MECHANICSBURG, PA (May 29, 2026):  For the first time in its eighty-seven year history, Williams Grove Speedway welcomed a father and a son into victory lane on the same night. Lance Dewease, of Fayetteville, scored his 118th career win and second of the season in the hadlining 410 Sprint Car division. Cole Dewease, also of Fayetteville, recorded his first career win and first of the season in the PASS 305 Sprint Cars. Father and son each started from the pole position and led the entire distance in their respective events.

“It went pretty good from the start,” Lance Dewease said. “It rubbered up pretty good,” he added. “I figured if I could beat Brock (Zearfoss) into (turn) one, we’d be OK.”

Lance Dewease noted that “the cautions helped me out, it got the lapped cars off the bottom.” He explained that when he was pacing himself off the lapped cars, things got a little congested ahead of him, and he slowed down, but his car stopped working. So, he needed to pick up his pace and he was able to do that without the lapped cars ahead of him.

The feature line-up was established per the speedweek format. The top eight starting positions were reserved for the four heat winners and the fastest qualifier from each heat race.

Dewease drew the pole, with Zearfoss on his flank. Chad Trout and Brent Shearer were slotted into row two, followed by Chase Dietz and Danny Dietrich. The final preferred positions went to Cameron Smith, who was making his second start in Jacob Allen’s 1a, and the current point leader, Troy Wagaman, Jr. Buddy Schweibinz and Logan Rumsey made up row five, with Preston Lattomus and Ryan Smith right behind them.

Dewease rolled into turn one ahead of Zearfoss, who fell in line behind him. Shearer, Dietrich, Trout, Dietz, Cameron Smith, Wagaman, Schweibinz, and Rumsey made up the balance of the top ten in the early going.

Dewease built his lead over Zearfoss to almost .3 seconds through the first ten laps. During that time, Dietrich moved into third on lap eight and Dietz took over fourth one lap later. Shearer continued in fifth.

The first caution was displayed on lap ten for a spin by J.J. Loss in turn one.

The racers remained in the same running order for three quarters of a lap under the renewed green. However, Dietz got under Dietrich in turn four to take over the third spot.

In the middle stage of the race, Dietz closed in on Zearfoss. Dietz claimed the runner-up position on lap twenty-one. At that time, he trailed Dewease by more than .6 seconds.

Zearfoss tangled with Shearer on lap twenty-three while battling for the fourth position. Zearfoss  spun around in turn two, but somehow he managed to keep his car moving. Nonetheless, the caution came out and he was sent to the rear of the field for the restart. Although Zearfoss had a collapsed nose wing for his troubles, he was able to continue.

The field realigned for a two-lap dash to the checkers. Dewease had the point, followed by Dietz, Dietrich, Shearer, and Wagaman.

Dewease got away cleanly and he maintained his advantage to the checkers. He became the first repeat winner in the brief history of the PA Posse Sprint Car Series. Dietz, who leads the series points, was nearly 1.6 seconds behind him on the final trip around the venerable oval. Dietrich, Shearer, and Wagaman completed the top five. Trout, Cameron Smith, Rumsey, Schweibinz, and Justin Whittall were the next five finishers.

Kody Hartlaub was the hard charger, passing six competitors on his way to thirteenth. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. matched that feat, but he was right behind Hartlaub at the checkers.

Dietrich, Dewease, Cameron Smith, and Trout were the heat winners. Austin Bishop prevailed in the B Main. Chase Dietz was the top qualifier on the night. His lap of 17.357 topped Group A. Zearfoss led Group B with a time of 17.678 seconds. Thirty-two racers entered the event.

Cole Dewease sat on the pole for the PASS IMCA 305 Sprint finale. Croix Beasom was his partner. Mike Melair and Chris Meleason were in row two, followed by Kenny Heffner and Landon Price. Jonathan Swift and Chris Dolan manned row four. Then came Zach Rhodes and Tyler Brehm.

Cole Dewease followed the exact same strategy as his father did at the start. He entered turn one on the bottom and quickly established a lead over Beasom. Meleason, Price, and Melair made up the early top five.

Meleason moved into second four laps into the contest. Beasom continued in third through lap thirteen, when the only caution flew. Melair and Rhodes were fourth and fifth at the time.

Cole Dewease drove away from Meleason on the restart. Beasom struggled after the race resumed, and he fell out of the top five. Melair, Rhodes, and Duke moved ahead.

Cole Dewease built a lead of almost 3.3 seconds in the closing laps. Meleason, Melair, Rhodes, and Duke rounded out the top five. Dolan, Logan Spahr, Brehm, Beasom, and Mike Alleman were sixth through tenth at the finish.

Cole Dewease noted that the caution was an opportune development for him because it got him out of lapped traffic. “I was fast enough in the rubber,” he added.

Erin Statler, who finished thirteenth, was the hard charger. She passed seven cars during the twenty lapper.

Brehm, Dolan, and Rhodes won the heat races for the twenty-eight car field. Tyler Erdley copped the B Main.

IMPERIAL, PA (May 28, 2026):  A.J. Flick romped to his second straight win in the Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. This one came at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and it was worth $4,000. It was his second win of the season at PPMS and his fifth overall. Flick now has sole possession of the most career Speedweek wins–eight–breaking a tie with Dale Blaney.

“The number two pill made my life so much easier,” Flick said. Ironically, while the pill draw was in progress, the track crew was working on the outside line. Their efforts produced a lightning fast groove at the very top of the track. Flick added that “the track prep really made a difference.”

Without the track prep, Flick thought that the track was going to take rubber. “But, it was go, go, go.” He explained that he did not dare to slow his pace as the race went on, despite his commanding lead, because “I knew that the 49 (driven by Cale Thomas) and the 98 (driven by Ricky Peterson, Jr.) would be coming.”

The track prep did require Flick to change his approach to the set-up on his car. “We had to go backwards on the set-up to go with what would have been better early in the night (when there was still moisture in the surface).”

Thomas, who recorded his second consecutive runner-up finish of Speedweek, commented “it was super fun. Hats off to the track crew, they did a good job bringing the surface back to life.”

The third place finisher, Ricky Peterson, Jr., agreed. He added, “we’re just tring to get better each night, We’re just chipping away at it. We’re giving it 110% effort.”

Unfortunately, both Thomas and Peterson will be missing from Speedweek action in the days ahead due to prior commitments to race elsewhere with Ohio-based tours. Thomas will compete with the All Star Circuit of Champions on Friday in Indiana, and Peterson will be in action with the FAST Series in Ohio, weather permitting. Both drivers anticipate returning to complete the Western PA Speedweek after they satisfy their other obligations.

Once again, the first ten starting positions were reserved for the heat winners and fast qualifiers. The random draw placed Michael Bauer on the pole, with Flick as his running mate. Jason Shultz and Carl Bowser were next in line, followed by defending Speedweek champion, Jeremy Weaver, and Peterson. Dale Blaney drew into row four, along with Mark Smith, The final preferred spots went to Thomas and Brandon Matus. Billy Dietrich and Brandon Spithaler earned sixth row starts based upon their heat race finishes.

Flick reached turn one ahead of Bauer on the opening lap of the race, which was shortened to twenty circuits due to anticipated fuel consumption. Flick planted the right rear tire of his machine in the freshly manicured top groove.

Bauer, known as the Professor, tucked into second, also on the high line, but he was already several car lengths behind the leader by the completion of lap one. Schultz, Bowser, Peterson, Thomas, Blaney, Smith, Brandon Matus, and Weaver followed suit.

Flick stretched his advantage over Bauer in the clean air. Bowser advanced to third in the early laps. Thomas and Blaney also moved ahead of Shultz. Bowser picked up the second position by the midpoint of the race. Meanwhile, Thomas and Peterson were also moving forward in the running order.

Despite racing through traffic in the closing laps, Flick grew his lead to more than 3.7 seconds at the checkers. Thomas and Peterson supplanted Bowser, and Smith came on strong to nab fifth at the finish. Shultz, Blaney, Spithaler, Brandon Matus, and Jacob Begenwald rounded out the top ten.

Veteran Carmen Perigo was the hard charger, passing eight cars on his way to twelfth.

Three heats were needed for the twenty-eight cars that registered for the event. The winners were Brandon Matus, Thomas, and Flick. David Kalb scored the win in the B Main. Dale Blaney was the evening’s fastest qualifier, at 16.204 seconds. Astonishingly, he was more than a second faster than any other competitor.

The support was provided by the Woah Nellie Modified Series. Jonathan Taylor registered the win aboard his new Lethal Chassis. The other podium finishers, Mason Lobb, and Dan Davies, were also driving the same brand of car.

Jonathan Taylor wrestled the lead away from his brother, Evan, on the opening lap. Evan ran in second for the first sixteen laps. One lap after Lobb moved into second, a caution was thrown for debris on the speedway. That wiped out Jonathan Talor’s lead of more than four seconds.

On the restart, Lobb and Davies applied pressure to Jonathan Taylor, However, within a lap or so, Jonathan regained his momentum and he began to slip away from them.

Ty Rhoades charged into the fourth position in the final eight laps of the race. Evan Taylor held on for fifth. Coleton Longwell, David Stremme, Andre Leyfield, Wyatt Scott, and Andrew Hammond completed the top ten.

Evan Taylor won the dash over his brother, Jonathan, who made some spectacular slide jobs to reach second. The heat wins went to Leyfield and Longwell. There was no B Main needed for the fifteen cars. Jonathan Taylor was the fastest qualifier with a time of 21.155 seconds.

MERCER, PA (May 25, 2026):  For the first time since Tyler Beichner resurrected Western Pennsylvania Speedweek, Michaels Mercer Raceway actually hosted the opening round of the mini series. Surprisingly, the last completed Speedweek event at the seventy-five year old facility was in the year 2000, when Mark Keegan won under the All Stars banner. All of the recent, unsanctioned attempts fell to rain.

A.J. Flick, a stalwart in the region, defended the home turf, earning $5,000 and establishing himself as a favorite to earn the $3,000 championship at the end of the five race skien.

The third generation racer from Apollo, PA earned his sixth career victory at the tricky Mercer oval. It was his fourth of the season, three coming in his own car and the other while substituting for Mike Walter, Jr. in Central PA. Moreover, Flick moved into a tie with Hall of Famer Dale Blaney with seven Speedweek victories overall.

“This one is special,” Flick commented. “I love this week. It is so much fun. The Western PA guys get to race for some good money.” He said that he enjoys the added competition whenever different racers drop in for the week. He noted that there were some All Stars in the field and a couple of racers from Central PA.

He added, “I never thought we’d come out on top tonight. We got a good time, but I sucked in the heat.” He credited his father, Mark, for making the right calls to get the car better for the feature event.

Flick was fast when he needed to be. In the early going, he quickly advanced to the top five from his eighth starting spot. After taking over second on lap twelve, he began chopping away at Dan Kuriger’s advantage. Flick inherited the lead after Kuriger’s crash in turn four one lap later. He then chased down Logan McCandless in traffic to regain the lead, and he held off late race charge from Cale Thomas to preserve the victory.

The first ten starting positions were reserved for the heat race winners and fast qualifiers. They were awarded by a random draw. The racers lucky enough to land on the front row were Kuriger and McCandless. Carl Bowser and Michael Bauer were in row two, Brandon Matus shared the third row with one of the invaders, Mark Smith. Then came Thomas and Flick. The final preferred spots went to Cody Bova and Adam Kekich. Ricky Peterson, Jr. and Darren Naida occupied row six for the start of the thirty lapper.

Kuriger jumped out to the lead at the start of the event. McCandless raced in second, but he was being pressed by the professor, Bauer. Bowser, Smith, Flick, Matus, Thomas, Bova, and Peterson followed. Soon thereafter, Flick reached fourth with a couple of nifty moves on the outside.

A pair of cautions, on laps eight and nine, renewed opportunities for McCandless to overtake Kuriger. The second incident involved Bowser and Peterson, both of whom were racing in the top ten at the moment of impact in turn two. Peterson was eliminated, but Bowser was able to continue after pitting for some repairs.

Kuriger was up to the task, opening up leads of several car lengths each time. Meanwhile, Flick was taking looks to the inside of Bauer for third. He succeeded in ducking under Bauer on lap ten. Two laps later, he darted past McCandless for second.

Flick was closing in on Kuriger when misfortune struck the leader. A mechanical failure in turn four resulted in hard impact with the water barrels, ending Kuriger’s attempt to snap a four-year victory drought at Mercer.

“It sucked for Dan (Kuriger),” Flick graciously noted. “He’s been good all year. I was looking forward to going toe to toe with him. I don’t know what happened to him”

While Flick got the jump on McCandless on the restart, McCandless stayed close in clean air. McCandless shot past Flick on the outside of turn two on lap sixteen. It was looking like the hometown favorite, McCandless, might book the upset victory, but he began to struggle when he caught the backmarkers. Flick reeled him in. Flick regained the lead while slicing and dicing through traffic on lap twenty-two.

“I needed that traffic,” Flick explained. “If I didn’t have that, Logan (McCandless) would have won. I needed to keep him in dirty air. I was driving along in the middle and he went right by me on the outside.”

In the second half of the contest, Thomas began his march to the front. Before Kuriger’s misfortune, Thomas was fighting with Smith and Matus for the fifth position. However, after that lap thirteen restart for Kuriger, Thomas broke free from them. He was third at the halfway mark. It took him several more laps to overtake McCandless for second.

Thomas closed in on Flick in the final five trips around the egg-shaped oval. Flick used the lapped cars perfectly  to ensure that Thomas had no open lanes to make a bid for the lead.

Flick was not worried about passing the lappers that he encountered late in the race. He knew that, as long as he stayed beside the slower cars, there would not be any openings for Thomas to try to make a pass.

Thomas remarked that the early laps made the difference in the outcome of the race. “I started seventh. A.J. got the high side going and I got stuck behind some guys.”

McCandless was pleased with his third place finish, saying that his road trips gave him more confidence whenever he returned to race locally. He explained that his crew swapped engines after a problem early in the night.

Flick, and others, gave props to the Mercer track crew for a smooth, racy surface. They noted that the new clay provided more banking in turns two and four, opening up new passing lanes.

Flick took the checkers ahead of Thomas, McCandless, Bauer, and Bova. Smith slipped to sixth, followed by John Jerich, Naida, Matus, and Kekich.

Leyton Wagner was the hard charger, passing nine cars on his way to a twelfth place finish.

Bova, Matus, Kuriger, and Smith won the four heat races for the thirty-four 410s on hand. Wagner took the checkers in the B Main. Kekich was the fastest qualifier of the night, topping Group A with a lap of 13.739. Brandon Spithaler was the best of Group B. His time was 14.107 seconds.

In the heat races, Jeremy Kornbau and Jacob Begenwald flipped in turn two. While Begenwald was able to make repairs and salvage a transfer from the B Main, Kornbau was done for the night. Neither driver was injured.

Veteran Eric Gabany won the non-stop twenty lapper for the DIRTcar 602 Sportsmen Modifieds. Gabany, from Mercer, has scored wins in several different versions of Modifieds at his home track. He remarked, “I’ve been coming here for twenty years. I didn’t know if I was going to be here this season.” After the death of his car owner, Gabany was seemingly left without a ride. But, he stepped up to buy the car before the season started.

Gabany wrestled the lead away from Jordan Eherenberg on the opening lap and was never headed. Teenager Logen Lockhart moved ahead of Ehrenberg in the early laps, but he never challenged for the win. Ehrenberg was third, followed by Chas Wolbert and Brian Shaffer. Kole Holden, Caden Petry, Todd English, Nolan Burns, and Darin Gallagher rounded out the top ten.

Gabany, English, and Lockhart won the heat races. The twenty-one car field did not require a B Main.

Jammin’ John Mollick picked up the nightcap for the RUSH Sprint Cars. “We just got a lucky starting spot,” said the driver from Toronto, OH. “We did what we needed to do.”

Mollick fought off Arnie Kent in turn one on the opening lap and opened a comfortable lead. Kent raced in second the entire way, fighting off Grayson Bayle midway through the twenty lapper. Zach Morrow was third, then Bayle and Gale Ruth, Jr. Luke Mulichak, Lucas Roessner, Curt Emings, Ashton Riggle, and Charlie Utsinger made up the balance of the top ten.

Ruth, Kent, and Samantha Priest won the heat races. Twenty cars did not warrant a B Main.

Mercer will be off until June 6. The 410s will be back for the Bob McClay Tribute Summer Blowout, along with 305 Sprints, 602 Crate Modifieds, and Mini Stocks.