Dewease Wins Hinnershitz Memorial All Star Sprint Event At Williams Grove From DEEP In Field

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Fayetteville, Pennsylvania’s Lance Dewease made it look easy on Friday night during the annual Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial, charging forward from the inside of row seven to move the Pennsylvania Posse to a perfect 33-0 against the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 at Williams Grove Speedway.

Dewease, pilot of the Don Kreitz, Jr.-owed/Schannauer Plumbing and Heating/Jimi’s Thing/No. 69K sprint car, earned $5,000 for his efforts at the world-famous, paperclip-shaped half-mile, taking the lead officially on lap 24 to snag a second consecutive Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial title against the traveling All Stars. Impressive enough, the victory raised Dewease’s overall Series win count to 36, seven of which at Williams Grove Speedway.

Brock Zearfoss, who led the first 23 circuits before surrendering the top spot to the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer, finished second, followed by Danny Dietrich, Chad Trout, and six-time and defending All Star champion, Chad Kemenah.

“Don, Davey; these guys just keep plugging away,” Lance Dewease said in victory lane. “I’m just so fortunate to be a part of this deal. We are having a lot of fun. Even when we aren’t winning, we are still having a lot of fun. That’s what this is all about. My guys work a lot harder than what people realize. That’s why we run the schedule that we run. We just kinda keep things within our budget and do what we do.”

Dewease started his march toward the front right from the drop of the green flag, solidifying a position inside the top-five with just ten laps in the books. By lap 12, Dewease moved by Chad Trout for fourth, eventually working around Alvada, Ohio’s Chad Kemenah to secure the third spot at the midpoint of the 30-lap program.

By lap 18, Dewease was all over Danny Dietrich for second, racing to the back bumper of the familiar Gary Kauffman Racing entry while the duo battled through traffic. Soon enough, Dewease drove around Dietrich to secure the runner-up spot, officially setting his aim on race leader, Brock Zearfoss.

Although Zearfoss had the clear advantage, maintaining a quick pace around the very topside of the speedway, Dewease closed the gap in a hurry, moving within striking distance at the exit of turn four on lap 23. Despite losing a drag race to the start/finish line, Dewease made his winning move at the entrance of turn one on lap 24, squeezing underneath the “Jonestown Jet” as the pair battled through turn two. From that point forward, it was all Dewease at the front of the field, ultimately surviving two consecutive cautions on lap 28, the only cautions of the main event, as well as a green-white-checker finish.

“I didn’t even know I was leading,” Dewease explained. “Starting as far back as we did, I was just trying to move around cars as quickly as I could. When we got by [Danny Dietrich] and [Brock Zearfoss], I knew I had to be getting close. Then, when I got to the five-to-go signal, I was like ‘oh shit I’m leading this thing.’ At that point, I knew I had to slow down. I needed to conserve my equipment and make sure I made it to the end.”

“I didn’t know [Lance Dewease] was coming,” Brock Zearfoss said. “I was getting a little higher and higher in turns three and four, so I was able to see most of the racetrack. I kept looking down to see if anyone was there. When [Dewease] got down there below me, I knew I didn’t want to give it up without a fight. I raced him clean, but I wanted him to earn it, which he did. Hats off to those guys. They deserve this one. We’ll try again tomorrow at Port Royal Speedway.”

“We were really good in our heat race, but we really couldn’t show it,” Lance Dewease continued. “Hats off to this track crew. They did a lot of work tonight to help us get a second lane. That helped out this race track a lot. If not, it would have been locked-down around the bottom.”

The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will continue their Central Pennsylvania invasion with a visit to Port Royal Speedway on Saturday, April 14. The first of three All Star appearances at the Juniata County Fairgrounds half-mile in 2018, the annual Keith Kauffman Classic will headline action at the “Speed Palace” tomorrow evening, honoring 129-time Port Royal Speedway winner, Keith Kauffman. Like the 2017 Hinnershitz Memorial, Lance Dewease conquered the 2017 Keith Kauffman Classic, keeping a pair of former All Stars, Ryan Smith and Dale Blaney, at bay.

Port Royal Speedway will allow pit access beginning at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 14. A mandatory All Star drivers meeting will be conducted at 5 p.m. with hot laps to follow at 5:40 p.m. For further details, please visit Port Royal Speedway online at www.portroyalspeedway.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Williams Grove Speedway – Friday, April 13, 2018:
Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 46 entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Danny Dietrich – 17.055 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Jac Haudenschild – 17.456 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Paul McMahan
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Chad Trout
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Cory Haas
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Mark Smith
Ford Performance Heat #5: Anthony Macri
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts C-Main: Bill Balog
JE Pistons Dash #1: Brock Zearfoss
Wix Filters Dash #2: Chad Kemenah
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Trey Starks
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Brock Zearfoss (2nd)
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Carson Macedo (+13)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.492; 2. 44-Trey Starks, 17.612; 3. 13-Paul McMahan, 17.647; 4. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 17.908; 5. 51R-Freddie Rahmer, 17.987; 6. 17BB-Bill Balog, 18.19; 7. 3G-Carson Macedo, 18.409; 8. 14G-Coleman Gulick, 18.699; 9. 12w-Troy Fraker, 18.865; 10. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 99.8

Group (B)
1. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 17.456; 2. 94-Ryan Smith, 17.67; 3. 70-Dave Blaney, 17.757; 4. 1X-Chad Trout, 18.126; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 18.212; 6. 75-Nicole Bower, 18.248; 7. 58-Aaron Ott, 18.414; 8. 55K-Robbie Kendall, 18.46; 9. 14-Tony Stewart, 18.566

Group ( C )
1. 11S-TJ Stutts, 18.052; 2. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 18.151; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 18.34; 4. 39-Cory Haas, 18.491; 5. 44W-Rodney Westhafer, 18.909; 6. 11-Cole Duncan, 19.236; 7. 7K-Cale Conley, 19.349; 8. 71-Ayrton Olsen, 19.943; 9. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 19.969

Group (D)
1. 69K-Lance Dewease, 17.91; 2. 21-Brian Montieth, 18.15; 3. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 18.203; 4. M1-Mark Smith, 18.415; 5. 98-Carl Bowser, 18.487; 6. 27S-Adrian Shaffer, 18.643; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard, 18.678; 8. 35-Tyler Esh, 19.128; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison, 19.397

Group (E)
1. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 18.165; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 18.316; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett, 18.385; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri, 18.407; 5. 87K-Alan Krimes, 18.513; 6. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 18.609; 7. O-Rick Lafferty, 19.139; 8. 51-John Garvin, 19.376; 9. 17-Caleb Helms, 99.39

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 13-Paul McMahan [2]; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 3. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [5]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [4]; 5. 44-Trey Starks [3]; 6. 3G-Carson Macedo [7]; 7. 14G-Coleman Gulick [8]; 8. 17BB-Bill Balog [6]; 9. 12W-Troy Fraker [9]; 10. 22-Brandon Spithaler [10]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 1X-Chad Trout [1]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [5]; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild [4]; 4. 58-Aaron Ott [7]; 5. 55K-Robbie Kendall [8]; 6. 70-Dave Blaney [2]; 7. 14-Tony Stewart [9]; 8. 75-Nicole Bower [6]; 9. 94-Ryan Smith [3]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 39-Cory Haas [1]; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 3. 11S-TJ Stutts [4]; 4. 24-Lucas Wolfe [3]; 5. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [5]; 6. 11-Cole Duncan [6]; 7. 1080-Jordan Mackison [9]; 8. 7K-Cale Conley [7]; 9. 71-Ayrton Olsen [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. M1-Mark Smith [1]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [4]; 4. 21-Brian Montieth [3]; 5. 27S-Adrian Shaffer [6]; 6. 98-Carl Bowser [5]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard [7]; 8. 35-Tyler Esh [8]; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison [9]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 39M-Anthony Macri [1]; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett [2]; 3. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 5. 87K-Alan Krimes [5]; 6. O7-Gerard McIntyre [6]; 7. 17-Caleb Helms [9]; 8. O-Rick Lafferty [7]; 9. 51-John Garvin [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 2. M1-Mark Smith [1]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [2]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [6]; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 6. 4-Parker Price-Miller [3]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 3. 1X-Chad Trout [1]; 4. 27-Greg Hodnett [4]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [6]; 6. 39-Cory Haas [5]

C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 17BB-Bill Balog [1]; 2. 75-Nicole Bower [2]; 3. 35-Tyler Esh [3]; 4. 95-Hunter Mackison [8]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [5]; 6. 51-John Garvin [7]; 7. 12W-Troy Fraker [6]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [10]; 9. 71-Ayrton Olsen [9]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 44-Trey Starks [1]; 2. 70-Dave Blaney [2]; 3. 87K-Alan Krimes [4]; 4. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [6]; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre [9]; 6. 27S-Adrian Shaffer [5]; 7. 3G-Carson Macedo [7]; 8. 98-Carl Bowser [8]; 9. 14G-Coleman Gulick [13]; 10. 55K-Robbie Kendall [3]; 11. 14-Tony Stewart [11]; 12. 11-Cole Duncan [10]; 13. 17-Caleb Helms [15]; 14. 1080-Jordan Mackison [14]; 15. 17BB-Bill Balog [16]; 16. 75-Nicole Bower [17]; 17. 49H-Bradley Howard [12]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 69K-Lance Dewease [13]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [4]; 4. 1X-Chad Trout [6]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri [5]; 7. 27-Greg Hodnett [8]; 8. 3-Jac Haudenschild [9]; 9. M1-Mark Smith [3]; 10. 51R-Freddie Rahmer [14]; 11. 70-Dave Blaney [22]; 12. 4-Parker Price-Miller [11]; 13. 39-Cory Haas [12]; 14. 3G-Carson Macedo [27]; 15. 44-Trey Starks [21]; 16. 13-Paul McMahan [7]; 17. 21-Brian Montieth [17]; 18. 11S-TJ Stutts [15]; 19. 87-Aaron Reutzel [19]; 20. O7-Gerard McIntyre [26]; 21. 17-Caleb Helms [25]; 22. 49X-Tim Shaffer [10]; 23. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [16]; 24. 87K-Alan Krimes [23]; 25. 24-Lucas Wolfe [18]; 26. 58-Aaron Ott [20]; 27. 44W-Rodney Westhafer [24] Lap Leaders: Brock Zearfoss (1-23) Lance Dewease (24-30)