Williams Grove Open Results and Stories

Williams Grove from the bridge 10/15/16
 
Williams Grove Speedway
Mechanicsburg, PA
 
Williams Grove Open
 
WoO
 
48 cars
 
Two groups of qualifying were set on a pretty heavy surface.  Tim Wagaman (second car out to time) set the standard in the first group at 16.314 seconds.  Brad Sweet (9th car out) was second quick, followed by Dave Blaney (10th), Jason Sides (11th), Donny Schatz (15th), Greg Hodnett (19th), Kerry Madsen (16th), Lucas Wolfe (12th) and TJ Stutts (3rd).  Aaron Ott had a left side wing panel issue slowing his time.  Alan Krimes had motor issues and scratched for the night.
 
Logan Schuchart (3rd car out) was quickest in the second group at 16.316 seconds.  He was followed by Joey Saldana (10th), Danny Dietrich (5th), Lance Dewease (3rd), Daryn Pittman (19th), Brian Brown (8th), David Gravel (13th), Danny Holtgraver (18th), Stevie Smith (14th) and Dale Blaney (21st).

Doug Esh Heat one (started): 1. Dave Blaney 71m (2) 2. Schatz 15 (3) 3. Wagaman 1T (1) 4. Madsen 17w (4) 5. Freddie Rahmer 51 (6) / 6. Stutts 88 (5) 7. Mark Smith M1 (8) 8. Tim Shaffer 13x (10) 9. Paige Polyak 19 (7) 10. Tim Glatfelter 69 (9) 11. RJ Johnson 71A (11) DNS – Alan Krimes 87
 
Blaney led the distance in the 8-lapper that took the top five to the feature.  Surprise quick timer Wagaman held off Schatz for the final transfer for four laps, but Schatz was able to shoot by him on the low side of turn four.
 
Heat two (started): 1. Sweet 49 (1) 2. Sides 7s (2) 3. Hodnett 27 (3) 4. Wolfe 1 (4) 5. Shane Stewart 2 (6) / 6. Aaron Ott 25 (7) 7. Chase Dietz 5G (9) 8. Greg Wilson w20 (10) 9. Jacob Allen 1a (5) 10. Clyde Knipp 13 (12) 11. Chad Trout 1x (11) 12. Cory Haas 11c (8)
 
Sweet led the distance.  Dietz came to a stop with on lap in the books.  On the double-file restart, Ott was in the seventh spot.  He had a run down the frontstretch and helped Stewart out of the way, grabbing the fifth and final transfer.  The trade-off was a collapsed left side panel.  Stewart rebounded from the contact and battled back from seventh.  On the last lap, in turn two, he would roar back by Ott for fifth.
 
Heat three (started): 1. Gravel 5 (4) 2. Dietrich 48 (2) 3. Schuchart 1s (1) 4. Pittman 9 (3) 5. Paul McMahan 7 (6) / 6. Stevie Smith 51s (5) 7. Brent Marks 19m (9) 8. Ryan Smith 94 (10) 9. Bill Balog 17B (8) 10. Doug Esh 07 (7) 11. Logan Wagner 7w (11) 12. Craig Dollansky 49x (12)
 
Gravel stormed from fourth and stomped the field in this one.  Dietrich held onto the second Dash spot.  The best battle was for fourth, which Pittman won with a pass of McMahan on lap six.
 
Heat four (started): 1. Saldana 83 (1) 2. Dewease 69K (2) 3. Brown 21 (3) 4. Dale Blaney 1B (5) 5. Holtgraver 70 (4) / 6. Brian Montieth 21P (8) 7. Jason Johnson 41 (7) 8. Steve Buckwalter 17BX (6) 9. Brock Zearfoss 3z (9) 10. Troy Fraker 12w (12) 11. Rodney Westhafer 44w (10) 12. Nicole Bower 75 (11)
 
Saldana led the distance in a mostly single-file affair.  Montieth made a late bid for the final transfer that came up short.
 
C main (started): 1. Shaffer (1) 2. R. Smith (4) / 3. Zearfoss (2) 4. Wagner (6) 5. Wilson (3) 6. Trout (11) 7. RJ Johnson (7) 8. Knipp (9) 9. Fraker (12) 10. Dollansky (10) 11. Glatfelter (5) 12. Bower (8) DNS – Westhafer
 
Bower stopped before a lap could be completed.  That allowed Trout, who didn’t make the initial start, to tag the tail.  Shaffer led the 10-lapper early over Zearfoss and R. Smith.  Shaffer would maintain his lead, but a fierce battle for the second and final transfer to the B ensued.  R. Smith would win the spot from Zearfoss on lap six.
 
Dash (started): 1. Saldana (1) 2. Sweet (2) 3. Gravel (3) 4. Schatz (5) 5. Dave Blaney (4) 6. Dietrich (6) 7. Dewease (8) 8. Sides (7)
 
Not much movement in this 6-lapper, though Schatz gained a row for his starting spot in the finale.
 
B main (started): 1. Stutts (1) 2. S. Smith (2) 3. Esh (6) 4. J. Johnson (8) / 5. Buckwalter (4) 6. Haas (11) 7. Marks (14) 8. Montieth (12) 9. Dietz (13) 10. M. Smith (9) 11. Allen (3) 12. R. Smith (16) 13. Balog (10) 14. Polyak (5) 15. Ott (7) 16. Shaffer (15)
 
Stutts led early in the 12-lapper over S. Smith, Esh who moved up from sixth and Buckwalter.  J. Johnson worked his way by Buckwalter for the final transfer on lap nine.  Polyak lost a top wing side panel on lap nine.  Stutts picked the inside line on the restart, ahead of S. Smith, Esh, J. Johnson and Buckwalter.  Buckwalter gained back the fourth spot briefly on lap ten, but J. Johnson would hold on.

Danny Dietrich A main (started): 1. Dietrich (6) 2. Saldana (1) 3. Sweet (2) 4. Schatz (4) 5. Gravel (3) 6. Hodnett (11) 7. Pittman (14) 8. Schuchart (10) 9. Dewease (7) 10. Sides (8) 11. Dale Blaney (16) 12. Brown (12) 13. Rahmer (17) 14. S. Smith (22) 15. Esh (23) 16. J. Johnson (24) 17. Madsen (13) 18. Stewart (19) 19. Wolfe (15) 20. Wagaman (9) 21. Stutz (21) 22. Dave Blaney (5) 23. Montieth (25. prov.) 24. Holtgraver (20) 25. McMahan (18) 26. Haas (26, prov.)
 
Saldana walked away early in the 40-lapper over Sweet and Schatz.  Gravel passed Dietrich for fourth on lap four.  Sweet reeled in Saldana in traffic and would lead a lap on the 15th circuit.  Saldana would reclaim the point, and Schatz would shoot under Sweet for second on lap 19.  Dietrich’s car began to respond at the halfway point and he took third from Sweet on lap 21.  When Esh lost his right front wheel on lap 23, it brought the first caution.  The red was thrown for fuel.  Saldana chose the inside line over Schatz, Dietrich, Sweet, Schuchart and Gravel on the restart.  Dietrich was able to shoot by Schatz for second before a yellow flew for Stewart.  Sweet got by Schatz on that restart.  Dave Blaney spun on lap 26, bringing another yellow.  Dietrich passed Saldana for the lead on the restart as Beer Hill came to its feet.  The pass was negated, however, by a turn three Montieth spin.  The final fourteen laps went non-stop and all attention was on Dietrich’s pursuit of the leader.  He would make a dive in turn four on lap 33 that fell short.  He would keep Saldana in his sights, and with two laps to go, he rode the leader’s rear bumper into turn one.  He emerged with the lead in turn two and went on to take home the $25,000 as the locals went wild!