KYLE LARSON WINS MITCH SMITH MEMORIAL AND $15K FRIDAY NIGHT AT WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY

MECHANICSBURG, PA – Kyle Larson grabbed the lead from Brent Marks and went on to win the Mitch Smith Memorial Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway -the crown jewel of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek.

Larson’s first career Williams Grove win was worth $15,000. It was his third win of Speedweek and nearly clinched the series championship for the Elk Grove, Calif., driver.

“I had a really, really good car, but I had a bad start and fell back to fifth,” Larson said. “I was able to get back to third quickly.”

“Its nice to come back here and be really competitive with Paul (Silva),” Larson said. “It’s cool to get both of our first wins here at Williams Grove. This is one of the most historic race tracks in the world. To put my name on the winners list is pretty special.”

Lance Dewease started on the pole and led the opening lap with Brent Marks close behind. A five-car crash exiting turn four stopped the race. Jeff Halligan, Chase Dietz, Brock Zearfoss, Matt Campbell and Mike Wagner were involved. A few of the cars flipped. No injuries were reported.

A complete restart ensued with Dewease once again leading and Marks right behind. Marks didn’t let Dewease get away and a third turn pass got him the lead with three laps completed.

Marks pulled away to a comfortable lead over Dewease with Larson charging from third. Brian Montieth passed TJ Stutts for fourth.

Marks began lapping slower traffic on lap 14 and this allowed both Dewease and Larson to close dramatically. Montieth was not far back either.

Marks stayed up around a fast cushion as Dewease tried to make the low and middle groove work. Larson passed Dewease off turn two with 12 laps to go and began tracking down Marks.

“He was searching for the middle and I was able to slide him,” Larson said. “The top in one and two started to go away and I could see their noses inside of me, so I moved down.”

As Marks worked the top, Larson tried a bit lower line and finally got another shot.

Larson tried the bottom in turn three to take the lead, but couldn’t make the pass. Larson tried the bottom again and got a better run this time and was inside of Marks down the frontstretch. He squeezed under him entering turn one making slight contact as the took the lead with six to go.

“I wasn’t expecting him to go to the bottom,” Larson said. “He’d been running the top. I got a good run off four and I had enough of a gap in front of me, I was committed to slide him and he shut it down. I thought we were going to crash. I hate that I got into him. You’re trying to judge things so quickly here. You’ve got to make all your passes in the corners. You’ve got to be really aggressive.”

Marks tried to take the lead back, but Larson got by slower traffic better. Marks was held up and Dewease got back by for second. Rico Abreu and Freddie Rahmer completed the top five. Danny Dietrich, who started 18th, Ryan Smith, TJ Stutts, Chad Trout and Lucas Wolfe rounded out the top 10.

Dewease set quick time over the 38-car field with a lap of 17.330 and he also won the opening eight-lap heat race. Brian Montieth won the second heat. Three laps were completed in the third heat race when a rain shower hit the track. It created about a 75-minute delay. When racing resumed, Marks held off Larson to win the third heat. TJ Stutts won the final heat. Matt Campbell won the B-main.

Feature Finishes

Mitch Smith Memorial Sprint Car Feature (30 laps): 1. Kyle Larson. 2. Lance Dewease. 3. Brent Marks. 4. Rico Abreu. 5. Freddie Rahmer. 6. Danny Dietrich. 7. Ryan Smith. 8. TJ Stutts. 9. Chad Trout. 10. Lucas Wolfe. 11. Sammy Swindell. 12. Kyle Reinhardt. 13. Brian Montieth. 14. Robbie Kendall 15. Kyle Moody. 16. Tim Wagaman. 17. Tyler Beard. 18. Rick Lafferty. 19. Brock Zearfoss. 20. Anthony Macri. 21. Mike Wagner. 22. Chase Dietz. 23. Matt Campbell. 24. Jeff Halligan.

DNQ: Logan Wagner, Steve Buckwalter, Robert Ballou, Dylan Cisney, Tyler Ross, Brett Michalski, Justin Whittall, Adrian Shaffer, Kody Lehman, Nicole Bower, Steven Downs, Troy Fraker, Doug Hammaker, Jared Esh.

2020 RED ROBIN SPEEDWEEK POINTS
1. 57 Kyle Larson  1264*
2. 48 Danny Dietrich 1078*
3. 51  Freddie Rahmer 1023*
4. 72 Ryan Smith  980*
5. 24 Rico Abreu  912*
6. 5 Brent Marks  912*
7. 3z Brock Zearfoss 791*
8. 39M Anthony Macri 786*
9. 69K Lance Dewease 748
10. 39 Sammy Swindell 737*
11. 24 Lucas Wolfe  656*
12. 99M Kyle Moody  529*
13. 91 Kyle Reinhardt 511*
14. 1 Logan Wagner 448*
15. 87 Aaron Reutzel 416
16. 11 T J Stutts  396*
17. 55 Mike Wagner  393*
18. 1x Chad Trout  383
19. 21 Brian Montieth 348
21. 75 Chase Dietz  325*
22. 87 Alan Krimes  286
23. 55K Robbie Kendall 264
24. 21 Christopher Bell 254
25. 5 Dylan Cisney  221*
26. 26 Cory Eliason  200
27. 45 Jeff Halligan  183
28. 12 Robert Ballou  181*
29. 25 Tyler Bear  155
30. 33 Jared Esh  151*
31. 5E Tim Wagaman 145
32. 12 Blane Heimbach 127
33. 88 Brandon Rahmer 123
34. 19 Troy Wagaman Jr 122
35. 15 Adam Wilt  115
36. 1W Matt Campbell 111
37. 0 Rick Lafferty  105
38. 69 Tim Glatfelter  100
39. 59 Jim Siegel  96
40. 14T Tyler Walton  90
41. 47K  Kody Lehman  86
41. 20 Ryan Taylor  86
43. 37 J J Grasso  77
44. 67 Justin Whittall 76
45. 19M Landon Myers 74
46. 2 A J Flick  57
47. 17B Steve Buckwalter 54
47. 39 Cale Thomas  54
47. 2w Glenndon Forsythe 54
50. 44 Dylan Norris  53
51. 73B Brett Michalski 51
52. 8 Billy Dietrich  47
53. 19 Curt Stroup  33
53. 38 Mark Smith  33
53. 33W Michael Walter II 33
56. 91 Tony Fiore  30
57. 9 Dalton Dietrich 25
58. 5 Tyler Ross  22
58. 59s Steve Wilbur  22
58. 35 Chad Layton  22
61. 27G Jay Galloway  21
62. 27s Adrain Shaffer 20
63.. 7 Trey Hivner  19
63. 75 Nicole Bower  19
65. 35 Tyler Reeser  15
65. 880 Drew Ritchey  15
67. 49H Bradley Howard 14
68. 66 Doug Hammaker 13
68. 14c Dave Carlberg 13
70. 16a Aaron Bollinger 10
70. 21T Scott Fisher  10
72. 15c Kurt Conklin  8
73. 12 Brent Shearer  7
74. 85 Ricky Dieva  6
75. 12W Troy Fraker  2
76. 24B Dustin Baney  1
76 12D Steven Downs 1
78. 97 Brie Hershey  0

 

*indicates driver has competed in every event