Beamer wins Nittany 40 at Clinton

PHOTO PROVIDED Josh Beamer poses after winning the Nittany 40 at Clinton County Speedway on Friday, citing that “this is the biggest win of my racing career” afterwards.
MILL HALL — Josh Beamer of Picture Rocks is the latest driver to etch his name in the Clinton County Speedway record book as a Nittany 40 winner.
“This is the biggest win of my racing career,” said Beamer in Victory Lane.
The RaceSaver Sprints competed in two events on Friday night with Jeffrey Weaver claiming a victory with a last lap pass. Tommy Dawson of Hobbie won the pro stocks, Garrison Zook of Middleburg won the 270 micros, Larry Beachel of New Columbia won the four cylinders and Carlie Brezinski from Spring Church won the Young Guns sprints.
Beamer started on the pole for the annual Nittany 40 alongside Jarrett Cavalet of Hollidaysburg. Beamer took the lead at the drop of the green flag. On lap three the caution came out when Jeffrey Weaver spun. Beamer led the field to the green flap, but the caution waved again on lap four when three cars tangled in Turn 4. The incident included Kase Weaver, Kruz Kepner and Jim Pattock.
Once racing resumed, Beamer continued to lead the field. On lap five, Jared Zionkowski passed Cavalet for the second position while Jake Gomola and Timmy Bittner rounded out the top five. Bittner entered the top three by lap number eight.
As the field approached the 20th lap, Beamer began to extend his lead by several car lengths. By lap number 24, the leaders began to weave their way through lapped traffic. As Beamer cautiously worked this way through lapped traffic, Zionkowski and Bittner began to close in on the leader.
On lap 34, Bittner moved into second place. With five laps remaining, Beamer was leading Bittner, Zionkowski, Cavalet and Ken Duke Jr.
With two laps remaining, the caution flag waved, giving Bittner and Zionkowski an attempt to take the lead on the restart. Beamer held off the challengers as the white flag waived. On the final lap Mike Koehler spun to cause the yellow flag. This again gave Bittner and Zionkowski a shot at stealing the honors on the final lap. As the race resumed with only one lap to go, Beamer charged hard into turns one and two.
Bittner had one last opportunity going into turns three and four, but Beamer remained calm under pressure to claim the Nittany 40 over Bittner, Zionkowski, Cavalet and Duke. Sixth through tenth were Jeffrey Weaver, John Scarborough, John Walp, Dale Schweikart and Ryan Lynn.
Austin Greenland and Colby Womer led the field to the green flag for the 25 lap RaceSaver Sprint car event. Greenland led the first two circuits until fourth place started. Jacob Gomola took the lead on lap number three. Following a lap five caution for Timmy Bittner, Gomola was leading Greenland, Womer, Jeffrey Weaver and Reed Thompson. A lap-nine caution for Josh Beamer slowed the field, but Gomola maintained control over Greenland and Womer. On lap 12, Weaver moved into the third position and he took the second position on lap 20.
With five laps remaining, Gomola was being chased by Weaver, Greenland, Cavalet and Walp. In the final laps of the race Weaver remained within striking distance of Gomola. As the duo raced into Turn 3, Weaver raced around the high side while Gomola protected the low side. Coming out of Turn 4, Weaver carried the momentum and passed Gomola at the finish line to take the victory by .149 seconds. Gomola finished second, followed by Austin Greenland, Jarrett Cavalet and Mike Koehler.
Denny Fourney led the opening laps of the pro stock feature event. By lap number five, fourth place starter Tommy Dawson made a pass for the lead. By the completion of lap number five, Dawson was leading AJ Hoffman, Fourney, Corey Long and AY Schilling. On lap nine, Long brought out the caution while stopping on the back stretch.
Two laps later another caution occurred when AY Schilling and Ron Ergott got together in turn number four. In the final laps Dawson held off Hoffman for the win. Fourney finished third, Rich Fye was fourth and Jim Bilger finished fifth.
Michael Petock and Garrison Zook started on the front row of the 270 micro sprint feature event. Zook took the lead at the drop of the green flag. By the completion of the fifth lap, Zook was leading Petock, Jeffrey Weaver, Cory Stabley and Mason McAndrew. Weaver moved into second place on lap number eight. Zook held off the challenges of Weaver to secure his first win of the season over Weaver, Petock, Mac Wert and Cory Stabley.
In four cylinder competition, pole sitter Garrett Lucas led the first lap. On lap two, Larry Beachel moved into the front spot. By lap six, Matt Weaver took the runner up position and tried to chase down Beachel. At the midway mark of the race, Beachel was leading Weaver, Lucas, Tim Teneyck and Kyle Strouse. Beachel was challenged by Weaver, but able to hold off the challenges to claim the win.
Carlie Brezinski led all eight laps of the Young Guns sprint car division, taking the win over her brother Dalton Brezinski.
Clinton County Speedway returns on Friday with another four-division show featuring the RaceSaver sprints, pro stocks, 270 micros and four cylinders.
RaceSaver Sprints Nittany 40: 1. Josh Beamer; 2. Timmy Bittner; 3. Jared Zionkowski; 4. Jarrett Cavalet; 5. Ken Duke Jr.; 6. Jeffrey Weaver; 7. John Scarborough; 8. John Walp; 9. Dale Schweikart; 10. Ryan Lynn; 11. Mike Koehler; 12. Reed Thompson; 13. Jacob Gomola; 14. Dustin Prettyleaf; 15. Zach Rhodes;
16. Kasey Weaver; 17. Jim Pattock; 18. Kruz Kepner; 19. Kolby Weaver; 20. John Braim; 21. Bradean Varner; 22. Derek Swartz; 23. Dakota Schweikart; 24. Jeremy Hill; DNS: Jon Walp, Austin Greenland, Kyle Hart, Cory Stabley
RaceSaver Sprints (feature 2): 1. Jeffrey Weaver; 2. Jacob Gomola; 3. Austin Greenland; 4. Jarrett Cavalet; 5. Mike Koehler; 6. John Walp; 7. Ken Duke Jr.; 8. Jared Zionkowski; 9. Michael Petock 10; Ryan Lynn 11. Dale Schweikart; 12. Kruz Kepner; 13. Matt Tebbs; 14. Reed Thompson; 15. Zach Rhodes;
16. Josh Beamer; 17. Kyle Hart; 18. Josh Fox; 19. Colby Womer; 20. Dustin Prettyleaf; 21. John Scarborough; 22. Landon Tressler; 23. Timmy Bittner; DNS Mike Alleman, Jim Kennedy, Seith Harrelson, Dillon Beadle, Mark Connoly, Kasey Weaver, Kolby Weaver, Cory Stabley, Jim Pattock, AJ Barton
Pro Stocks: 1. Tommy Dawson; 2. AJ Hoffman; 3. Denny Fourney; 4. Rich Fye; 5. James Bilger; 6. Michael Barrett; 7. Jim Farley; 8. AY Schilling; 9. Rodney Wagner; 10. Ronal Ergott; 11. Cory Long; 12. Jesse Farley; 13. Larry Knight; 14. Kris Orwig; 15. Marc Bitler; DNS Todd Geyer
270 Micros: 1. Garrison Zook; 2. Jeffrey Weaver; 3. Michael Petock; 4. Mac Wert; 5. Cory Stabley; 6. Mason McAndrew; 7. Jillian Maurer; 8. Logan Hammaker; 9. Alex Lukacs; 10. Chase Roberts; 11. Coton Guihler; 12 Lester Stabley; 13. Blade Myers; 14. Tyler Clowes; 15. Mathew Dixson.
Four Cylinder: 1. Larry Beachel; 2. Matt Weaver; 3. Garrett Lucas; 4. Tim Teneyck; 5. Cody Maines; 6. Kyle Strouse; 7. Ken Smith; 8 Kevin Trimpey; 9. Andrew Rickets; 10. Ian Heaps; 11. Ella Kauffman; 12. Zana Norton; 13. Terry Karichner; 14. Conner Cupp; 15. Summer Beachel; DNS Zak Kline, Troy Bennett, Anthony Potter, David Cioffi
Young Guns: 1. Carlie Brezinski; 2. Dalton Brezinski; 3. Paysley Crawford; 4. Chloe Tyson.