing in the top five.
Myers passed Stuhler for third on the 22nd lap only to hit the frontstretch wall on the 24th circuit and roll to a stop in turn one. While pacing under caution, the race was stopped for the teams to refuel the cars. When the race resumed, Rine continued his impressive run at the front of the pack.
Despite several caution flag periods, Rine was able to stretch his lead on the ensuing restarts. Meanwhile, the race for second kept everyone's attention as Stuhler made every effort to pass Yoder for the runner up position to no avail. Donnie Schick, who started 12th, horsepowered his way into the top five with 15 laps remaining and passed Bernheisel for fourth on the 38th lap. Other drivers who made appearances in the top five during the race were fifth-place starter Al Shawver Jr. and 10th-place starter Jeff Smith.
At the checkered flag, Rine was victorious by a convincing 6.7 second margin over Yoder, Stuhler, Schick, and B. Bernheisel.
SPEEDWAY SUMMARY - 31 August 2008
Late Models - 38 Entries
50-Lap Paul Long Memorial: 1) 2J 6Jeff Rine $10,000 2) 27 Jim Yoder 3) 90 Gary Stuhler 4) 6 Donnie Schick 5) 119 Bryan Bernheisel 6) 99 Jeff Smith 7) 91 JT Spence 8) SR2 Dylan Yoder 9) 215 Al Shawver Jr. 10) 88 Tony Adams 11) 3 Tim Wilson 12) 21 Chris Shuey (DNF) 13) 119 Jim Bernheisel (DNF) 14) 2 Steve Campbell (DNF) 15) 41 Nathan Durboraw (DNF) 16) 33 Scott Haus (DNF) 17) 17 Wayne Johnson (DNF) 18) 0 Brett Schadel (DNF) 19) 77 Nate Kerstetter (DNF) 20) 8L Scott LeBarron (DNF)
21) 70J DJ Myers (DNF) 22) 61 Kenny Trevitz (DNF) 23) D1 Bo Feathers (DNF) 24) 43A Jason Covert (DNF) 25) 14 Jack Pencil (DNF)
Heat Winners: Gary Stuhler, Scott LeBarron, Jeff Rine, Jason Covert
B-Main: Jim Bernheisel
Time Trials: 1) DJ Myers 20.394 2) Jim Yoder 20.591 3) Jeff Rine 20.620 4) Jason Covert 20.740 5) Al Shawver Jr. 20.767 6) Bryan Bernheisel 20.803 7) Jim Bernheisel 20.804 8) Bobby Stokes 20.882 9) Nate Kerstetter 20.891 10) Jack Pencil 20.902 11) Jeff Smith 20.911 12) Eric Hons 20.931 13) Tim Wilson 20.979 14) Donnie Schick 21.079 15) Dylan Yoder 21.085 16) Steve Campbell 21.131 17) Gary Stuhler 21.150 18) Scott LeBarron 21.193 19) Scott Haus 21.214 20) JT Spence 21.243 21) 41 Nathan Durboraw 21.261 22) Gary Beward 21.276 23) Coleby Frye 21.277 24) Bo Feathers 21.351 25) Todd Snook 21.443 26) Luke Hoffner 21.470 27) Brett Schadel 21.471 28) Chris Shuey 21.525 29) Tim Gray 21.542 30) Wayne Johnson 21.610 31) Tony Adams 21.626 32) Kenny Trevitz 21.626 33) John Britzsky 21.988 34) Jason Miller 22.423 35) Dave Graber 22.585 36) Harry Miller DQ 37) Kyle Rhoads DQ 38) Dave Shulski DQ
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