Dramatic Summer Nationals Opener Finds Zearfoss As An Outlaws Winner

Column By: RUSTY RHOADES / RPW – MECHANICSBURG, PA – “The Jonestown Jet” Brock Zearfoss battled with the best in the business throughout the World of Outlaws 25 lap feature at Williams Grove Speedway Friday night, and at the end it was the Pennsylvania Posse regular scoring a hugely popular win against the touring invaders.

He battled through slide jobs, wrecks, restart issues and engine woes to capture his first win with the top-level touring series in a car he’s had very limited experience in.

Zearfoss was in a dogfight with the best of the best from the jump, starting in the second row and battling alongside Donny Schatz early on before settling into 3rd behind a sailing Lance Dewease and Daryn Pittman. The drama intensified around the halfway point, when Pittman appeared to glance off the wall coming off turn 4 while trying to put a lap on Shane Stewart, allowing Brock to pull his #58 up next to the Shark Week #9 and take over 2nd after a slide job sequence in 1 and 2. David Gravel also officially exerted himself at this point, getting by Pittman and making attempts on Zearfoss before a lap 16 red flag was thrown for Sheldon Haudenschild and Danny Dietrich in turn 2.

The following two restarts were the key points of the race. On the first, Zearfoss missed a bit on the jump while Gravel timed it perfectly. He went low into one in a 3rd to 1st possible slider bid, but before that could even come to pass Lance Dewease pushed it a bit too hard in between 1 and 2, jumped the cushion and rolled the 69k trying to correct it. Lance was uninjured.

This would put Gravel and Zearfoss on the front row for the next wave of the green. Again, Brock would stumble coming off 4 to take the green and Gravel had a big lead already heading into 1. It appeared as if David jumped the start, which I’ll discuss in further detail later, and World of Outlaw officials threw the yellow and penalized him back one row.

Advancing Donny Schatz to the front row of any A Main event on the Outlaw tour often means curtains for the competition, but Brock Zearfoss wasn’t about to let that thought enter his mind as he got a great start this time and powered around an attempt at the lead by Schatz on the low side coming out of 2. He then stretched his lead out to a sizable advantage as Schatz and David Gravel waged an epic fight for the runner-up position. This exciting battle continued even after Zearfoss withstood another late race restart up against one of the two best touring drivers in the country this season, and when Gravel finally cleared the 15 for good, it was too late.

In just his third World of Outlaws show in the Aaron Long owned #58, Zearfoss cruised under the checkers to score the biggest win of his career to date. In fact, Brock didn’t even qualify for the Main in his previous two WoO sanctioned races in this ride in Mechanicsburg in May. In victory lane, he commented on how the engine was missing on several of the restarts and may have actually benefitted him in one instance. “This motor was stumbling all night…obviously that one time David didn’t actually jump me, but it just didn’t go. I kind of got lucky there.” The following two starts after that saw Zearfoss getting a great jump in route to the big win.

His second career victory at the famed paperclip was a much needed one for the PA Posse, as they were swept by the invading Outlaw regulars in three central Pennsylvania races a couple months prior. Series regulars, however, did make up the remainder of the top 5 with Gravel, Schatz, Brad Sweet and Pittman filling it out. The next edition of the heated “Outlaws vs. Posse” rivalry will be a big one. Saturday night’s show was rained out during intermission, so the main event will now be run Thursday, September 28 along with full show already scheduled to open the Champion Racing Oil National Open Weekend. That means on the same weekend those that have qualified for the rained out main will be racing for $20,000 on Thursday and $50,000 just two days later. Wow.

GRAVEL UNLUCKY, STILL SHOWING VERY STRONG IN PA
David Gravel was apparently an unintended victim of the winner’s engine stumbling issues, but that didn’t sour another great outing for the CJB Motorsports Big Game #5.

“We had a really good car, I thought we had the best car,” Gravel told me after the race. “Just tried to get it back after they said I jumped (the start) and tried to get the best finish I could. It was just one of those things where 2nd was the best we could finish tonight”.

The Brad Doty Classic winner continues to show his prowess this season, especially on the Central PA circuit. He’s now finished inside the top 8 in all four Outlaw races in the hostile region, including back to back wins at Lincoln and Williams Grove in May. When they return in September, he’ll be on the front row of the make-up Main as well, and is undoubtedly a favorite for the big $20,000 payday.

ALTHOUGH DISAPPOINTED, SCHATZ CONTINUES ROLLING THROUGH THE MONTH OF MONEY
Point leader and defending champion Donny Schatz had many opportunities to capitalize on cautions and penalties in order to grab the lead and his 16th series win on the year, but it just never came to fruition on this night.

“We were just hanging,” Donny started off by saying to me on the front stretch during post-race festivities. “Obviously the cushion was fast, there was something to lean on there so the guys that were very good up there did that and we were just trying to make stuff happen and couldn’t do it. The racetrack almost stayed too fast up there and we were tightened up to get off of it. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

A top three may be a downer for a driver of his stature, but the recent huge wins at both The Kings Royal and Silver Cup surely temper any sense of negativity.

“We won’t dwell on anything that happened tonight besides learning from any mistakes and figure out tomorrow when it comes”, he added before heading off for podium photos.

Schatz will line up 9th when they return to Williams Grove in September, and that’s well within striking distance for a wheelman of his caliber and the Tony Stewart Racing 15 team.

OTHER NOTES
39 sprint cars entered the race at the historic Mechanicsburg facility. Zearfoss and Gravel were fast out of the gate, scoring fast time in their individual trial flights. Heat races were pretty much an even split between locals and invaders. They were won by Dale Blaney, Brad Sweet, Gravel, Trey Starks and Dewease. Aussie James McFadden won the Last Chance Showdown. Posse heavy hitter Brian Montieth finished an impressive 6th in the A Main. “The Edge” was the KSE Hard Charger of the race, coming all the way from his 20th starting spot.

Series regulars Shane Stewart and Jason Johnson struggled, needing to use World of Outlaw provisionals to tag the back of the feature field. Stewart, who finally broke through in PA in May by winning the Morgan Cup, finished 26th. “The Ragin’ Cajun” fared a bit better, with a 19th place finish. Both drivers appeared to have figured some things out by night two, as Stewart will start next to Schatz in the top 10 and Johnson will start 16th when the boys head back to Posse territory in a couple months.