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Brown Takes Second Night of Knoxville Nationals

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KNOXVILLE, IA (August 12, 2021): Brian Brown withstood a two-hour rain delay at the start of the night and he was ahead of all the carnage that occurred during the A Main on night two of the Knoxville Nationals. The early attrition helped Kyle Larson advance through the field quickly on his way to second place.

The A Main had Sam Hafertepe, Jr. on the pole with Sye Lynch on the outside. Paul McMahan lined up third with Brown in fourth. Brent Marks and Carson Macedo made up the third row. Brad Sweet and Tyler Courtney were in the fourth and Kraig Kinser and T.J. Stutts were in the fifth. Row six belonged to Shane Stewart and Parker Price-Miller.

It took three tries to get the race started, and Brown seemed impatient. “I wanted to get that race going, I couldn’t get going very well.” Indeed, he fell back on both attempted starts. He was fortunate that a caution for Stewart wiped out the first and then a spectacular crash by Price-Miller nullified the second. When the race did get going, Brown found himself in second, behind Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Marks was third, followed by Lynch, Courtney and Rico Abreu.

The action was stopped on the second lap for a huge wreck between turns three and four. Macedo rode the inside berm before shooting across the track into McMahan, causing both cars to turn over. Macedo lost his fuel tank and McMahan developed a fuel leak, As other cars piled in, McMahan’s car caught fire. He was able to climb out before things became too hot. Fortunately, the fire crew was on the scene quickly and the fire did not spread to any other cars. Although cars were strewn all over the track, Sammy Swindell was trying to negotiate through the maze when his car was hit from behind and he also tumbled. Somehow, Larson was able to pick his way through the wreckage. Remarkably, no drivers were hurt in the crash. McMahan was taken in for a check-up, however.

When racing resumed, Brown was able to power by Hafertepe. Marks did the same one lap later. Hafertepe held third for the rest of the first half of the race. However, he lost the spot to Courtney and then Sweet went charging by. Abreu followed as well and there was a good battle going on for the third spot.

Swindell stopped on the backstretch for the final caution of the night. That allowed Larson to close the gap. Soon he was racing in fourth. He moved up a notch when Courtney retired a lap or two later.

Brown was cruising, as was Marks. But Larson chased him down and took over the second spot with ten laps remaining. Although Larson cut into Brown’s lead, the margin was too substantial for any late-race heroics by Larson.

Brown took the win, which was a big relief to him. “This is a big event and it has been a while since I think I was in contention,” he said. He then confided that he was chewed out by his crew chief, his uncle Danny Lasoski, “for not running the car hard enough” on Monday at Oskaloosa, where he finished second to Larson. “I was going to run the wheels off,” he said with a laugh.

Larson salvaged a good points night despite some hardships. “I dug myself a hole in the heat race and fell back. I had to pass some good cars to get fifth.” That was good enough to get him onto the front row of the B Main, which he easily won. “Then, I was just hoping to do what Logan did, go twenty-first to seventh.” But the crashes and misfortunes of others all worked to his advantage. “Let’s call it tenth to second,” he said. Although his car was working good, Larson admitted to “overdriving” and “making mistakes,” and he observed that Brown did not make any on his way to the win.

Taking third was Marks, who “brought something completely different to the track tonight.” He explained that his team made a lot of changes to the car after the Capitani Classic and that the car felt good. “Hopefully, we can get it a little better,” he summed up.

Sweet and Abreu battled for fourth and fifth. Kasey Kahne also climbed from the last row to get sixth. Austin McCarl, Ian Madsen, Kinser, and Lynch completed the top ten.

Heat winners were Sammy Swindell, Sawyer Phillips, Greg Wilson, Skylar Prochaska, and Marcus Dumesny. Jack Dover won the C Main, and Larson topped the B. The evening’s fastest qualifier was Kahne, lapping in 15.142 seconds.

The top point getter this night was Sweet, at 481. Larson was just one behind. Marks checked in with 479 and Kahne tabbed 475. Brown scored 471, Ian Madsen 463, Courtney 460, Macedo 441, Lynch 436, and Kinser 432.

The drivers locked into the A Main for Saturday are: Scelzi, Sweet, Larson, Marks, Schatz, Gravel, Kahne, Schuchart, Brown, Ian Madsen, Tatnell, Courtney, McFadden, Henderson, Peck, and Dietrich.

Racers locked into the B Main for Saturday are Baughman, Macedo, Lynch, Bayston, Eliason, Kinser, McMahan, Kerry Madsen, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Hafertepe.

Four more spots in the A Main will be up for grabs during the Hard Knox program on Friday night.

A Main: Brian Brown, Kyle Larson, Brent Marks, Brad Sweet, Rico Abreu, Kasey Kahne, Austin McCarl, Ian Madsen, Kraig Kinser, Sye Lynch, Sawyer Phillips, Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Skylar Prochaska, Greg Wilson, T.J. Stutts, Mike Wagner, Tyler Courtney, Sammy Swindell, Paul McMahan, Carson Macedo, Marcus Dumesny, Kerry Madsen, Parker Price-Miller, Shane Stewart.

DNQ: Brock Zearfoss, Bill Balog, Lynton Jeffrey, Shane Golobic, Daryn Pittman, Chris Martin, Dustin Selvage, Noah Gass, Harli White, Colby Copeland, Logan Wagner, Jac Haudenschild, Jesse Attard, Jacob Allen, Bobby Mincer, Jeff Swindell, Jack Dover, Dylan Cisney, Matt Juhl, Scotty Thiel, Kevin Ingle, Tyler Esh, Cale Thomas, Tim Kaeding.

Dirt Racing

Marks Magnificent in Hodnett Classic at Port Royal

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Photo: Port Royal Speedway

PORT ROYAL, PA (July 25, 2026):  Brent Marks dominated the Greg Hodnett Classic at Port Royal Speedway to score a $15,000 victory on night number one of the Bob Weikert Memorial Weekend. Marks established himself as the odds on favorite to scoop up the $100,000 first prize.

Marks’ lead was almost 4.8 seconds before the only caution of the race. It was called prematurely on lap eighteen by a track official when Daison Pursley got out of shape in turn two. Pursley got his car righted and he was allowed to blend in where he was running after the caution.

Marks sped away from his rivals when the race resumed. Justin Peck moved into second with five laps remaining. Although Chase Dietz took over third on lap twenty-three, he was penalized to positions at the finish for being out of line for the restart. That moved Anthony Macri into third and Ryan Smith into fourth.

“The car was awesome all night,” Marks said. He timed in third in Group B, won his heat race, and ran away with the dash. He led all twenty-five laps of the feature event without any challenges.

“I wanted to make the top work a little more,” Marks noted. “Fortunately, there was a good cushion to help me out. After the caution, Marks came down off the top and ran in the middle for the final seven laps. His margin of victory was 1.035 seconds over Peck.

Peck, who came on strong in the final half of the race, mentioned, “I think we were fast from start to finish.” He was the fastest qualifier of the night, topping Group A with a lap of 15.862 seconds. He was second in his heat race and fourth in the dash. He added, “I haven’t felt this good at Port Royal since 2021.” He thought he could have squeezed a little more speed out of his car for the feature, “but, I was scared to get out of our window.”

Macri also thought that he had a good car. He commented, though, “I have to work on my tires under the yellow. I have to study.”

The dash finish set the first eight positions in the A Main. Marks and Macri occu[ied row one. They were followed by Dietz and Peck. Then came the championship contenders, Rico Abreu and Aaron Reutzel, in row three; and Pursley and Kerry Madsen, in row four. Ryan Smith and Giovanni Scelzi claimed row five based on their heat reace finishes. James McFadden and Danny Dietrich (who was sporting Weikert colors and the iconic number 29 tonight) departed from row six.

Marks jumped out to the early lead and he began to pull away from Macri. Peck and Dietz raced along in fourth and fifth, ahead of Abreu, Reutzel, Madsen, Smith, Scelzi, and Tyler Courtney.

The first five were unchanged through the first half of the race. Abreu and Reutzel battled for sixth, while Smith began to close in on them.

That premature caution on lap eighteen wiped away Marks’ advantage. Macri, Peck, Dietz, Smith, Reutzel, Abreu, Courtney, Madsen, and Scelzi were the announced starting order for the remaining seven laps. However, Dietz managed to position himself ahead of Peck for the restart, giving rise to the penalty imposed at the finish.

Dietz blasted into third on the restart. But Peck rallied and drove up to second by the finish. Macri was under attack from Smith in the closing laps and they were both moved ahead of Dietz in the finishing order.

Positions six through ten went to Logan Wagner, who was designated as the hard charger. He advanced sixteen positions over the course of the race. Most of his passed came after the restart. Abreu was seventh, followed by Reutzel, Courtney, and Madsen.

Madsen, Macri, Marks, and Pursley took the checkers in their respective heat races. Domenic Melair won the C Main. Cameron Smith took the honors in the B Main. Peck was the top qualifier, at 15.862. Abreu topped Group B with a time of 16.682 seconds. Forty-seven cars checked in for the event

Ageless Steve Wilbur went wire to wire to win the Wingless Sportsmen thirty lapper. He took the lead at the start and steadily pulled away to a seven second advantage. Brett Perigo moved into second on lap fifteen and he cut into the margin while Wilbur struggled with lapped traffic.

The lead was down to 1.666 seconds by the time the red came out for a spectacular crash involving Dexter Ehrenzeller and Donnie Farlling on the front stretch. Ehrenzeller’s car came to rest near the victory lane. He required medical attention and was transported to a nearby hospital. No report of his condition was available by the end of the program.

Tony Jackson followed Wilbur and Brett Perigo at the finish. Marty Brian and Sam Leonard, Jr. completed the top five. The nxt five finishers were Eric Wlaker, Curt Stroup, Scott Smith, Lee Kauffman, and Craig Perigo.

Jackson, Brian, and Brad Mellott tallied the heat race wins. There was no B Main needed to align the twenty-one car field.

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Dirt Racing

Dietz Finally Scores At Williams Grove

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Photo: Williams Grove Speedway

MECHANICSBURG, PA (July 24, 2026):  Chase Dietz finally got a win at Williams Grove Speedway. It was his seventeenth overall for the season and sixth in his career at the famous oval. The $6,000 triumph also extended his points lead in the fledgling PA Posse Series.

Dietz executed a perfect slider in turn four on lap thirteen to take the lead from the current Williams Grove points leader and defending track champion, Troy Wagaman, Jr. “You have to take your shot when you get it,” Dietz said.

Dietz commented that he tried to drive under Wagaman in turn one on the opening lap, but he could not pull off the pass. In fact, he lost a position to Anthony Macri in the process. He explained that the temporary setback “probably helped me, it pissed me off.”

He noted that “the track was pretty narrow with a good cushion.” But, he added, ”it was pretty dicey with those lapped cars. They want to run where you are.” Fortunately, Dietz was able to navigate around them efficiently after taking the lead.

He concluded, “it’s a great time to have this (his first win at the track) happen. We have the Outlaws coming in and we want to put it on them.”

Although this was a Posse Series race, the track used a format similar to a World of Outlaws event to help get the race teams ready for next week’s Summer Nationals program. Thus, the heat races started heads-up, with the fastest qualifier on the pole instead of fourth per Posse Series procedures. The first two finishers from each heat advanced to the dash, instead of the heat winners and the fastest qualifiers from beach heat. The dash established the starting order for the first six cars in the feature event, instead of a random draw. All others fell in line based upon their qualifying times, instead of their heat race finishes.

Accordingly, the pole position for the twenty-five lapper went to Wagaman, with Dietz as his wingman. Logan Rumsey and Macri were next in line. The final two dash participants, Brent Shearer and Austin Bishop, manned row three. Then came Danny Dietrich and Preston Lattomus, in row four; Justin Whittall and Dylan Norris, in row five; and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. and Doug Hammaker, in row six.

Wagaman reached turn one ahead of Dietz and established himself on the cushion. Dietz opted for the low side, and that allowed Macri to roll in behind Wagaman on the top. Macri had better momentum coming off turn two, and he gained the second position heading down the back stretch. Rumsey was fourth, followed by Bishop, Shearer, Dietrich, Lattomus, Whittall, and Norris on the opening lap.

The first four began to separate themselves from the other racers in the early going. Meanwhile, Dietrich was pressing Rumsey for the fifth spot.

On lap seven, Macri got a tremendous launch off turn two and he closed very quickly on the leader. However, Wagaman was able to get to a lapped car before Macri could make a bid for the lead. Soon thereafter, Dietz powered past Macri for second. He then closed in on Wagaman in traffic.

The only caution of the event occurred on lap eleven. Rahmer got a flat and struck the outside wall in turn two while running in the top ten.

Wagaman had the point for the single file restart, with Dietz in second, followed by Macri, Rumsey, Dietrich, Bishop, Shearer, Whittall, Lattomus, and Norris.

Dietz pressed Wagaman for the lead when the race resumed. It took him a couple of laps to set up his winning pass in turn four. Meanwhile, Dietrich and Bishop moved ahead of Rumsey.

Dewease was another racer making forward progress after the restart. He was thirteenth in the queue when the green light came on again, and he cracked into the top ten on lap fifteen. He gained two more positions in the final ten laps.

Dietz stretched his lead over Wagaman as the laps clicked off. Wagaman remained in second. Dietrich got under Macri for third with three laps remaining in the contest.

Dietz took the checkers almost four and a half seconds ahead of Wagaman. Then came Dietrich, Macri, and Bishop. Whittall, Rumsey, Dewease, Norris, and Ryan Smith completed the top ten.

Rumsey, Dietz, and Bishop took the heat wins. There was no B Main. Wagaman prevailed in the dash. Rumsey was the evening’s fastest qualifier with a lap of 16.715 seconds. It was his first quick time award.

Eli Tuckey survived an early challenge from Austin Reed to get his first career win at the speedway in the 358 Sprint Car division. “I was diving poorly,” Tuckey conceded. “I figured if I could stay next to him (Reed), I could pull it off.” Tuckey adjusted his wing and did exactly that.

Reed held on for second, followed by Chase Gutshall, Derek Locke, and Adam Carberry. Cody Fletcher, Brock Hammaker, Seth Schnoke, Matt Findley, and Tim Wagaman, II rounded out the top ten.

Tuckey, Gutshall, and Schnoke copped the preliminaries. There was no B Main needed to set the starting field.

Cole Young had a spectacular crash at the start of his heat race. His car flipped several times and the front axle was ripped from the car. He was not hurt in the wreck. Brian Wolf, Jr. tipped his car over at the start of his heat. The car was not extensively damaged, and he was not injured. He was able to start the feature.

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Dirt Racing

Sharon Speedway cancels Saturday program

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HARTFORD, OH (July 18, 2026) Sharon Speedway is cancelling Saturday night’s “Steel Valley Thunder” program thanks to a near 100% likelihood of thunderstorms in the forecast from late afternoon through the evening hours including the potential for severe weather.

Sharon made the decision in the best interest of safety for fans, racers, and staff members.

“Super Series” action presented by Bala Management will return next Saturday (July 25) featuring the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Cars for $4,000 to-win along with the Hovis UMP Mods presented by A&MP Electric, Gibson Insurance Agency RUSH Sprint Cars, and the Gibson Insurance Agency Crown Vics on Alcon Mechanical and Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Night.  Kids Club Night presented by Willy’s World with kids bike and big wheel races.  It’s also the first of three Menards Giveaway Nights.

Additional information can be found at www.sharonspeedway.com.

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