Mechanicsburg – TJ Stutts continued the season of his career at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night by scoring his third sprint car win of the season.
Last week the Liverpool driver bested the World of Outlaws on Friday night and this week Stutts chalked up a last lap pass on race-long leader Jake Karklin to net the win and a $500 bonus from WC Eshenaur and Sons for making the winning move on the final circuit.
In the 358 sprint main, Preston Lattomus held on to win his first-ever checkers at the track after wiring the field.
Karklin and Mike Walter II., started on the front row of the 25-lap Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint main with Stutts beginning in the fifth position.
The initial start of the feature was called back for a false start before Karlin blasted into control over Walter, Kody Hartlaub and Jeff Halligan.
Karklin entered the rear of the field on the sixth tour and began lapping cars on the high side while Walter tried keeping pace.
But disaster struck on lap nine when Walter vaulted into the outside turn one rail before flipping down onto the track, bringing out the red flag.
The stoppage wiped out a 1.3 second lead that Karklin had built over the field.
Halligan was also involved, forcing him to the rear for the restart while placing Hartlaub and Freddie Rahmer in second and third.
Two laps later Karklin saw a 1.5 second lead wiped out by a caution flag before another yellow bunched the field on lap 12.
The restart on lap 12 saw the front of the field shake up dramatically when Hartlaub went for a low move on Karklin in the first corner.
However the East Berlin driver nearly spun the car in the middle of the first corner while almost collecting Rahmer, who had to get hard on the binders.
That’s when Stutts pounced to move from fourth to second by blasting under the faltering pair in turn two.
Karklin just kept expanding his lead as the race worked into the second half, owning a 2.9 second lead with 10 to go and a 3.1 second lead a lap later.
And while the leader did make some mistakes on the cushion as he paced the field, he did maintain his lead until three laps to go.
It was then that Karklin’s car began to sputter as he circled the track, seemingly running out of fuel.
The struggling leader then dropped off of the cushion while working the car down low in an effort to make it to the finish but Stutts took advantage to snare the lead on the final lap and record his fourth career 410 sprint car victory at Williams Grove Speedway, worth $5,000.
Karklin would come up light on weight in post race inspection and be credited with 14th.
Rahmer ended up second followed by Troy Wagaman Jr., Matt Campbell and Cameron Smith.
Sixth through 10th went to Halligan, Ryan Taylor, Austin Bishop, Mike Thompson and Bryn Gohn, who was the PA Dyno Hard Charger.
Heats went to Halligan, Stutts and Wagaman Jr.
Stutts set fast time in warm-ups with a lap of 17.533 seconds.
Lattomus started on the pole of the 25-lap Summer Series main for 358 sprints and would end up leading the whole way for the victory.
Derek Locke raced into second on the sixth tour but failed to challenge Lattomus for control.
The first and only caution flag of the race unfurled on the final lap finding 19th starter Seth Schnoke restarting third after blasting through the field.
Schnoke threatened to spoil the party for Lattomus when he drove by Locke on the restart and got alongside the leader in the final corner but Lattomus was able to hold off the charge and take the exciting win by .202 seconds.
Schnoke settled for second followed by Locke, Dylan Norris and Chase Gutshall.
Sixth through 10th went to Cole Young, Steve Owings, Austin Reed, Frankie Herr and Logan Rumsey.
Heats went to Tyler Rutherford, Cole Young and Cody Fletcher with Schnoke taking the consolation race.
Feature Finishes
410 sprints, 2 laps: 1. TJ Stutts, 2. Freddie Rahmer, 3. Troy Wagaman Jr., 4. Matt Campbell, 5. Cameron Smith, 6. Jeff Halligan, 7. Ryan Taylor, 8. Austin Bishop, 9. Mike Thompson, 10. Bryn Gohn, 11. Nash Ely, 12. Kody Hartlaub, 13. Todd Zinn, 14. Jake Karklin, 15. Derek Hauck, 16. Kyle Keen, 17. Rick Dieva, 18. Ricky Peterson Jr., 19. Matt Miller, 20. Mike Walter II., 21. Troy Fraker, 22. Ethan Stutts
DNS: Lucas Wolfe
358 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Preson Lattomus, 2. Seth Schnoke, 3. Derek Locke, 4. Dylan Norris, 5. Chase Gutshall, 6. Cole Young, 7. Steve Owings, 8. Austin Reed, 9. Frankie Herr, 10. Logan Rumsey, 11. Chris Frank, 12. Scott Fisher, 13. Kyle Spence, 14. Nat Tuckey, 15. Cameron Smith, 16. Cole Knopp, 17. Jayden Wolf, 18. Tyler Rutherford, 19. Jude Siegel, 20. Justin Foster, 21. Chad Criswell, 22. Cody Fletcher, 23. Matt Findley, 24. Doug Hammaker
DNQ: Wyatt Hinkle, Jake Galloway, Hank Donovan Jr., Andy Best, Nick Yinger, Zach Newlin
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