HOUSEHOLDER: Spring Grove's Greg Hodnett keeps rolling
- Spring Grove's Greg Hodnett owns 17 overall wins on the regional dirt tracks.
- Hodnett has earned 14 triumphs in 410 sprint car competition.
- Lance Dewease has won six times in 12 area sprint car starts this season.
Spring Grove’s Greg Hodnett is enjoying a season to remember.
Hodnett's triumph in the make-up of the Weldon Sterner Memorial Race at Lincoln Speedway on Saturday evening was his 17th overall win this season. Hodnett has won 14 times in 410 sprint competition and three more in the 360 sprints.
Six of Hodnett’s 410 wins have come at Port Royal Speedway, while four are at Lincoln. That's slightly odd since both are Saturday night tracks. Hodnett also has 410 wins at Williams Grove, Selinsgrove, Susquehanna and Path Valley speedways. Two of his 360 wins have come at Williams Grove, while the other is at New Egypt, New Jersey.
It's not surprising that Hodnett has a large lead in the Speedway Motors/Champion Racing Oil Series for the 410 sprints in central Pennsylvania.
While Hodnett’s totals are quite impressive, perhaps the team of Lance Dewease, Donnie Kreitz and Davey Brown is even more impressive. That combination has won six times in just 12 starts this season. The trio also has a second, a third, a sixth and a seventh, with just two did-not-finish results.
Manchester driver breaks through: Youngster Trey Hivner, of Manchester, won Saturday’s 358 sprint feature at Lincoln. Hivner is in his first year of racing the 358s and was able to put it all together Saturday.
Hivner comes from a family with a lot of local racing heritage. His great grandfather, “Quack” Zellers, was a Hall of Fame flagman, while his grandfather, Terry Zellers, has been a longtime mechanic on the local circuit. Uncle Mark Zellers also has a 358 win to his credit during his driving days, and another uncle, Scott Zellers, is the mechanic for the Jerry Parrish team and driver Brian Montieth.
Hivner also has one of the area's unique sponsors in "Grandma's Apple Dumplings," and he said Saturday that the peaches are in now, so there will be Peach Dumplings.
Big success at Trailway: The sprint car show at Trailway Speedway Sunday night was a big success.
Known as the Armin Hostetter Memorial Race, the show drew 23 410 sprint cars to the quarter-mile oval. It was the first time the 410 sprinters appeared at Trailway in almost a decade. The last time was July 17, 2006. More importantly, the race drew the largest crowd that Trailway has ever had for a racing event.
This week: Williams Grove will play host to an Outlaw Tune-Up for the sprint cars this week in anticipation of next week’s Summer Nationals. The 358 sprints are also on the program
Trailway’s Friday program will include the limited late models, 270cc micro sprints, limited stocks and street stocks.
Saturday at Lincoln, the sprints are joined by the super sportsman racers and the Legends cars, while at Port Royal the sprints headline with late models and PASS 305 sprints.
At Selinsgrove Saturday, the 360 sprints are joined by the late models, pro stocks and roadrunners.
Hagerstown gives the race cars the weekend off for the monster trucks.
Susquehanna will race on Sunday evening with the sprints and PASS 305 sprints in action. The sprint car portion of the program is part of the Lincoln/Trailway/Susquehanna Shoot Out.
50 years ago: There was plenty of racing in the area 50 years ago in 1966.
Ray Tilley again extended his season win numbers with a three-win weekend. Tilley drove Bud Grimm’s No. 88 to wins at Williams Grove on Friday, Port Royal on Saturday and Selinsgrove on Sunday. Selinsgrove’s show was part of the annual fair that was once held there. Tilley ended the weekend with 22 wins on the season.
Lynn Paxton was the other driver to score multiple wins on the weekend. Paxton put the Ree Smith No. 1 in victory lane at Dorsey, Maryland, on Friday, and Lincoln on Saturday to push his season win total to eight. The URC sprints were also at Lincoln, with Bobby Courtwright the winner.
In other Friday night action, Jack Denniston put the $ in victory lane at Winchester, Virginia, for his fifth win of the season. At Bedford it was Lou Blaney in victory lane in the Crash Brothers' No. 10. Lou, of course, was the father to Dave and Dale Blaney, and the grandfather of current NASCAR rookie Ryan Blaney. The win was Blaney’s first on the local circuit that year.
In other Saturday action, Gerald Chamberlain drove the Don Rice Ford No. 31 to victory at South Penn in Everett. The win was Chamberlain’s fourth of the season.
In Sunday action, Kenny Weld brought the family-owned No. 94 to Susquehanna to score his third local win of the season. At Hagerstown, it was Junior Ritchey who picked up his first win of the season in the Roy Morall No. 880. Ritchey’s grandson Drew now competes with the 305 sprints.
Bryan Householder writes about dirt-track racing for The York Dispatch. He can be reached at sports@yorkdispatch.com.
2016 SPEEDWAY MOTORS/CHAMPION RACING OIL
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA SPRINT CAR SERIES
PRESENTED BY HOSEHEADS.COM
1. 27 Greg Hodnett 1328 14
2. 48 Danny Dietrich 866 4
3. 1 Lucas Wolfe 622 2
4. 19M Brent Marks 620 2
5. 21 Brian Montieth 585 3
6. 07 Doug Esh 479 2
7. 87 Alan Krimes 453 1
8. 69k Lance Dewease 399 6
8. 94 Ryan Smith 399
10. 25 Aaron Ott 365 1
11. 51 Freddie Rahmer 335 1
12. 3z Brock Zearfoss 302 1
13 52 Austin Hogue 292 1
14. 11c Cory Haas 292
15. 51s Stevie Smith 274
16. 17B Steve Buckwalter 236 2
17. 12 Blane Heimbach 220 1
18. M1 Mark Smith 202
19. 16 Gerard McIntyre Jr 183
20. 15 Adam Wilt 178
21. 55K Robbie Kendall 176
22. 55 Mike Wagner 175
23. 59 Jim Siegel 174
24. 20 Ryan Taylor 156
25. 8 Billy Dietrich 144 1
358 Sprint Series
1. 66 Doug Hammaker 322 3
2. 41 Jeff Halligan 304 1
3. 27s Adrian Shaffer 267 2
4. 16 Matt Campbell 260 1
5. 45 Jeff Rohrbaugh 224 2
6. 119 Chandler Leiby 202
7. 35 Tyler Esh 143
8. 23 Chris Arnold 124 1
9. 66a Cody Fletcher 117
10. 9 Dalton Dietrich 110 1