Hodnett Shows The Way In Williams Grove Lid Lifter

Column By: MATT TRACE / RPW – MECHANICSBURG, PA – When the clocks spring forward, the days get longer, the night’s get cooler and racing season begins to heat up! On Friday night, the Pennsylvania Posse made their season debut at the famed Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA and boy. they did not disappoint.

As a fan of local racing, nothing makes you smile more than seeing 24 of the best drivers in the world, towing their haulers into “The Clip” knowing that in just a few hours the famous, “it is Showtime at Williams Grove Speedway, Right Now!” saying is about to ring into your ears.

The night started out good with a fast race track and mid 50’s for temperature. A tough break in hot laps for the #44 of Rodney Westhafer cut the field to 23, but it was still 23 of the best in the country.

Also with the start of the season, we had some of the same faces in new places. Lucas Wolfe made his debut in the Barshinger #24 and Dale Blaney was in the Zemco #1, just to name a few.

With 23 cars, that meant three heat races for the 410s, which were won by Blaney, Steve Buckwalter and Greg Hodnett.

Following a redraw for the feature, Buckwalter and Hodnett would share the front row of the A-Main. Hodnett, the defending Lawrence Chevrolet track Champion, jumped out to the lead at the drop of the green with Buckwalter in tow. With fast cars throughout the field and a fast race track, the Heffner Racing #27 looked like he was going to be hard to beat.

With very little cautions slowing the race, lapped traffic never played a factor. However, it did make things a bit more interesting as Brian Montieth threw everything but the kitchen sink at Hodnett to try and get around him.

A caution with less than 10 to go setup what was going to be a battle between two of the best in PA with Hodnett leading Montieth. On the restart, Hodnett got the jump and pulled away, going on to pick up his first win of 2017 and his 66th at Williams Grove.

Rounding out the Top 5 were Montieth, Brock Zearfoss, Mark Smith and Doug Esh. Freddie Rahmer, who also was the event’s hard charger, finshed sixth with TJ Stutts, Blaney, Wolfe and Brandon Rahmer completed your top 10.

The Pennsylvania Posse will be back in action tonight at both Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, PA and Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, PA.