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Lance Dewease continues mastery of Hagerstown Speedway with another Pa. Speedweek win

STAFF REPORT
  • Lance Dewease won a Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek race at Hagerstown Speedway on Thursday.
  • He earned $5,000 for his victory in the 30-lap Johnny Grum Memorial.
  • It marked the third-straight year that Dewease earned a Speedweek win at the Maryland track.

HAGERSTOWN, Md. – When Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek moves south of the Mason-Dixon Line, Lance Dewease is the man to beat.

Lance Dewease will be among those honored this weekend at Port Royal Speedway during the running of the Tuscarora 50. The event will pay $50,000 to the winner.

The veteran driver proved that fact again on Thursday evening when, for the third-straight year, he drove to a Speedweek triumph at Hagerstown Speedway in the 30-lap Johnny Grum Memorial.

Dewease earned $5,000 for the win by driving the Davey Brown-prepared, Don Kreitz Jr.-owned No.69k,  to victory lane.

Dewease started the race sixth, but moved into the top five by the fourth lap and was fourth when a caution flag waved for Australian racer Jesse Attard's spun car on lap seven.

Pole-sitter Greg Hodnett had led from the start and was followed by fellow front-row starter Ryan Smith, with Freddie Rahmer ahead of Dewease on the restart.

It took two laps for Dewease to move past Rahmer and Smith into the No. 2 spot behind Hodnett. Dewease finally caught up to Hodnett with four laps to go and grabbed the lead with three laps remaining.

Dewease won by just more than half a second over Hodnett for his 16th career win at the Hub City oval, where he picked up his first career win 32 years ago in 1986.

Smith finished second, followed by Rahmer and Anthony Macri. Rounding out the top 10 were Logan Wagner, Dylan Cisney, Mike Wagner, Lucas Wolfe and Spencer Bayston.

Bayston had quick time in time trials with a lap of 17.008 seconds, while Hodnett, Macri and Dewease were heat-race winners. Rico Abreu won the B-main.

Notes: A total of 29 cars were pitside for the only 410 sprint-car race of the season that included former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart in competition for his first-ever start at Hagerstown. Former NASCAR driver and World of Outlaws champion Dave Blaney was also racing. Stewart finished 11th, while Blaney finished 17th.

Dewease’s win moves him into a three-way tie for sixth on the all-time Hagerstown sprint-car win list, with Ray Dovel and Bobby Abel. Both of those drivers won at Hagerstown for their 16th career wins in 1969.

It also marks the 16th career win at Hagerstown for Kreitz as a car owner, including his 13 wins as a driver.

Feature Results

410 sprints: 1. Lance Dewease, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Ryan Smith, 4. Freddie Rahmer, 5. Anthony Macri, 6. Logan Wagner, 7. Dylan Cisney, 8. Mike Wagner, 9. Lucas Wolfe, 10. Spencer Bayston, 11. Tony Stewart, 12. Danny Dietrich, 13. Brock Zearfoss, 14. Aaron Reutzel, 15. Trey Starks, 16. Gerard McIntrye, 17. Dave Blaney, 18. James McFadden, 19. Rico Abreu, 20. Kyle Moody, 21. Joey Hershey, 22. Jordan Givler, 23. Jesse Attard, 24. Adrian Shaffer

DNQ: Jared Esh, Robbie Kendall, Mitchell Wormall, Troy Fraker, John Sharpe.

Information for this story was provided by Hagerstown Speedeway.