Hodnett Masters American Sprint Car Series At Williams Grove Speedway Friday

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Wheeling the Trone Outdoor/Lealands.com No. 27 to a $4,000 score with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com, Pennsylvania’s Greg Hodnett dominated the 11 Oaks Farm Battle of the Groves at Williams Grove Speedway.

“Anytime we can win at this point is great for us,” chuckled Hodnett. “We’ve been struggling this year so it’s great anytime we can come out and compete. These guys are the best of the best in this type of racing. Mark [Smith] can go anywhere and win, and guys like Sam [Hafertepe] being a past champion, he’s excellent so I’m just proud of this team.”

The fifth winner in just as many events in 2018, Hodnett earned the FSR Radiator and Racing Products High Point Driver of the Night through the combination Heat/Qualifier format to position himself on the pole of Saturday’s 25-lap A-Feature.

“We were lucky enough to position ourselves up front and take advantage of it and that was huge with the rubber coming in towards the end where there wasn’t much passing. Everything went our way with this car just because we never got into traffic because of the yellows. Every time we came up on something, I would like it was going to get hairy because I didn’t know what I was going to do, but everything just fell into place.”

Working to slower traffic on Lap 10, the race’s first caution flew for the No. 29 of Jason Shultz whose rear axle snapped rolling down the backstretch. Reverting to the last fully completed lap, Mark Smith tried to build a run on the No. 27 but would be denied as Steve Buckwalter went after Smith for second. Unchanged in the top-three, the cautions lights blinked on again on Lap 12 for Blake Hahn who came to a top in turn-four.

Rolling to green, the race at the front was for fifth as Lucas Wolfe set sights on Wayne Johnson. Finally getting a break for the fifth spot, on Lap 18, the following lap was Wolfe’s last for the night as the left sideboard peeled off the wing of the No. 5w. Putting Johnson back to fifth, the final restart was not enough for anyone to get a run on Greg Hodnett, who sped away to a 1.082-second advantage at the drop of the checkered flag.

Mark Smith second was joined on the podium by Steve Buckwalter. Grabbing fourth, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. has taken over the point’s lead with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com by 17 points. Completing the top-five was Wayne Johnson.

Chad Layton in sixth was tracked to the checkered flag by New York’s Jason Barney. Picking up seven positions, Washington’s Trey Starks was Friday’s CP-Carrillo Hard Charger. Johnny Herrera crossed ninth with Davie Franek tenth.

A field of 46 drivers from 15 states, Australia, and Canada was on hand on Friday night’s 11 Oaks Farm Battle of the Groves opener. Five Heat Races went to Johnny Herrera, Mark Smith, Jason Barney, Ryan Smith, and Chuck Hebing. A trio of Qualifiers was topped by Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Lucas Wolfe, and Greg Hodnett. Two B-Features went to Chuck Hebing and Seth Bergman, with Seth tearing from 11th to win the second B-Feature. Two provisional starts were utilized by Blake Hahn and Matt Covington.

The 11 Oaks Farm Battle of the Groves continues at Selinsgrove Speedway on Saturday, May 5, 2018, with racing getting underway at 7:00 P.M. (ET). More information on Selinsgrove Speedway can be found online at http://www.selinsgrovespeedway.com.

Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Captial Renegade United Race Club
Williams Grove Speedway – Mechanicsburg, Penn.
11 Oaks Farm Battle of the Groves
Car Count: 46

Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [2]; 2. 99K-Cody Keller, [1]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 4. 35-Chad Layton, [10]; 5. 49-Mallie Shuster, [6]; 6. 22-Bryn Gohn, [4]; 7. 44-Chris Martin, [8]; 8. 21-Robbie Price, [7]; 9. 1W-Aaron Ott, [9]; 10. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington, [3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. M1-Mark Smith, [4]; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett, [6]; 3. 77X-Alex Hill, [2]; 4. 71-Giovanni Scelzi, [3]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, [9]; 6. 44S-Trey Starks, [5]; 7. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni, [1]; 8. 63-Josh Weller, [8]; 9. 42E-Eddie Strada, [7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Jason Barney, [1]; 2. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [4]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek, [9]; 4. 7-Steve Buckwalter, [7]; 5. 19-Kyle Reinhardt, [8]; 6. 5J-Jamie Ball, [3]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman, [6]; 8. 5G-Curt Michael, [5]; (DNS) 55-Alex Vigneault,

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 10X-Ryan Smith, [1]; 2. 2-Bill Balog, [6]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, [8]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee, [2]; 5. 77-Derek Locke, [7]; 6. 29-Jason Shultz, [4]; 7. 1-Travis Rilat, [9]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 9. (DNF) X-Dan Mazy, [5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 45-Chuck Hebing, [2]; 2. 17W-Harli White, [1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [5]; 4. 67W-Justin Whittall, [3]; 5. 11-Roger Crockett, [8]; 6. 119-Chandler Leiby, [7]; 7. 28-Scott Bogucki, [4]; 8. (DNF) 3-Ryan Taylor, [6]; 9. (DNF) 88C-Chad Miller, [9]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)

Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 2. 7-Steve Buckwalter, [7]; 3. 87-Jason Barney, [3]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [4]; 5. 2-Bill Balog, [5]; 6. 28F-Davie Franek, [6]; 7. 1-Travis Rilat, [10]; 8. 17W-Harli White, [1]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee, [9]; 10. 67W-Justin Whittall, [8]

Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, [2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [1]; 3. M1-Mark Smith, [6]; 4. 44S-Trey Starks, [10]; 5. 10X-Ryan Smith, [3]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, [5]; 7. 45-Chuck Hebing, [4]; 8. 77-Derek Locke, [7]; 9. 19-Kyle Reinhardt, [9]; 10. 49-Mallie Shuster, [8]

Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Greg Hodnett, [6]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 3. 71-Giovanni Scelzi, [7]; 4. 35-Chad Layton, [5]; 5. 99K-Cody Keller, [2]; 6. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [4]; 7. 55-AW-Justin Whittall, [6]; 8. 95-Matt Covington, [15]; 9. 44-Chris Martin, [4]; 10. 52-Blake Hahn, [13]; 11. 21-Robbie Price, [10]; 12. 5J-Jamie Ball, [9]; 13. 5G-Curt Michael, [14]; 14. (DNF) 1W-Aaron Ott, [12]; 15. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [7]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 27-Greg Hodnett, [1]; 2. M1-Mark Smith, [2]; 3. 7-Steve Buckwalter, [4]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [3]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [6]; 6. 35-Chad Layton, [7]; 7. 87-Jason Barney, [8]; 8. 44S-Trey Starks, [15]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [10]; 10. 28F-Davie Franek, [12]; 11. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, [14]; 12. 10X-Ryan Smith, [16]; 13. 71-Giovanni Scelzi, [11]; 14. 1-Travis Rilat, [20]; 15. 23-Seth Bergman, [18]; 16. 52-Blake Hahn, [23]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee, [19]; 18. 11-Roger Crockett, [13]; 19. 45-Chuck Hebing, [17]; 20. (DNF) 5W-Lucas Wolfe, [5]; 21. (DNF) 2-Bill Balog, [9]; 22. (DNF) 29-Jason Shultz, [22]; 23. (DNF) 77-Derek Locke, [21]; 24. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington, [24]

Lap Leader(s): Greg Hodnett 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Trey Starks +7

FSR High Point Driver: Greg Hodnett

Provisional(s): Blake Hahn / Matt Covington