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Dirt Racing

Rahmer and Emory Race to Williams Grove Victories

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Williams Grove Speedway

MECHANICSBURG, PA (March 22, 2024): Defending champions refined supreme at Williams Grove Speedway. Track champ in the 410 Sprint Car ranks, Freddie Rahmer, Jr., drove past Danny Dietrich early in the second half of the contest to earn his first win of the 2024 season. Tyler Emory, the defending champion in the ULMS Late Model Series redeemed himself after a spin in turn one on the original start. Restored to the pole for the restart, Emory took a more conservative approach to the first corner and then he romped to the win in the non-stop finale.

Rahmer commended his crew for building a new car during the short week after Sunday’s opener in addition to performing the usual maintenance. He destroyed the car designated for Lincoln Speedway last Saturday. “Last week we wrecked a car and the guys did a good job to get one done.” Car owner Rich Eichelberger quipped that “we’re down one car, but we still have plenty left in the shop.”

Rahmer acknowledged that “we didn’t have a good start,” but he noted that the car got better as the race progressed. “I could maintain pace in clean air, and I knew we had a chance to run him (Danny Dietrich) down.”

Rahmer also poked the bear when he chided Dietrich for prompting a rule change–at Lincoln Speedway–after a controversial call at Williams Grove last week may have determined the outcome of the opener, which was won by Anthony Macri.

Rahmer and Dietrich paced the field for the start of the twenty-five lapper. Kyle Moody and Cory Eliason were in row two. Justin Peck and Dylan Cisney started in the third row. Macri and Austin Bishop had row four, with Brandon Spithaler and Ryan Wilson were scheduled for row five, but Wilson opted to tag the tail for the start. That moved Lynton Jeffrey into the tenth spot. Chase Dietz and Devon Borden moved into row six, as Ryan Taylor was penalized to the rear of the field for staging too late for the A Main.

Dietrich got the advantage over Rahmer entering turn one and he used the cushion to move ahead on the opening lap. Rahmer rode along in second, followed by Eliason, Moody, Peck, Cisney, Spithaler. Macri, Jeffrey, and Bishop. The top five remained unchanged as the field began to string out. But Spithaler moved into sixth, bringing Macri to seventh.

Borden stopped along the backstretch on lap seven. On the ensuing restart, Cisney got a good jump and he climbed from eighth to sixth. In his wake, several racers were fighting for positions. Jeffrey tried to slip to the inside of Spithaler as they thundered down the front stretch to complete lap eight. But there was contact, possibly with Macri, and Jeffrey spun wildly into the inside guardrail. Fortunately, no other racers struck Jeffrey’s mount as it caromed off the fence. Spithaler pitted under the red, and did not return to action.

Dietrich resumed control on the restart, but Rahmer stayed close, particularly coming off turn two. Eliason, Moody, and Peck continued in the top five. Cisney got shuffled back several spots, as Macri, Dylan Norris, and Dietz moved ahead.

Things did not change for several laps. Inside ten to go, Rahmer charged into the lead. Dietrich stayed in second, but Eliason closed in to make a contest as the laps clicked away. The High Roller could not pull off the pass, though.

At the finish, it was Rahmer over Dietrich, Eliason, Moody, and Peck, Macri, Norris, Dietz, Cisney, and T.J. Stutts completed the top ten.

There were three heats for the twenty-one car field. The wins went to Cisney, DIetrich, and Spithaler. There was no B Main.

The Late Model feature was shortened to twenty laps due to the low car count. Emery and Drake Troutman occupied the front row, with Matt Sponaugle and Justin Weaver in row two. Bryan Bernheisel and Ryan Montgomery made up row three. The fourth belonged to Rick Eckert and Dylan Lewis. Chris Casner and Dave Stamm were in row five. Dylan Fenton and Michael Lake completed the field. Logan Zarin broke in hot laps and scratched for the night.
Troutman grabbed the lead and Emory spun in turn one, collecting Montgomery and Lewis. Under ULMS rules, all three were returned to their starting positions.

On the second attempt, Emory kept his car tight on the inside and he emerged from the first turn with a slight lead over Weaver. Sponaugle was third and Troutman fell to fourth. Montgomery and Eckert followed.

Emory stretched his lead over Weaver. However, soon after the midpoint of the race, Troutman moved ahead of Sponaugle for third. Sponaugle lost another position in the waning laps.

At the checkers, it was Emory, Weaver, Troutman, Montgomery, and Sponaugle. Bernheisel worked past Eckert for sixth in the final laps. Lake, Casner and Lewis completed the top ten.

“That was a disaster,” Emory said of the original start. “Drake (Troutman) came down and took the air off the car and I went around. I was lucky and got my spot back and I kept the car down on the restart.”

Emory added that he was glad that the race was cut short by ten laps because his injured back was bothering him as the race went on.

Weaver and Sponaugle split the heat race wins. There was no B Main.

Williams Grove Speedway will close out the month of March with an Easter special for the children. The 410 and 358 Sprints will provide the on track action. Then, on April 5, the 410s will headline the show, with a challenge race between the URC 360s and the track 358 Sprints. April 12 will be a big triple header, with the USAC East Coast 360 Sprints and the PASS 305 Sprints backing up the 410s.

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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