Mark Smith Takes Jack Gunn Memorial

Mark Smith Takes Jack Gunn Memorial

A strong field of 32 sprints were on hand for the 35th Annual Mark Smith Memorial race paying a cool $3,500 to the winner.

Pole sitter Mark Smith and Robbie Stillwaggon lead the field of 26 to the green flag.  Stillwaggon quickly jumped out to the lead followed by Josh Weller in the Eldreth Sprinter.  Lap 4 brought a caution with the 29 Jason Schultz the victim of a flat left rear.  Once the rear was changed the field went back green.  Mark Smith shot under Josh Weller in turns 3-4 to take over second on lap 5.  Already a winner at Selinsgrove Davie Franek was on the move on lap 7 over taking invader Jessica Zemkin.  A lap 8 red flag was brought out for a wreck involving 29 Jason Schultz who eventually went over.  Others involved were 25e Tyler Ross, 66 Ryan Kissinger, and 99 Cody Keller.  All 4 drivers were retired for the evening.

On the lap 8 restart Stillwaggon again jumped back out to the lead with Smith again trying taking a run at Stillwaggon on lap 9.  Stillwaggon would retain the lead.  The front runners started catching lapped traffic on lap 16 with allowed Smith to once again catch Stillwaggon.  At the halfway point the top 5 were Stillwaggon, Smith, Weller, Franek and Ott.

Lap 21 Smith would again take a run at Stillwaggon in turns 3-4.  Smith got up into the loose stuff but was able to recover without loosing any positions.  Lap 28 Smith’s run finally stuck as he lead at the start finish line.  Smith would pull away for a comfortable 1.4 second lead at the end of the 30 lap feature.  Heat wins went to defending URC Champion Davie Franek, Derek Locke, Jason Schultz, and multiple time URC Champion Curt Michael winning the fourth and final heat race by .050 of a second.

The teams will have just enough time to wash the cars and preform some general maintenance before heading off to Susquehanna Speedway Park for tonight’s challenge race again with the 358 division.

United Racing Club will then be off until the 15th when they return to the first state and the Georgetown Speedway.

360 Sprint Cars – 32 Entries
30-Lap A-Main:  1) 1 Mark Smith  2) 89 Robbie Stillwaggon  3) 25 Aaron Ott  4) 23 TJ Stutts  5) 28F Davie Franek  6) 1W Eric Tomecek  7) 5G Curt Michael  8) 77 Derek Locke  9) 25 Josh Weller  10) 5 Justin Barger  11) 08 Jason Claus  12) 1Z Jessica Zemken  13) 76 Larry Kelleher  14) 33W Michael Walter II  15) F5 Mark Bitner  16) 19 Colby Womer  17) 66 Ryan Kissinger  18) 22 Troy Betts  19) 39 Eric Parker  20) M16 Justin Hoffman  21) 12B Brad Franks  22) 29S Derek Steward  23) 56 Randy West  24) 25E Tyler Ross  25) 99K Cody Keller  26) 29 Jason Shultz
Heat Winner:  Davie Franek, Derek Locke, Jason Shultz, Curt Michael
B-Main Winner:  Tyler Ross

Photo Credit: Tim Moran/URC