8 5 21 Rich Sharpe
Rich Sharpe wins the Ken "Hurricane" Heckler 51 at NYIRP Thursday Night (Kristen Ruble Photo)

Sharpe Runs Like A Hurricane

LANCASTER, N.Y. — Rich Sharpe picked up the victory in the Ken “Hurricane” Heckler Memorial 51 for the Street Stocks on Thursday night at New York Int’l Raceway Park at Lancaster Speedway and Dragway.

Jason Anasiewicz and Kyle Schosek were on the front row with Anasiewicz showing the way. Tim Welshans would take over second and then would take over the lead on lap two. Rich Sharpe would move into third and Mark Hoch would race in fourth early on, as Tim Garlock raced in the runner-up position.

Off a lap-six restart, Sharpe would take over second, with Hoch taking over third. Sharpe would take over the lead from Tim Welshans on lap 12, before entering lap traffic.

Frank Prell would take over fourth-place from Garlock and Nik Welshans would enter the top five. Nik Welshans started deep in the field and worked his way up through the field in quick order. Garlock would slow on lap 17 and would pull into the infield, ending his night while racing inside the top ten. While working lap traffic, Mark Hoch would catch Tim Welshans and the duo would battle for second place, with Sharpe well in control leading the race. Hoch would complete the pass on lap 26.

In turn three, Mike Rogers would spin to bring out the caution on lap 27, erasing Sharpe’s 6.5-second advantage. Sharpe would take off in the lead on the restart as Nik Welshans went three-wide with Tim Welshans and Mark Hoch to take over second. Dave Krawczyk would enter the top five at the races’ midway point and would battle with Tim Welshans for fourth place and Chris Powers raced in the sixth spot.

The red flag would come out on lap 43 as Wes LaBar spun in turn four and Garrett Cleversley made hard contact with LaBar.

On the lap 43 restart, Sharpe would take off the lead with Hoch, Welshans, Krawczyk, Prell and Carbone racing inside the top six. Sharpe would pull away to score the feature win.

The victory was his second of the season.

Third-generation driver Jimmy Zacharias won the Sportsman feature. Dave Wollaber picked up the win in the Jerry Gradl Motors NYPA TQ Midgets feature. Dan Dressel won the 4 Cylinder feature event.