Press

Jack Sodeman was the lucky driver of the night, picking up his first victory of the year in the Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Car division from his 11th place starting position over Scott Priester, Rod George, Adam Kekich and Brent Matus.

“It’s better to be lucky than good,” Sodeman said.

Bob Felmlee and Brian Ellenberger dominated the race, with Felmlee taking the lead on the opening lap from the pole position over second place starter Kekich. Felmlee quickly pulled away from the field while Ellenberger, who started third, battled with Brent Matus. Ellenberger had moved into second by the tenth circuit, however, and lap traffic put him in position to challenge Felmlee for the lead.

A battle ensued between the drivers, with Felmlee coming across the line first until Ellenberger pulled a wicked slide job on lap 15 to take the lead. A lap 21 caution slowed the field down and gave Felmlee a chance to return the favor. Ellenberger held onto his lead on the restart, but Felmlee slid him coming out of turn four. The two racers were wheel-to-wheel with Ellenberger on the outside as the cars made contact on the front stretch, sending Ellenberger flipping into the wall and ending his night. Felmlee was cited for rough driving and sent to the rear of the field.

With the leaders eliminated, Priester and Sodeman were able to pick up where they left off. Priester took the lead on the restart, but Sodeman was able to get by him on the next lap and hold on for the win.

“I know we weren’t the fastest car,” Sodeman said. “Ellenberger and Felmlee had us covered there. Fortune just fell our way.”

Jack Sodeman Jr. finished second ahead of Rod George and Kevin Schaeffer. Scott Priester carried Carl Bowser’s #10 to a fifth place finish,

Henry appeared to be on his way to making it four straight wins for invaders from the west and east as the first three Ti22 Sprint features had been captured by Ohioans Cole Duncan and Danny Smith, and most recently by PA Posse transplant Daryn Pittman.

Enter Jack Sodeman Jr.! Sodeman started seventh on the grid, but quickly made his way to second by lap five and began his pursuit of Henry. By mid-race, Henry’s tires appeared to be giving up on him as Sodeman, Carl Bowser and Danny Holtgraver were all closing in. On successive laps, Henry gave way to Sodeman for first, then Bowser for second and Holtgraver for third. As Holtgraver rocketed down the back stretch, he dove to the bottom of Bobbi Rankin, (yes the daughter of front row mates Gary & Sheila), entering turn three. Bobbi checked up hard and spun, resulting in Henry doing the same. Both came to a stop and brought out the caution.

Undaunted by the restart with Bowser and Holtgraver in position to steal the win away, Sodeman launched off turn four and cruised to Sheetz Victory Lane for his first win of the season. Bowser and Holtgraver chased him to the checkers for second and third respectively. Brandon Matus scored his third straight top five finish and a career best fourth. Early leader Cap Henry recovered from his lap 18 snafu to finish fifth. Gary Rankin, Brent Matus, Rod George, Kevin Schaeffer and Jimmy Light rounded out the Ti22 Top Ten. Sodeman and Light took the checkers in National Guard heat race action.

With very dark skies and rain moving into the area the sprint driver introductions were
abbreviated and drivers were strapped into their cars for the big 30 lap feature. It would
be Felmlee and Rod George leading the field to the green but that would be short lived
for the spinning Andy Preist and Todd Bauer. On the restart, shot out of a cannon, was
Jack Sodeman Jr. moving into second by lap 6. He and Felmlee would race within a car
length of each other until the caution would come out for Preist and Eric Williams.
Sodeman tried a slide job but could not clear the leader on lap 19 with Rod George in
tow. The final caution happened on lap 29 when Brian Steinman, Andy McKisson, and
Brian Ellenberger all made contact in turn 2. That set up a green, white, checkered for
the win with Felmlee getting a great restart. Coming down for the checkered flag
Sodeman would run out of fuel down the back stretch and fell to sixth in the finish.

To complete a great weekend of racing Sodeman and the S & S UnWired/ Economy Tooling team headed out to the only sunny skies in Ohio, Millstream Speedway.

Starting 4th in his heat Sodeman would keep his position and make the draw into the 25 lap feature. A heads up redraw would have the 23jr starting in the 12th spot. But due to extreme track conditions Sodeman pulled out at lap 4 and was scored 18th.