YORK HAVEN, PA - Russ Mitten has won his share of Super Sportsman races over his 32-year career in the division.
It’s not so much the races won that have kept Mitten coming back season after season. For the Newville, Pa., driver, it’s the one race that kept getting away.
The Select Collision Gary Wolford Sportsman 100 presented by Drydene Oil isn’t the highest paying race on the schedule, but it’s the most prestigious. Whether it was Silver Spring Speedway, Lincoln, and now BAPS Motor Speedway, Mitten always seemed to fall short.
That wasn’t the case Saturday night. Mitten was the class of the field, leading the last 41 circuits to capture the 100-Lap affair and put his name alongside the best Super Sportsman drivers in history.
“It’s about damn time,” Mitten said after he climbed from his car. “Thirty-two years I busted my butt to win this race. I was just so close. I think I was second four times ... I don’t even know what to say.
“I made some last-minute decisions when I was backing out for the second half [of the race]. I had Cody make a couple more changes on the car, and I’m glad I did, because I probably wouldn’t have won the race.”
Mitten wasn’t really wild about drawing the No. 10 pill for starting spot, but that didn’t rattle him. He methodically made his way toward the front over the first half of the race and didn’t use up his stuff.
There were four cautions in the first 50 laps. Devin Beidel paced the field for most of the first half of the race, jumping out front from the start and leading the first 29 circuits before Steve Fannasy took the top spot on Lap 30.
Fannasy’s lead was short-lived. Beidel stayed close and was back out front by the time the 32nd lap was scored.
Meanwhile, Mitten was running consistent laps and picking off cars. He entered the top five on Lap 6 and moved into fourth by the 15th circuit. After a Lap 40 restart that saw defending race champion Frankie Herr spin, Mitten surged from fifth to second on Lap 41 and put himself in position to make a bid for the win.
Teams got a chance to work on their cars after the caution was thrown on Lap 57. Mitten was faster after the break, and he drove by Beidel through the first and second corner on Lap 60.
Mitten took advantage of a long green-flag run. He extended his lead to over four seconds and was on cruise control when Tyler Wolford rolled to a stop with 86 Laps complete.
Beidel had nothing for Mitten on the restart. As the lead started to grow, Scott Dellinger was making his way back to the front.
Dellinger was running fourth on Lap 4, when he spun in Turn 2. He tagged the rear and stormed through the field. He got back to the top 10 by the 41st circuit and made his way into the top five after the caution on Lap 86.
A two-car pass for Dellinger put him third on Lap 88. Three laps later, he shot by Beidel and was a little over two seconds behind the leader.
“Every four or five laps, I glanced over at the board just to see who was second,” Mitten said. “Devin drove a hell of a race. I don’t know where he finished, but I knew I was faster than him, so as long as I looked over and he was still second, I thought I was OK.
“I think with five to go, I took a peek [at the jumbotron], and they happened to have the camera on me, and I didn’t see anybody behind me. I’m like, ‘OK, I’m good to go. I can just hit my marks and be Ok.’”
Just when Mitten thought he was in good shape, the caution came out on Lap 97, when Mike Enders stopped on the frontstretch. This time, the leader was going to have to deal with the hard-charging Dellinger.
There was no reason to worry. Mitten was too good, extending his lead to a half-second in one lap and speeding away to the victory by 1.235 seconds.
“Heaven-for-bid we run the last four laps without a caution,” Mitten said. “I look behind me, and he [Dellinger] in second. We took the white flag, and I looked over again, the camera was on me, and he wasn’t in the frame. I just focused on hitting my marks, and here we are.
“You do this 32 years, and you keep beating yourself up to come back every year to win this race. It’s pretty satisfying. I build my own cars, and I’ve got to thank a lot of people for this.”
Dellinger settled for a hard-fought second-place finish. Beidel, Chris Meleason, and Matt Ondek completed the top five. Jay Fannasy took Mac Tools Hard Charger honors, advancing from 17th to sixth.
Mitten set quick time for the 29-car field with a lap of 16.677. The top 12 after time trials were locked into the 100-lapper. Meleason and Chase Gutshall won the twin consolations.
In the 602 Modified main event, Steve Davis started sixth and carved his way to the front to capture the 30-Lap victory.
Ricky Wegner Jr. started second on the grid and beat Zach Steffy to the stripe to lead Lap 1. Davis took second made his way into second on Lap 12 and chased down Wegner and took the lead in the non-stop affair on Lap 22.
Davis took the win by a hefty 3.687 seconds over Wegner. Eric Kocher, Joseph Brown, and Talan Carter completed the top five.
Rob Rudisill Jr. capped the night off with a non-stop win in the Limited Stock feature. He led the entire race distance.
Matt Worley, Travis Brown, Ricky Weaver Jr., and Tim Campbell completed the top five in the 13-car field.
BAPS SUPER SPORTSMAN - SELECT COLLISION SUPER SPORTSMAN 100 PRESENTED BY DRYDENE OIL
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 77-Russ Mitten[10]; 2. 30-Scott Dellinger[5]; 3. 0Z-Devin Beidel[1]; 4. 8M-Chris Meleason[13]; 5. 2M-Matt Ondek[9]; 6. 360-Jay Fannasy[17]; 7. 383-Steve Fannasy[2]; 8. 69J-Tony Jackson[7]; 9. 3B-Mike Enders[15]; 10. 58-Paul Miller[18]; 11. 14-Nate Young[4]; 12. 10H-Dave Hollar[21]; 13. (DNF) 5D-Luke Deatrick[12]; 14. (DNF) 25-Tyler Wolford[3]; 15. (DNF) 75-Kenny Edkin[8]; 16. (DNF) 7-Timmie Barrick[11]; 17. (DNF) 70D-Frankie Herr[6]; 18. (DNF) 1A-Chase Gutshall[14]; 19. (DNF) 8-Rich Eichelberger[16]; 20. (DNF) 35-John Edkin[19]; 21. (DNF) 16R-Ryan Rutz[20]; 22. (DNF) 99G-Scott Grace[22]; 23. (DNF) 38-Allan Hallman[23]; 24. (DNF) 22-Daniel John[24].
Lap Leaders: Devin Beidel (1-29), Steve Fannasy (30-31), Beidel (32-59), Russ Mitten (60-100)
Super Sportsman Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 77-Russ Mitten, 00:16.677[3]; 2. 2M-Matt Ondek, 00:16.705[14]; 3. 75-Kenny Edkin, 00:16.780[11]; 4. 69J-Tony Jackson, 00:16.821[22]; 5. 70D-Frankie Herr, 00:16.859[1]; 6. 30-Scott Dellinger, 00:16.898[29]; 7. 14-Nate Young, 00:16.955[13]; 8. 25-Tyler Wolford, 00:16.980[20]; 9. 383-Steve Fannasy, 00:17.009[23]; 10. 0Z-Devin Beidel, 00:17.020[4]; 11. 7-Timmie Barrick, 00:17.061[28]; 12. 5D-Luke Deatrick, 00:17.066[6]; 13. 360-Jay Fannasy, 00:17.079[21]; 14. 16R-Ryan Rutz, 00:17.086[15]; 15. 8M-Chris Meleason, 00:17.120[19]; 16. 8-Rich Eichelberger, 00:17.124[17]; 17. 77W-Tom Wyckoff, 00:17.134[16]; 18. 1A-Chase Gutshall, 00:17.140[9]; 19. 3B-Mike Enders, 00:17.156[10]; 20. 58-Paul Miller, 00:17.214[24]; 21. 10H-Dave Hollar, 00:17.346[25]; 22. 99G-Scott Grace, 00:17.426[7]; 23. 35-John Edkin, 00:17.505[2]; 24. 22-Daniel John, 00:17.547[18]; 25. 19R-Eric Rutz, 00:17.664[12]; 26. 71K-Glen Keller Jr, 00:17.696[5]; 27. 38-Allan Hallman, 00:17.785[26]; 28. 21R-Jamie Rickert, 00:17.910[8]; 29. 88X-Fred Shipley, 00:18.451[27]
Super Sportsman B-Main 1 (10 Laps): 1. 8M-Chris Meleason[2]; 2. 3B-Mike Enders[4]; 3. 360-Jay Fannasy[1]; 4. 35-John Edkin[6]; 5. 10H-Dave Hollar[5]; 6. 38-Allan Hallman[8]; 7. 19R-Eric Rutz[7]; 8. 77W-Tom Wyckoff[3]; 9. 88X-Fred Shipley[9].
Super Sportsman B-Main 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1A-Chase Gutshall[3]; 2. 8-Rich Eichelberger[2]; 3. 58-Paul Miller[4]; 4. 16R-Ryan Rutz[1]; 5. 99G-Scott Grace[5]; 6. 22-Daniel John[6]; 7. 71K-Glen Keller Jr[7]; 8. 21R-Jamie Rickert[8].
FXG SIGN & LABEL/DICKEY’S BARBECUE PIT 602 MODIFIEDS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 13-Steve Davis[6]; 2. 22-Rick Wegner Jr[2]; 3. 12-Eric Kocher[3]; 4. 5J-Joseph Brown[5]; 5. 1JR-Talan Carter[7]; 6. 55-Joe Nappi[8]; 7. 47Z-Zach Steffey[1]; 8. 0INK-Kevin Brady[10]; 9. 76-Jimmy Avery[4]; 10. 327-Ryan Conrad[11]; 11. 45JR-Scott Maher[13]; 12. 17-Bobby Kupp[9]; 13. 123-Wesley Brady[12]; 14. 00-Jimmy DeArmitt[14].
Lap Leaders: Ricky Wegner (1-21), Steve Davis (22-30)
602 Modified Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Steve Davis[3]; 2. 76-Jimmy Avery[2]; 3. 22-Rick Wegner Jr[5]; 4. 1JR-Talan Carter[7]; 5. 17-Bobby Kupp[1]; 6. 327-Ryan Conrad[6]; 7. 45JR-Scott Maher[4].
602 Modified Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5J-Joseph Brown[2]; 2. 12-Eric Kocher[4]; 3. 47Z-Zach Steffey[6]; 4. 55-Joe Nappi[3]; 5. 0INK-Kevin Brady[7]; 6. 123-Wesley Brady[5]; 7. (DNS) 00-Jimmy DeArmitt
LIMITED STOCKS
Feature (15 Lap): 1. 7R-Rob Rudisill Jr[1]; 2. 6W-Matt Worley[5]; 3. 47-Travis Brown[6]; 4. 21-Ricky Weaver Jr[13]; 5. 2T-Tim Campbell[7]; 6. 19-Tim Raup[2]; 7. 913-John Shorb Jr[4]; 8. 88-Justin Oberlin[3]; 9. 17-Carl Cassell[10]; 10. 77-Justin Mong[9]; 11. 81-Matt Chronister[8]; 12. 19K-Cameron Kohler[12]; 13. (DNF) 32-Jeff Foster[11].
Lap Leaders: Rob Rudisill Jr. (1-15)
Limited Stock Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 88-Justin Oberlin[1]; 2. 6W-Matt Worley[3]; 3. 913-John Shorb Jr[2]; 4. 2T-Tim Campbell[7]; 5. 77-Justin Mong[6]; 6. 32-Jeff Foster[5]; 7. (DNF) 21-Ricky Weaver Jr[4].
Limited Stock Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 47-Travis Brown[2]; 2. 19-Tim Raup[1]; 3. 7R-Rob Rudisill Jr[6]; 4. 81-Matt Chronister[3]; 5. 17-Carl Cassell[4]; 6. 19K-Cameron Kohler[5].
- administrator on Sep 06, 2021
- Article Date: 9/4/2021 by BAPS Motor Speedway