ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – The 18th annual Weldon Sterner Memorial at Lincoln Speedway was one for the ages on Saturday night, with three different leaders taking turns at the point on the final lap alone.
In the end Freddie Rahmer came out on top, winning the $6,900 for his first Lincoln Speedway victory of the season.
The night started with Bradley Howard setting quick time over the 32 car field, with a lap of 13.276 seconds. The Pennsylvania Speedweek format was followed and a redraw was held for the first eight spots in the feature starting line-up.
Tim Shaffer drew the No. 1 pill to start on the pole of the 33-lap feature. Matt Campbell, who was running a No. 69 Sterner Cement wing for the memorial race, lined up second.
Shaffer took the lead when the green flag dropped with Austin Bishop moving into second. Campbell went to the top in turns one and two and took second back and Freddie Rahmer followed, taking third coming out of turn four.
Rahmer drove under Campbell in turns three and four to take second on lap two. Chase Dietz went to work on Campbell for third and the two battled for the position with Campbell having the better run in turns one and two and Dietz holding the advantage in three and four.
Just as Shaffer had started to work his way through lapped traffic, the yellow flag came out on lap eight for Cory Haas who came to a stop on the front stretch.
Shaffer led Freddie, Campbell, Dietz and Bishop for the single-file restart. Shaffer went to the bottom in turns one and two with Rahmer opting for the middle line. Dietz got by Campbell for third.
Shaffer was getting a great run off of turn two and Dietz was closing in on Rahmer for third as the leaders caught the tail-end of the field on lap 15.
You could throw a blanket over the top three, Shaffer, Rahmer and Dietz, as they all raced for the lead. Dietz slid Rahmer on lap 15 for second, but Rahmer slid him right back on the next lap to reclaim the runner-up spot. Despite lapped traffic the battle for second continued to rage on.
Dietz was back in second on lap 19 and made a move for the lead in turn four to no avail. Two laps later, Rahmer was back in second and the battle for second was halted by a red flag on lap 22 when Tyler Ross flipped in turn four.
The top five for the restart were Shaffer, Freddie, Dietz, Campbell and Troy Wagaman.
Rahmer looked to the outside of Shaffer in turns one and two for the lead but could not complete the pass.
Tim Wagaman was working on Troy Wagaman to get into the top five and took the spot on lap 25.
Rahmer was able to stay within striking distance of Shaffer by using the high line around the track.
Lapped traffic was looming in front of the leaders as the laps wound down. Dietz was closing in on Rahmer and both Dietz and Rahmer were closing in on the leader, Shaffer. Rahmer and Dietz were wheel-to-wheel at the line when the white flag waved.
Rahmer passed Shaffer and had the lead coming out of turn two. Dietz had a great run down the back stretch and got his nose under Rahmer for the lead for a brief moment in turns three and four. As the top three came out of turn four for the checkered flag, it was anyone’s race.
Rahmer held on to win his first Weldon Sterner Memorial. Shaffer edged by Dietz for second. Only .306 seconds separated the top three at the line. Campbell finished fourth and Tim Wagaman, the hard charger of the race, finished fifth.
In other action, Ashley Cappetta was the winner of the 20-lap 358 sprint car feature.