The 2013 schedule for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders drew to a close Saturday night on the high banks of 34 Raceway near Burlington and it was the top two drivers in the final point standings that battled it out for victory in the 30-lap main event. At the checkers it was Dustin Selvage who would take the race win while runner-up Russ Hall secured his first series championship.
A stout field of thirty-two Winged 360 Sprint Cars were on hand for the season finale, two more than were here for the opener back on March 30th putting a nice cap on a successful season for the organization. C.J. Houseman in his first night out for 2013 would earn the pole position for the finale with Hall lining up to his outside needing to only take the green flag to clinch the Invaders title. It was Houseman who would sprint to the front though at the drop of the green with Hall and a fourth-starting Dustin Selvage in hot pursuit. Selvage would take advantage of a slight mistake by Hall to move to second on lap seven and when Houseman hesitated for a split second working traffic two laps later, Selvage moved to the lead. In his haste to try to regain the lead Houseman then went too hard into turn one and slid over the top of the corner to bring out the caution. And that caution quickly turned to red when the #10T of Tim Moore got upside down in turn four.
Once back to racing Joe Beaver, Jon Agan and Jerrod Schneiderman tried to add their names to the battle up front, but Agan's charge was squelched when he slipped off the top of turn two on lap eleven. The driver from Knoxville recovered, but lost several positions as Selvage and Hall again pulled away from the pack. As the leaders got back into traffic Hall was able to stick a nose under Selvage on three occasions while Schneiderman, now running third, was trying to make it a thrilling three car battle. The caution waved again with seven laps remaining when Jimmy Davies slowed in turn two and that was a break for Selvage as with open track in front of him the rest of the way, Hall was not able to mount another challenge as "The Shocker" placed the Bragg Ag Drainage #73 squarely in victory lane. Hall celebrated a series championship as the race runner-up on this night, Jerrod Schneiderman was solid in third, Joe Beaver was fourth and young Paul Nienheiser charged from fifteenth to fifth at the checkers.
A diverse field of nineteen Modifieds were on hand as one of two support classes and it was local driver Bill Roberts Jr. who raced to the front as the twenty-lap main event took the green. Three Independence Motor Speedway regulars had made the trip down and two of them, Chris Snyder and Josh Sherbon, took up the chase of Roberts. A caution on lap six for a spinning Dugan Thye then led to two more cautions on the next two attempted restarts and once back to green flag action Sherbon moved to second as Roberts maintained the lead. Steve Stewart and Tyler Glass were on the move now and they became the primary challengers as the laps wound down with Sherbon's night coming to an early end as he pulled to the infield with three laps to go. With Stewart and Glass waging their own battle for second it appeared that Roberts had the win locked up when the caution light had to come on for a spin by Levi Smith just after the white flag had been shown to the leaders.
A green-white-checkers restart was now in order and when Stewart went high entering turn one he dropped back to fourth, but another caution for a spin by Skyler Stark before the lap was completed saved Stewart and put him back in second for the next restart. Again the leader showed his strength and with his two challengers doing some bumping and grinding of their own Bill Roberts Jr. completed the victory in a flag-to-flag fashion. Glass, who had started tenth on the grid would prevail over Stewart in the battle for second, Snyder would hold on for fourth while 2013 track champion Mitch Morris came from twelfth to finish in fifth.
Nine Four Cylinders added to the show as well with Adam Gates scoring the win. Ken Stogdell and Wayne Noble held early leads before yielding to Gates who had started on the outside of row four. Brian Mehaffy made a late charge to take second ahead of Justin Chamberlin who was fast in his first night ever in a race car. Stogdell and Shawn Baker were the final two cars on the track at the checkers.
This will wrap up the oval track action at 34 Raceway for this season, but coming up next Saturday night September 28th the facility will host another exciting night of Quads and Pit Bike racing on a motocross course in the infield. Gates open early and racing starts at 5 p.m.
The Knoxville Raceway springs back to action this coming weekend with the annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and I hope to at least make one of those shows. Hope to see you there!
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