Archive for Williams Grove Speedway
Artic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
.
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
Danny Dietrich beats the All Stars at Williams Grove Speedway for Jack Gunn Memorial title
MECHANICSBURG, PA (August 18, 2017) - Taking advantage of Rico Abreu’s misfortune, “Double-D” Danny Dietrich earned his way back to Williams Grove Speedway victory lane against the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions, this time claiming the 35th Annual Jack Gunn Memorial worth $5,000. After starting third on the feature grid, the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, native led the final 12 laps of the 30-lap program to claim his second Arctic Cat All Star victory of the 2017 season; his ninth career appearance in victory lane with “America’s Series.”
Sammy Swindell, aboard the Mark Coldren-owned No. 07, finished second on Friday night at “The Grove,” followed by Greg Hodnett, Lance Dewease and Lucas Wolfe.
“I can’t say enough about these guys who are standing behind me,” Danny Dietrich said. “They work hard and it really shows. We’re starting to get this season really turned around. We have two more races this weekend with Lincoln tomorrow and Susquehanna on Sunday. Those are tracks we are really comfortable with. Our goal is to get one or two more wins this weekend. That is the plan, anyhow.”
Lucas Wolfe and Rico Abreu led the 25 starters to green on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway. Abreu earned the early jump and raced to the front of the running order ahead of Lucas Wolfe and Danny Dietrich. Those three battled in the same order for the first nine circuits, reaching the tail end of the field for the first time with just seven laps in the books.
Despite Abreu’s advantage stretching to nearly two seconds in clean air, heavy traffic eventually negated all of his earned momentum allowing Wolfe and Dietrich to close the gap in a hurry. By lap ten, Dietrich, who mastered the bottom groove of the speedway to navigate through traffic, was able to make a bid for second over Wolfe and succeeded, ultimately moving his focus ahead to the Abreu Vineyards/Priority Aviation/No. 24.
Fortunately for Dietrich, his hunt for the front flourished easier than predicted, as Abreu became victim of a flat left rear tire, turning the St. Helena, California, native completely around near the exit of turn two. Dietrich was able to avoid Abreu’s spin and inherit the lead with 18 circuits in the books.
After a failed attempt to resume action on the lap 19 restart, and open red conditions taking over the speedway as the result of a spectator injury in the infield, Dietrich led the field back to green now with Sammy Swindell and Greg Hodnett in tow. The trio raced in clean air until traffic reappeared on lap 27, allowing Swindell to close in on Dietrich for one final lunge. “Double-D” proved to be too strong in traffic, eventually separating himself from Swindell with two lapped cars just before the final checkers. The final margin of victory was nearly two seconds.
“We love when guys like Rico [Abreu] and Tony [Stewart] come to race with us in Central PA. It is good for the sport and it is good for the tracks in this area,” Dietrich explained, pilot of the Gary Kauffman Racing/Weikert’s Livestock/Sandoe’s Fruit Market/Pace Performance/Gsell’s Whitetails/Hickory Run Orchards/Carlisle Auto Salvage/CATS Used Truck Parts/Drop Of Ink Tattoo/Bowman Block & Head Repair/Sweeney Cars/Self Made/No. 48. “I knew Rico was going to be good, but we were really good around the bottom. Lucky for me, I have a lot of experience at this place and know what I have to do to get around it. This isn’t my kind of track surface tonight, but we were pretty fast all night. We’ll take this and move forward.”
Arctic Cat All Star action will move to the “Fabulous” Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown on Saturday, August 19. Much like Grandview, Lincoln Speedway will host the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions on one occasion in 2017. The last time the Tony Stewart-owned organization invaded the Pigeon Hills, it was “Double-D” Danny Dietrich scoring the victory, beating Alan Krimes and Lucas Wolfe to the final checkers.
Lincoln Speedway will allow pit access beginning at 5:00pm on Saturday, August 19. A drivers meeting will be conducted at 6:15pm, with hot laps to follow at 7:00pm. Please visit www.lincolnspeedway.com for more information pertaining to ticket sales and reserved seat information.
Contingency Awards/Results: Williams Grove Speedway- Friday, August 18, 2017:
35th Annual Jack Gunn Memorial
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 37 entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Trey Starks - 16.602 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Chad Kemenah - 16.662 (3rd quick)
Ford Performance Heat #1: Rico Abreu
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Sammy Swindell
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Anthony Macri
Daido Engine Bearings Heat #4: Mark Smith
JE Pistons Dash #1: Lucas Wolf
Kistler Racing Products Dash #2: Rico Abreu
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Tyler Esh
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Danny Dietrich
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Caleb Helms (+7)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Chad Kemenah (6th)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Ryan Smith (11th)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Tony Stewart (16th)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 58-Brock Zearfoss, 16.722; 2. 1z-Dale Blaney, 16.735; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.756; 4. 24-Rico Abreu, 16.826; 5. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 16.925; 6. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 17.18; 7. 8M-TJ Michael, 17.223; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 17.441; 9. 51-John Garvin, 17.499; 10. 33-Brent Matus, 18.145
Group (B)
1. 44-Trey Starks, 16.515; 2. 16-Matt Campbell, 16.572; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 16.662; 4. o7-Sammy Swindell, 16.938; 5. 35-Tyler Esh, 16.962; 6. 21-Brian Montieth, 16.994; 7. 39-Cory Haas, 17.041; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 17.092; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison, 41.147
Group ( C )
1. 69K-Lance Dewease, 16.6649; 2. 51R-Freddie Rahmer, 16.704; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett, 16.872; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri, 16.98; 5. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 16.996; 6. 87-Alan Krimes, 17.046; 7. 17-Caleb Helms, 17.214; 8. 13-Brandon Matus, 17.319; 9. 12w-Troy Fraker, 17.814
Group (D)
1. 24W-Lucas Wolfe, 16.6647; 2. 14-Tony Stewart, 16.78; 3. 94-Ryan Smith, 16.864; 4. M1-Mark Smith, 16.903; 5. 75-Nicole Bower, 16.956; 6. 11-TJ Stutts, 17.009; 7. 1X-Chad Trout, 17.1; 8. 5-Justin Barger, 17.462; 9. 44W-Rodney Westhafer, 17.635
Heat #1 - Group (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5]; 4. 1Z-Dale Blaney [3]; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler [8]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [7]; 7. 33-Brent Matus [10]; 8. 51-John Garvin [9]; 9. 58-Brock Zearfoss [4]
Heat #2 - Group (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. O7-Sammy Swindell [1]; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 3. 44-Trey Starks [4]; 4. 16-Matt Campbell [3]; 5. 39-Cory Haas [7]; 6. 21-Brian Montieth [6]; 7. 35-Tyler Esh [5]; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison [8]
Heat #3 - Group ( C ) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 39M-Anthony Macri [1]; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett [2]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [4]; 4. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [3]; 5. 87-Alan Krimes [6]; 6. 33M-Max Stambaugh [5]; 7. 17-Caleb Helms [7]; 8. 13-Brandon Matus [8]; 9. 12W-Troy Fraker [9]
Heat #4 - Group (D) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. M1-Mark Smith [1]; 2. 24W-Lucas Wolfe [4]; 3. 94-Ryan Smith [2]; 4. 11-TJ Stutts [6]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart [3]; 6. 5-Justin Barger [8]; 7. 1X-Chad Trout [7]; 8. 75-Nicole Bower [5]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 24W-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [5]; 4. M1-Mark Smith [3]; 5. 16-Matt Campbell [4]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri [1]; 3. O7-Sammy Swindell [3]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 5. 44-Trey Starks [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 35-Tyler Esh [2]; 2. 21-Brian Montieth [3]; 3. 33M-Max Stambaugh [4]; 4. 1X-Chad Trout [6]; 5. 17-Caleb Helms [8]; 6. 75-Nicole Bower [1]; 7. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [7]; 8. 5-Justin Barger [11]; 9. 13-Brandon Matus [10]; 10. 12W-Troy Fraker [13]; 11. 1080-Jordan Mackison [5]; 12. 33-Brent Matus [14]; 13. 51-John Garvin [12]; 14. 8M-TJ Michael [9]; 15. 58-Brock Zearfoss [15]; 16. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [16]; 17. 95-Hunter Mackison [17]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 2. O7-Sammy Swindell [6]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [5]; 4. 69K-Lance Dewease [11]; 5. 24W-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 6. 10H-Chad Kemenah [8]; 7. 21-Brian Montieth [22]; 8. 49X-Tim Shaffer [13]; 9. M1-Mark Smith [7]; 10. 44-Trey Starks [10]; 11. 94-Ryan Smith [12]; 12. 1Z-Dale Blaney [15]; 13. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [14]; 14. 11-TJ Stutts [16]; 15. 39-Cory Haas [18]; 16. 14-Tony Stewart [17]; 17. 35-Tyler Esh [21]; 18. 17-Caleb Helms [25]; 19. 16-Matt Campbell [9]; 20. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 21. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 22. 1X-Chad Trout [24]; 23. 22-Brandon Spithaler [20]; 24. 87-Alan Krimes [19]; 25. 33M-Max Stambaugh [23] Lap Leaders: Rico Abreu [1-18], Danny Dietrich [19-30]
Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (August 18, 2017):
1. Chad Kemenah - 4518
2. Ryan Smith - 4228
3. Caleb Armstrong - 4116
4. Max Stambaugh - 3790
5. Caleb Helms - 3658
6. T.J. Michael - 3561
7. Brandon Spithaler - 3557
8. Tyler Esh - 3453
9. Brandon Matus - 3342
10. John Garvin - 3262
Additional Arctic Cat All Star Series Info:
Those seeking additional information regarding the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions should visit its official online home at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every event, as well as an up-to-date schedule, online at www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.
About the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first 'outlaw' Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
About Arctic Cat:
The Arctic Cat brand is among the most widely recognized and respected in the recreational vehicle industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), side-by-sides and snowmobiles, in addition to related parts, garments and accessories under the Arctic Cat® and Motorfist® brand names. Arctic Cat Inc.’s world headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available at www.ArcticCat.com.
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
Back to Posse Country; All Stars set for four events in four days across Pennsylvania
Posted by: | Comments- Artic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
.
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
.
.
.
Back to Posse Country; All Stars set for four events in four days across Pennsylvania (Rick Rarer Photo)
Back to Posse Country; All Stars set for four events in four days across Pennsylvania
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (August 16, 2017) - After a two-week intermission to allow teams the opportunity to enter the 57th Annual 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores, the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will return to competition with a four-race stretch through The Keystone State, rejoining the notorious Pennsylvania Posse for four consecutive events from Thursday, August 17, to Sunday, August 20.
The Central Pennsylvania invasion will kick off officially on Thursday evening, August 17, with the third annual Thunder Cup at the Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. The $5,000-to-win, Thunder on the Hill Racing Series program will feature the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions for the first and only time in 2017; the first visit since Dale Blaney tamed the 1/3-mile, high banked oval on August 18, 2016. In addition, Tony Stewart and Rico Abreu will each be on hand Thursday evening and entered for competition.
Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, will host the traveling Arctic Cat All Stars on Friday, August 18. The 35th annual Jack Gunn Memorial will highlight competition at the world-famous half-mile; the 32nd appearance by “America’s Series” since first making tracks in 1970. Williams Grove Speedway last hosted the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions on April 28 with Lance Dewease earning the big payday, bettering all 45 cars in attendance.
Action will move to the “Fabulous” Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown on Saturday, August 19. Much like Grandview, Lincoln Speedway will only host the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions on one occasion in 2017. The last time the Tony Stewart-owned organization invaded the Pigeon Hills, it was “Double-D” Danny Dietrich scoring the victory, beating Alan Krimes and Lucas Wolfe to the final checkers. Dietrich is the most recent winner during Arctic Cat All Star action, scoring $7,000 at Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, New York, just before the Knoxville Nationals break.
A visit to Susquehanna Speedway near York Haven on Sunday, August 20, will conclude the Arctic Cat All Star swing through The Keystone State. Unlike the three events prior, Susquehanna Speedway has not hosted an Arctic Cat All Star event since 1991.
Honoring the late Justin Snyder, Tony Stewart’s All Stars will take part in the Salute to the Troops program during their visit to Susquehanna, awarding a $5,000 top prize, as well as $500 to the evening’s fastest qualifier on behalf of Emory Transmissions, and $200 to the evening’s main event hard charger on behalf of Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
Alvada, Ohio’s Chad Kemenah will lead the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions charge into Central Pennsylvania as the current Series point leader. The five-time and defending Series champion sits on top of the title chase with a 290-point advantage, also leading all full-time competitors with three victories on the season, as well as 25 top-ten finishes in 30 main event starts.
The “Kunkletown Kid” Ryan Smith, a former regular in Central Pennsylvania before joining the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions full-time in 2015, and again in 2017, will enter the weekend second in the championship chase. Smith recently captured his first Arctic Cat All Star victory of the season at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, New York, on Friday, July 28.
New Castle, Indiana’s Caleb Armstrong, a recent $15,000 winner during the inaugural Great Lakes Dirt Nationals at Mansfield (OH) Motor Speedway, will enter Pennsylvania third in the Arctic Cat All Star standings, followed by leading rookie contender, “Mad Max” Stambaugh, and Caleb Helms.
Grandview Speedway will open pit gates at 2:30pm on Thursday, August 17. The Arctic Cat All Star drivers meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:00pm, followed by hot laps at 6:45pm. Those seeking additional news and notes should visit Thunder on the Hill Racing Series live on the Web at www.tothracing.com.
Williams Grove Speedway will swing open pit gates at 5:30pm on Friday, August 18. A mandatory drivers meeting will be held at 6:30pm, soon followed by hot laps at 7, sharp. Additional news and information can be found online at the official home of Williams Grove Speedway: www.williamsgrove.com.
Lincoln Speedway will allow pit access beginning at 5:00pm on Saturday, August 19. A drivers meeting will be conducted at 6:15pm, with hot laps to follow at 7:00pm. Please visit www.lincolnspeedway.com for more information pertaining to ticket sales and reserved seat information.
Susquehanna Speedway will open pit gates at 4:30pm on Sunday, August 20. A drivers meeting will be held at 5:45pm, followed by hot laps at 6:15pm, sharp. Those seeking additional news and notes should visit the speedway live on the Web at www.susquehannaspeedway.net.
Additional Arctic Cat All Star Series Info:
Those seeking additional information regarding the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions should visit its official online home at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every event, as well as an up-to-date schedule, online at www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.
About the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first 'outlaw' Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
About Arctic Cat:
The Arctic Cat brand is among the most widely recognized and respected in the recreational vehicle industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), side-by-sides and snowmobiles, in addition to related parts, garments and accessories under the Arctic Cat® and Motorfist® brand names. Arctic Cat Inc.’s world headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available at www.ArcticCat.com.
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
Posted by: | Comments
The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania...June 16, 2017 - Kody Swanson has been the master of the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS throughout the last three-and-a-half seasons.
No driver owns more victories (14) or championships (2) than the Kingsburg, California driver in that span.
However, the master still attests that he remains a student of the sport. That has seeded him with the motivation to continually adjust and seek to find deficiencies in all areas of his racing craft that he feels he has to improve to make him a better driver.
In Friday night’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” at Williams Grove Speedway, the humble, soft-spoken Swanson transformed into a stone-cold assassin when it comes to Silver Crown racing by running down the dominant Damion Gardner with 17 laps remaining to record his 17th career series victory, moving him up to second on the all-time list alongside Brian Tyler with now just one past legend of the series standing in front of him, the one who made the white No. 63 wrenched by Bob Hampshire the car to beat in its era, just like it is today.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more storied racer than Jack Hewitt,” Swanson said. “Also, I was a teammate to Brian Tyler for a little while at the beginning of my Silver Crown career. I feel pretty well connected to those two guys. It’s a pretty special territory to be in. I don’t know if I feel like we belong, but I’m thankful to be a part of it. Brian and Jack had so many huge Silver Crown wins. I guess we’re racking up our own little list here.”
In Friday’s race, however, Damion Gardner held a commanding lead from his pole starting position. The five-time USAC/CRA AMSOIL Sprint Car champ was making just his fourth-career Silver Crown start in only his second visit to the Grove of any kind after a Non-Wing World Championship triumph in 2002.
For much of the 100-lapper, Concord, California’s Gardner led by at least a half-straightaway and sometimes as much as a full-straightway. Yet, to many long-time observers, with Swanson still lurking in the field, the outcome had yet to be decided.
On lap 62, seventh-starting Swanson worked his way past Justin Grant for the second position. Though, just behind Gardner in the pecking order, Swanson remained a country-mile behind the leader until a yellow shortly thereafter bunched up the field for a restart with 31 laps to go.
As opposed to one year ago, the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 of Gardner was the chasee instead of the chaser such as it was in the 2016 “Horn-Schindler” when Bryan Clauson, in the 6, nearly ran down Chris Windom in the final laps for the win.
Gardner was initially able to gap Swanson on the lap 69 restart, but Swanson surely, and steadily, knocked off tenths of a second per lap as the two frontrunners occupied the middle groove on both ends of the racetrack.
Yet, with 17 to go, Swanson hit the topside of turns one and two, cut off the second corner and ducked underneath Gardner for the race lead, but wasn’t quite able to out-drag race Gardner into turn three before he wisely tucked back into line. If at first you don’t succeed, try again is the creed that Swanson would adhere to a lap later, following Gardner and repeating the same exact maneuver on the same piece of real estate. This time, Swanson had enough pull to push himself into the lead.
“I knew Damion was running a similar line as me,” Swanson explains. “I knew from tracking Justin (Grant) down that, once they move to the same spot, it’s so hard to get a run and get beside him without jeopardizing our race and wrecking us both. When tracking him down, I knew there was less than 20 to go and it was time to get creative. I tried the same line I used to get to the lead three times. Once, earlier, I botched it so badly, but I didn’t lose much ground. I thought ‘hey, if I actually do that right, that could be it.’ The second time, I got close, but I really chocked it up hard because I didn’t have enough room to do it without getting into him. But I didn’t want to show him anything either, so I followed him in line and tried to do it right and had a really good head of steam on the next one.”
From there on, Swanson would remain in control for the balance of the race, even surviving a restart with nine to go, to win his second Silver Crown event in a row and become the first driver since himself in early 2015 to win back-to-back series races on the dirt and the pavement in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital – Hampshire Racing Engines/Maxim/Hampshire Chevy over Gardner, Jerry Coons Jr., Chris Windom and Brady Bacon.
At first glance, it might appear to be another in a long line of patented late-race success stories for Swanson in which he bides his team before he inflicts his competitors with a venomous strike in the final quarter of the race on his way to victory. Instead, Swanson feels this was one of those classic ‘get-up-on-the-wheel’ type of deals for all 100 laps.
“On the miles, we know we’ve been strong late,” Swanson pinpoints. “Tonight, I didn’t qualify well. I told the guys I felt like I blew the second lap and that put us deep. I felt like I drove all 100 laps as hard as I could. There were certain times where I had to take care of it, but it wasn’t a traditional ‘take-care-of-your-equipment’ type night for me. I was hustling really hard to try to get by guys. I had to get by Jerry (Coons, Jr.) and he doesn’t make mistakes. And Justin doesn’t either. You just have to find a way around. Maybe I got by him because I know he had some brake problems and I thought we could pressure him into it a little bit. I know we were forcing everyone to pick It up a little bit. Damion was so good, it was going to take everything I had to run him down.”
“I’d like to say I was saving and it worked according to plan, but I was scrambling,” Swanson admits. “I typically don’t blister tires or wear out brakes, but I did both tonight. These guys I’m racing against, they’re so good at the half-miles and also in a dirt sprint car, I feel like you have to go hard for 100 laps when you come to a place like this. It’s something I’ve struggled to do. Maybe I was just doing my best impersonation of a real dirt guy tonight.”
Of Swanson’s 17 career victories, eight have come on one-mile dirt ovals. Though he hasn’t been uncompetitive by any means on the half-mile dirt tracks, he hadn’t recorded a victory on one since the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks in 2014, Swanson admits the halves have been a bit of a struggle for him at times.
“They’re just different,” Swanson feels. “I feel like I’m as in as good of shape as anybody in these longer races. But you kind of race them different. The miles have certain factors that aren’t as critical on the half-miles, like tire management. There’s a lot of things on the half-miles that other drivers have been better than me at. I’ve tried to identify those and I’ve been working on them to do what I can to up my game like those other guys have on the half-miles to do a good job for my team. They just race differently. The miles have such a uniqueness to them and, on the half-miles, many people say these cars look like bigger sprint cars and they kind of act like it. Guys that have been so dominant in USAC Sprint Cars have been really good in USAC Silver Crown cars on the half-miles lately. That was an area I struggled with and have gone to work trying to get better. I know I’ve still got more to go, but tonight we were good enough.”
In addition to his move up the ranks of all-time Silver Crown winners, Swanson has now recorded victories on many of the country’s most legendary dirt tracks: the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, the defunct New York State Fairgrounds, the Terre Haute Action Track and now Williams Grove Speedway. It’s something that, at one point, seemed impossible not only to fans of the sport, but also to himself. Not too bad for a guy once considered a pavement specialist.
“There was a time in my career, a lot of folks said I’d never be good enough on the dirt,” Swanson recalls. “I still don’t feel like I am. I’m still learning and working really hard. These guys (DePalma Motorsports) give me a really good car. They work really hard, so I’m going to work hard for them and try to get better. To be second all-time is incredible. For me being a guy who’s not supposed to be winning at Williams Grove, it’s pretty cool to be able to figure it out and beat some of the best dirt guys in the nation and to get it done at such a historic track.”
Like last year, the Klatt Enterprises/Beast – Klatt Enterprises/Beast/Ford experienced a similar, yet opposite fate on its Williams Grove run. Last year, the car was the “chaser” with driver Bryan Clauson at the wheel as the No. 6 came on strong toward the end to nearly pull off the victory. On Friday, the same car, driven by Damion Gardner, was the “chasee,” leading the first 83 laps before being overtaken by Swanson. Nonetheless, it was a solid second-place run for the team in just Gardner’s fourth-career Silver Crown start.
“I ran as hard as I could early,” Gardner said. “I just wanted to get to the lappers and put them all down, then ride the middle. I knew Swanson would be coming at the end, the track would get slower and there’d be yellows. I had two choices: if I slowed down, I wouldn’t be as good and he would catch me. Then, if I ran hard, it was going to hurt my tires. We went fast. Yeah, I hurt my tire, but there were other scenarios that played in there. On that track there, you should be able do 100 laps wide open. They told me to lay off for a while and I did, but maybe not enough.”
Fifteen years after his first and only visit to Williams Grove, Gardner is still in awe of the place and holds a true appreciation of one of the capstone dirt tracks on the American racing scene.
“Bad dudes come from PA and the Grove and fast joints like this,” Gardner praised. “This place is historical. It’s legendary. Every time you come here, you want to win. You pay attention to places like this. The fans love us when we come out here; they show us a lot of respect and appreciation. I like to put on a show and these fans really appreciate it.”
Tucson, Arizona’s Jerry Coons, Jr. took a steady, solid third-place finish in his Gene Nolen Racing/KECO – Indy Race Parts/Maxim/Tranter Chevy, but it didn’t come without its trials and tribulations.
“I started to feel the steering wheel getting slippery with about 40 to go,” Coons remembers. “It was pretty early on. It was mainly on my left hand. I kept wiping my hand on my suit down the straightaway. With about 15 to go, the car started to get stiff. Then, we had a yellow come out. Without being on the throttle, it was getting pretty hard to steer, so I knew it was getting pretty low on fluid. With about 10 to go, it was getting to where it didn’t like to turn left very well.”
“Here, you kind of roll into the corner and get the car sideways to where it’s turning to the right,” Coons continued. “I could get it into a set and hold it there. I got myself into a rhythm. A couple times down in turns three and four, if I bobbled at all, lost the front end and had to turn it to the left, it took me a lot to get it back down. Overall, the car was good. We had an ignition box not running right in the first hot lap session. Then, we went through the fuel system and changed the ignition box. After those problems, a third-place is looking pretty good!”
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Damion Gardner (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Steve Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Austin Nemire (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
------------------------------------------------------------
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2017 - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - Williams Grove Speedway - "Horn-Schindler Memorial"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-20.430; 2. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-20.527; 3. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-20.552; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Carli/Hemelgarn-20.641; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.652; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-20.662; 7. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-20.666; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 120, Nolen-20.717; 9. Mark Smith, 54, Lane-20.823; 10. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-20.831; 11. Brady Bacon, 48, Martens-20.984; 12. Johnny Petrozelle, 08, Cornell/Petrozelle-21.037; 13. Dave Darland, 27, Phillips-21.104; 14. Patrick Bruns, 95, Full Throttle-21.206; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Lesko-21.429; 16. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.503; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-21.657; 18. Dakota Jackson, 201, Nolen-21.923; 19. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.207; 20. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-NT; 21. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Joe Liguori, 7. Patrick Bruns, 8. Austin Nemire, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Shane Cockrum, 11. Mark Smith, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Dave Daralnd, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. David Byrne, 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Dave Berkheimer, 19. Johnny Petrozelle. NT
------------------------------
**Moffatt flipped over the guardrail in turn 1 during practice. Petrozelle flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-83 Gardner, Laps 84-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Austin Nemire (15th-7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steve Buckwalter
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Damion Gardner
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-Swanson-280, 2-Windom-232, 3-Coons-226, 4-Byrne-188, 5-Gardner-161, 6-Bobby Santos-140, 7-Grant-137, 8-Aaron Pierce-133, 9-Liguori-123, 10-Bacon-113.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): July 20 - Brownsburg, Indiana - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - "USAC Hall of Fame / Rich Vogler Classic"
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, PA...June 15, 2017 – One day after his 26th birthday, the “older” and wiser Kevin Thomas, Jr. was rewarded with his biggest and highest-paying present of all in Thursday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship’s return to the legendary Williams Grove Speedway.
The Cullman, Alabama driver led the entire first-half of the Eastern Storm presented by DMI / “Triple Crown Showdown” 30-lapper, but on lap 16 when all seemed to be slipping away as Chris Windom took the lead, Thomas demonstrated a poise and maturity that he admits wouldn’t have shown in year’s past.
“I’ve been racing for a lot of years now,” Thomas reflects. “I used to tear up a lot of stuff and make dumb decisions. Now we’re able to put solid cars underneath me, make better decisions and put myself in the right position to win races and finish on the podium. That just comes with experience. I never thought I’d make smart decisions, to be honest.”
The victory was the 13th USAC National Sprint Car win for Thomas, moving him into the top-40 on the all-time series win list alongside Don Branson and Steve Chassey. Though his winning ride is a mixture of resources from his own KT Motorsports, Pace Brothers Racing, Abreu Vineyards and his father, the triumph officially comes under the Pace Brothers Racing banner, which marks their first USAC win since July of 2007 at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway with driver Dave Darland. Regardless of the entrant name on the entry list, Thomas feels the tide beginning to turn for he and his crew.
“It’s all kind of coming together now,” Thomas feels. “I’ve got good people around me who support me. They give me the equipment to be up front and it’s up to me and my guys to put a good racecar together, make it go fast and for me to make good decisions on the racetrack. It’s a combination of a lot of good people. It’s a full team effort. There’s only one guy on the racetrack, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes.”
The second and third-place finishers from the previous night’s event at Lincoln occupied the front row for the main event: pole sitter Jarett Andretti and outside starter Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Thomas was able to break free on the high side on the opening lap as Grant followed to second and Andretti slid back to the third position.
On the fourth lap, 2015 Eastern Storm champ Robert Ballou pirouetted against the turn three guardrail to bring out the red flag. Miraculously, Ballou would restart from the tail, although he would bow out of competition just four laps with a 23rd place finish.
On the resumption, Thomas maintained his advantage, but soon Windom began to close the gap. For the next several circuits, Windom shadowed Thomas on the cushion between turns one and two, but found his own, unique line on the other end of the speedway. Windom entered the bottom of turn three with his front left wheel breezing the inner rail. He then drifted up toward the middle of the surface before diamonding off the fourth corner at exit.
On the first lap of the second-half of the contest, race leader Thomas and second-running Windom were deadlocked in a side-by-side power struggle with Windom able to clear Thomas using an outside run off of turn four to beat Thomas to the line by the skin of a tire. Windom aimed to finish the move, sliding up in front Thomas to in turn one. Thomas countered back underneath to reassume the top position.
Windom regrouped to make another charge at Thomas for the lead in the first turn on the 18th lap, but the two nearly made contact as Windom was unable to gain clearance on his slider, allowing Thomas to instantly extend his race lead to one-plus second.
“It’s so wide down there in one and two,” Thomas explained. “When you see a slider, you can anticipate where to turn across. There was just enough moisture to cross under Chris and get a good run going down the backstretch. Once I saw him get by me on the bottom. I went down there where there was a little rubber and I had a lot of grip. It was tough running up there in three and four. Once you moved down, you were able to make a lot of straightaway speed.”
Sprint car racing does not utilize mirrors or even spotters, making it near impossible to realize what lines the drivers behind them have sought and figured out. It’s a continuous chess match up front and a thinking man’s game that keeps the leader on his toes.
“It’s kind of difficult leading at places like this when it gets real slow at the top of (turns) three and four,” Thomas believes. “You don’t exactly know where to go, so you have to stick with what got you there. You almost have to idle up there because it was so thin, there was nothing but fence.”
Thomas went to school on Windom and took away his perfected line on the bottom of three and four as he discovered the rubber. Thomas’ grip on the position would not falter down the stretch as Windom began to fade and Chase Stockon turned up the wick to run down and overtake Windom for second on the bottom of turn one on the 30th and final lap.
Meanwhile, up front, Thomas crossed the finish line 2.3 seconds ahead of the Stockon/Windom duel to finish off his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the 2017 season. National Sprint point leader Justin Grant was fourth while Grandview Eastern Storm winner Brady Bacon rounded out the top-five.
With results of 4th, 3rd and 1st through the three of the five Eastern Storm series wins, Thomas, the driver of the Pace Brothers Racing/Pace Performance Coating – DC Dyno/DRC/J & D finds himself in an enviable position with an eight-point lead heading into the final two races Saturday at Port Royal Speedway and Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway.
“When you come to places like this, you tighten your belts a little more and you focus a little bit more,” Thomas detailed. “Having the track record at Knoxville, then winning here at Williams Grove, it’s two racetracks that are the most historic in the country. It’s really humbling to be fast at these places, much less win. It goes back to what they do in the shop. I haven’t really been that great on the big tracks in the past. We’ve really focused on that and they’ve helped me out a ton. We’ve got good engines, good shocks and good crewmembers. Everybody that works on this thing gives me confidence and helps me make good decisions on the track while they make good decisions in the pits. Hats off to them; they make it easy for me.”
Chase Stockon’s up-and-down season trended skyward once again Thursday night at Williams Grove as he broke Dave Darland’s 21-year-old USAC and Damion Gardner’s 15-year-old SCRA track records during ProSource Qualifying, then followed it up by running a season-best second-place in his 32 TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher.
“They were slowing up on the top,” Stockon reflected. “I kept working the bottom, working the bottom the entire race. it almost seemed like the top was too far around. We just kept working it and was hoping the top would slow down and it gradually did. The bottom started to take rubber there and it kind of worked out to our advantage at the end. They were slowing up on the top. I may have shown him a nose too early. He did what every other driver would’ve done and tried to protect. But, he Just drove it in too hard because he’d been running the top the whole race. Luckily, we were able to get by him and bring home a second. We always want the ‘w,’ but with the runs we’ve been having here lately, we’ll definitely take that.”
Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois had a solid night, leading a single lap, before dropping to third at the finish in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving – AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.
“We were really good the first half of the race,” Windom beams. “I think I burnt off my tire too much. It took rubber and really burned my tires off. We’re just a little too good too early and KT and Chase were better late. I wish I could’ve cleared KT when I got to him and took his line away. He made a good move and got back down to the bottom and pulled away from us there at the end. We’ll take these consistent podiums but I know (crew chief) Derek (Claxton) and I really want to win by the end of the week.”
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Mark Smith (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Joey Biasi (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Danny Dietrich (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Carmen Perigo (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2017 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway – “USAC Triple Crown Showdown” - “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.035 (New Track Record); 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-20.042; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-20.068; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.074; 5. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-20.111; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-20.196; 7. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-20.238; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-20.286; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-20.287; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.377; 11. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-20.434; 12. Danny Dietrich, 13, Buch-20.485; 13. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-20.496; 14. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-20.498; 15. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-20.513; 16. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-20.538; 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-20.557; 18. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.587; 19. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.609; 20. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-20.664; 21. Mark Smith, 1M, L & M-20.673; 22. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.690; 23. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.776; 24. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-20.850; 25. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.966; 26. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-21.028; 27. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-21.174; 28. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-21.188; 29. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-21.233; 30. Michael Hamer, 47, Hamer-22.372; 31. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. M. Smith, 2. Boespflug, 3. Kobylarz, 4. Thomas, 5. Courtney, 6. Stockon, 7. D. Smith, 8. Rooke. 2:50.50
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Windom, 3. Perigo, 4. Andretti, 5. Darland, 6. Westfall, 7. Sussex, 8. Hamer. 2:52.05
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Biasi, 2. Leary, 3. Golobic, 4. Grant, 5. Meseraull, 6. Robbins, 7. Chapple, 8. DiMattia. 2:55.26
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dietrich, 2. Farney, 3. Moody, 4. Coons, 5. Ballou, 6. Bright, 7. Wilson. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Robbins, 5. Darland, 6. Sussex, 7. Bright, 8. Wilson, 9. D. Smith, 10. Chapple, 11. Rooke, 12. Hamer, 13. Westfall, 14. Courtney, 15. DiMattia. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Carmen Perigo, 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Danny Dietrich, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. Chad Boespflug, 16. Joey Biasi, 17. Tyler Courtney, 18. Mark Smith 19. Dave Darland, 20. C.J. Leary, 21. Stevie Sussex, 22. Trevor Kobylarz, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Kyle Robbins. NT
----------------------------
**Courtney flipped during the semi. Ballou flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Thomas, Lap 16 Windom, Laps 17-30 Thomas.
KSE HARD CHARGER: Carmen Perigo (20th to 10th)
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Chase Stockon
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Danny Dietrich
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Grant-909, 2-Windom-858, 3-Boespflug-788, 4-Stockon-782, 5-Courtney-662, 6-Thomas-660, 7-Leary-604, 8-Bacon-571, 9-Darland-513, 10-Andretti-512.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Thomas-218, 2-Windom-210, 3-Bacon-190, 4-Meseraull & Stockon-182, 6-Andretti-174, 7-Grant-164, 8-Leary-158, 9-Coons-150, 10-Boespflug-141.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17 – Port Royal, PA – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
Shane Stewart Stands Tall At Williams Grove
Posted by: | Comments
World of Outlaws
Contact: Clayton Johns
World of Outlaws PR
289-314-5186 | cjohns@dirtcar.com
Please click here for the original World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series article
Shane Stewart Stands Tall At Williams Grove
Earns First Career Williams Grove Win
MECHANICSBURG, PA - May 20, 2017 - Shane Stewart started on the pole for the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series Morgan Cup at Williams Grove Speedway, but didn't lead the opening lap. Instead, he battled with PA Posse driver TJ Stutts of Liverpool, PA and used a slide job in turns one and two to take the lead on a lap 11 restart. From there, Stewart held off Stutts and then Daryn Pittman on a pair of restarts over the final 10 laps to earn his first career Williams Grove win and his first Outlaw victory of the 2017 season.
"You don't even know what it means to me to finally get here in Victory Lane," Stewart said in Victory Lane. "I know the East Coast isn't always kind to me, but I am very happy and going to cherish this win."
Stewart earned the pole after winning the Craftsman Club Dash and led the field to the green flag with Stutts on the outside of the front row. It was Stutts who grabbed the lead by the time the two drivers had raced turn three. The top two quickly broke away from a third-place battle between Outlaw rookie Sheldon Haudenschild and Tim Shaffer of Aliquippa, PA. Shaffer took the spot on lap seven when Haudenschild spun at the bottom of turn one, but kept his foot in the gas and continued without incident despite losing five positions.
The battle for the lead gained momentum as Stewart closed on Stutts and on lap 10 moved to the outside lane to setup a pass. A lap later, Stewart appeared to have enough steam in the outside lane to take the lead, but Stutts led by 0.002 seconds at the line, just as the first caution of the race waved when Haudenschild spun to a stop at the top of turn three.
On the restart, Stewart made the race-winning move when he dove to the bottom of the track and slid in front of Stutts to drive off turn two with the lead.
"I didn't get a break on the initial start of the Feature and I told myself that if TJ took the bottom, I actually thought the top was going to be better," Stewart said. "It just worked out really well for us. Man, clean air makes everything and makes a big difference."
Stewart ran the rest of the race in clean air as the top pairing never had the chance to wade into lapped traffic. The second caution of the race waved at lap 15 when Brent Marks and Brian Montieth made contact and tangled together at the top of turn two, ending the night for both drivers.
Stewart kept the field at bay when the green waved and again on a lap 21 restart. Meanwhile, Pittman darted from eighth to fourth on the latter restart before jumping into second on the final restart with seven laps to go. He earned his second runner-up finish of the week, finishing 2.044 seconds behind Stewart's Larson Marks Racing No.2.
"I had such a good car on restarts that every time we went green, my car had the right attitude," Pittman said following the race. "Everybody seemed to be a little rolled up down there on the start in turns three and four and I could get by a couple guys every time."
Stewart cruised over the final five laps on his way to the victory, which he celebrated in Victory Lane with his fiancée Jenn, daughter Nixon and the Larson Marks Racing crew.
"It means a lot to me," Stewart said. "I know that the rivalry here is out of this world, which I appreciate. I love the enthusiasm and the Pennsylvania fans."
The track was an interesting mix of tacky and dry slick throughout the night, conditions that were unusual for Williams Grove, Pittman said.
"I've seen this place about every which way that's an option, but I don't think I've ever seen it quite like it was tonight," Pittman explained. "It was definitely different. I've never seen a wet strip a car length and a half off the bottom stay that long throughout the night. It was the dominant way around."
During Pittman's charge forward, Shaffer worked past Stutts to maintain the third spot and earn a third-place finish, equaling the best results of PA Posse drivers Danny Dietrich and Freddie Rahmer earlier in the week.
"Last night we missed it there at the beginning and it killed us," Shaffer said, "but tonight we did the right things and put ourselves in position (to contend) and we're on the front straightaway."
Lance Dewease of Fayetteville, PA and Outlaw driver Logan Schuchart completed the top-five following a spirited battle for fourth in the closing laps.
Jason Johnson set quick time to start the night with a lap of 16.402 seconds, less than three-tenths of a second off the track record of 16.140 set by Brian Paulus on April 26, 2002. He was the 25th of 37 drivers to take time. Johnson followed with a heat race win. Dewease, Schuchart and Jason Sides were the other heat winners, while Marks won the Last Chance Showdown.
The Outlaws now travel north for the Empire State Challenge at Weedsport (NY) Speedway on Sunday, May 21. Fans who can't make it to the track can watch live pay-per-view video coverage on DIRTvision.
WIlliams Grove Speedway Notebook
Feature (30 Laps) - 1. 2-Shane Stewart [1][$17,000]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [12][$5,700]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4][$3,500]; 4. 69K-Lance Dewease [7][$3,000]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5][$2,600]; 6. 11-T.J. Stutts [2][$2,400]; 7. 20-Ryan Taylor [9][$2,300]; 8. 5-David Gravel [10][$2,200]; 9. 41-Jason Johnson [8][$2,150]; 10. 49-Brad Sweet [20][$2,100]; 11. 1-Dale Blaney [14][$1,600]; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich [15][$1,350]; 13. 24-Lucas Wolfe [19][$1,300]; 14. 15-Donny Schatz [16][$1,200]; 15. 7S-Jason Sides [6][$1,100]; 16. 88-Brandon Rahmer [22][$1,000]; 17. 17-Joey Saldana [11][$900]; 18. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$850]; 19. 44-Trey Starks [18][$800]; 20. 39M-Anthony Macri [24][$800]; 21. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13][$800]; 22. 27-Greg Hodnett [17][$800]; 23. 19-Brent Marks [21][$800]; 24. 21-Brian Montieth [23][$800]. Lap Leaders: T.J. Stutts 1-11, Shane Stewart 12-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 9-Daryn Pittman [+10].
Qualifying - 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 16.402; 2. 69K-Lance Dewease, 16.456; 3. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.462; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 16.465; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 16.501; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.551; 7. 11-T.J. Stutts, 16.577; 8. 2-Shane Stewart, 16.578; 9. 20-Ryan Taylor, 16.589; 10. 1-Dale Blaney, 16.595; 11. 17-Joey Saldana, 16.602; 12. 49-Brad Sweet, 16.614; 13. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 16.644; 14. 5-David Gravel, 16.652; 15. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.654; 16. 9-Daryn Pittman, 16.66; 17. 27-Greg Hodnett, 16.668; 18. 44-Trey Starks, 16.697; 19. 19-Brent Marks, 16.721; 20. 15-Donny Schatz, 16.75; 21. 88-Brandon Rahmer, 16.791; 22. 87-Alan Krimes, 16.804; 23. 39M-Anthony Macri, 16.809; 24. 39-Cory Haas, 16.846; 25. 21-Brian Montieth, 16.885; 26. 4-Paul McMahan, 16.918; 27. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 16.929; 28. 1A-Jacob Allen, 16.937; 29. 58-Brock Zearfoss, 16.951; 30. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 16.98; 31. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 16.985; 32. 71M-Dave Blaney, 16.986; 33. O7-Doug Esh, 17.035; 34. 75-Frankie Herr, 17.135; 35. W20-Greg Wilson, 17.14; 36. 13-Clyde Knipp, 17.2; 37. 12W-Troy Fraker, 18.087.
Heat #1 – (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 41-Jason Johnson [1]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 3. 20-Ryan Taylor [3]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 5. 27-Greg Hodnett [5]; 6. 21-Brian Montieth [7]; 7. 58-Brock Zearfoss [8]; 8. 88-Brandon Rahmer [6]; 9. 12W-Troy Fraker [10]; 10. O7-Doug Esh [9].
Heat #2 – (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 69K-Lance Dewease [1]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 3. 5-David Gravel [4]; 4. 1-Dale Blaney [3]; 5. 44-Trey Starks [5]; 6. 4-Paul McMahan [7]; 7. 87-Alan Krimes [6]; 8. 51-Freddie Rahmer [8]; 9. 75-Frankie Herr [9].
Heat #3 – (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]; 2. 11-T.J. Stutts [2]; 3. 17-Joey Saldana [3]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [4]; 5. 24-Lucas Wolfe [8]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri [6]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 8. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [7]; 9. 19-Brent Marks [5].
Heat #4 – (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [1]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 3. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [5]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 6. 71M-Dave Blaney [8]; 7. 39-Cory Haas [6]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen [7]; 9. 13-Clyde Knipp [9].
Craftsman Club Dash (6 Laps) - 1. 2-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 11-T.J. Stutts [2]; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [6]; 7. 69K-Lance Dewease [7]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson [8].
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer - 1. 19-Brent Marks [1][-]; 2. 88-Brandon Rahmer [2][-]; 3. 21-Brian Montieth [6][-]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri [4][-]; 5. 51-Freddie Rahmer [11][$300]; 6. 87-Alan Krimes [3][$250]; 7. 39-Cory Haas [5][$225]; 8. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [8][$200]; 9. 71M-Dave Blaney [12][$200]; 10. O7-Doug Esh [13][$200]; 11. 58-Brock Zearfoss [10][$200]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen [9][$200]; 13. W20-Greg Wilson [15][$200]; 14. 75-Frankie Herr [14][$200]; 15. 12W-Troy Fraker [17][$200]; 16. 4-Paul McMahan [7][$200]; 17. 13-Clyde Knipp [16][$200].
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Brent Marks; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Shane Stewart; Penske Shocks ($50 cash): TJ Stutts; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Logan Schuchart; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): David Gravel; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Brad Sweet; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Dale Blaney; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Danny Dietrich; Super Flow ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): Shane Stewart, Sheldon Haudenschild, Logan Schuchart, Jason Sides, Jason Johnson; Craftsman/Sears: TJ Stutts; KSE Hard Charger: Daryn Pittman; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Shane Stewart; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Joey Saldana; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Kraig Kinser.
SEASON WINNERS
Donny Schatz - 9 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, LoneStar Speedway on March 3, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 9, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 10, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 18, Missouri State Fair Speedway on May 5, 81 Speedway on May 6, Eldora Speedway May 13);
David Gravel - 7 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 17, Placerville Speedway on March 29, Perris Auto Speedway on April 1, Gator Motorplex on April 13, Plymouth Speedway on April 28, Lincoln Speedway on May 17, Williams Grove on May 19)
Jason Johnson - 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 17, Devil’s Bowl on April 14)
Brad Sweet - 2 (Stockton Dirt Track on March 25, Devil’s Bowl on April 15)
Logan Schuchart - 2 (Keller Auto Speedway on March 31, Eldora Speedway on May 12)
Brian Brown – 1 (Cocopah Speedway on April 7);
Rico Abreu – 1 (Arizona Speedway on April 8)
Parker Price-Miller – 1 (Tri-State Speedway on May 14).
David Gravel Leads Flag-To-Flag For Spring Classic Win at Williams Grove
Posted by: | CommentsWorld of Outlaws
Contact: Clayton Johns
World of Outlaws PR
289-314-5186 | cjohns@dirtcar.com
Please click here for the original World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series article
Gravel Leads Flag-To-Flag for Spring Classic Win at Williams Grove
Second Straight Victory For CJB Motorsports
MECHANICSBURG, PA - May 19, 2017 - David Gravel withstood a late surge from Donny Schatz and a pair of restarts with less than five laps remaining to kickoff the weekend with a Spring Classic win at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
Gravel started on the pole for the 25-lap main event after winning the Craftsman Club Dash and led flag-to-flag even despite restarts with three and four laps remaining in the main event. It was the second win of the week in Central Pennsylvania for the Watertown, CT native who also won at Lincoln Speedway on Wednesday. It was also Gravel's seventh victory of the season.
"It's definitely huge to win in PA at all," Gravel said. "To win Lincoln and Williams Grove is really good. We have to enjoy this a little bit tonight, but tomorrow's a new day. We're really happy with where we're at right now and we'll keep moving forward."
After timing second quick in Flight B Qualifying and second in his heat, Gravel was scheduled to roll off eighth for the dash in his CJB Motorsports No.5, but an eight inversion draw put him on the pole and he never looked back, scoring wins in the Dash and Feature just as he did Wednesday night at Lincoln.
"I'm definitely lucky right now," Gravel concluded. "I need to play the lottery or something. It's just one of those things where when it goes your way, it goes your way. Last year, Daryn Pittman got a lot of draws that went his way and right now it's our time. It goes in phases. It's a long, long season and we'll take it when we can."
Gravel brought the field to the green flag for the main event with Brad Sweet starting on the outside of the front row aboard his Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb No.49. Gravel jumped to an early lead while fifth-starting Schatz overtook Daryn Pittman for fourth on lap two. The caution waved one lap later when Lucas Wolfe and Joey Saldana spun and stopped against the turn three wall.
An 18-lap green flag run followed allowed Gravel to extend his lead to 1.806 seconds over Sweet by lap 10. However, it withered away when Gravel caught lapped traffic at the halfway mark and Sweet began close the gap. Right behind the two leaders, Schatz worked past Greg Hodnett for the second time in the race to acquire the third spot.
With six laps remaining, Gravel struggled to find a line around the slower can of Jason Sides. That allowed Schatz to catch the two leaders and the reigning series champion took second from Sweet with four laps to go.
Two more cautions with four laps to go kept Gravel on his toes, but he rode the cushion flawlessly on the outside of the speedway, disabling any of Schatz's attempts to take the lead.
"That's just typical lapped traffic," Gravel said. "You get caught up and you have to pass some guys before the second-place guy passes you. I got by Sides and I actually thought I was pretty good. I probably didn't want a yellow. After I got past Sides, I thought I would be able to work the lapped cars pretty good and then the yellow came out. I got a good restart and then the yellow came out again. I didn't want that second yellow, but it worked out and we held on."
Schatz felt that if the yellow flag had not waved with four laps to go, he would have had a chance to catch and pass Gravel for the $8,000 payday.
"Everything we run is longer races so you have to be prepared for the end," Schatz said, explaining his surge over the final 10 laps." That's what you shoot for - trying to be good at the end of the race and we were definitely good at the end of the race. We just didn't need to see that yellow (with four laps to go). When you get traffic, you force (the leader) to move out of their line and that's what we needed. When the yellow came out, I knew it was going to take a miracle."
The miracle didn't happen for Schatz as Gravel executed flawlessly on the pair of single-file restarts by running the fast top lane and by taking away Schatz's preferred corner entry.
For Freddie Rahmer, the third-place finish was worth celebrating. Rahmer was the top finishing Pennsylvania Posse member ahead of Hodnett, who finished fifth. He felt he may have had something for Schatz if he could have changed one of his last-race restarts.
"I couldn't do anything in (turns) three and four because Donny was where my car was the best," Rahmer said. "Just the way it played out, we ran third. I think we're fast enough to win, we just need a different scenario."
Joey Saldana was the night's overall fast qualifier with a lap of 16.639 seconds. He also picked up a heat race win along with Rahmer, Schatz and Pittman. Logan Schuchart earned the KSE Hard Charger award for advancing from 18th to 11th.
The Outlaws remain at Williams Grove for Saturday's Morgan Cup. Drivers are expecting significantly different track conditions with an expected temperature drop to the mid-60s on Saturday from the high-80s on Friday.
"The track was really heavy for how warm it was," Gravel said. "We'll see. Tomorrow's going to be cooler, but the track might be slick or it might be even heavier than tonight."
Saturday's Morgan Cup at Williams Grove will once again be available via live pay-per-view on DIRTvision.
Williams Grove Speedway Notebook
RACE NOTES: David Gravel started on the pole after winning the Craftsman Club Dash and led all 25 laps of the Spring Classic Feature at Williams Grove Speedway to earn his second win of the week in Central Pennsylvania and seventh of the season with the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series. Gravel withstood a late surge from Donny Schatz and a pair of restarts with less than five laps to go to secure the victory.
World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Williams Grove Speedway, PA; May 19, 2017
Feature (25 Laps) - 1. 5-David Gravel [1][$8,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [5][$4,000]; 3. 51-Freddie Rahmer [7][$2,500]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [2][$2,200]; 5. 27-Greg Hodnett [3][$2,100]; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman [4][$2,000]; 7. 21-Brian Montieth [13][$1,800]; 8. 69K-Lance Dewease [12][$1,600]; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [6][$1,500]; 10. 19-Brent Marks [11][$1,300]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart [18][$1,200]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser [15][$1,100]; 13. 2-Shane Stewart [17][$1,000]; 14. 41-Jason Johnson [14][$700]; 15. 4-Paul McMahan [20][$600]; 16. 1-Dale Blaney [16][$600]; 17. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [19][$600]; 18. 11-T.J. Stutts [22][$600]; 19. 48-Danny Dietrich [10][$600]; 20. 44-Trey Starks [21][$600]; 21. 7S-Jason Sides [24][$600]; 22. 24-Lucas Wolfe [9][$600]; 23. 71M-Dave Blaney [23][$600]; 24. 17-Joey Saldana [8][$600]
Lap Leaders: David Gravel 1-25
KSE Hard Charger Award: Logan Schuchart +7 (18th to 11th)
Qualifying Flight-A - 1. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 16.818; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 16.823; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett, 16.84; 4. 49-Brad Sweet, 16.856; 5. 2-Shane Stewart, 16.861; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 16.872; 7. 44-Trey Starks, 16.93; 8. 19-Brent Marks, 16.932; 9. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 16.96; 10. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 16.977; 11. 21-Brian Montieth, 17.031; 12. 71M-Dave Blaney, 17.117; 13. 88-Brandon Rahmer, 17.177; 14. 16C-Matt Campbell, 17.194; 15. 1A-Jacob Allen, 17.223; 16. 20-Ryan Taylor, 17.261; 17. W20-Greg Wilson, 17.271; 18. 75-Frankie Herr, 17.289; 19. 13-Clyde Knipp, 17.451; 20. 35-Daryl Stimeling, 17.458; 21. 12W-Troy Fraker, 18.182.
Qualifying Flight-B - 1. 17-Joey Saldana, 16.639; 2. 5-David Gravel, 16.692; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.757; 4. 69K-Lance Dewease, 16.841; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.863; 6. 1-Dale Blaney, 16.875; 7. 41-Jason Johnson, 16.876; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman, 16.901; 9. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 16.923; 10. 11-T.J. Stutts, 16.928; 11. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.954; 12. 39-Cory Haas, 16.995; 13. 25-Aaron Ott, 17.001; 14. 4-Paul McMahan, 17.06; 15. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 17.073; 16. 58-Brock Zearfoss, 17.112; 17. 87-Alan Krimes, 17.259; 18. O7-Doug Esh, 17.259; 19. 39M-Anthony Macri, 17.272; 20. 44W-Rodney Westhafer, 17.585.
Heat #1 – Flight A (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 51-Freddie Rahmer [1]; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett [2]; 3. 24-Lucas Wolfe [5]; 4. 21-Brian Montieth [6]; 5. 2-Shane Stewart [3]; 6. 88-Brandon Rahmer [7]; 7. 44-Trey Starks [4]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen [8]; 10. 12W-Troy Fraker [11]; 11. 13-Clyde Knipp [10].
Heat #2 – Flight A (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 3. 19-Brent Marks [4]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 5. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [5]; 6. 71M-Dave Blaney [6]; 7. 20-Ryan Taylor [8]; 8. 16C-Matt Campbell [7]; 9. 75-Frankie Herr [9]; 10. 35-Daryl Stimeling [10]
Heat #3 – Flight B (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 17-Joey Saldana [1]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 4. 41-Jason Johnson [4]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [6]; 7. 87-Alan Krimes [9]; 8. 39M-Anthony Macri [10]; 9. 49X-Tim Shaffer [8].
Heat #4 – Flight B (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 2. 5-David Gravel [1]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [2]; 4. 1-Dale Blaney [3]; 5. 4-Paul McMahan [7]; 6. 11-T.J. Stutts [5]; 7. O7-Doug Esh [9]; 8. 58-Brock Zearfoss [8]; 9. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [10]; 10. 39-Cory Haas [6].
Craftsman Club Dash (6 Laps) - 1. 5-David Gravel [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [4]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [5]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [6]; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 7. 51-Freddie Rahmer [8]; 8. 17-Joey Saldana [7].
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer - 1. 44-Trey Starks [1][-]; 2. 11-T.J. Stutts [2][-]; 3. 71M-Dave Blaney [3][-]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [4][-]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [8][$300]; 6. 39-Cory Haas [6][$250]; 7. 88-Brandon Rahmer [5][$225]; 8. 20-Ryan Taylor [11][$200]; 9. 16C-Matt Campbell [7][$200]; 10. O7-Doug Esh [12][$200]; 11. 58-Brock Zearfoss [10][$200]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen [9][$200]; 13. W20-Greg Wilson [13][$200]; 14. 39M-Anthony Macri [14][$200].
C-Feature (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer - 1. W20-Greg Wilson [1][-]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri [2][-]; 3. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [4][$150]; 4. 75-Frankie Herr [3][$150]; 5. 35-Daryl Stimeling [6][$150]; 6. 12W-Troy Fraker [7][$125]; 7. 13-Clyde Knipp [5][$125]; 8. 25-Aaron Ott [8][$125]; 9. 87-Alan Krimes [9][$125].
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Joey Saldana; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): David Gravel; Penske Shocks ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Daryn Pittman; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Brent Marks; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Logan Schuchart; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Kraig Kinser; Super Flow ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): David Gravel, Brad Sweet, Daryn Pittman, Sheldon Haudenschild, Joey Saldana; Craftsman/Sears: Greg Hodnett; KSE Hard Charger: Logan Schuchart; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): David Gravel; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Jason Sides; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Joey Saldana.
SEASON WINNERS
Donny Schatz - 9 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, LoneStar Speedway on March 3, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 9, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 10, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 18, Missouri State Fair Speedway on May 5, 81 Speedway on May 6, Eldora Speedway May 13);
David Gravel - 7 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 17, Placerville Speedway on March 29, Perris Auto Speedway on April 1, Gator Motorplex on April 13, Plymouth Speedway on April 28, Lincoln Speedway on May 17, Williams Grove on May 19)
Jason Johnson - 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 17, Devil’s Bowl on April 14)
Brad Sweet - 2 (Stockton Dirt Track on March 25, Devil’s Bowl on April 15)
Logan Schuchart - 2 (Keller Auto Speedway on March 31, Eldora Speedway on May 12)
Brian Brown – 1 (Cocopah Speedway on April 7);
Rico Abreu – 1 (Arizona Speedway on April 8)
Parker Price-Miller – 1 (Tri-State Speedway on May 14).
- Artic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
Lance Dewease outduels Freddie Rahmer for Hinnershitz Memorial title at Williams Grove Speedway
MECHANICSBURG, PA (April 28, 2017) - The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions launched their first Central Pennsylvania swing of the 2017 season in fantastic fashion on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway, putting on a show for “Pennsylvania Posse” fans in the form of a Lance Dewease and Freddie Rahmer duel for the 2017 Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial worth $5,000.
Despite periods of pressure from Rahmer, as well as a near-disastrous run-in with traffic, Dewease, pilot of the Don Kreitz-owned/Schannauer Plumbing & Heating/RVWorkshop.com/No. 69K, held on to claim the 30-lap program; his sixth Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions victory at Williams Grove Speedway and the 32nd Series win of his storied career. Freddie Rahmer crossed under the final checkers second in the running order, followed by Tim Shaffer, Aaron Ott and Danny Dietrich.
“We are really happy with this,” Lance Dewease explained in victory lane. “Davey [Brown] and Don [Kreitz] work really hard every week. They worked all winter to try and get us to qualify a little bit better. This car is a little different than what we had last year, so it has a little bit of a different feel. This is only our third race of the year. We’re not where we need to be yet, but we are getting close.”
Lance Dewease started fourth on the main event grid, driving to second by the completion of lap one, eventually making his first bid for the top spot on lap five. The Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, native took command officially on lap six, driving by the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer with a move on the bottom of the speedway.
Despite Dewease’s initial ability to drive away from the rest of the field, Freddie Rahmer, who followed Lance Dewease around Tim Shaffer to take the runner-up position on lap 10, never lost sight of the familiar No. 69K. The pair were only separated by .6 seconds when the first and only caution appeared on lap 17.
Green flag conditions soon resumed with Dewease extending a slight advantage once again, stretching to a near-two second lead even after catching the back of the running order. Using traffic to his advantage, Freddie Rahmer was able to shrink Dewease’s command to less than a second, ultimately driving to the back bumper of the No. 69K by lap 28.
With traffic an obvious obstacle for Dewease when entering turn one on the final circuit, Rahmer attempted to drive around the Central Pennsylvania veteran, as well as the lapped car of Anthony Macri. All three nearly made contact, with Dewease barely sneaking beyond Macri on the bottom of the speedway. Dewease’s bold move sealed the deal, driving on to score his first Arctic Cat All Star victory of the 2017 season by .814 seconds.
“Freddie [Rahmer] hauled it in there pretty hard like he’s supposed to,” Dewease explained. “He’s not here to run second. Macri slipped up just a little and I was able to jam it in there. Fortunately, I was able to get by. That allowed us to hold off Freddie for the last lap. He’s been good all night. He’s turning into a pretty good racer.”
“This is their race track, for sure,” Freddie Rahmer said about Lance Dewease and his team. “I was just trying to go where Lance wasn’t. I think if he wouldn’t have snuck by Macri, we may have had enough to beat him. We were right there with him, so I’m pretty happy about that.”
Tony Stewart’s Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will continue their first Central Pennsylvania swing of 2017 with a trip to the Port Royal Speedway “Speed Palace” on Saturday evening, April 29. Honoring the facility’s all-time winningest competitor, the Keith Kauffman Classic will feature a complete Arctic Cat All Star program, going 30 laps in distance and awarding a $5,000 top prize. Dale Blaney is the defending Keith Kauffman Classic winner, holding off eventual Arctic Cat All Star champion Chad Kemenah and Greg Hodnett for the four-figure payday.
The season’s first Arctic Cat All Star swing through Central Pennsylvania will come to a close on Sunday evening, April 30, with the Roy Morral Tribute at Bedford Speedway in Bedford.
For those who can not attend Port Royal Speedway, fans are invited to tune-in at www.speedshifttv.com. A live pay-per-view broadcast featuring the entire Keith Kauffman Classic program will be available for purchase.
Port Royal Speedway will open pit gates at 2:00pm on Saturday, April 29. A mandatory drivers meeting will be conducted at 5:30pm, followed by hot laps at 6:10. Those seeking additional news and notes should visit Port Royal Speedway live on the Web at www.portroyalspeedway.com.
Contingency Awards/Results: Williams Grove Speedway - Friday, April 28, 2017:
Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 45
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Lance Dewease - 16.354 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Tim Shaffer - 16.692 seconds (3rd Quick)
Ford Performance Heat #1: Freddie Rahmer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Brian Montieth
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Lucas Wolfe
Daido Engine Bearings Heat #4: Tony Stewart
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts C-Main: Rodney Westhafer
JE Pistons Dash #1: Tim Shaffer
Kistler Racing Products Dash #2: Freddie Rahmer
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Steve Buckwalter
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tim Shaffer (3rd)
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Matt Campbell (+4)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Danny Dietrich
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Tony Stewart
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Caleb Armstrong (16th)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying -
Group (A)
1. 69K-Lance Dewease, 16.446; 2. 51R-Freddie Rahmer, 16.681; 3. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 16.692; 4. 94-Ryan Smith, 16.819; 5. 27-Greg Hodnett, 16.859; 6. O7-Doug Esh, 16.896; 7. 38-Steve Buckwalter, 16.958; 8. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 17.081; 9. 98-Carl Bowser, 17.083; 10. 8M-TJ Michael, 17.15; 11. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 17.261; 12. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 17.424
Group (B)
1. 11-TJ Stutts, 16.866; 2. 25-Aaron Ott, 16.887; 3. 1W-Eric Tomecek, 16.984; 4. 21-Brian Montieth, 17.097; 5. 88-Brandon Rahmer, 17.162; 6. 17-Caleb Helms, 17.167; 7. 95-Hunter Mackison, 17.272; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 17.506; 9. 9-Ryan Linder, 17.859; 10. 13-Brandon Matus, 17.956; 11. 33-Brent Matus, 18.487
Group (C)
1. 44S-Trey Starks, 16.757; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.93; 3. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 16.967; 4. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 16.993; 5. M1-Mark Smith, 17.261; 6. 47K-Kody Lehman, 17.332; 7. 87-Alan Krimes, 17.359; 8. 75-Frankie Herr, 17.413; 9. 44W-Rodney Westhafer, 17.521; 10. 49H-Bradley Howard, 17.746; 11. 12w-Troy Fraker, 18.125
Group (D)
1. 1Z-Dale Blaney, 16.955; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 16.971; 3. 39-Cory Haas, 17.029; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, 17.105; 5. OO-Dane Lorenc, 17.282; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 17.313; 7. 39M-Anthony Macri, 17.313; 8. 16-Matt Campbell, 17.362; 9. 9C-Roger Campbell, 17.861; 10. 51-John Garvin, 18.115; 11. C4-Jim Shuster, 18.117
Heat #1 - (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [3]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [4]; 4. 94-Ryan Smith [1]; 5. O7-Doug Esh [6]; 6. 27-Greg Hodnett [5]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [8]; 8. 38-Steve Buckwalter [7]; 9. 8M-TJ Michael [10]; 10. 98-Carl Bowser [9]; 11. 1080-Jordan Mackison [11]; 12. 33M-Max Stambaugh [12]
Heat #2 - (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 21-Brian Montieth [1]; 2. 25-Aaron Ott [3]; 3. 11-TJ Stutts [4]; 4. 88-Brandon Rahmer [5]; 5. 95-Hunter Mackison [7]; 6. 17-Caleb Helms [6]; 7. 13-Brandon Matus [10]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [11]; 9. 1W-Eric Tomecek [2]; 10. 9-Ryan Linder [9]; 11. 22-Brandon Spithaler [8]
Heat #3 - (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 24-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 3. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [2]; 4. 44S-Trey Starks [4]; 5. M1-Mark Smith [5]; 6. 87-Alan Krimes [7]; 7. 47K-Kody Lehman [6]; 8. 75-Frankie Herr [8]; 9. 12W-Troy Fraker [11]; 10. 49H-Bradley Howard [10]; 11. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [9]
Heat #4 - (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 2. 39-Cory Haas [2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [3]; 4. 1Z-Dale Blaney [4]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri [6]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh [7]; 7. 16-Matt Campbell [8]; 8. 51-John Garvin [10]; 9. C4-Jim Shuster [11]; 10. 9C-Roger Campbell [9]; 11. OO-Dane Lorenc [5]
Dash #1 - (4 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 25-Aaron Ott [2]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 4. 21-Brian Montieth [4]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart [5]
Dash #2 - (4 Laps)
1. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [2]; 2. 69K-Lance Dewease [3]; 3. 44S-Trey Starks [1]; 4. 24-Lucas Wolfe [4]; 5. 39-Cory Haas [5]
C-Main (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer
1. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [2]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler [1]; 3. 13-Brandon Matus [6]; 4. 9C-Roger Campbell [5]; 5. C4-Jim Shuster [8]; 6. 51-John Garvin [7]; 7. 12W-Troy Fraker [9]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [10]; 9. 49H-Bradley Howard [3]; 10. 9-Ryan Linder [4]; 11. 1W-Eric Tomecek [11]
B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 38-Steve Buckwalter [2]; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett [1]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 4. 87-Alan Krimes [11]; 5. 17-Caleb Helms [6]; 6. 98-Carl Bowser [4]; 7. 47K-Kody Lehman [10]; 8. 16-Matt Campbell [12]; 9. 8M-TJ Michael [5]; 10. 35-Tyler Esh [9]; 11. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [15]; 12. 75-Frankie Herr [13]; 13. 1080-Jordan Mackison [7]; 14. 22-Brandon Spithaler [16]; 15. OO-Dane Lorenc [8]; 16. 33M-Max Stambaugh [14]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 69K-Lance Dewease [4]; 2. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [2]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 4. 25-Aaron Ott [3]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 6. 44S-Trey Starks [6]; 7. 21-Brian Montieth [7]; 8. 24-Lucas Wolfe [8]; 9. 11-TJ Stutts [11]; 10. 14-Tony Stewart [9]; 11. 39-Cory Haas [10]; 12. 94-Ryan Smith [14]; 13. 1Z-Dale Blaney [15]; 14. O7-Doug Esh [17]; 15. 88-Brandon Rahmer [16]; 16. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [12]; 17. 10H-Chad Kemenah [13]; 18. M1-Mark Smith [18]; 19. 87-Alan Krimes [24]; 20. 27-Greg Hodnett [22]; 21. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [23]; 22. 39M-Anthony Macri [20]; 23. 16-Matt Campbell [27]; 24. 8M-TJ Michael [25]; 25. 17-Caleb Helms [26]; 26. 38-Steve Buckwalter [21]; 27. 95-Hunter Mackison [19] Lap Leaders: Tim Shaffer [1-5]; Lance Dewease [6-30]
Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (April 28, 2017):
1. Chad Kemenah: 1230
2. Caleb Armstrong: 1148
3. Caleb Helms: 1074
4. Ryan Smith: 1036
5. Tim Shaffer: 986
6. T.J. Michael: 936
7. Max Stambaugh: 924
8. Brandon Matus: 866
9. Danny Dietrich: 842
10. Brent Matus: 834
Additional Arctic Cat All Star Series Info:
Those seeking additional information regarding the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions should visit its official online home at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every event, as well as an up-to-date schedule, online at www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.
About the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first 'outlaw' Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
About Arctic Cat:
The Arctic Cat brand is among the most widely recognized and respected in the recreational vehicle industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), side-by-sides and snowmobiles, in addition to related parts, garments and accessories under the Arctic Cat® and Motorfist® brand names. Arctic Cat Inc.’s world headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available at www.ArcticCat.com.
