Dirt Racing
Brooks Bags Tuesday Prelim Victory
TULSA, OK (January 14, 2025): Landon Brooks, a relatively unknown Sprint and Midget racer from California, scored a major upset win on Tuesday night at the Chili Bowl. His victory was the first for car owner Matt Wood, and gave that small team the distinction of having two cars locked into the Saturday A Main. The lead driver for Matt Wood Racing, Shane Golobic, finished second to Kyle Larson on Monday and spent Tuesday acting as crew chief and driver coach to the twenty-one-year old pilot.
“It honestly feels unbelievable,” Brooks noted. “I haven’t taken it all in yet. When I passed the checkered flag, I couldn’t believe it. I fell back to seventh there and, you know, I started rolling the bottom and got back to fifth. They all kind of creeped to the bottom, and I was able to rip the top and get to second. Luckily, I was able to reel in Brenham (Crouch) and throw a few sliders on him and pull it off.” He added, “by the end of it I was trying to go where they weren’t. Luckily, when I did go to the bottom I could make up some ground and, when I went to the top, I was able to pass some cars.”
The thirty lapper had Brenham Crouch and Hunter Schuerenberg paired up on the front row. Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Gunnar Setser were in row two, followed by Corbin Rueschenberg and Clinton Boyles. Brooks was inside Billy VanInwegen in row four. Then came Stevie Sussex and Brad Sweet. Derek Hagar and Jake Bubak occupied row six. Further back in the field were former winners Hank Davis and Buddy Kofoid (both in row nine), and notable veterans Jonathan Beason and Thomas Meseraull (both in row ten).
Crouch staked out an early lead, but a quick caution for Thomas nullified the start. Crouch again surged ahead, with Rueschenberg, Schuerenberg, Setser, and Boyles giving chase.
Sweet and Bubak tangled on lap two, and their skirmish was followed by another involving Schuerenberg and Sussex three laps later.
With those early incidents out of the way, the racers finally got into a rhythm. Crouch maintained his advantage for a dozen laps, with Setser holding second. Boyles was third, and coming, but his crash in turn two ended his race soon after the midpoint in the contest.
Meanwhile, Brooks was working his way forward again, having lost several positions in the early going. He was up to fourth, and held his own through a pair of cautions.
The next five laps consisted of Crouch fighting off Setser and Rueschenberg with Brooks searching for an opening. He found the top line and, with five to go, he began to assert himself. He rolled by Crouch with three to go. Crouch came back on the next round, but he could not complete the pass. The duo traded sliders on lap twenty-nine.
While that excitement was happening, Kofoid climbed into contention. He was hovering around seventh and he picked up a couple of spots before the stretch run. He was third and closing when the checkers waved.
Crouch noted that he was able to stay in clean air quite a bit with the cautions. “I kept looking over and they just kept telling me ‘you are doing good, good.’ They didn’t tell me anybody was doing anything I wasn’t. I just stuck to the top. I started stripping the nose and I started getting up on the wall there a couple of times. I figured, you know, somebody’s gotta be coming. I just felt comfortable up there. Landon (Brooks) got by me and he did the same thing, and we kind of got to racing. I kind of thought maybe I slide myself and I wanted to keep my momentum up, I thought I chose the best option. Landon was able to get back by me when I made a mistake, ultimately ran second. As hard as it is to be mad at myself to run second, we are in the show and we accomplished what a lot of people can’t, so just very grateful for that.”
Kofoid explained his run to third thusly. “I needed to pick off some guys and kind of make up most of passes early. I was able to kind of run the bottom a little bit and then get to the top. I was good on restarts and then once we had some of those crashes in front of me that kind of helped me out. I looked up and I was running seventh or eighth. I had a good restart and I was, like, I’ll try the bottom and I think I got to fifth. I think maybe another restart and was almost third and had the yellow and had to go back to fifth. Some of the guys moved to the bottom and I probably showed them the bottom, and some of them got up through there. Landon (Brooks) got up through there, so I was, like, OK, I guess I’ve got to go back to the top. I actually fell back to like sixth or seventh and kind of started hunting them down. I was trying to minimize my mistakes and not use the cushion as mush as maybe some other people were and (I) was able to pick and choose where I was able to pick up the cushion. I was able to pick up the cushion. I was able to not throw the nose and get close to guys and slide them and kind of put them away. When it gets that slick you can’t really cross people over. I was just able to pick them off one by one.”
After Brooks, Crouch, and Kofoid came Rueschenberg and Setser, making for a very unlikely top five. Kameron Key, Davis, Kaylee Bryson, Bubak, and Derek Hagar rounded out the top ten. Ricky Thornton, Jr. came from the shotgun position to reach twelfth.
The nine heat winners were Setser, Bubak, Kofoid, Nathan Crane, Mason Hannagan, Davis, Bryson, Brooks, and Brandt Twitty. Crouch, Brooks, Sussex, and Sweet captured the qualifiers. High Limits race director Mike Hess was a C Main winner, along with Caleb Stelzig. Davis and Kofoid won their respective B Mains.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (May 9, 2026): David Gravel, the two-time World of Outlaws champion and current points leader, dominated the finale in the fifteenth running of the Morgan Cup at Williams Grove Speedway. Gravel’s win, the tenth of his career at the venerable speedway, secured possession of the perpetual trophy for the World of Outlaws for the eighth time. Moreover, the win gave the touring stars a two-to-one edge in the win column for the three-race Pennsylvania swing.
Gravel seized control of the race on the opening lap and he was never challenged during the course of the thirty lapper. The only threat to Gravel during the non-stop affair was a bumping incident when he was lapping Brent Shearer. Shearer’s right rear wheel contacted Gravel’s left rear. Fortunately, the two cars quickly separated and both drivers maintained control as they rocketed toward turn one. Gravel expressed concern that he might have gotten a flat tire from such contact, but he said that the double bead locks on the left rear of his car probably saved the day.
“From the rain this morning, that grip up high was there. They patted it down with the push trucks and water trucks. It just launched really good, and actually my motor was really cold. It didn’t run good for the first five or six laps, but it had enough horsepower to beat him (Kasey Kahne) going into (turn) one. He didn’t try to slide me. It looked like he backpedaled and tried to run the bottom, but that was obviously the winning move of the race.”
Gravel added that it was important for him to control the pace of the race. “You just don’t know, this could’ve been ten cautions or green-to-checkered. Luckily, it went green-to-checkered. Maybe I was getting a little complacent down here in (turns) three and four. Maybe should have moved up. Those guys said the 67 (Justin Whittall) was coming, so. It’s just so hard to lead these races. Lincoln, here, it doesn’t matter where it is. When you’re up front, you know, the track changes and people can judge you, behind you. I feel like I got through the lapped cars pretty good.”
Justin Whittall was making just his second start in his new joint venture with Rod Gross Motorsports. The first outing was a disappointing seventeen in the preliminary night program. He gave props to his crew for working late on Friday night and early on this race day to get more speed in the car. He was able to close in on the leader in the closing laps, but was several car lengths behind him when the checkers waved. “I saw David (Gravel) struggling with the lapped car. He finally got him. That was when I really started to catch him.”
Third place went to defending track champion and current points leader, Troy Wagaman, Jr. Wagaman’s podium finish stretched his points lead over Lance Dewease, who failed to qualify because he was plagued by mechanical problems all night long. Wagaman explained that he put together a complete night. “I felt good. I timed good, I had a good heat race, and a good dash. I had speed in the feature.”
For the second night in a row, Kasey Kahne started on the front row for the A Main. This time, he had the pole as a result of his dash victory. But the difference in lanes may have been his undoing. David Gravel had the outside position, which was clearly superior for the start of the event. Freddy Rahmer lined up third, with Whittall as his running mate. Wagaman and Sheldon Haudenschild were in row three. The last pair of preferred starters were Ashton Torgerson, aboard Kyle Moody’s machine, and Chad Trout. Then came Carson Macedo and Bill Balog, followed by Emerson Axsom and Danny Dietrich.
Gravel and Kahne raced wheel to wheel into turn one, but Gravel had the better line through the corner. He emerged from turn two with the lead and never looked back. Kahne followed closely in the early going, but, with each successive lap, Gravel added to his lead. Whittall, Wagaman, Rahmer, Haudenshild, , Torgerson, Trout, Carson Macedo, and Balog made up the balance of the top ten during the opening laps.
The first five–consisting of Gravel, Kahne, Whittall, Wagaman, and Haudenschild–raced in order through the first half of the event.
Soon after the midway signal, Whittall begal to stalk Kahne. On lap nineteen, Whittall rode the rin in turns three and four to reach second spot. Wagaman and Haudenschild soon followed suit.
Whittall trimmed Gravel’s lead in the closing laps. As he was doing so, Haudenschild was applying some pressure to Wagaman for third. A few spots back in the running order, Rahmer and Carson Macedo were battling for sixth.
At the checkers, it was Gravel over Whittall, Wagaman, Haudenschild, and Kahne. Carson Macedo was sixth, with Rahmer, Torgerson, Dietrich, and Balog completing the top ten.
Carson Macedo was named the hard charger, advancing three positions. Several others also passed as many cars but they were all behind him in the finishing order.
The four heat wins went to Gravel, Kahne, Whittall, and Trout. Daryn Pittman won the B Main. Gravel set the fast time, at 16.431, to top Group A. Whittall was the best in Group B with a time of 16.897.
Williams Grove Speedway will be back in action on Friday, May 15, with a Sprint Car doubleheader. The 410s and 358 Sprints will do battle on York County Racing Club Night. There will be no racing on May 22 , but the American Flat Track Motorcycles will compete on May 23.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (May 8, 2026): After more than 220 career starts with the Greatest Show on Dirt, Kasey Kahne is finally a winner with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. The unexpected victory came at Williams Grove Speedway, where his only triumph came on opening day in the year 2000. Adding to the novelty of it all, Kahne was pinch hitting for Anthony Macri, who was injured earlier this season at the track.
“This is crazy,” Khane said after scoring the upset. “I couldn’t believe this happened this weekend.”
He added, “two weeks ago, I was still building my own cars to get prepared to hopefully race them later this year. Now, I am with this team. I knew this was a good team.” Kahne just didn’t appreciate how good the team truly was until he became part of it.
Kahne was making just his third start for Macri Motorsports. He was eleventh in his debut at nearby Lincoln Speedway on Saturday night. Tuesday night, in the World of Outlaws event held there, he improved to ninth.
Kahne was tabbed to be the substitute driver because of his connection to the crew chief, Joe Mooney. Mooney was the car chief for Brad Sweet at Kasey Kahne Racing before joining Macri Motorsports in November of 2022.
When Mooney approached Kahne to tell him about his opportunity to join Macri Motorsports as the crew chief, Kahne told him that he had to take the job.
Mooney acknowledged that the decision to bring Kahne aboard as a substitute driver while Macri was on the mend “was a little bit of a payback.” He added, “it’s a little bit of repaying the favor of getting to work for him for four years and a lot of good times. When I went to take this job and told him I was probably leaving and where I was going, he was my biggest cheerleader. It’s pretty damn cool.”
Kahne led from start to finish in this one. But, it was not an easy win for the veteran driver. He had to fight off David Gravel and, later, Sheldon Haudenschild.
And, although the car was strong throughout the race, Kahne had to compensate for some of its quirks, which he attributed to the differences between his driving style and that of Anthony Macri. “I had my wing so far back, it was lifting the front down the straightaways.” He also noted that the car was leaning over on the right rear, but he needed that to get enough drive off the corners.
Sheldon Haudenschild chased down Kahne in the closing laps, and he made a bold outside move in turn two to challenge for the lead. “Kasey was running a slider line and had it kinda blocked. I thought I had him off of (turn) two, but I got a little push. Sometimes, you just have to let it go,” he explained.
David Gravel held on for third. “I thought I had the best car for the first fifteen laps,” he said. “But Sheldon picked me,” and Gravel had difficulty the rest of the way, especially while working through traffic.
Chase Dietz shared the front row with Kahne for the twenty-five lapper. Gravel and Haudenschild were next in line. They were followed by Troy Wagaman, Jr. and Bill Balog. The final you preferred starting spots went to Daryn Pittman and Kody Hartlaub. The fifth row belonged to T.J. Stutts and Carson Macedo. Buddy Kofoid and Spencer Bayston.
Kahne got the jump on Dietz at the start of the race and he immediately went to the cushion in turn one. He rode the outside line to a lead of several car lengths on the opening lap. Dietz was struggling to hold off Gravel, while Haudenschild was lurking right behind them. Wagaman, Balog, Pittman, Carson Macedo, Kofoid, and Hartlaub followed in the early laps.
Just before the midpoint of the race, Gravel and Haudenschild worked past Dietz. Gravel caught up to Kahne in traffic and briefly challenged for the lead. By lap twenty, though, Haudenschild overtook Gravel for second and he began slicing into Kahne’s advantage. Meanwhile, Dietz was pressing Gravel for third.
In the final five laps of the contest, Haudenschild caught Kahne. Haudenschild got a good run through
turn two and pulled up next to the leader coming off the corner. Before Haudenschild could complete the pass, though, he developed a push, which required him to burp the throttle. Kahne scooted away as they headed toward turn three.
On the last lap of the race, Kahne passed the lapped car of Ashton Torgerson. That gave him some extra breathing room.
The fans gave Kahne a standing ovation as he took the checkers. Haudenschild was second, and Gravel was third. Dietz and Wagaman completed the top five. Kofoid was sixth, followed by Pittman, Carson Macedo, Balog, and Donny Schatz.
The fifteenth place finisher, Cameron Smith, was the hard charger at plus eight.
Kahne, Dietz, Gravel, and Balog scored the heat wins. Kasey Jedrzejek won the C Main. Doug Hammaker topped the B Main. Gravel was the evening’s fastest qualifier, with a lap of 16.379 seconds, in Group B. Kahne was the best of Group A with a lap of 16.446 seconds.
During the heat race action, there was a spectacular crash in turn one involving Cole Macedo and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. Although both cars sustained heavy damage, neither driver was injured. Rahmer confronted Macedo after the incident, swinging his helmet at Macedo while he was still strapped in his car. Rahmer was disqualified for his actions.
IMPERIAL, PA (May 9, 2026) – Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS) is cancelling their Saturday night program after heavy overnight rains and cloudy skies throughout the morning forced track officials to make the difficult decision.
“After evaluating conditions throughout the property Saturday morning, speedway officials determined that the amount of water absorbed overnight created conditions that would not allow for a practical or enjoyable event experience for fans, teams, and staff” the Speedway announced in a statement.
Fans who purchased advanced tickets for tonight’s event have already had their refunds processed automatically..
Next Saturday PPMS will host a ‘Night of Champions’, which will honor 2025 track Champions and those who finished in the top 10 in points in the respective divisions.
“We’re ready to get this season rolling in a big way and hopefully Mother Nature starts working with us soon,” said Tyler Harris, PPMS Operations Manager. “We know fans, racers, and teams are anxious to get back to the speedway, and we appreciate everyone continuing to stick with us through a difficult start to the year.”
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