SELINSGROVE 
 Greg Hodnett was glad to see a fuel stop with five laps to go in Sunday night’s 30-lap Dupont Tyvek Keystone Cup Sprint Series event at Selinsgrove Speedway.

 Hodnett had fallen back as far as sixth during the early laps of the feature but with the help of cars dropping from contention and some yellow flags, the Thomasville racer was able to put himself back into position to win.

 After Ryan Bohlke slowed on the speedway on the 25th lap, track officials called for a fuel stop,.

 Hodnett then put his trust in crew chiefs Moon Byers and Dave Yingst to get the Jim and Sandy Kline owned sprint perfect for the remaining five laps.

 Brian Leppo, who had led since the second lap paced the field on the final restart over Jeff Shepard and Hodnett and Hodnett quickly disposed of Shepard and drove under Leppo in turn two to lead the 27th lap.

 Once in front, Hodnett stormed to a commanding lead and scored his first win of the Keystone Cup series and fourth overall this season.
 Hodnett admitted he needed the red flag to be able to score the victory.

 “I couldn’t rotate the center of the corner and the car was just too tight and there was no way I could have won,” said the Thomasville driver, who earned $5,000 for the win. “The car just didn’t have any drive but once the guys loosened the car up, I could just hold it straight and stay on the gas. It all worked out for us tonight.”

 Two-time Keystone Cup winner Lucas Wolfe led lap one before yielding to Leppo, making just his third career start at Selinsgrove. Leppo drove away from the field as Shepard got around Wolfe for second place with nine laps complete.

 Doug Esh’s bad luck continued on the 15th lap when the side panel of his top wing came off. He was running in the fourth spot after starting ninth.

 Leppo continued to set the pace as Mark Smith blasted by Shepard for second on lap 18 just before a yellow for Blane Heimbach closed the field.

 Smith’s night ended on lap 22 and brought out a caution despite driving right by the backstretch pit opening.

 Hodnett got around Shepard for second spot on lap 26 and then made the race winning pass on Leppo a lap later. His margin of victory was 1.487 seconds over Leppo.

 Shepard’s good run also ended when he drove right by the back pit opening to bring out another yellow with one lap remaining.

 “A lot of guys had problems that were fast tonight and that helped us out,” Hodnett stated. “Doug Esh and Mark Smith were going good and we did have to pass the Zemco car but Shepard was good too. But we’ll take it and hopefully we can continue going in the right direction.”

 Leppo held off 11th starting Fred Rahmer on the final circuit to finish in the runner-up spot, his fourth straight top 10 finish during the Keystone Cup. Rahmer, Todd Shaffer and TJ Stutts were the top five finishers.

 Rounding out the top 10 were Chad Layton, Stevie Smith, Lance Dewease, Mike Erdley and Sean Michael.

 Dewease paced the 39 car field during time trials with a lap of 17.063 seconds.

 Kevin Nouse, Erdley, Rahmer and Heimbach won heat races while Esh topped the B-Main.

 The Dupont Tyvek Keystone Cup concludes today at the Port Royal Speedway with the traditional Memorial Day afternoon show. The race will begin at 1 p.m. and pays $5,000 to win.

 Hodnett leads the Keystone Cup points with 657 points. The champion earns $1,700. Rahmer (653), Wolfe (622), Leppo (489), Mark Smith (473), Dewease (453), Shaffer (419), Stevie Smith (407), Erdley (404) and Esh (333) are the top 10 in points. The top eight positions will receive prize money.