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 ABBOTTSTOWN,
PA (February 21) -- Fred Rahmer survived not only the chilly weather
but also the crash-filled "Icebreaker 30" to win the
season-opening race at Lincoln Speedway. Rahmer, the track's 2nd
winningest driver (123), was to have started the afternoon's 30-lap
feature race in fifth, but a series of accidents which brought out
multiple red flags propelled the Salfordsville, PA driver to the front
row. From there, Rahmer led the entire race distance en route to
claiming his 6th Lincoln Speedway opener of his career. Lincoln
Speedway employs a Hoosier-only right rear tire-rule, but all 20
drivers who braved the cool temperatures Saturday had Hoosier tires on
all four positions of their sprint cars.
Lance Dewease, the 1993 winner of the season opener at
Lincoln, won the first heat race, while Keith Kauffman, two-time
winner of the first race of the season at Lincoln, captured the second
10-lap heat to set the grid for the 30-lap feature.
As sometimes occurs in the first race of the season,
both man and machine have to shake off the cobwebs of idleness the
off-season occasionally carries with it. Before the race had completed
it's first official lap, three separate red flags were thrown for
accidents both mechanical and man-made. Both heat winners, Lance
Dewease and Keith Kauffman, were involved in race ending incidents
which eventually placed fifth starting Fred Rahmer on the front row
for the race's auspicious start.
With the already small field whittled even further,
Rahmer led all 30-laps to collect the $3,000 win. Rahmer elected to
run the 30-lap race using a pair of Hoosier D10's as did most of the
combatants.
Finishing in second place was Cris Eash followed by
Doug Eash, Donnie Kreitz and Mark Smith. Just nine of the 20 race
starters were running at the end of the race. Rounding out the top
nine were Niki Young in sixth followed by Eric Stambaugh, Brian Leppo
and Sam Schulsberg.
Lincoln Speedway has weekly racing programs on
Saturday featuring 410 sprint cars as their premier division. For more
information about this race and Lincoln Speedway visit their new
website at www.lincolnspeedway.com.
Special thanks go out to Gordy "Bronco" Zeigler for
submitting the photo used in this report.
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