Written By Bert Wojcik
Photo by Jesse Carberry
Selinsgrove,PA-As the sun rose on Saturday morning. The sky was grey. The rain was pouring. Tracks canceling. Meanwhile in Snyder County the sun made an appearance around noon. The call was made. Selinsgrove is racing ! In front of a great crowd the fans braved a chill that rolled in from a strong wind to see a 4 division show featuring the return of the United Racing Club Sprint Cars in a 358/360 challenge race that saw Derke Locke of Mechanicsburg, in a 358 taking a win after Jordan Thomas was light at the scales by nearly 20 lbs.
The United Racing Club made their first trip to the Selinsgrove speedway for the first time since 2023. With the Joe Whitcomb Memorial, Harding,PA Jordan Thomas and Sussex,NJ Davie Franek lead the field to the green. The green wouldn't last long in turn one on lap 3 when Chase Moran went around and was collected by Kyle Smith and Randy Wilbert ripping the tail tank off of the rear of Moran’s car. Red was thrown due to the fuel spill.
On the restart Thomas would take the lead over Franek and pull away. Lap 8 Thomas was in traffic holding off Franek. Thomas was having an issue getting around the lap car of Will Brunson. Franek would close in on lap 10. Franek took the lead for a second. Thomas would finally get the bottom back and get around Brunson and Franek was having the same issue with Brunson on lap 12. Ryan Taylor of Mertztown would close in to put the top 3 at the halfway point and make his way around Brunson and Will McNeal. With 7 to go Franek would close back in on Thomas with only one lap car to get around before some clearing. Just as the field got the three togo and Franek and Taylor were closing in on Thomas. Dovers Cole Thomas would come to a stop and bring out the 2nd yellow of the event. Joe Kata would also come to a stop with a tire issue.
Single file restart would take place. Josh Weller who was easily the hard charger and restarted in the 5th spot would challenge Ad. Right as the leaders took the two togo. Devin Gundrum of Leesport, PA Would roll over in turn 3 and 4. Driver was uninjured and the red would come out. During the red Davie Franek would come in with a flat tire and surender 2nd to Ryan Taylor Restart would come with 2 laps to go and Jordan Thomas would come around to take the checker flag with Derke Locke taking the 2nd Spot away and Weller getting around Taylor who would fall into the 4th spot. Nash Ely would round out the top 5 for the moment.
As we arrived in High Caliber Cranes victory lane. It was taken a while for Thomas to come off the scales to claim his third career URC Victory. Word came over the radio that the 7 of Jordan Thomas was light at the scales after 4 attempts and did not clear the scale. Thomas was Disqualified and that handed the win over to Derke Locke taking his first career URC Feature win. Becoming the 291st different driver to win a URC Feature. His 3rd career win at Selinsgrove. First since 2018. Locke also took home top 358 honors with his win and bonus money put up by Kratzer Insurance. With Thomas’s DQ that would move Haden Miller into round out the top 5.
The next URC Show will take place in less than 2 weeks on Friday May 9th for the first of two trips to the Georgetown Speedway.
URC A Feature 25 Laps
- 77-Derek Locke[5]; 2. 63-Josh Weller[18]; 3. 20T-Ryan Taylor[4]; 4. 22E-Nash Ely[6]; 5. 11H-Hayden Miller[8]; 6. 669-Brandon McGough[14]; 7. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[12]; 8. 17-Cole Young[10]; 9. 28F-Davie Franek[2]; 10. 47-Adam Carberry[7]; 11. (DNF) 71-Josh Spicer[11]; 12. (DNF) 10-Joe Kata[3]; 13. (DNF) 3-Will Brunson[20]; 14. (DNF) 17G-Devin Gundrum[15]; 15. (DNF) 35-Jason Shultz[9]; 16. (DNF) 2W-Will McNeal[16]; 17. (DNF) 4P-Chase Moran[13]; 18. (DNF) 32-Kyle Smith[19]; 19. (DNF) 55W-Randy Wilbert[17]; 20. (DQ) 7-Jordan Thomas[1]
- Robert Wojcik on Apr 28, 2025
- Article Date: 4/27/2025 by Bert Wojcik