SELINSGROVE — Selinsgrove Speedway presented the 18th annual 360 Sprint Car National Open on Saturday night with Blane Heimbach picking up the $5,000 for the win.
Rance Garlock wired the field for the late model win, while Shaun Lawton was the pro stock winner.
Chad Layton used the pole position to rocket into the lead of the sprint car feature followed by Cody Keller, Kyle Reinhardt, JJ Grasso and Mike Walter.
Derek Locke brought out the caution on lap two when he lost a front wheel.
Keller used the restart to pass Layton down the backstretch, but Layton got back in front by the turn. Keller got the lead back on the next lap with Layton in tow. Lap six saw Layton retake the lead in the fourth turn.
As Layton settled into the lead, Reinhardt quickly closed on Keller, taking over second on the 13th lap as the pair started to slice through lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Grasso and Heimbach moved forward.
In the middle part of the race, Layton stretched his lead, but the fastest car on the track was Heimbach. The Selinsgrove racer moved into third on lap 20 and ran second three laps later.
By lap 26, the pair were nose-to-tail. With two laps left, Heimbach took the lead coming off the fourth turn, winning by 2.3 seconds over Layton, Grasso, Davie Franek and Reinhardt.
“Ever since I was a kid, I didn’t like taking advantage of a front row spot to win and tonight we had something to prove.” said Heimbach, who started seventh. “The track was different tonight so we tried some different things. I was just cruising along early, but about midway, my car started to come in.”
The win was Heimbach’s second of the season and his third National Open win.
Walter, Layton and Smith won the heat races.
Garlock jumped to the early late model lead over Jim Yoder, Dan Green, Hayes Mattern and Bryan Bernheisel.
Mattern overtook Yoder on lap four for the runner-up spot and started to track down Garlock. Randy Christine spun to bring out the first caution on lap eight.
Bernheisel used the restart to blast into second in a three-wide battle down the backstretch.
Once clear, Bernheisel set his sights on Garlock, slowly chipping away at the lead as Brett Schadel raced to third.
Donnie Schick spun on the front stretch bringing out the yellow on lap 15.
Schadel snookered Bernheisel on the restart, taking second, and was immediately glued to Garlock’s bumper. Schadel was beside Garlock when Yoder brought out the yellow on lap 18.
On the restart, Schadel swept around the outside for the lead when the yellow came out again for a spinning Ernie Millon.
“I just about gave it away.” Garlock said. “I’d like to thank the 88 (Millon). He really saved my butt.”
The restart saw Garlock put back on the point. Garlock blocked the high lane on the restart so Schadel went low. The pair raced side by side but Garlock held the lead. Lap 20, Schadel went high in the second turn allowing Bernheisel to retake second.
The top three ran nose-to-tail the rest of the way, with Garlock hanging on for the win over Bernheisel, Schadel, Christine and Kenny Trevitz.
“My tires really started to go away there.” Garlock added. “I just hung on and did the best I could with what I had.”
The win was Garlock’s first at the track. He and Yoder won the late model heats.
Lawton led the first lap of the pro stock race and was followed by Tommy Slanker, Brandon Moser, AJ Hoffman and Kyle Bachman. Moser, running low, took second from Slanker, and the two started to pull away.
While Lawton maintained a two-car length lead, Slanker, Bachman and Hoffman ran several laps side by side for third.
Lawton led the distance, winning over Moser, Hoffman, Bachman and Slanker. It was his third victory of the season.
Bachman and Lawton won the pro stock heats.
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