Dirt Racing
Abreu Again in Hard Knox
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 12, 2022): For the third time in his career, and for the second year in a row, Rico Abreu took maximum advantage of the do over provided by the “Hard Knox” program during the 61st running of the Knoxville Nationals. Abreu went wire to wire in dominating fashion to clinch the twenty-first starting position in Saturday’s A Main. And, yes, he earned $4,000 for the win.
Joining Abreu will be Kerry Madsen, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Brian Brown, who had probably the steepest hill to climb to make it to Saturday’s A Main.
“This was a solid performance from my team,” Abreu said. “I felt that I let them down. I made bad decisions on my part (during qualifying night). I‘m excited to get them into victory lane.” Abreu gave props to his two primary sponsors and to the fans. “I appreciate all the social interaction, especially with the younger fans.”
Corey Day and Abreu made for an all-Cali front row. Ayrton Gennetton and Madsen were in the second. Max Dumesny and Spencer Bayston came off row three. Terry McCarl and Haudenschild lined up in row four. The fifth paired Hunter Schuerenberg and Brock Zearfoss. Sawyer Phillips and Brown made for an all-Knoxville row six.
Abreu blasted into the lead at the drop of the green. Bayston made a big move to reach second on the opening lap, followed by Madsen, Day, Gennetton, Dumesny, and Zearfoss. Anthony Macri also had a strong start, coming from the outside of row seven to crack the top ten in just one lap.
Day’s bid to make the A Main suffered a blow when he struck the wall between turns three and four with just a couple of laps in the books.
Madsen made a charge on Abreu on the restart, but backed off to follow the leader instead. “I had my chance to send a message there after the first restart, but the top four was more important than heroics at that moment,” he wisely noted. Meanwhile, Bayston and Haudenschild were fighting hard, as were Gennetton, Dumesny, and Zearfoss.
After Dumesny took over fifth, Gennetton and Zearfoss continued their struggle. On the tenth lap, they tangled in the middle of the backstretch. Gennetton got turned and he plowed into the outside wall. Zearfoss spun like a top and came to rest some distance down the track. Gennetton kept moving and limped around the track one more time before coming to a halt near the accident scene. Zearfoss pushed off again and remained in the race.
The top four separated themselves from the rest of the pack. The action was intense behind them. Dumesny led Brown, Macri, Brooke Tatnell, and Justin Henderson, who came from the very last row.
Things changed somewhat on lap seventeen. Dumesny came to a stop in turn four. On the ensuing restart, Bayston jumped the cushion and fell out of a transfer position as the leaders came around to complete the lap.
Brown made some headway and Macri, Tatnell, Henderson, and others were searching for opportunities to advance. That group included Day, who came from the tail after his earlier miscue.
Over the final eight laps, Brown was the most determined racer in the field. He made it to fourth, arousing the partisan crowd. Yet, he stalked Haudenschild and challenged him for third in the closing laps.
“I didn’t want to see those restarts,” Haudenschild remarked. He explained that he had swapped positions with Bayston a couple of times and that he “had to throw a bomb to get back by him, and then (he) saw the twenty-one.” Haudenschild explained that his team changed engines early in the morning, but he felt that it was not taking off in the slick like he wanted it to do.
Brown noted that there was a lot going on in the middle of the pack. “It was chaos. It seemed like we couldn’t get going.” Nevertheless, Brown demonstrated a never say die attitude and made the right moves when they counted. Then, he quipped, “my wife, the psychiatrist, was back at the motorhome trying to keep me from jumping off a mile long bridge.”
Macri followed Abreu, Madsen, Haudenschild and Brown. But, fifth was not good enough to make the jump to the A Main. He will line up eleventh in the stout B Main Saturday, Bayston was sixth, followed by Henderson, Day, Brady Bacon, and Dylan Cisney.
Taking heat wins were Cisney, Logan Wagner, Gennetton, Macri, Brown, and Haudenschild. The pair of B Mains belonged to Cory Eliason, who was knocked out of a transfer spot when tech officials noted that he had lost a muffler in his heat race, and Kyle Rinehardt. The C Main winner was Jake Bubak.
Brandon Wimmer was fastest in Group A and overall, with a lap of 15.832. Tops in Group B was Henderson, lapping in 16.286.
Seventy-two of the seventy-five eligible cars raced on Friday.
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.
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.
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.
Dietz Does It, Leads Posse Sweep
Corey Heim parlays overtime restart into record 10th NASCAR Truck Series win
Opportunistic Chase Elliott steals a NASCAR Cup Playoff win at Kansas
Dale Blaney Wins World Of Outlaws At Sharon Speedway
