Madden Rules Selinsgrove National Open
September 18th, 2018 by Wade Huisman
SELINSGROVE, Pa. — The track was fast and the time was right for Chris “Smokey” Madden on Saturday night at the Selinsgrove Speedway for the 20th running of the Late Model National Open, as he picked up his eighth win of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series season.
Starting outside the front row, Madden took control of the feature on lap one and never looked back, leading all 50 laps on his way to another $10,000 payday.
“It’s huge where we start [from] at these big places like that,” Madden said. “But we definitely had a good racecar, no doubt.”
Race track conditions were perfect, as there was no threat of rain (as there was the night before at Outlaw Speedway, which ended in a postponement). Three solid grooves of racing presented the fans in attendance with a great show that Madden himself approved of.
“I felt like the race track was wide enough to race, kind of top-middle-bottom,” Madden said. “Our car was good enough to where we could maneuver around in all three lanes; very, very pleased with our racecar tonight.”
Devin Moran posted yet another podium finish in his post-rookie campaign with a strong second place. A big battle with Marlar ensued on a restart in the closing laps of the race, as a yellow came out with two laps remaining for fourth-place running Tyler Erb when he shredded a tire.
“I knew as long as I carried speed, it would be pretty tough for him to pass me,” Moran said. “The top was pretty good, so I just made sure I didn’t miss the top and it worked out for us.”
New Selinsgrove Speedway track record holder Mike Marlar crossed the line in third after the battle with Moran in the closing laps.
“Devin was leaving me a little bit of room under him getting in the corner,” Marlar said. “He just had that little bit of forward momentum off the corner… so he was actually pulling back ahead on the straightaway. It was fun to race with him.”
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden [2][$10,000]; 2. 9-Devin Moran [4][$5,000]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar [3][$3,000]; 4. 7-Rick Eckert [7][$2,500]; 5. 2J-Jeff Rine [17][$2,000]; 6. Of-Coleby Frye [5][$1,700]; 7. 54-David Breazeale [9][$1,400]; 8. 18c-Chase Junghans [12][$1,300]; 9. 76-Andy Haus [16][$1,200]; 10. 43a-Tyler Bare [19][$1,100]; 11. 119-Bryan Bernheisel [6][$1,050]; 12. 25-Shane Clanton [1][$1,000]; 13. 11-Austin Hubbard [11][$950]; 14. 4-Amanda Whaley [13][$900]; 15. 91-Tyler Erb [10][$850]; 16. 74-Randy Christine [14][$800]; 17. 2-Dan Stone [22][$770]; 18. B1-Brent Larson [23][$750]; 19. O6-Mike Lupfer [20][$730]; 20. 22-Brett Schadel [25][$700]; 21. 72-Jason Covert [18][$700]; 22. 1-Brandon Sheppard [8][$700]; 23. 151-Kyle Lear [24][$700]; 24. 24-Dylan Yoder [15][$700]; 25. 7r-Ross Robinson [21][$700]
