MECHANICSBURG - Daryn Pittman of Owasso, OK., won the third World of Outlaws event of his Williams Grove Speedway career Friday night but it was his first as a member of the Pennsylvania Posse.
Pittman hounded leader Brian Leppo of New Oxford for eight straight laps before finally sealing the deal with a low side pass in the second corner with five laps to go in the 25-lapper.
“I just don’t care what anybody wants to call us, we won an outlaws show at Williams Grove and that’s damn hard to do,” Pittman said in victory lane.
The ex-Outlaws driver lined up fourth for the initial start and trailed polesitter Stevie Smith and second-runner Brian Leppo during the early going as the leaders entered lapped traffic with eight away.
The race was red-flagged for flip by Tyler Walker in the second corner with 12 down and that’s when Smith’s luck ran out. He chose the inside line for the double file restart but got penalized for going early, thus forcing himself back a row for another try as Leppo was awarded the new lead.
The red again appeared as Leppo was trying to complete the new circuit, this time for eighth-place runner Doug Esh who made contact racing with Steve Kinser and Brian Montieth on the backstretch. Esh’s racer vaulted into the backstretch bridge with his car’s nose pointed to the stars and bounced back down onto the track and luckily avoided any further impact.
Pittman went to work when action resumed and began his relentless pursuit of leader Leppo, diving under his No. 71 racer as the pair entered the first turn each lap before finally making the move stick for the $8,000 victory. “I had found it (the bottom) about two laps before that red,“ Pittman said. “I don’t really know what happened there with Stevie. That’s a pretty harsh call when you’re the leader of the race.”
“Luckily we were on the good end of it.”
“I knew Leppo wasn’t gonna’ get off the top, he never does and he’s really good up there. I was definitely good and I knew I was running out of laps,” the elated winner said. The victory was an outlaws first for Pittman car owner Michael Heffner.
“I don’t give a darn if he’s (Pittman) from Mars, this win is for Pennsylvania and I’m proud of it,” Heffner said.
Leppo ended up second followed by Jason Sides, Bartlett, TN.; Smith, Broken Arrow, OK.; and Steve Kinser, Bloomington, IN.
Sixth through 10th went to Fred Rahmer, Salfordville; Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND.; Jason Meyers, Clovis, CA.; Sammy Swindell, Germantown, TN.; and Don Kreitz Jr,, Sinking Spring.
Leppo set fast time over the 41-car field with a lap of 17.218 seconds, a speed of 104.542 MPH.
Feature finish: 1. Daryn Pittman, 2. Brian Leppo, 3. Jason Sides, 4. Stevie Smith, 5. Steve Kinser, 6. Fred Rahmer, 7. Donny Schatz, 8. Jason Meyers, 9. Sammy Swindell, 10. Don Kreitz Jr., 11. Lance Dewease, 12. Joey Saldana, 13. Justin Henderson, 14. Chad Kemenah, 15. Craig Dollansky, 16. Chad Layton, 17. Adam Wilt, 18. Kerry Madsen, 19. Paul McMahan, 20. Lucas Wolfe, 21. Greg Hodnett, 22. Sam Hafertepe Jr., 23. Brian Montieth, 24. Brent Marks, 25. Cody Darrah, 26. Doug Esh, 27. Tyler Walker, 28. Danny Dietrich.
Information used in this story was provided by Shawn Brouse/Williams Grove Speedway. Video used in this report is courtesy of www.SportsPlusVideo.com and Lynn Schaeffer Productions.
