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Dirt Racing

Bowser FAST at PPMS

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Photo: Steve Skarupa

IMPERIAL, PA (July 12, 2025):  Carl Bowser led wire-to-wire to win his eleventh career Sprint Car victory and first of the season at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. He now trails the all-time win leader, Ed Lynch, Jr. by five at Dirt’s Monster Half Mile. The win in the FAST on Dirt Series was worth $4,000 for Bowser, but it boosted his spirits somewhat after the death of his beloved family pet earlier in the week.

Also gaining victories were Brandon Burgoon (RUSH (Crate) Late Models, Nick Kocuba (Penn Ohio Pro Stocks), Marc Corio (Hobby Stocks), and Jacon Chipps (Open Four Cylinders).

Bowser, who jumped into the lead form his pole position, said “I could hear somebody back there.” he didn’t know that the “somebody” was none other than A.J. Flick until Flick showed him the nose of his car coming off turn four with about ten laps to go. “I was kinda riding, but I didn’t want to give it away.” Bowser explained, “I was working my way down there. When he showed me the line, I figured it was time to go down.”

Bowser, who has weathered some difficult years of latE, is having a career resurgence, as he now has wins at PPMS and Lernerville Speedway to his credit in 2025. “We had a few rough years, but nobody quit. We kept working hard,” he added.

Flick, who was a close second, commented, “we had a good car but the eleven (Bowser) got the jump and we had to tuck in and follow him.” That meant they both were running the high groove, which did not go away as soon as Flick thought that it would. About midway through the race, he began searching for another line and found the inside of turn four down to the inside of turn one to his liking. Unfortunately, Flick could not pull off a pass for the lead. “I knew when I showed him the nose he’d come down and take the line and then we were running in dirty air.”

Jason Shultz finished third in his first appearance at PPMS after winning the nigh before at Lernerville Speedway. He likened the track to Eldora Speedway, where the Central PA pilot has raced before. “We got behind the eight ball, but we were coming at the end.”

Bowser claimed the early lead. Flick, who was his dance partner for the start, fell back to fourth in turns one and two, before charging back to second at the other end of the speedway. Tyler Gunn, Mitch Harble, Shultz, Jeremy Weaver, Brandon Spithaler, Brandon Matus, John Mollick, and series points leader Rick Peterson, Jr. followed in the early going.

The only caution of the race appeared at the conclusion of the first lap, when Michael Bauer stopped coming off turn four. He entered the event second in series points, but lost valuable ground when he retired from the race.

When the race got going again, Bowser and Flick separated themselves from the rest of the field. Gunn, Spithaler, Harble, Weaver, and Shultz were fighting for positions in the top five. Spithaler and Shultz moved ahead, as Harble started to fade. Meanwhile, Peterson was starting to march forward.

Soon after the halfway mark, Flick began to move around on the speedway. He tried an inside attack on Bowser on successive laps. He drew up alongside Bowser entering turn one on lap fifteen, but he did not have enough momentum to complete the slider for the lead. That made Bowser aware that the inside line was faster, and he moved down to take it away from Flick.

In the stretch run, Shultz moved into third and he began to reel in Bowser and Flick, who were dealing with more, and faster lapped traffic. Gunn regained the fourth spot, with Spithaler falling back to fifth. Peterson, Harble, Brandon Matus, Jordan Ryan, and Weaver completed the top ten.

Bowser, Flick, and Shultz captured the heat races. Ryan topped the B Main. Brandon Spithaler was the overall fastest qualifier, topping Group A with a time of 16.721 seconds. Flick was best in Group B, and Harble excelled in Group C.

In the RUSH Late Model feature, Kyle Lukon led the field into he first corner in his first appearance of the season before giving way to Brodie Oravetz. Brandon Burgoon, Clinton Hersh, and Marino Angelicchio followed.

Oravetz maintained control through the first nine laps, but Burgoon surged ahead coming off turn four to get the halfway signal first. He pulled away over the final ten laps despite fighting an overheating car.

Burgoon had a lead of almost seven seconds at the checkers. Oravetz, Lukon, Hersh, and Daryl Charlier rounded out the top five. Next came Tom Kline, Colby Beighey, Kassidy Kamicker, Michael Stephans, and Chuck Medved.

The heat wins went to Burgoon and Lukon. There was no B Main.

Emmerson Laboon led the first three laps of the Pro Stock feature. Nick Kocuba passed him on lap four and led the rest of the way. A.J. Poljak raced up to second, with Laboon and Dale Tuche completing the short field.

Young Mark Corio passed Leroy Brown on lap fourteen and held off a desperate turn three move from the veteran on the final lap to secure the Hobby Stock victory. Tom Anton was third after battling Leroy Brown and Corio for several laps. Karlee Kovacs and Kyle Janas were fourth and fifth. Early leader Joe Brown, Jr. was sixth, followed by Justin Clark, and Sadie Snatchko. Anton was the heat winner.

The Open Four Cylinders had a three car battle throughout the nightcap. Getting the win was Jacob Chipps over Tyler Hollister and Cameron Hollister. Anthony Uddstrom and John Gill were fourth and fifth. Then came Noah Bubeck, David Seibert, Jr., Mike Kelly, Jacob Wiser, and John Hollister. The preliminaries went to Uddstrom and Chipps.

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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