First win of 25 was exciting
08-18-25
By: Frank Buhrman
Mike Melair has been fast in 2025, but the cards hadn’t fallen right to deal Rod Ort’s sponsor36.com sprint car a winning hand, at least not until Friday night at Selinsgrove Speedway.
In the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series 20-lap feature race, Warrington racer Melair was able to make a pass of leader Drew Young of Beaver Springs in traffic, then fight off determined bids by Timmy Bittner of Beech Creek and Ken Duke Jr. of Selinsgrove to take the checkered flag, making the Warrington driver the 13th different PASS feature winner this season.
Keller’s Auto Body, Inc., sponsors the PASS points fund at Selinsgrove.
The final third of the race may have set the standard of constant action. Melair took the lead from Young on lap 14, when the latter was caught behind a slower car. Then Bittner got by Young, and on lap 16 was side-by-side with Melair for the lead. Duke also passed Young on that lap, and on lap 17 he went by Bittner and into the runner-up spot. While all that was going on, Logan Spahr of Lewisberry passed Young, only to have Young regain his rhythm and get back by Spahr and Bittner in the final laps.
All this was happening in traffic, and Melair had a particular close encounter with one car being lapped – all while testing his outside tires against the outside guard rail. Somehow the #36 held onto the top spot, and Melair’s winning margin was a hair over half a second. It was his fifth career PASS victory.
Hometown racer Duke Jr., who needs only two more wins to pull into a tie with Garrett Bard for most career victories at Selinsgrove, came out of the wild battle with the runner-up slot. Young, who led laps 2-13, recovered to finish third, with Bittner fourth and Spahr fifth. Spahr, who started 17th, claimed the $100 Len Krautheim Auto Sales Inc. Hard Charger Award.
Melair, who had started seventh, not only collected the winner’s share of the purse, but also coveted winner’s cake, baked by Deb Young, wife of the driver Melair passed for the win.
Doug Dodson, Kruz Kepner, Braeden Varner, Josh Spicer, and Kenny Heffner completed the top ten. Kepner also had an impressive charge during the feature, coming from 15th starting position to seventh at the finish. Spicer had posted the fastest time of the night in hot laps with an 18.960 lap.
Heat races for the 27 PASS teams on hand were won by Drew Young, Heffner, and Melair. At the start of the second heat, Mid Atlantic Sprint Series regulars Tim Iulg and Rory Janney tangled, and Iulg took a huge bounce that resulted in a trip to the hospital for a compression fracture of the T4 vertebra. The Bridgeton, N.J., driver is expected to make a full recovery.
The other two heats ran nonstop (as did the feature) and featured lots of passing, with Dodson moving from ninth starting position to third in the first heat, and Spicer advancing from eighth to third in the final heat.
While Iulg wasn’t still at the track to receive the honor, he earned the $50 Jim “Slippery” Snyder Hard Luck Award, given by the longtime push-truck driver’s son, Brian, in his dad’s memory.
The finishes created some close battles in Selinsgrove track points for the RaceSavers. Kepner now leads Duke by only 20 points atop the standings, and Bittner has only a 30-point lead over Melair for third place. Heffner and Drew Young are separated by just 25 points in a fight for fifth. In PASS points, Kepner holds a larger lead, but Young’s performance Friday narrowed the gap slightly.
Nationally, Bittner trails defending IMCA/RaceSaver Champion Lee Goos Jr. by the narrowest of margins, three points.
This coming weekend, the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series races on Sunday night with its second appearance of the year at BAPS Motor Speedway. The IMCA/RaceSavers join the 410 sprints for that program. The following weekend is Labor Day Weekend, and PASS makes its only start this year at Lincoln Speedway, joining the 358 sprints on Saturday, Aug. 31.
PASS is dedicated to the heritage of RaceSaver with stable and enforceable rules, consistent rules application and fair purse distribution paying 24th place one half of first place. Learn about our policy and how to support the series at pasprintseries.com and the heritage of RaceSaver at frenchgrimes.com. We’re on social media at Facebook and X.
Results from Selinsgrove Speedway Friday, August 15
HEAT 1 – 1. 7-Drew Young; 2. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 3. 20-Doug Dodson; 4. 01-Timmy Bittner; 5. 44-John Braim; 6. 19-Kruz Kepner; 7. 21C-Jarrett Cavalet; 8. 97S-Mike Koehler; 9. 461-Colton Hendershot
HEAT 2 – 1. 97-Kenny Heffner; 2. 2-Erin Statler; 3. 1M-Paul Moyer; 4. 17-Owen Dimm; 5. 1J-Reece Raudabaugh; 6. 47-Ben Miklos; 7. 29-Cody Hoover; 8. 88-Rory Janney (DNF); 9. 19-Tim Iulg (DNF).
HEAT 3 – 1. 36-Mike Melair; 2. 46-Mike Alleman; 3. 71-Josh Spicer; 4. 88-Fred Arnold; 5. 5-Braeden Varner; 6. 5-Logan Spahr; 7. 25-Dustin Young; 8. 28R-Jason Roush; 9. 17C-Jason Wagner.
FEATURE – 1. 36-Mike Melair; 2. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 3. 7-Drew Young; 4. 01-Timmy Bittner; 5. 5-Logan Spahr; 6. 20-Doug Dodson; 7. 19-Kruz Kepner; 8. 5-Braeden Varner; 9. 71-Josh Spicer; 10. 97-Kenny Heffner; 11. 2-Erin Statler; 12. 44-John Braim; 13. 1M-Paul Moyer; 14. 46-Mike Alleman; 15. 21C-Jarrett Cavalet; 16. 17-Owen Dimm; 17. 28R-Jason Roush; 18. 461-Colton Hendershot; 19. 25-Dustin Young; 20. 97S-Mike Koehler; 21. 1J-Reece Raudabaugh; 22. 29-Cody Hoover; 23. 47-Ben Miklos (DNF); 24. 17C-Jason Wagner (DNF); 25. 5-Braeden Varner (DNF). DNS – 88-Rory Janney; 19-Tim Iulg.