Sodeman nabs feature victory at Lernerville
BUFFALO TWP — Victory lane feels good for Jack Sodeman Jr., with or without wings.
The resident of North Jackson, Ohio, captured the checkered flag in the 25-lap BOSS Wingless Sprint feature Friday at Lernerville Speedway.
“You need a lot more stability without the wings,” Sodeman said following his win. “I'd rather be lucky than good any day.”
He took over first place from fellow Ohioan Tony Beaber on the seventh lap following a restart from a red flag and, despite a caution on the 19th lap, never gave up the top spot.
Evans City's Brandon Spithaler moved into second place on the ninth rotation and remained there until the end of the race. Sodeman had built a 2 1/2 second lead on him late in the race.
“The car ran well, it was basically driver error on my part,” said Spithaler, who has a pair of wins in wingless sprint action at Mercer Raceway under his belt, one from this year and another from 2012. “If I had done a better job on turns one and two, I could've had him.”
“I knew Brandon was behind me, I saw him a few times,” said Sodeman, a regular at Lernerville who won his heat race earlier Friday. “I just had to hit my marks.
“I love racing here,” he added. “You walk in and they treat you like a friend, win or lose.”
A.J. Flick took over first place in the points standings with his win in the 20-lap Sportsman Stock feature. Though he spent much of the race chasing the top spot, his persistence paid off.
Following a red flag that was caused when eight cars were involved in a pileup on the front straightaway on the very first lap, Flick found himself in second place behind Jim Fosnaught on laps 8-11.
Then, after a caution flag on the 12th lap, he dropped to fifth place, but weaved his way toward the front of the pack.By the 15th lap, he was behind only Mike Miller of Chicora. The next time around, he was chasing Joe Kelley, and had moved into the top spot with just two laps left. On the final turn, Flick stayed on the outside to beat Kelley to the checkered flag.“I believe this is the best division here at Lernerville,” said Flick of sportsman stocks. “There are so many drivers who can win on any given night. There were a lot of ups and downs in the race tonight. Fortunately, I was able to come out on top.”The one race that featured just one leader from the first lap on was Josh Double in the late model event.Double had placed second in his heat earlier in the night, but took over the lead in the feature on the first lap.“The nice thing about coming here is that there is so much room to race,” said Double, who regularly competes at Sharon Speedway, but has struggled for a good part of the 2013 season. “This is a big confidence booster for us. Hopefully, it will lead to a good second half of the season.”Michael Lake, a 12-year old driver from Uniontown, won the four-car Dash for the Cash in the late model division. He also finished fourth in his heat race and 16th in the feature race.“After our heat race, we worked on the car non-stop to get it ready for the dash,” Lake said. “I like racing against the older guys. I think they respect me more for it.”
