Dietz Goes Back To Back In Williams Grove Sprints, Grant Gets USAC Main

Dietz Goes Back To Back In Williams Grove Sprints, Grant Gets USAC Main

MECHANICSBURG, PA – Chase Dietz picked up his second straight sprint

car feature win Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.

In the 30- lap Eastern Storm feature for the USAC Sprint Cars, it was

Justin Grant picking up the victory.

Dietz grabbed the lead from Billy Dietrich in the closing laps of the

Regular 410 sprint 25-lap main event and went on to the $5,500 win. It was his second

career win and second straight in John Trone’s No. 39.

“That was a fun race,” Dietz said. “The track got curbed-up in both

corners. I knew at some point, the bottom was going to rubber-up. It

was a matter of when and where it had to be. I was really fighting the

car on the curb trying to make ground where I could. I didn’t feel the

greatest on the bottom. I had to make the right moves in traffic. We

were running the curb and Billy hadn’t been up there. I made the right

choice and did it again. To just get the first one, let alone two in a

row, this is really cool.”

Lucas Wolfe grabbed the early race lead over Jeff Halligan and Bill

Dietrich. Wolfe raced the bottom as Halligan tried the middle groove.

Halligan got beside Wolfe as they raced down the frontstretch and had

the preferred line entering turn one. He took the lead from Wolfe and

then pulled away. Dietrich took second from Wolfe.

Halligan began lapping slower cars with a 2-second lead over Dietrich.

Sixth starting Dietz challenged Wolfe for third and eventually made

the pass.

Dietrich began closing on the leader while running the inside line. Dietrich

passed Halligan coming off turn four with 10 laps to go.

Dietz raced by Halligan and into second with eight laps to go only to see Halligan

take the spot back off of the second corner. The top three were very

close with seven to go.

Dietz squeezed back by Halligan in lapped traffic in turn three and then

cleared two slower cars and went after the leader. Dietrich was held

up by slower traffic on the bottom in turns one and two and Dietz blasted

the top driving by the slower cars and Dietrich for the lead with four laps

to go.

Dietz, of York, stayed mistake free over the final laps winning his

second straight Grove feature by 1.5-seconds over Dietrich. Halligan,

Wolfe and Tim Glatfelter completed the top five.

Chad Trout, Justin Whittall, TJ Stutts, Anthony Macri and Freddie Rahmer rounded out the

top 10.

Halligan, Wolfe and Dietrich won the heat races.

In the 30-lap Eastern Storm feature for the USAC National Sprint Cars,

Justin Grant of Ione, California, grabbed the lead from Matt Westfall

as they raced off turn four on the opening lap.

Logan Seavey passed Westfall for second as Grant’s lead was 2-seconds

with five laps completed.

Robert Ballou raced into third and Brady Bacon fourth as Grant

controlled the race increasing his lead.

Grant’s lead was 3.7-seconds with 10 laps completed. Seavey and Ballou

followed as Grant started lapping slower cars.

His huge lead was erased when the yellow flag flew with 16 laps completed.

Although he got a bit high in the first turn on the restart, Grant

stayed in front as they raced down the backstretch. A restart then

regrouped the field again.

Seavey took a shot at Grant on the ensuing restart as Pennsylvania’s

Alex Bright passed a few cars, moving into third after

starting 13th.

Grant’s dominance continued as he pulled away to a comfortable lead.

The yellow then again flew with six laps to go.

They raced three-wide for the lead in turns one and two following the

restart as Bright took second from Seavey before going after Grant.

Grant pulled away as Seavey tried to take second back off the top

groove while Bright ran the bottom.

Grant jumped the fourth turn cushion on the final laps making it a

close finish with Bright holding off Seavey for second. Grant’s 30th

career USAC sprint car win was worth $6,000. It was his first win

since February in Florida.

“The curb was getting really tough to run,” Grant said. “I bent the

wheel and it was shaking the rest of the way, but it was an absolute

blast and I had a lot of fun driving it. This is all I ever wanted to be

since I was three-years-old is be a sprint car driver. I’m living my

dream.”

“Everybody made it easy when they went to the top,” Bright said. “We

were working the bottom and I had to be real aggressive and sometimes

make the car a little wide. The car was on rails tonight. I wish we

had more laps because the top was getting treacherous and Grant was

making mistakes.”

Brady Bacon and Westfall completed the top five. Thomas Meseraull, Timmy

Buckwalter, Briggs Danner, Eastern Storm point leader CJ Leary, and

Steven Drevicki rounded out the top 10.

Jake Swanson had the fastest lap in qualifying time trials with a lap

of 20.065. Bacon, Steve Drevicki and Grant won the heats.

Feature Finishes:

Sprint Car Feature (25 laps): 1. Chase Dietz. 2. Billy Dietrich. 3.

Jeff Halligan. 4. Lucas Wolfe. 5. Tim Glatfelter. 6. Chad Trout. 7.

Justin Whittall. 8. TJ Stutts. 9. Anthony Macri. 10. Freddie Rahmer

11. Dylan Cisney. 12. Brent Shearer. 13. Devon Borden. 14. Kyle Moody.

15. Austin Bishop. 16. Tyler Ross. 17. Cody Fletcher. 18. Dwight

Leppo. 19. Troy Fraker. 20. Dylan Norris. 21. Greg Plank.

USAC Sprint Car Feature (30 laps): 1. Justin Grant. 2. Alex Bright. 3.

Logan Seavey. 4. Brady Bacon. 5. Matt Westfall. 6. Thomas Meseraull.

7. Timmy Buckwalter. 8. Briggs Danner. 9. CJ Leary. 10. Steve

Drevicki. 11. Jadon Rogers. 12. Robert Ballou. 13. Emerson Axsom. 14.

Chase Stockon. 15. Shane Cottle. 16. Mark Smith. 17. Jake Swanson. 18.

Brandon Mattox. 19. Joey Amantea. 20. Charles Davis Jr. 21. Carmen

Perigo Jr. 22. Dallas Hewitt.