Josh Weller of Mertztown, PA scored his first win of the 2012 Rislone URC Sprint Series and his fifth career win with URC Saturday night at the Grandview Speedway. Weller led the entire 25 distance, holding off a late race challenge from runner-up Mark Bitner to earn the victory. A strong field of thirty-four URC sprint cars turned out for the event.
Heat race events were won by Josh Weller, Mark Bitner and JJ Grasso as Kevin Darling earned $100 for winning the ‘B’ Main sponsored by Chubby of CnB Mushrooms.
In the feature event, Josh Weller started on the pole after winning his heat race and set an early pace. Davie ‘No Panic’ Franek followed in second with Mark Bitner third. On lap six, Franek offered up a challenge for the top spot just before the first and only caution was displayed for Bryn Gohn who spun in turn four.
On the restart, Weller regained solid control of the lead and Franek tried once again to reel in the leader. Point leader Robbie Stillwaggon was putting on a show, racing in fifth on lap ten. Stillwaggon started eleventh in the twenty-five car starting field. As the field passed for the halfway mark, Weller, Franek and Biter were racing under a blanket as Stillwaggon and Kevin Nagy made-up the top five.
As the field passed on lap thirteen, Weller, Franek and Bitner were making some eye-catching moves as lapped traffic started to play a factor in the battle for the lead. With just five laps to go,
Stillwaggon caught the front runners making it a four car race for the lead. Stillwaggon closed the gap on Bitner and offered a challenge for third but on the final lap, Bitner passed Franek to take over second. Stillwaggon was looking to make the same move but ran out of time. Weller scored an impressive win over Bitner who was second followed by Franek, Stillwaggon and Nagy.
RISLONE URC SPRINT FEATURE 25 LAPS- – – Josh Weller, Mark Bitner, Davie Franek, Robbie Stillwaggon, Kevin Nagy, Chad Trout, JJ Grasso, Andy Best, Joey Biasi, Joe Zuczek, Larry Kelleher, Kevin Darling, Art Liedl, Ed Aikin, Tyler Ross, Randy West, Scott Lutz, Tim Hogue, Ryan Wilson, Kramer Williamson, JR Berry, Dan Mazy, Bryn Gohn, Jimmy Reppert, Jonathan Swanson,. DNQ- – – Steve Downs, George Streaker, Jeff Fithian, David Swanson, Troy Betts, Jarrad Fink, Rory Jenney, Chris Weiss, Jimmy Stitzel.
