HARRISBURG -- Lance Dewease of Fayetteville won Saturday for the 94th time in his sprint car career at the Port Royal Speedway. The victory tied Dewease with Todd Shaffer for second on the ovals all-time sprint car win list.
“There’s definitely a lot of effort being made here,” Dewease said in victory lane regarding the work being done by speedway leaders and work crews to upgrade the track in 2011, according to the track's website. “There’s more effort here now than I’ve ever seen here and I’ve been racing for 26 years."Dewease started fourth in the 25-lap Aumiller Insurance sprint main aboard the Don and Lisa Owens No. 30C and drove into third behind leader Rick Lafferty and second-runner Justin Henderson on the first circuit.
A caution flag with nine laps left gave Henderson a chance to catch is breath as Dewease had run him down before the break.
But new life or not, Henderson was no match for LD as the Fayetteville Flyer blasted underneath him in turn one when green replaced the yellow to slide up in front as the pair exited the second corner as the new leader.
And once in front, Dewease went unchallenged to the win, which was his second of the year at the track.
Layton came back for second followed by Lafferty, Mike Wagner and Tyler Walker. Sixth through 10th went to Davey Sammons, Dan Shetler, Ryan Taylor, Daryl Stimeling and Bob Howard, respectively.
Port Royal Speedway will present Fan Appreciation Night this coming Saturday, July 16 when adult general admission will be just $10.00 with students admitted for $5.00 for a racing card of 410 sprints, late models, 305 sprints and an enduro dash.
Frankie Herr continued his dominance Saturday at Williams Grove by winning his fourth feature there in the last five super sportsman races.
Also Saturday, Danny Dietrich became the fifth and final leader just before a 16th lap caution and drove away to his third win of the year in a thrilling 25-lap Kids Night 410 sprint car feature.
In a race which saw changes in both the top five and on every lap, Dietrich came from 11th starting spot to catch Doug Esh for fifth as the leaders raced through heavy lapped traffic on lap 10. He assumed fourth when second-place Greg Hodnett was collected by a spinning car at the tail end of the lead lap in turn two of lap 14, and followed Jim Siegel past Adam Wilt into third during a multi-car battle for the runner-up spot on lap 15, just before the caution came out for a spinning Kevin Nouse in turns three and four.
What followed was a three-car race for the lead, with Siegel reclaiming the lead for the second time in the race and Dietrich also passing Brent Marks for second on lap 15. One-lap later, Dietrich pulled the slider on Siegel for the race lead as the leaders completed the lap but Aaron Ott spun on turn two. Because half the field wasn’t past the flagstand, the lap didn’t count but the pass did.
Dietrich drove away from the field after that, crossing 2.96 seconds ahead of Siegel, with Marks settling for third, Wilt crossing fourth, and Brian Leppo fifth. Sixth through tenth were Esh, Alan Krimes, 20th-starting Brad McClelland, Cory Haas (who came from the back after an early-race spin), and Gerard McIntyre, Jr.
"We caught every break there was," said Dietrich upon exiting the Gary Kauffman-owned Sandoe’s Fruit Market/APM Buildings/Racer’s Used Parts Warehouse #48 in victory lane, according to the track's website. "Even when (Dave) Wilson spun up there and collected Greg. He was pretty fast, too. He’s been fast, and it’s obvious, he was running second and we had the breaks go our way."
"I try to stay calm back there, and pick ‘em off and take advantage of it when I can," said Dietrich about his run through the field to the race lead. "This doesn’t get old. We’d like to park it here all the time!"
Pole-sitter Chad Criswell led the first lap from the pole before turning the lead over the Siegel from laps two through 11. Marks led from laps 12 through 15, with Siegel back in front on lap 15. Dietrich led the rest of the way for his third Lincoln win of the season and sixth of his Lincoln career.
Heats for the 25 410-sprinters were won by Esh, Chad Criswell, and Wilt, with Sam Schlosberg winning the consolation.
Information used in this story was provided by Port Royal and Lincoln Speedways, respectively. Video used in this report is courtesy of www.SportsPlusVideo.com and Lynn Schaeffer Productions.
