Sidewinder Sprints – Susquehanna 05/12 – Murphy drives to victory 

No full moon, but it sure felt that way, the incidents started in hot laps with Christian Wright losing a wheel at full speed on the back straight followed by Mike Murphy Jr. blowing an engine. Heat race action saw the incidents continue with Rohan Beasley spinning the car courtesy of a throttle stuck wide open and then Brandon Yarlett backed his car into the turn 3 fence. Brad Gleason also had an engine cover come lose and created a smoke screen behind him in the second heat and was lucky not to get black flagged. Heat race winners were Reed Salony and Brad Gleason.

Feature time saw Reed Salony streak to an early lead until his engine expired on the 4^th lap in a ball of fire. Reed was slightly burned in the incident. At that time Chris Crull took over the lead role until he succumbed to clutch issues, Next to take the point was ARDC regular Brendon Bright. Bright also ended up pit side with clutch issues. Ben Murphy however made the driver from down south worthwhile  as he took the lead on lap 18 and became the first to greet the checkers.

Upon exiting the car Murphy explained “Wow, I really didn’t expect to be standing here tonight. Reed was really hooked up and until his engine let go and I hope he is alright. The fire looked pretty nasty. We were running strong and debuting the new 2012 Henchcraft chassis and using a different engine this year. It’s really great running a fast track like Susky and I would like to thank Rick Hench for the opportunity to drive his car and also my dad for helping out tonight.”

Unfortunately, despite running a great race to cross the line in 3^rd on his 2012 debut in Keith Ford’s 4D, Joe Robertson failed post race tech with a fuel irregularity. It is believed that Joe had not gotten the tank fully emptied from the off season gasoline that teams run through their fuel system to stop corrosion and with the Sidewinders aggressive methanol only, no additive policy, the fuel sample failed the water test.

Chassis / Wing / Wheel Parity Report: Uprights takes the win with a somewhat even mix of all combinations
1^st Upright 16sq / 13”  2nd Micro 12sq / 10”  3^rd Micro 16sq / 13”  4^th Upright 16sq / 13”  5^th Micro 16sq / 13” 

Sidewinder Feature Finish, 20 Laps, Car #, Name, (Started)
1^st 1 – Ben Murphy  (5);  2^nd 5J – Jason Stahl (3);  3^rd 30 – Seth Kearchner (11);  4^th 59 – Alex Schanz (6);  5^th 75 – Zach Overmiller (13); 6^th 81- Mike Zielonis (14);  7^th 26 – Jerry Strausbaugh (12);  8^th 14 – Rohan Beasley (9);  9^th 1K – Brendon Bright (4);  10^th  7 – Chris Crull (2);  11^th 23 – Adam Meier (8);  12^th 33 – Brad Gleason (10);  13^th 22R – Reed Salony (1);  14^th  4T – Brandon Yarlett (15);  15^th  Mike Murphy Jr (16);   16^th 22 – Christian Wright (17);  17^th  4D - Joe Robertson  - DQ  (7); 
Lap Leaders- Salony (1-4); Bright (5-17); Murphy (18-20).
Heats to Salony and Gleason 

Tire Shootout Invitational Results;

Hoosier takes the win
Tire Shootout Points based on 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1
1^st Hoosier 2^nd American Racer 3^rd American Racer 4^th American Racer 5^th Hoosier
American Racer –  9 pts
Hoosier – 6 pts
Total
American Racer – 75 pts
Hoosier – 30 pts

This weeks answers;

Q.  With Reed Salony scheduled to return this week, Will Reed and Seth put on another awesome display like last year?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZChxmXVc3E&feature=colike

A. It didn’t pan out, unfortunately Reed had an oil line problem resulting in a blown engine and subsequent fire while leading lap 4 and was out for the night. 

Next week’s question;

Q.  With the Sidewinders making a return to Path Valley this week, will the Hendershot team make their 2012 debut and is so in which chassis, The Henchcraft upright or the Henchcraft micro ?

Sidewinder Sprints are accepting 2012 registrations.

Drivers wishing to join are reminded to register with us ASAP (click the registration link on our website) to reserve your car number, as we do not allow duplicate numbers, and to receive important "registered team" only emails regarding rules, contingency requirements and schedules.

Sidewinder Sprints will be appearing at:
Path Valley 05/18/12
Middleford DE 05/25/12 and 05/26/12
Trail-Way 06/01/12 – Friday Night

For all your racing needs please contact our following partners: 

Season Sponsors;
American Racer – Lias Tires (www.americanraceronline.com )
Hoosier Tire - Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic (www.hoosiermidatlantic.com )

Contingency Awards:
Guhl Motors (www.guhlmotors.com) ; For all of your Fuel Injection needs. “Highest eligible Guhl injection finisher”; 
Hyper Hard Charger (www.Hyperracing.com); Most positions gained in the feature;
Aero Wings (www.aerowingsonline.com) ; Winners use Wings by Aero. "Lucky 7"; 
SC Signs and Designs (www.scsigns.net )