Bard bounces back with Path Valley PASS win

Results

Pennsylvania Sprint Series win number five on the season for Garrett Bard came at Path Valley Speedway following a rare DNQ the night before. (Photo by Teal Beard WRT)

By Frank Buhrman

SPRING RUN, Pa. (July 24) – Garrett Bard put disappointment behind him and scored a convincing victory Saturday in the Pennsylvania Sprint Series 25-lap feature event at Path Valley Speedway. 

Bard had endured a rare failure-to-qualify Friday at Big Diamond Speedway, but racing life was clearly back in balance 24 hours later. After a sixth-place start in his heat, Bard finished second, then drew the pole position for the feature and led all the way, taking the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win by 1.391 seconds over Austin Reed.

The win was Bard’s fifth of 2021 and 20th in a PASS career that now spans just over two years. It was his third career win at Path Valley.

In victory lane, Bard said he welcomed the race’s two late cautions, because the handle on his car was going away and the restarts took him out of heavy traffic. 

Reed, who had started eighth, hung with Bard on the final restarts but couldn’t get around and fell just short of his first win of the season. 

Scott Frack, who won his heat and started fourth, ran in the top five all race and finished third, one of several competitors scoring PASS career-best finishes. Rookie Zach Rhodes was another of that group with his fourth.

Ken Duke, recovering from a nasty green-flag accident Friday at Big Diamond, charged from 14th starting to finish fifth.

Feature results – 1. Garrett Bard; 2. Austin Reed; 3. 3Scott Frack; 4. Zach Rhodes; 5. Ken Duke; 6. Stevie Kenawell; 7. Donnie Hendershot; 8. Alyssa Rowe; 9. Kenny Heffner; 10. John Walp; 11. Branstin Shue; 12. Justin Mills; 13. Fred Arnold; 14. Austin Greenland; 15. Mikell McGee; 16. Ryan Lynn; 17. John Fiore; 18. Cody Hackenberry; 19. Kruz Kepner; 20. Andrew Boyer; 21. Mike Alleman; 22. Eric Hendershot. 

Related Articles

Results

Duke is PASS king at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (July 11) – This time a year ago, Ken Duke already had five Pennsylvania Sprint Series wins and 10 top-five finishes, on his way to becoming the PASS and IMCA Rac­eSaver Sprint Car national champion. On Saturday night, the effort to make 2020 memorable for the right reasons took a big step for­ward when the hometown racer took the 20-lap PASS feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. Duke took advantage of starting on the pole and wired the field for his first win of the year, cap­ping his comeback from a slow start – and two months with COVID-19 restrictions putting a stop to racing.  “We blew up an engine the first week (of the season) and took a few weeks to get things sorted out,” Duke explained of his start, adding praise for his hard-working crew. “But two weeks ago we ran at BAPS and here and finished in the top three in both races and finally got things going in the right direction.”  As for Saturday’s win, Duke kept it [Read More]

Results

Selinsgrove checkers give Duke PASS weekend sweep

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (July 27) – Ken Duke Jr. capped a perfect racing weekend with a late pass for the lead and his second straight hometown victory in Saturday’s 20-lap Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. The Selinsgrove IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win followed Duke’s victory Friday at Clinton County Motor Speedway and was his seventh of the year in PASS competition; he also has won with the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series.   “The track didn’t slick off quite as much as I thought it would for the feature,” Duke said in victory lane, “so we were a little tight at the beginning, but the longer we ran, the better we got. Those guys started coming back to me a little bit, and my eyes got a little bit bigger, and we went after them, and we were lucky enough to pull it off.”  “Those guys” referred to in Duke’s comments were polesitter Tyler Reinhardt, Kruz Kepner and Keith Prutzman, who were all involved in the battle for the lead. Reinhardt, making only [Read More]

Results

PASS record is on the line at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (May 18, 2023) –  In 25 years of River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series competition, no driver has ever won five consecutive feature races. Logan Spahr of Lewisberry will go for that record Saturday night, May 20 at Selinsgrove Speedway. Actually, the driver of the Eshenaur Racing no. 5 KR MacDonald/High Tech Metals/RL Snyder Electric Sprint Car has already won five straight, but that streak extends back to the final race of 2022, the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge. It’s the 2023 streak that sets the record. Last week at Path Valley Speedway, Spahr won his fourth in a row this year, a feat accomplished by only one other driver in PASS history: Logan Wagner in 2011. Several accomplished PASS competitors have won three straight, including Garrett Bard, Tyler Reeser, Mark Watkins, Craig Robinson, Ritchie Fitz, Judi Bates, Vince Snyder and Joe Davis. Only Spahr and Wagner have won four straight. A strong field of IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car challengers will do their best to deny Spahr the record Saturday, including Seth [Read More]