Cars in attendance: 0-Rick Lafferty, 07-Mark Coldren, 1-Stevie Smith, 3-Bob Bennett, 3h-Pat Cannon, 3w-Kyle Moody, 5g-Curt Michael, 5w-Lucas Wolfe, 7-Chad Layton, 7m-Mark Smith, 8m-Chris Meleason, 11c-Cory Haas, 14-Doug Dodson, 15-Adam Wilt, 17-Daryn Pittman, 17b-Steve Buckwalter 19m-Brent Marks, 21-Brian Montieth, 22-Greg Hodnett, 25-Aaron Ott, 27-Tyler Walker, 30c-Lance Dewease, 35-Justin Henderson, 39-Doug Esh, 45-A.J. Michael, 48-Danny Dietrich, 51-Fred Rahmer, 65-Johnny Mackison, Jr., 69k-Don Kreitz, Jr., 71-Brian Leppo, 75-Dave Ely, 87-Alan Krimes, 88-Todd Shaffer
Conditions for race number two at Williams Grove honestly, were quite brutal and a far cry from the gorgeous conditions experienced last week. With temps in the 30s, a constant breeze and an overnight period or rain ending late Friday morning the decision to race was still up in the air until late afternoon. 33 410s signed in with eight drivers making their 2010 Grove debuts, including 5-time track champion, Lance Dewease, the hometown Outlaw, Lucas Wolfe, and defending 358 champ, Cory Haas, who picked up a 3rd place finish last Saturday at Lincoln Speedway . The crowd was respectable considering the forecasted near-freezing temps.
The only stoppage in hot laps came during the third session when Wilt blew a motor and stopped in turn one. The groove steadily moved up and by the time the last laps were turned in warm-ups the quick line was about halfway up in three and four. Dietrich and Mark Smith also experienced motor problems. The format for the racing will include four 10-lap heat races, a consolation and a 25-lap 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. 17b-Buckwalter(2), 2. 21-Montieth(6), 3. 3h-Cannon(4), 4. 19m-Marks(3), 5. 27-Walker(8), 6. 8m-Meleason(5), 7. 11c-Haas(7), 8. 14-Dodson(1), DNS. 48-Dietrich
Dietrich scratched from the heat, sliding outside lane starters Cannon and Montieth up a row and putting Walker outside row four. Buckwalter leads on initial start and also on a complete restart following a Haas lap 1 spin in turn one. Cannon and Montieth pass Dodson on lap 1. Dodson spins on lap 3 and pulls in. Cannon attempts a pass on the restart but Buckwalter, who tied for the most heat race wins in 2009, would hold on and lead the rest of the way. Walker grabs the last transfer from Meleason on lap 6 and Montieth would claim the runner-up spot on the final lap.
Heat 2:
1. 35-Henderson(1), 2. 5g-C.Michael(4), 3. 71-Leppo(3), 4. 39-Esh(5), 5. 07-Coldren(7), 6. M.Smith(6), 7. 65-Mackison(8), DQ. S.Smith(2)
Henderson leads early as last week’s winner at Lincoln Speedway, Mark Smith, moves past Esh on lap 1 and then Michael on lap 2 to move into 4th place. Mackison brings out the caution with a blown motor and a brief oil fire. Stevie Smith would take the lead in the Zemco car on lap 4. The 39 and 5g would swap the final transfer spot on laps 4 and 5. Mark Smith blows up on lap 7 bringing out another yellow. Michael gets past Leppo for 3rd on lap 8. At the line it’s the 1 followed by the 35, 5g, 71 and 39. However, the 1 car would pull into his pit stall before scaling and was disqualified from the race and forced to run the consolation. This moved everyone up one position, making Coldren the final transfer.
Heat 3:
1. 5w-Wolfe(2), 2. 87-Krimes(1), 3. 17-Pittman(6), 4. 30c-Dewease(4), 5. 88-Shaffer(3), 6. 75-Ely(7), 7. 25-Ott(5), 8.45-A.J. Michael(8)
Krimes and Wolfe battle for lead with the 5w taking control in turn three of the first lap. Pittman moves up to 3rd by lap 3. Ott brings out the caution on lap 5. Dewease is back up to 4th on lap 8. Not much action is this one.
During the 3rd heat race, word came down via track communications that some physical contact was made with an official and the 1 of Stevie Smith was parked for the remainder of the evening.
Heat 4:
1. 51-Rahmer(2), 2. 69k-Kreitz(1), 3. Layton(3), 4. 22-Hodnett(6), 5. 0-Lafferty(5), 6. 15-Wilt(8), 7. 3w-Moody(4), 8. 3-Bennett(7)
Wilt stops in turn two on initial start. After the restart, Kreitz leads lap 1 with Rahmer moving to the top spot on lap 2. Wilt moves up to 6th on lap 2. Bennett pulls in on lap 4. No passing after this point and Rahmer takes a heat win for the second consecutive week. Kreitz stayed close throughout.
Montieth is determined to be high points man and draws a 6 tonight, putting the Keen Motorsports car and driver Daryn Pittman on the pole for the feature event.
Consolation:
1. 15-Wilt(1), 2. 75-Ely(2), 3.11c-Haas(4), 4. 48-Dietrich(8), 5. 8m-Meleason(3), 6. 3w-Moody(7), 7. 45-A.J. Michael(6) 8. 25-Ott(5), DNS. 1-S.Smith, 3-Bennett, 7m-M.Smith, 14-Dodson, 65-Mackison
Wilt leads the distance. Caution for Dietrich stopping on lap 2. Ott passes Hass for last transfer on lap 6. 45 pulls into pits on lap 7, meanwhile Ott spins in turn two on lap 8 and lays the car on its side. Ott is uninjured, but concedes the final transfer back to Haas. On the restart, Haas passes Meleason for 3rd and Dietrich starts working the 8m for 4th. The 48 gets past the 8m on lap 9 but Meleason regains the spot a half lap later. In the final turn Dietrich again passes Meleason to take the last transfer into tonight’s feature event.
Feature:
1. 5w-Wolfe(3), 2. 21-Montieth(6), 3. 51-Rahmer(5), 4. 17-Pittman(1), 5. 22-Hodnett(10), 6. 5g-C.Michael(2), 7. 87-Krimes(12) 8. 30c-Dewease(17), 9. 17b-Buckwalter(4), 10. 7-Layton(14) 11. 27-Walker(9), 12. 0-Lafferty(18), 13. 69k-Kreitz(11), 14. 39-Esh(15), 15. 15-Wilt(21), 16. 75-Ely(22), 17. 48-Dietrich(24) 18. 19m-Marks(19), 19. 35-Henderson(8), 20. 3h-Cannon(7), 21. 88-Shaffer(20) 22. 71-Leppo(13), 23. 11c-Haas(23),24. 07-Coldren(16)
17 leads early with 5g and 5w close behind. 21 up to 4th after 4 laps. 5w passes 5g for 2nd on lap 5 and the 21 moves past 5g on lap 6. Montieth begins gaining on the leaders as they have lap traffic just in front of them. On lap 9, Wolfe dives under Pittman in three to take the lead. In turns one and two Montieth goes high with Pittman on the bottom giving the 5w the opportunity to pull away a little bit. On lap 11 for the leaders, Dietrich spins and completes a full 360 just as they are approaching. 5w loses all momentum avoiding the spinning car and the top 4 are now bunched up with the running order 5w, 17, 21, 51, 5g. Pittman gets under Wolfe in 3 and Wolfe crosses over in 4 to retain the lead. Going through turn two on lap 12, the top 3 are so close you could throw a blanket over them. Rahmer is not far behind. 21 passes the 17 down the backstretch and then gets low under the 5w in turn three. Wolfe holds-on down the front stretch but both drift high in one and two allowing Pittman to jump to the bottom to move past Montieth and race side-by-side with Wolfe down the back chute on lap 13. Montieth goes back around Pittman as Rahmer moves into the battle. 51 passes 17 for 3rd on lap 14 and moves even with the 21 on the backstretch. 5w, 21, 51, 17 all in laped traffic and Rahmer takes 2nd on lap 15 allowing Wolfe to pull out to a 15 car-lengths lead. Running order with 17 down: 5w, 51, 21, 17, 5g, 22, 87, 30c, 27, 39, 17b. Hodnett moves into the top 5 passing Michael on lap 19. Wolfe is now ahead by 20 car-lengths. Montieth regains the runner-up position on lap 20. Buckwalter and Layton are fighting it out for 11th. Cannon brings out the first caution on lap 22. RO: 5w, 21, 51, 17, 22, 5g, 87, 30c, 27, 39, 17b, 7, 0, 69k, 35 are all lead lap cars with 15, 75, 48, 19m still on the track but not on the lead lap. On the initial restart, Wolfe went high in turn one, with Montieth in the middle and Rahmer trying low. However, this start was waved off since the lapped car of Wilt was supposed to be in front of Rahmer. With the cars ordered correctly, the second restart saw Wolfe get a better jump, pulling out to a 10 car-lengths lead. Henderson’s motor went south on the restart but he was able to get back to the pits and Wolf led the final 3 lap unchallenged.
The win was Wolfe’s 9th career at the Speedway, moving him even with Paul Pitzer, Jeff Shepard, Steve Siegel, Mark Smith and Bobby Weaver on the all-time list. The win also broke a winless drought going back to the season finale of 2007, just prior to joining the WoO tour full-time.
Notes:
Jason Covert won the Late Model feature
Lots of motor problems but I can’t say I am surprised considering the bitter cold temperatures at race time
410/358 doube-dip at The Grove next week
Handicapping starts next week for 410s
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