5/24/2023
Lernerville Speedway
Racing Returns Friday with Military Appreciation Night Presented by Hantz Locomotive
Scott Goodman Photo
Sarver, PA (May 24, 2023) Racing returns to Lernerville Speedway on Friday night with another four-division, action packed racing program, It's Military Appreciation Night presented by Hantz Locomotive and the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stocks will take center stage in the inaugural $2,000-to-win ‘Bob Lambert Memorial’ which sports one of the richest races run by the division this season. The Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Cars and Diehl Automotive Big Block Modifieds will be on hand for their fourth weekly appearances of 2023 and the Allegheny Sprint Tour 305 Sprint Cars make their first of four appearances on the season on Friday night as well.
Dietz & Dietz Get Early Season Test in Lambert Memorial
For Tyler and Jake Dietz, the early part of the season has brought much success, and on Friday night they can expect to be put to the test by a hungry group of Pro Stock drivers and top competition from around the area. Defending champion and current points leader Tyler Dietz has managed two out of the three wins thus far and in each of them, he found himself battling wheel to wheel with a determined Cody Koteles in two main events that went down to the final lap to decide. Brother Jake Dietz captured his first career win at Lernerville just two weeks ago and would love to keep the family momentum rolling forward. Jake managed to make a late race pass for the win, and held off a stiff challenge from the always strong running Jason Fosnaught who is sharing the wheel of the #25 machine with its usual pilot Brett McDonald in 2023.
Koteles will look to garner the first Pro Stock feature win in his Lernerville career this Friday night and has to be considered among the list of favorites to contend for the $2,000 top prize. However, there’s a pack of talented drivers who’ve now had an extra week to prepare following last Friday night’s rainout. Wily veteran and one of the most successful Pro Stock drivers in track history, Chris Schneider always seems to elevate his performances with extra money on the line and should be in the mix for the feature win as well as Fosnaught, as well as area standout Tim Bish who already has some seat time at the track this season. Fans may want to keep an eye on weekly standouts Brian Daugherty, six-time track champion Corey McPherson and event organizer Chase Lambert who has been showing plenty of speed the past two weeks in area competition.
Three Weeks Three Winners in Peoples Sprints
Perhaps the biggest question coming into Friday night for the Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Cars will be whether fans will be watching a new feature winner in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane. Thus far, AJ Flick, Brandon Spithaler and Dan Kuriger have all posted victories during the first three week, despite a high number of outside invaders featuring high quality cars and drivers that had been looking to take the winner’s purse back over the state line. The stream of cars making casual Friday night appearances might continue this week as teams prepare for next Friday’s Western Pennsylvania Sprint Speed Week show.
King Jr. Leads Modified Field Coming Into Friday
For the Diehl Automotive Big Block Modifieds, the area should be marked safe from Erick Rudolph who had come down from Ransomville, NY two weeks prior and left the field in his wake en route to the feature win. The appearance was likely a tune up for the following Friday night’s BRP Modified Tour show which was lost to rain last Friday. Be that as it may, there is still quite a battle just three weeks in at the top of the Modified standings and at the top is none other than two-time track champion Rex King Jr. The Bristolville, OH native has yet to collect a feature win, but has been consistently fast at The Action Track and around the area and appears to be getting faster with every race. Thus far, eight-time champion Brian Swartzlander, and Mat Williamson share the other two Friday night weekly victories.
Allegheny Sprint Tour 305s Make First Appearance
The winged warriors of the Allegheny Sprint Tour will also be in attendance on Friday night to do battle for the first of four times in 2023. In 2022, Ohio pilot Justin Clark scored two of the three victories for the season while area hot shoe Greg Dobrosky took the honors at the Steel City Stampede. Currently, Jim Morris holds a three point lead over Jake Gomola in the Allegheny Sprint Tour Sprint Car standings with Jarrett Rosencrance just seven markers back of the leader.
Pits will open at 4 PM on Friday night with grandstands opening at 5 PM and racing scheduled to start at 7:30 PM. Adult general admission for Friday night is $18 while children 10 and under are admitted free as always. Pit passes will be available for $30. For Military Appreciation Night, all active service personnel will be admitted free with current military ID.
Tickets for Friday night and the entire season of racing action can be found on our website at Lernerville.com. Avoid the lines by purchasing online!
The entire night of racing will be streamed on the Dirt.TV Network via subscription. Current monthly plans are $24.99 and there’s more savings in store with the annual plan for just a onetime payment of $149.
Submitted By: Gary Heeman
