Danny Dietrich Pulls Out 2022 Track Title With Run From 19th
Mechanicsburg – Lance Dewease of Fayetteville led a Pennsylvania Posse podium sweep of the World of Outlaws sprint cars series to claim the Diamond Anniversary Champion Racing Oil National Open at Williams Grove Speedway on Saturday night.
The $75,000, flag to flag score by Dewease was the fifth National Open title of his career at the track and his 111th overall victory there. It was also his fifth win in a row at the oval to close out the season.
In the race within the race, to be named the 2022 Lawrence Chevrolet 410 Sprint Car track titlist, Danny Dietrich pulled off the upset of Freddie Rahmer.
Dietrich claimed his second track crown by racing from 19th starting spot to finish eighth and win the title by a mere 10 markers after entering the event 185 points out of the lead.
Dewease started the 40-lap, 20-mile National Open on the pole and would end up leading every circuit but his performance was not flawless.
Just five laps of the race were in the book when the first caution flag appeared for a broken rear axle on outlaws point leader Brad Sweet’s machine.
The result was a DNF for Sweet and a dramatic loss of points for the defending tour champion with just one final weekend of racing to go for the series.
The caution gave Dewease clear track as traffic was looming before the yellow flag.
By lap 10 Dewease had a one second lead over Brent Marks however with traffic again looming, Marks was able to pull up on the leader’s tail tank and the pair crossed the line on lap 13 nose to tail with Dewease’s front end hiked up in the air.
Marks then stuck close to the leader, dogging him through traffic while third runner David Gravel made strides at running the pair down.
Dewease saw a .540 second advantage evaporate on lap 25 when the field was stopped for refueling with Gravel, Spencer Bayston and James McFadden restarting in the top five.
The leader seemed to turn up the wick when action resumed, producing a 1.2 second lead over Marks as lap 26 was scored but his pace was soon slowed again, on lap 28 for a stopped Daryn Pittman.
The return to action saw Marks make his move for the win when he drove to the leader’s inside as the pair raced into the first turn.
And Marks made his move stick as he took the lead on the backstretch, leaving Dewease to scrap for second with newcomer Anthony Macri who got by Spencer Bayston for third on the previous restart.
However, Dewease got a reprieve in the form of a red flag before the lap could be officially scored as the cars of TJ Stutts, Brock Zearfoss and Gio Scelzi crashed in the third and fourth turns.
The stoppage negated the Marks move and put Dewease back at the point of the field.
Dewease kept Marks at Bay when the field got back underway, racing through the middle of the turns and with 10 laps to go his advantage was again 1.1 seconds when another yellow flag bunched the field, this time thanks to a Logan Schuchart/Cory Eliason tangle on the frontstretch.
The final 10 laps of the race went non-stop but they were full of action.
Marks took another shot at stealing the lead on lap 32 as he bolted under Dewease in turns three and four only to see the leader pinch him off from completing the move.
In the meantime, Danny Dietrich was racing his heart out for the track title, making his way into eighth and sole possession of the crown instead of ninth that would have found him declared co-champion with Rahmer who had failed to qualify.
But then James McFadden passed Dietrich back for eighth, forcing Dietrich to again rally and reclaim the coveted position.
With three laps to go, Macri went around Marks for the second spot and appeared poised to make a run at the win but Marks was up to the challenge.
A lap later Macri again pulled off a move but Marks again thwarted the effort and Macri ended up hopping the cushion in turn four before nearly spinning out.
All of this gave Dewease clear sailing to the prestigious victory by .792 seconds.
Marks crossed the finish line second followed by Macri, completing a crowd pleasing one-two-three podium sweep of the spot spots by track regulars.
Bayston was fourth with Gravel ending up in fifth spot.
Sixth through 10th went to Justin Peck, Jacob Allen, Dietrich, defending Open champion Carson Macedo and McFadden.
The National Open win was the third of car owner Donnie Kreitz’s career.
Kreitz scored Open laurels in 1993 as an owner/driver before Dewease also gave him an Open championship in 2018.
For Dewease, the Open title was a fifth as driver having taken previous Opens in 1996, 2001, 2002 and in 2018 for car owners Walt Dyer, Joe Harz, Al Hamilton and Kreitz, respectively.
Heats went to Sheldon Haudenschild, Dewease, Marks and Allen.
Lucas Wolfe won the C Main and six-time Open winner Donny Schatz scored the B Main.
Dewease won the dash and earned the pole for the feature.
Haudenschild set fast time over the field of 44 cars with a lap of 16.481 seconds in time trials.
Feature Finishes
410 sprint cars, 40 laps: 1. Lance Dewease, 2. Brent Marks, 3. Anthony Macri, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. David Gravel, 6. Justin Peck, 7. Jacob Allen, 8. Danny Dietrich, 9. Carson Macedo, 10. James McFadden, 11. Donny Schatz, 12. Lucas Wolfe, 13. Kasey Kahne, 14. Sheldon Haudenschild, 15. Brock Zearfoss, 16. TJ Stutts, 17. Daryn Pittman, 18. Troy Wagaman Jr., 19. Dylan Norris, 20. Logan Schuchart, 21. Cory Eliason, 22. Gio Scelzi, 23. Matt Campbell, 24. Kraig Kinser, 25. Landon Myers, 26. Robbie Kendall, 27. Brad Sweet, 28. Robbie Price
DNQ: Chad Trout, Ryan Smith, Kyle Reinhardt, Kyle Moody, Austin Bishop, Devon Borden, Steve Buckwalter, Bryn Gohn, Troy Fraker, Justin Whittall, Cameron Smith, Michael Millard, Bill Rose, Freddie Rahmer, Dylan Cisney, Brent Shearer
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