JENNERSTOWN, Pa. -- Danny Sammons was able to finish Saturday night's 250 lap USAR Hooters Pro Cup championship race at the Jennerstown Speedway although it was only on seven cylinders.

Sammons lost a cylinder in his Ford power plant before lap 80 in the event, yet was still able to finish on the lead lap in 11th place. Sammons's HeartAttack Inc. crew made two unsuccessful pit stops during the race to try and correct the problem. Both stops cost were unsuccessful at fixing the problem and cost Sammons valuable track position that could have helped him finish in the top ten.

The crew switched to a backup ignition box during one stop. When that failed to help they stopped again to check under the hood for a possible lose spark plug wire.

While Sammons found both his oil pressure and water temperature gauges to be normal, his tach dropped from 8100 to 7400. It was later determined that a rocker or valve spring had broken in the motor.

"We had a car that could have won the race tonight," said a dejected Sammons afterwards. "To finish in the lead lap and race for tenth in the final laps so under-powered just proves how good the car was handling. When the other cars were in packs or when they were at the end of a tire run I could stick with them and make some pass. But when they were on fresh tires or on restarts I was in trouble."