4/30/2022
BAPS Motor Speedway
Chase Gutshall Notches 1st Super Sportsman Victory of 2022 at BAPS
YORK HAVEN, Pa.: Chase Gutshall has struggled through the first three events of the 2022 season, a trend that dates back to last year.
It was getting a little frustrating. Gutshall just couldn’t regain the speed he had at the beginning of last season and had to watch other drivers contend for a spot in Victory Lane week after week.
That changed Saturday night at BAPS Motor Speedway. Not only did Gutshall finally get to start near the front, he was the class of the field in capturing the 30-Lap Larry Jackson Nationals presented by Piper Advertising and Jackson Lawn Car.
“Not a lot of people realize what goes into these cars,” Gutshall said after the $2,569 victory. “This year, it’s pretty ridiculous price wise ... tires, motors, stuff like that.
“This one is for my Dad. He never gives up on me, and he’s in the shop Monday through Friday. He works in a garage from 8 a.m. to 5, and then from 5 until 12, he’s in the race shop tinkering on the car, thinking, ‘What can we do to make this car faster?’
“Last year, we first got this Sledgecraft, and this is the fastest car we’ve ever ran. It transfers weight pretty good, and I never felt that way in a car. Midway through the season, we lost that drive, and we all put our heads together. We were trying shocks, we were trying motors, bars, and we went back to the set-up we had when we got this car, and here we are.”
Gutshall started on the pole and beat Troy Rhome into the first corner. Rhome fell back to fourth on Lap 2, with Scott Dellinger and Jay Fannasy passing him for position.
The Middletown, Pa., ace was setting a pretty good pace. Dellinger stayed within striking distance, but he couldn’t challenge for the position until Eric Rutz and Davey Walsh crashed on the frontstretch on Lap 9.
On the restart, Dellinger still couldn’t make a bid. Kenny Edkin, who started eighth, made the biggest move, getting past Fannasy and Dellinger to take over the second position on the 10th circuit.
Catching Gutshall wasn’t going to be as easy. The young upstart negotiated traffic with perfection and was able to remain a little over a half-second ahead of Edkin through the final lap to score the win.
“When I got to traffic — I don’t know, around Lap 10 — this motor was acting up and is still running a little hot, right now,” Gutshall said. “I don’t know what is wrong. I saw the temperature gauge on the last lap, and I was figuring out whether to pull in or say, ‘Screw it.,’ and run it. I stayed in it.
“As soon as the flagman showed the blue and yellow stripe, those guys ran their line. I just knew that if I hit my marks, those guys were low enough that I could get in there and run on the cushion and keep this thing ripping.”
Edkin finished second, with Dellinger placing third and earning his fourth top-five finish in four events. Tony Jackson, who won the previous week, stormed from 17th to fourth, and two-time winner and point leader Russ Mitten completed the top five.
The Creekside Auto Sales 358 Late Model provided the most entertainment of the evening with three lead changes and a 20-Lap event that came down to the last lap.
Randy Stoudt came out on top, making a last-lap pass on Chase Billet to take the victory. It was his second win in two starts at the speedway this season.
Matt Murphy started on the pole and led the first lap before giving way to Billet. Any chance Murphy had of reclaiming the lead ended on Lap 4, when he rolled to a stop on the backstretch.
As for Stoudt, he started ninth on the grid. He worked his way into the top five on Lap 1 and took over the runner-up spot four laps later. The Pottstown, Pa., driver stalked Billet before making his move on the last lap for the win.
Billet had to settle for a second-place run. Joey Hoffer, D.J. Mease, and Jared Miller completed the top five in the main event.
The Limited Stocks closed out the program, and Matt Chronister took the lead on the sixth circuit and completed his victory run in the 15-Lap affair.
Chronister led the first three circuits from the pole, but Travis Brown got to the front in a hurry to lead two laps. Chronister regained the top spot and was able to take the victory by a slim .464 seconds at the stripe.
A.J. Hoffner and Matt Worley completed the podium. Rob Rudisill Jr. and 13th-place starter Brandon Hoffner rounded out the top five.
BAPS SUPER SPORTSMAN – LARRY JACKSON NATIONALS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1A-Chase Gutshall[1]; 2. 75-Kenny Edkin[8]; 3. 30-Scott Dellinger[3]; 4. 88-Tony Jackson[17]; 5. 77-Russ Mitten[6]; 6. 222-Jay Fannasy[5]; 7. 7-Timmie Barrick[4]; 8. 5D-Luke Deatrick[10]; 9. 2M-Matt Ondek[7]; 10. 383-Steve Fannasy[9]; 11. 35-John Edkin[18]; 12. 6S-Shane McConnell[16]; 13. (DNF) 14-Nate Young[12]; 14. (DNF) 77W-Tom Wyckoff[15]; 15. (DNF) 318-Davey Walsh[14]; 16. (DNF) 19R-Eric Rutz[11]; 17. (DNF) 91-Lanny Hake[13]; 18. (DNF) 00-Troy Rhome[2]; 19. (DNS) 25-Tyler Wolford.
Lap Leaders: Chase Gutshall (1-30)
Super Sportsman Qualifying Group #1 (3 Laps): 1. 77-Russ Mitten, 00:18.412[3]; 2. 1A-Chase Gutshall, 00:18.503[4]; 3. 5D-Luke Deatrick, 00:18.816[1]; 4. 6S-Shane McConnell, 00:18.868[2]; 5. 2M-Matt Ondek, 00:18.909[5]; 6. 91-Lanny Hake, 00:18.954[6].
Super Sportsman Qualifying Group #2 (3 Laps): 1. 7-Timmie Barrick, 00:18.210[4]; 2. 30-Scott Dellinger, 00:18.342[1]; 3. 318-Davey Walsh, 00:18.367[6]; 4. 19R-Eric Rutz, 00:18.426[3]; 5. 75-Kenny Edkin, 00:18.444[2]; 6. (DNS) 25-Tyler Wolford.
Super Sportsman Qualifying Group #3 (3 Laps): 1. 383-Steve Fannasy, 00:18.348[1]; 2. 88-Tony Jackson, 00:18.611[3]; 3. 35-John Edkin, 00:18.630[2]; 4. 222-Jay Fannasy, 00:18.650[4]; 5. 14-Nate Young, 00:19.141[5]; 6. 00-Troy Rhome, 00:19.198[6]; 7. 77W-Tom Wyckoff, 00:19.617[7].
Super Sportsman Heat 1 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 1A-Chase Gutshall[3]; 2. 77-Russ Mitten[4]; 3. 2M-Matt Ondek[5]; 4. 5D-Luke Deatrick[2]; 5. 91-Lanny Hake[6]; 6. 6S-Shane McConnell[1].
Super Sportsman Heat 2 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 30-Scott Dellinger[3]; 2. 7-Timmie Barrick[4]; 3. 75-Kenny Edkin[5]; 4. 19R-Eric Rutz[1]; 5. 318-Davey Walsh[2]; 6. (DNS) 25-Tyler Wolford.
Super Sportsman Heat 3 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 222-Jay Fannasy[1]; 2. 00-Troy Rhome[6]; 3. 383-Steve Fannasy[4]; 4. 14-Nate Young[5]; 5. 77W-Tom Wyckoff[7]; 6. (DNF) 88-Tony Jackson[3]; 7. (DNF) 35-John Edkin[2].
CREEKDSIDE AUTO SALES LATE MODELS
Feature (20 Laps): 1. NINE-Randy Stoudt[9]; 2. 22-Chase Billet[2]; 3. 21-Joey Hoffer[8]; 4. 18-Derrick Mease[3]; 5. 15-Jared Miller[5]; 6. 5-Charles Potts[11]; 7. 40-Tommy Slanker[4]; 8. 08-Zach Kauffman[13]; 9. 99-Chad Smith[10]; 10. ONE-Chuck Schutz[12]; 11. 116-Travis Mease[7]; 12. X4-Lou Egrie[15]; 13. FOUR-Eddie Richards[16]; 14. 10-Niklas Stoudt[22]; 15. 72-Wayne Pfeil[17]; 16. 31-Dave Ogin[19]; 17. 48-Kyle Nicholas[21]; 18. 5H-Dustin Hollinger[23]; 19. 543-Eric Tripp[24]; 20. 37B-Brandon Eveler[14]; 21. (DNF) 3B-Cameron Benyou[18]; 22. (DNF) 9-Matt Adams[6]; 23. (DNF) 21M-Matt Murphy[1]; 24. (DNF) 27K-Brandon Krone[20].
Lap Leaders: Matt Murphy (1), Chase Billet (2-19), Randy Stoudt (20)
Late Model Heat 1 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 18-Derrick Mease[1]; 2. 5-Charles Potts[4]; 3. 9-Matt Adams[3]; 4. 15-Jared Miller[7]; 5. 08-Zach Kauffman[5]; 6. FOUR-Eddie Richards[8]; 7. 48-Kyle Nicholas[6]; 8. 5H-Dustin Hollinger[9]; 9. 543-Eric Tripp[2].
Late Model Heat 2 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 40-Tommy Slanker[2]; 2. 21M-Matt Murphy[3]; 3. 22-Chase Billet[5]; 4. 21-Joey Hoffer[8]; 5. 37B-Brandon Eveler[9]; 6. 72-Wayne Pfeil[4]; 7. 10-Niklas Stoudt[6]; 8. 31-Dave Ogin[7]; 9. (DNF) 2-Dan Zechman[1].
Late Model Heat 3 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 116-Travis Mease[2]; 2. 99-Chad Smith[4]; 3. NINE-Randy Stoudt[7]; 4. ONE-Chuck Schutz[3]; 5. X4-Lou Egrie[8]; 6. 3B-Cameron Benyou[1]; 7. (DNF) 27K-Brandon Krone[5]; 8. (DNS) 13X-Ben Whitaker.
LIMITED STOCKS
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 81-Matt Chronister[1]; 2. H15-AJ Hoffner[8]; 3. 6W-Matt Worley[5]; 4. 7R-Rob Rudisill Jr[12]; 5. H12-Brandon Hoffner[13]; 6. 19-Tim Raup[9]; 7. 47-Travis Brown[3]; 8. 99-Cody Klinedinst[4]; 9. 2-Chad Weaver[10]; 10. 32-Jeff Foster[24]; 11. 21-Ricky Weaver Jr[21]; 12. 40-Noah Swank[16]; 13. 77-Justin Mong[7]; 14. 14C-Robert Nicklow[15]; 15. 21J-Lem Crawford[14]; 16. 99X-Creden Sponseller Jr[17]; 17. (DNF) 18T-Tyler Denike[18]; 18. (DNF) 64-Ben Stoner[11]; 19. (DNF) 69ER-Michael Phillipson[6]; 20. (DNF) 9-Robert Chittum[22]; 21. (DNF) 35-Brian Racine[23]; 22. (DNF) 92-Terry Hartlaub[20]; 23. (DNF) 777J-Jeff Erb[2]; 24. (DNF) 19K-Cameron Kohler[19].
Lap Leaders: Matt Chronister (1-3), Travis Brown (4-5), Chronister (6-15)
Limited Stock Heat 1 Finish (6 Laps): 1. 7R-Rob Rudisill Jr[1]; 2. H15-AJ Hoffner[9]; 3. 81-Matt Chronister[5]; 4. 19-Tim Raup[2]; 5. H12-Brandon Hoffner[6]; 6. 40-Noah Swank[7]; 7. 18T-Tyler Denike[3]; 8. (DNF) 9-Robert Chittum[4]; 9. (DNS) 32-Jeff Foster.
Limited Stock Heat 2 Finish (6 Laps): 1. 2-Chad Weaver[2]; 2. 6W-Matt Worley[7]; 3. 99-Cody Klinedinst[4]; 4. 69ER-Michael Phillipson[3]; 5. 21J-Lem Crawford[8]; 6. (DNF) 92-Terry Hartlaub[6]; 7. (DNF) 21-Ricky Weaver Jr[5]; 8. (DNF) 17-Carl Cassell[1].
Limited Stock Heat 3 Finish (6 Laps): 1. 777J-Jeff Erb[4]; 2. 47-Travis Brown[8]; 3. 77-Justin Mong[7]; 4. 64-Ben Stoner[1]; 5. 14C-Robert Nicklow[3]; 6. 99X-Creden Sponseller Jr[6]; 7. 19K-Cameron Kohler[2]; 8. (DNF) 35-Brian Racine[5].
Article Credit: BAPS Motor Speedway
