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Topic: Williams Grove Report
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Page 1 of 1 of 4 replies
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March 20, 2010 at
10:08:16 AM
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05/19/2006
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This message was edited on
March 20, 2010 at
10:11:28 AM by pittmanfan
Williams Grove Speedway – 2010 Northeast Sprint Car opener – March 19th, 2010
Cars in attendance: 0-Rick Lafferty, 3w-Kyle Moody, 5g-Curt Michael, 7-Chad Layton, 7m-Mark Smith, 8m-Chris Meleason, 14-Doug Dodson, 15-Adam Wilt, 17b-Steve Buckwalter 19m-Brent Marks, 20-Ryan Taylor, 20s-Derek Sell, 21-Brian Montieth, 22-Greg Hodnett, 25-Aaron Ott, 27-Tyler Walker, 35-Justin Henderson, 39-Doug Esh, 45-A.J. Michael, 48-Danny Dietrich, 49-Bob Howard, 51-Fred Rahmer, 65-Johnny Mackison, Jr., 69k-Don Kreitz, Jr., 71-Brian Leppo, 75-Dave Ely, 79-Davey Sammons, 87-Alan Krimes, 88-Todd Shaffer
For the opening race at Williams Grove, we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful March Friday evening. Temps were in the 60s and there wasn’t a rain cloud anywhere close to Central Pennsylvania. 29 410s were in attendance for their double-header with the 358 sprinters. The crowd was phenomenal as there was a line of spectators at least 100 yards long to get in through the backstretch gate. I’d estimate that it wasn’t quite a Speedweek size crowd, it was pretty darn close.
Hot laps were uneventful as the preferred line was mostly around the bottom lane and there were no incidents on track. The format for the racing will include 3 heat races, a consolation and a feature. Starting spots in heats determined by pill draw and the feature lined up by passing points and an inversion pill.
Heat 1(Starting position in parentheses):
1. 20-Taylor(2), 2. 48-Dietrich(1), 3. 71-Leppo(4), 4. Layton(7), 5. 45-A.J. Michael(3), 6. 87-Krimes(5), 7. 17b-Buckwalter(9) 8. 5g-C. Michael(8), 9. 19m-Marks(10), 10. 3w-Moody(6)
Not much from this heat. After lap one it got strung out and only Buckwalter and Marks made a pass. Taylor and Dietrich looked strong for having little experience at The Grove.
Heat 2
1. 21-Montieth(2), 2. 69k-Kreitz(3), 3. 7m-Smith(6), 4. 79-Sammons(1), 5. 27-Walker(9), 6. 0-Lafferty(8), 7. 8m-Meleason(7) 8. 49-Howard(5), 9. 14-Dodson(4), 10. 20s-Sell(10)
Montieth jumps out to the early lead as Lafferty and Walker pick up a few positions. Dodson slpas turn four wall on lap 4. Dodson having mechanical issues and Sell spins on lap 5. Walker up to 5th at caution. Dodson is crop dusting throughout the heat. Walker challenges Smith for 4th on lap 7. Montieth pulls out to a three-quarters straightaway lead on his way to winning. Better action than heat one.
Heat 3
1. 51-Rahmer(2), 2. 39-Esh(4), 3. 22-Hodnett(3), 4. 88-Shaffer(6), 5. 65-Mackison(8), 6. 75-Ely(5), 7. 25-Ott(9) 8. 35-Henderson(1), 9. 15-Wilt(7)
This heat was stacked up compared to the first two. 2009 National Rookie of the Year Adam Wilt spins in turn four before getting the green and drops out. Rahmer leads lap 1 before Henderson breaks on the frontstretch and also drops out. Esh tries the lowside on the restart but Rahmer secures the lead in 3 and 4. Ott then spins on lap 4 to bring out yellow once again. Ott would spin again a couple of laps later but would do a full 360 and stay green but way out of contention. The field would be strung out by this point and run the final 4 laps without a pass for position.
Montieth is determined to be high points man and draws a 4 for inversion. This puts Doug Esh on the pole for the feature event.
Consolation:
1. 17b-Buckwalter(1), 2. 5g-C.Michael(4), 3.25-Ott(2), 4. 19m-Marks(5), 5. 15-Wilt(8), 6. 8m-Meleason(3), 7. 35-Henderson(10) 8. 20s-Sell(6), 9. 3w-Moody(9), 10. 49-Howard(7)
Buckwalter leads early from the top. Wilt recovers from heat race to move into a transfer in the consi. Henderson tries to get past Meleason late but is unable to grab the last transfer.
Feature:
1. 51-Rahmer(3), 2. 22-Hodnett(13), 3.39-Esh(1), 4. 71-Leppo(9), 5. 88-Shaffer(11), 6. 7-Layton(8), 7. 48-Dietrich(12) 8. 75-Ely(17), 9. 7m-Smith(5), 10. 0-Lafferty(14) 11. 5g-C.Michael(20), 12. 21-Montieth(4), 13.65-Mackison(10), 14. 25-Ott(21),1 5. 19m-Marks(22), 16. 8m-Meleason(24), 17. 69k-Kreitz(6) 18. 87-Krimes(16), 19. 45-A.J. Michael(18), 20. 79-Sammons(15), 21. 27-Walker(7) 22. 15-Wilt(23), 23. 17b-Buckwalter(19),24. 20-Taylor(2)
Esh leads on the strart, but caution flies for Wilt who spins in turn two. Taylor then flips in three and Smith gets into the wall. Taylor is unhurt but done for the night. Wilt and Smith tag the rear and Montieth is now outside front row. Esh again takes the lead and begins pulling out when Buckwalter clips inside rail in four and spins to the outside guardrail. Single-file restart sees Esh lead again. Rahmer challenges Montieth for 2nd. Leppo passes Layton for 5th and Shaffer is up to 7th on lap 5. Smith has already advanced to 12th after restarting at the rear. Lap 6, A.J. Michael spins in front of the leaders, Esh narrowly avoids hitting him in turn three. Montieth must spin to avoid contact as does Kreitz. A 4th car also spun but did a 360 and kept going. 45, 21 and 69k go to the rear. On the restart Rahmer pressures Esh but can’t make a pass. Leppo closes on the 51 and makes a move to the high side in 1, but Rahmer slams the door shut. Hodnett is beginning to move. 39, 51, 71, 88, 7 running order after 9. Hodnett passes Layton for 5th and Smith cracks the top 10 on lap 10. Leader in traffic on lap 14. A.J. Michael and Sammons go a lap down. Rahmer nearly gets the wall while passing the 45. Smith to 8th on lap 16. Dietrich closes on Layton and Smith is catching both of them. After 17 the 21 is back up to 11th. Wilt brings out another yellow on lap 18. Rahmer tries to get by Esh on the restart and tries a slider in turn three but Esh comes back around. Rahmer tries again in turn one with Esh crossing over and taking the inside line into three to secure the lead. Leppo closing on the leaders. Esh starts pulling away gaining 15 car-lengths. R.O. lap 19 – 39, 51, 71, 88 ,22. Krimes brings out the yellow on lap 20. Walker pulls into the pits and is done. Battle for 3rd on the restart between Leppo, Shaffer and Hodnett. The 22 takes 4th on lap 21. Esh out to a 10 car-length lead. With 2 to go it looks like Esh has this one, but Rahmer get a big run down the backchute. Esh may have problems and Rahmer takes the lead out of four. Esh puts last ditch effort into a topside pass in turn one to no avail. Hodnett passes Esh to move into the runner-up spot and gets close to Rahmer but not close enough as Fast Freddy takes his first checkered flag of 2010.
Congrats to Fred Rahmer on the win!
Notes:
Blane Heimbach won the 358 feature.
Goodyear had more than plenty of tires on hand.
Mike Erdley was NOT in attendance. Rumor has it that the team will not be running Williams Grove on Fridays. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
29 cars on opening night is a scary number if you ask me. Are less than full fields to be expected this year if more teams are going to be travelling?
Lance Dewease and Darryn Pittman are racing in Tennessee with the WoO this weekend.
...
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March 20, 2010 at
12:15:12 PM
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Joined:
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04/24/2005
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Posts:
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1352
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Awesome race report, pittmanfan. I wish more people would post similar reports from tracks they go to. Sounded like I missed a great race at the Grove. I went to Selinsgrove last night because I wanted to support them for giving Modifieds a chance to race at a non-Modified track. I saw on a couple different boards that WG was jammed with fans last night. SG had a nice crowd as well, especially when you consider it was a Sprint Car track running Modifieds against the Grove opener.
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March 20, 2010 at
02:16:28 PM
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Joined:
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07/18/2009
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Posts:
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1947
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Nice crop report... ...Excuse me now, I'm going to enjoy a Snack Pack prior to making the tow up to the Fabulous...
Opinions may vary...
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March 21, 2010 at
06:52:43 AM
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Joined:
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11/10/2006
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209
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Well done Fred.Like a good wine .......just keeps getting better.
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March 21, 2010 at
08:14:30 PM
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Joined:
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01/31/2010
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Posts:
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1476
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How about Walker's Posse debut? 
TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!
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