SELINSGROVE, PA – Ryan Kissinger, out of Bloomsburg, PA scored the biggest win of his career on Saturday, July 11 at Selinsgrove Speedway as he cruised to victory in the 30-lap, $5,000 to win feature sponsored by Mach-1 Chassis.
The night began with Selinsgrove getting rained on, extremely hard. However, rain or no rain the track crew and management were committed to getting the race in. Twenty-five competitors signed into the back gate and waited out the multiple rain storms. The rain finally stopped and track prep began at 8:00 p.m. Cars were called to the grid for heat in the motor and to help run in the track a little while later.
When hot-laps were finally able to hit the track, Ryan Smith went quick time with a lap of 17.080. However, the track would continue to get faster and faster throughout the night as Mark Smith recorded the fastest time of the night at a 16.707 during his heat race. Some drivers decided to pack up and leave before heat races started on their own accord - bringing the total number of cars in the heat races to 19. Kissinger, Mark Smith, and Davie Franek cruised pretty easily to their heat race wins. One of the favorites to win the race, Blane Heimbach had issues on the last lap of his heat race retiring the 12 machine to the pits for the remainder of the night.
Come feature time, the lineup was created by ASCS passing points from the heat races. After passing point standings were determined, the top 4 cars redrew for their feature starting positions and cars 5-8 redrew for their starting position as well. After the redraw, Jonathan Preston and Jesse Pruchnik found themselves leading the field to the green. When the green flag flew, early into Sunday morning, Preston shot out to the lead, followed by Kissinger, and Davie Franek. By lap 5 Kissinger made his way around Preston and began checking out. Kissinger hit lapped traffic and almost lost it but due to the distance he had put on second place he was able to gather it together and continue his dominance on the field. The top cars raced nose to tail for the majority of the race while father back in the field there was some passing. Most noticeably, Derek Locke making his way from twelfth to sixth, and Austin Bishop who started P17 on the field and made his way to a tenth place finish.
When the checkered flag flew after 30-laps and only one caution due to a slowing car, Ryan Kissinger found himself in victory lane, collecting the $5,000 paycheck as well as a trophy and delicious cake. Preston, Franek, M. Smith, and Adam Carberry rounded out the top 5. “I thought the track was awesome, and had tons of speed,” Kissinger said after his win, “I knew I had the car to beat.” When asked if he was worried about anyone behind him he said, “I was just cruising towards the end, I know I have the best engine program in the country, and the best chassis on the market, I just had to be smooth and get the job done.” However, Kissinger could not do it without the following sponsors: DMY performance, X1 racecars, Sunbury Motors, Slade Shock Technology, and East side concepts, in addition to his family, friends, and crew.
After the biggest win of his career, Kissinger said “In the words of Kanye West, ‘My life is dope and I do dope sh*t.”
The hard charger of the night went to Austin Bishop. Bishop started from the 17th position and finished 10th. Ryan Kissinger, Mark Smith, and Davie Franek were credited with the three heat race wins.
The United Racing Club returns to action Saturday, July 18 at Grandview Speedway for the first and only appearance for the 360-traveling series in 2020. Victory Auto Glass out of Mertztown, PA will be sponsoring the $2,000 to win feature.
Photo Credit: Jesse Carberry
Feature Laps Led by:
1-4 – Jonathan Preston
4-30 – Ryan Kissinger
RESULTS – JULY 11, 2020
HEAT 1 (8 LAPS): 1. 66-Ryan Kissinger[5]; 2. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[3]; 3. 90-Matt Tanner[2]; 4. 1-Scott Flammer[1]; 5. 77-Derek Locke[8]; 6. (DNF) 22K-Mike Koehler[6]; 7. (DNF) 17-Jason Wagner[9]; 8. (DNS) 63-Josh Weller; 9. (DNS) 5G-Curt Michael
HEAT 2 (8 LAPS): 1. M1-Mark Smith[1]; 2. 22P-Jonathan Preston[5]; 3. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon[2]; 4. 5-Justin Barger[8]; 5. 669-Brandon McGough[4]; 6. 11A-Austin Bishop[7]; 7. (DNS) 46-Ryan Coniam; 8. (DNS) 22-Troy Betts
HEAT 3 (8 LAPS): 1. 28F-Davie Franek[3]; 2. 42-Jesse Pruchnik[6]; 3. 47-Adam Carberry[5]; 4. 72-Ryan Smith[7]; 5. 5K-Jake Karklin[8]; 6. (DNF) 12-Blane Heimbach[2]; 7. (DNF) 7T-Michael Thomas[4]; 8. (DNS) 10-Joe Kata
FEATURE (30 LAPS): 1. 66-Ryan Kissinger[3]; 2. 22P-Jonathan Preston[1]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek[4]; 4. M1-Mark Smith[8]; 5. 47-Adam Carberry[6]; 6. 77-Derek Locke[12]; 7. 72-Ryan Smith[11]; 8. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[5]; 9. 42-Jesse Pruchnik[2]; 10. 11A-Austin Bishop[17]; 11. 5K-Jake Karklin[13]; 12. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon[10]; 13. 1-Scott Flammer[14]; 14. (DNF) 90-Matt Tanner[9]; 15. (DNF) 5-Justin Barger[7]; 16. (DNF) 7T-Michael Thomas[19]; 17. (DNF) 669-Brandon McGough[15]; 18. (DNS) 17-Jason Wagner; 19. (DNS) 12-Blane Heimbach; 20. (DNS) 22K-Mike Koehler; 21. (DNS) 22-Troy Betts; 22. (DNS) 10-Joe Kata; 23. (DNS) 5G-Curt Michael; 24. (DNS) 63-Josh Weller; 25. (DNS) 46-Ryan Coniam
TOP 10 2020 URC POINTS (as of 7/5/2020)
- Josh Weller – 680
- Adam Carberry – 644 (-36)
- Dallas Schott (Rookie) – 549 (-131)
- Austin Bishop – 533 (-147)
- Ryan Stillwaggon – 523 (-157)
- Curt Michael – 504 (-176)
- Tyler Ross – 481 (-199)
- Derek Locke – 444 (-236)
- Anthony Macri – 435 (-245)
- Troy Betts – 401 (-279)
*URC decided that the National Open at Selinsgrove Speedway would be show-up points only, awarding 50 points to every car that came through the gate towards the championship standings. This decision was made before hot-laps hit the track.
- Casey Robicheau on Jul 13, 2020
- Article Date: 7/11/2020 by Casey Robicheau