Dirt Racing
Owens and Sheppard Share East Bay Victories
GIBSONTON, FL (February 8, 2024): After years of absence from victory lane at East Bay Raceway Park, two veteran drivers scored wins during the 48th edition of the WInternationals. Jimmy Owens ended an eleven-year drought with his triumph in the normal Thursday night program for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Brandon Sheppard took the nightcap, which was the make-up for the Monday rainout. His last victory at the Clay by the Bay was in 2022.
“I don’t even remember the last time we won here at East Bay,” said the “Newport Nightmare.” He added that he had fun racing with Garrett Alberson for the lead. “I felt like a sitting duck down there on the bottom, I wanted to get to the top so bad.” He eventually got there and that took away Jonathan Davenport’s preferred line.
Davenport did make a late race charge on the outside, but with Owens ahead of him using the same line at the end, it was not possible for him to drive by the leader. “I stayed in contention,” Davenport noted. “I was able to save a little tire for the end.” He concluded that he learned some things that he will be able to carry over to the finale on Saturday night.
Alberson was ecstatic with his third place run. He explained that his team has worked really hard, “we’ve put some time in on the program.” And, importantly, he commented “we’re really focused.”
Garrett Smith and Owens led the field to the start of the fourty lapper. Mark Whitener, who was making his first start of the series, was inside row two, with Clay Harris beside him. Alberson and Davenport occupied row three. In the fourth were Will Herrington and Devin Moran. R.J. Conley and Blair Nothdurft controlled row five. Behind them were Ricky Thornton, Jr. and Spencer Hughes.
Smith led Owens into turn one, followed by Whitener, Alberson, Harris, Moran, Herrington, Davenport, Hudson and O’Neal. Before the racers could sort themselves out, a caution was shown on lap two for Whitener, who became the first retiree. Another caution for Conley delayed the action.
Smith resumed the lead on the official restart. Owens remained close. Moran moved ahead of Alberson for third. Harris held fifth.
Smith retained the lead for three more laps following the lap nine caution. Owens got under him in turn four and beat him to the scoring loop. Soon, Moran took second from Smith. Alberson, Thornton, and O’Neal trailed.
Alberson was strong in the middle stage of the race. He took third at the halfway mark and second one lap later. He began to close in on the leader. His duel with Owens lasted for a good ten laps.
With five laps remaining, Davenport began to pick up speed on the high side, He was challenging Alberson for second. Davenport had a full head of steam as the leaders saw the two lap signal, and he was scored in second just as the final caution was displayed for Boom Briggs who faltered as Owens sped by.
That set up a two lap dash to the checkers. Owens got away cleanly and Davenport was unable to mount a challenge for the win. Alberson was third.
Thornton and O’Neal rounded out the top five. Sheppard, Marlar, Moran, Smith, and McCreadie were next to cross the line.
Smith was the fastest qualifier overall, topping Group A with a lap of 14.164 seconds. O’Neal was best in Group B with a time of 14.323 seconds. Heat wins went to Smith, Whitener, Alberson, Owens, Harris, and Davenport. B Mains belonged to Marlar, Tyler Erb, and Daulton Wilson.
In the second A Main, held over from Monday, Smith and Tyler Erb rolled away first for the twenty-five lap affair. Moran and Ethan Dotson were in row two. Shirley and O’Neal departed from row three. Riggs and Nothdurft were paired in row four. Sheppard and Wilson held row five. The sixth had Ross Robinson and Spencer Hughes as the pilots.
Once again, Smith was the early leader. This time, however, he was chased by Moran, Terbo, Shirley, Dotson, O’Neal, Riggs, Sheppard, and Robinson. Moran moved ahead on lap two and he held control for the next ten laps.
Shirley came roaring off turn two on the high side to sweep past Moran. Meanwhile, Sheppard was into third, followed by O’Neal, Turbo, and Smith.
Moran was searching for a line so he could stay close to Shirley, but Sheppard knew the bottom was coming in. He slipped by Moran just before the caution came out on lap seventeen for Smith.
On the restart, Sheppard was hounding Shirley, while Moran held down third. O’Neal and Terbo ran fourth and fifth.
Sheppard wrestled the lead away from Shirley coming off turn four heading to the five lap signal. He gradually pulled away over the last trips around the racy oval.
Sheppard took the checkers, followed by Shirley, Moran, O’Neal, and Robinson. Erb, Wilson, Riggs, Dotson, and Tanner English rounded out the top ten.
“After the first feature, I knew we had a really good car,” Sheppard said. His crew had the same set-up ready to go in his second machine for the make-up race. He was relieved to claim the victory citing a litany of troubles that he has encountered so far during Speedweeks. He added, “these guys are awfully tough [and] the race track has been different every night.”
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
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Opportunistic Chase Elliott steals a NASCAR Cup Playoff win at Kansas
Dale Blaney Wins World Of Outlaws At Sharon Speedway
