Mechanicsburg - Fayetteville’s Lance Dewease got by Chad Layton with five laps to go Friday to claim the All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprints feature at Williams Grove Speedway. For Dewease, the win marked the 76th time in his career that he visited victory lane at the Grove and the fifth time he had done so over the All-Stars.
In 305 sprint action, Tyler Bear of Elliottsburg took the win in the 20-lap main event.
Chad Layton started second in the All-Stars 30-lap main and ripped around the speedway to take the lead at the start as Dewease blasted up to second from fourth by getting around pole-sitter Dale Blaney.
A fleet-running Layton was the favorite to record his first win of the season anywhere; until his front wing became dislodged and began to collapse after the race was one-third completed.
Still, Layton was holding his own over Dewease in the non-stop affair through traffic until the wing flipped upside down onto his car’s hood just before the red flag appeared for a flipping Aaron Ott, who vaulted outside the oval’s first and second turns with 11 laps to go.
Yet with his front wing flipped upside down onto the hood, Layton produce a masterful drive off a restart to hold onto the lead over Dewease for the next six laps as the pair darted all over the speedway trying to outwit one another with Layton using up every inch of real estate he could find.
But Layton finally succumbed to Dewease on lap 25; forced to watch Dewease drive by him on the backstretch for the $5,000 victory.
The final five tours produced dramatic racing for second between Layton, Blaney and sixth starter Don Kreitz Jr.
The trio raced within a few car lengths of one another the entire way with Harrisburg’s Layton holding on at the line.
Kreitz was third followed by Blaney and Daryn Pittman. “Chad had his problem with the nose wing. He couldn’t go through the corner no more,” Dewease said of Layton’s drive.“I give him credit, he used up all the racetrack he could on that restart. These things are a handful like that.”
Layton explained what he was going through, trying to manipulate his car out front. “I don’t usually drive like that. With a couple laps to go like that you’re just trying to hold on and not drown,” he said. “Those guys behind me probably wondered, 'What the heck is he doing?'”
Heats for the 35-car field went to Greg Hodnett, Alan Krimes, Adam Wilt and Jim Siegel. NASCAR champion Tony Stewart won the B Main. Blaney earned the pole by winning the dash.
Bear led all 20 laps of the 305 feature event, outrunning 19th starter Mike Wagner, II. Wagner moved into second with a lap to go but ran out of time to catch Bear. George Riden rode home third followed by Matt Mountz and third starter Logan Wagner, who went to the rear twice during the event only to drive back through the field both times.
Information used in this report was provided by Shawn Brouse/Williams Grove Speedway. Video used in this report is courtesy of www.SportsPlusVideo.com and Lynn Schaeffer Productions.
