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Larson Succeeds at Grandview

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BECHTELSVILLE, PA (June 30, 2020 Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Kyle Larson finally broke through the barriers that kept him from reaching victory lane so far in the 30th Annual Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek. He scored his third win in four years on the high banks of Grandview Speedway, earning $10,000 in the process. Larson also left the speedway with the points lead heading into round six at Port Royal Speedway. He took the lead with just two laps remaining in the contest foiling the bid by third generation driver Freddie Rahmer, Jr.

“Owen (Larson’s son) has been giving me a lot of crap the last few nights about finishing second and then sixth,” the happy victor said. “I guess he won’t have too much to say on the ride tonight,” he added with a laugh. When asked why he has had so much success at Grandview, Larson noted “well, it IS the shortest track in PA, and that helps coming from California.”

Larson was chasing Rahmer as the laps wound down. He tried two sliders entering turn one on successive restarts, but he was unable to make them stick. “I knew that I couldn’t pass him because he was setting such a good pace,” Larson said. “On the restarts, I didn’t want to follow him off the top and go over the shelf and I could come off two (on the bottom) and leave myself some room,” he explained. Larson then added that he was concerned that if he left the bottom line open, Sammy Swindell might have been able to pass him.

The front half of the field was laden with talent for the 35 lap race. Christopher Bell drew the pole and Rahmer was next to him. Larson lined up third with Swindell beside him. Then came Aaron Reutzel and Danny Dietrich. Brock Zearrfoss and Ryan Smith were in row four, followed by Logan Wagner and Anthony Macri. Lucas Wolfe and Lance Dewease, two pre-race favorites, were mired in rows six and seven, respectively.

As expected, Bell blasted into the lead when the green light flashed on. He immediately opened up a comfortable margin over Rahmer, Swindell, Larson, and Dietrich. Smith and Reutzel kept Zearfoss and Wagner at bay.

Bell had everything going his way for the first five laps. That is, until Kyle Reinhardt slowed in turn one immediately ahead of him. Bell had nowhere to go and clipped Reinhardt’s disabled racer as he went by. Bell sustained a flat right rear and pitted for a new tire. However, other damage was too severe to be fixed, so he was out for the rest of the race.

That handed the lead over to Rahmer for the restart. Swindell lined up behind him, followed by Larson, Dietrich, and Smith. When the green came out Swindell looked to the inside but he was unable to get by Rahmer. The wily veteran was looking for an opportunity to make the pass, but another caution slowed the pace. Reinhardt was involved in a turn three shunt with Rico Abreu and both were eliminated. Robert Ballou also spun but he was able to resume the race.

The racers got six more laps recorded before the next stoppage for Brett Michalski slowing in turn four. Rahmer held sway throughout while Swindell and Larson were starting to mix things up. Dietrich and Smith likewise were racing side by side when the caution was displayed.

The top five stayed in that order for the next twelve circuits. However, at the end of that run, Larson zipped by Swindell for second and Smith worked his way past Dietrich for fourth. It was during this portion of the race that Dewease started his march forward. He reached seventh before the caution came out.

Larson’s dive bombing runs into turn one did not pay off on the restarts. He chased Rahmer until lap 33, when he was able to make the low side work to his advantage. He slid up ahead of Rahmer and it was all over but the victory celebration.

Rahmer followed Larson across the finish line. Swindell turned in his best run of the week so far, nabbing third. Smith held off Dietrich for fourth. Dewease made one more pass to earn the sixth spot in the pay-off line. Zearfoss, Reutzel, Macri, and Logan Wagner completed the top ten.

Smith, Swindell, Zearfoss, and Dietrich copped the preliminaries. Rico Abreu dominated the B Main. Bell was the night’s fastest qualifier turning in a lap of 11.552 seconds.

The track’s 358 Modifieds provided the support tonight, and it was outstanding. Ryan Watt battled the early leader, Kevin Hirthler, for nineteen laps. Lurking close behind were the likes of Craig von Dohren, Jeff Strunk, and Ryan Kressley. Unfortunately, Kressly got hooked up with a lapped car coming off turn four and they came to a stop entering turn one bringing out the first caution of the race. Another quick caution set up the stretch run for Watt with no traffic ahead of him. Strunk muscled by Hirthler, but he was no match for Watt. Von Dohren crossed in third, followed by Hirthler and Doug Manmiller.

Grandview Speedway will be in action Saturday night with the Freedom 40 for the Sportsmen Stock Cars. The 358 Modifieds will also be on the card. Speedweek will resume at Port Royal Speedway for round six on Wednesday. Joining the 410 Sprints will be the 360 Sprints of the United Racing Club.

Dirt Racing

Dietz Does It, Leads Posse Sweep

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Photo by Paul Arch

MECHANICSBURG, PA (October 3, 2025) – Chase Dietz, of York, PA, led a Posse sweep of four of the top five positions on night number one of the National Open Weekend at Williams Grove Speedway. Joining Dietz on the front stretch were second place finisher, Lance Dewease, and the third place runner, Danny Dietrich. Justin Whittall was fifth in the race. The only card carrying Outlaw was Carson Macedo, who led the first twenty-one laps before fading to fourth at the finish.

“I just want to soak it in,” Dietz said as he tried to catch his beath following the exhilarating victory, his first ever against the travelling band. Although Dietz noted that he had speed all year at the Grove, his team assembled a new car this week and, in doing so, they made a lot of changes. “The car was very maneuverable.”

Although Dietz ran most of the race in the top groove, he admitted, “I knew that the bottom was going to come in. I knew that I had to get down there before Lance (Dewease) did. I saw his nose.” As it turned out, Dietz barely got to the bottom ahead of Dewease, forcing the cagy veteran to move to the middle in the closing laps.

“We’re just extremely grateful to be here, this sport can be very humbling,” Dietz added. Even last year, when he was running his own cars, Dietz explained that they fought hard to be competitive with the Outlaws. Although they were winless, they showed good speed and had a podium finish against the Outlaws in the 2024 National Open. “I looked back at the nights when we didn’t win, and I tried to figure out what we needed to do to bet better.”

Dewease, who followed Dietz into second on lap twenty-two and wh briefly challenged him for the lead, commented, “the last three or four laps I wasn’t very good. The lapped cars made it interesting.”

Dietrich, who completed the podium for the Posse, felt that he may have had the fastest car in the final laps but, he added, “things didn’t go my way.” He explained that, when he did pass Dewease, he did not get enough of a gap on him, and that let him (Dewease) get back in.”

Macedo drew the pole for the Dash and his win in that event placed him on the pole for the twenty-five lap preliminary, which paid $12,000 to the winner. Dietrich lined up on his right, Dewease and Dietz made up row two, followed by David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid. Diason Pursley and Justin Whittall stacked our row four. Then came Daryn Pittman and Bill Balog. Row six paired Kody Hartlaub with Justin Peck.

The back of the field was almost as impressive as the first six rows. Back there were racers such as Kerry Madsen (fourteenth), Giovanni Scelzi (sixteenth), Brock Zearfoss (seventeenth), Brent Marks (eighteenth), Ryan Timms (nineteenth), Freddie Rahmer, Jr. (twentieth), Sheldon Haudenschild (twenty-first), Logan Schuchart (twenty-first), and Troy Wagaman (twenty-sixth).

Macedo held off Dietrich in turn one to assume control of the race. Dietz ran in third on the opening lap, but he drove under Dietrich in turn four to take over second one lap later. Dewease ran along in fourth, followed by Kofoid, Gravel, Whittall, Pittman, Pursley, and Balog in the early going.

The running order was pretty static through the first five or six laps. The top ten had a major shake-up on lap seven, though. Something broke on Pittman’s car in turn three, and he spun wildly toward the outside wall. In the process, he collected Pursley, Balog, and Hartlaub. Pittman and Pursely retired from the race due to the damage incurred, but Balog and Hartlaub were able to rejoin the field for the restart after pitting for repairs.

That fracas was the only caution of the race.

Macedo and Dietz resumed the battle for the lead on the restart. However, one lap later, Dewease moved into third, ahead of Dietrich, Kofoid, and Gravel. Whittall, Peck, Scelzi, and Rahmer made up the balance of the top ten. At that juncture, Wagaman was about six positions behind Rahmer in their race within the race for the point championship.

Through the middle stage of the race, Dietz began to close in on Macedo. Dewease continued in third, several car lengths behind the leaders. Dietrich was about the same distance back in fourth.

Dietz caught up to Macedo with about five or six laps remaining in the contest. He managed to pass Macedo on the inside of turn three on lap twenty-one, but Macedo countered in turn four to regain the lead.

Macedo dove to the inside heading into turn one, but he scrubbed off spme speed. Dietz was able to get some momentum coming through turn two and that propelled hin down the backstretch. He slid Macedo for the lead coming through turns three and four, and Dewease followed in his tire tracks to take over second coming off turn four.

Dietz missed the bottom entering turn one, and Dewease poked his nose under him going through the turn, Dietz recovered, and he got a good run off turn two to preserve his lead. Dietz then committed to the low line for the final laps, requiring Dewease to move more toward the middle of the track.

Dietrich dispatched Macedo and he got a run on Dewease near the end of the race. However, Dewease was able to reclaim second soon thereafter.

At the finish, it was Dietz by a tad under eight tenths of a second over Dewease. Dietrich was third, followed by Macedo and Whittall. Kofoid, Gravel, Scelzi,Peck, and Marks completed the top ten.

Rahmer was eleventh, and Wagaman sixteenth. Although Wagaman was the hard charger at plus ten, he lost valuable points to Rahmer. The two racers will be separated by 125 points, unofficially, heading into Saturday’s season finale.

Heat wins were scored by Gravel, Kofoid, Dewease, and Pursley. Ryan Newton won the non-qualifiers race. Kyle Spence recovered from a tipover in his heat race to capture the C Main. The B Main went to Haudenschild. Gravel was the evening’s fastest qualifier, with a lap of 16.409 seconds topping Group A. Dewease timed the best in Group B, with a lap of 16.760 seconds. Fifty-six cars participated in the event.

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Dirt Racing

Dale Blaney Wins World Of Outlaws At Sharon Speedway

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Photo by Paul Arch

HARTFORD, OH (September 27, 2025) – Dale Blaney had the hometown crowd on their feet and screaming after winning the World of Outlaws feature Saturday Night at Sharon Speedway, the track owned for years by the Blaney family.

Blaney started fifth and passed Cole Macedo on lap 11 for the lead then held off a furious last lap charge by Buddy Kofoid to win by just 0.136 seconds for the $12,000 payday!

The victory was Blaney’s first World of Outlaws victory in 10-years, becoming the oldest winner in Series history at 61 years 7 months and 28 days. Blaney broke the previous record set by his older brother Dave when he won at 58 years of age in 2021 at Sharon.

“There’re so many good young race car drivers out here, but to win a race at 61 (years old) is awesome,” said Blaney. ““I had the feeling that I was never going to win an Outlaw race ever again.  I don’t race much. This is our sixth race this year. I haven’t run in seven weeks. The car was awesome. We just got it back together this week. I don’t know what to say. It’s great and cool to win this at Sharon Speedway- it’s the only place I’ve run this year. This is a special freaking night. I know that.”

“I wanted traffic,” said Kofoid. “My car is usually amazing in traffic. He slipped up, and then I kind of got in his air and got me slipped up. And then I hit the wall coming to the checkered, and it shot me down the track. I tried to send it and was close. I’m just happy for Dale and Dave.”

Sheldon Haudenschild finished third follow by WoO points leader David Gravel in fourth.  Logan Schuchart rounded out the Top 5.

The night however belonged to the Blaney family, who fittingly closed out the the first year of the new ownership group of Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney, and Will Thomas III in Victory Lane.

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Dirt Racing

Rain Halts Fallen Heroes Memorial at Lincoln Speedway

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File Photo

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA (September 27, 2025):  A persistent, localized drizzle forced a stoppage of the Fallen Heroes Memorial at the Lincoln Speedway. The event, which was originally dubbed the Fallen Firefighters Memorial, was expanded to give tribute to the three York County police officers recently slain while serving a subpoena.

Brett and Jordan Strickler, policemen in the area, honored the fallen officers on the wings of their 410 Sprint Cars.

The 410 Sprint Cars were ready to take to the track for their feature event when the rain set in for the second time of the night. A brief shower interrupted the heat races for the 358 Sprint Cars. However, after the rain stopped, the track crew and push truck operators quickly prepared the surface so that all qualifications could be completed.

The line-ups for both feature races are set, and the events will be completed on October 18, along with the full program for both divisions in the Final 50. So, fans will be treated to four features that evening.

The point races in both divisions will conclude on October 18.

Dallas Schott, Kyle Moody, and Billy Dietrich won the heat races for the 410 Sprinters. Ryan “Fig” Newton prevailed in the B Main. Troy Wagaman, Jr. was the fastest qualifier of the twenty-nine cars on hand. His time was an astonishing 12.855 seconds. He was one of four racers to turn sub-thirteen second laps.

In the 358 Sprint Car preliminaries, the checkers waved for Cameron Merriman, Logan Spahr, and Cody Fletcher. There were twenty-one 358 Sprints checked in for the contest.

On October 4, Lincoln Speedway will present AMA Flat Track Motorcycles and Quads. There will be no auto races in consideration of the National Open to be held at Williams Grove Speedway. The World of Outlaws will take on the Pennsylvania Posse on October 11. The Lincoln season will conclude with the blockbuster event, the Final 50 plus the held over features.

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