Lance Dewease Wins Kickoff Of Speedweek At Williams Grove; Outruns Kyle Larson

Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Lance Dewease muscled past Brian Montieth and then outran Kyle Larson to win the opening night of the 30th annual Red Robin Pennsylvania Speedweek Series for sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.

Dewease earned $5,000 for his 99th career victory at the oval aboard the Don Kreitz-owned No. 69K.

In the companion 358 sprint main, Kevin Nouse took over when Zach Newlin dropped out of the lead to win the 20-lap feature event.

Dewease started second in the 25-lap speedweek feature but it was polesitter Montieth who would take the lead when the race began.

Montieth was in control when the red flag appeared on the sixth tour for a two-car tangle in the second turn.

Montieth had Dewease, Danny Dietrich and Larson lining up behind for the restart.

Only two more laps could be completed before the pace was again slowed, this time for a spun Robert Ballou in the second turn.

Racing was back underway for just one more lap when TJ Stutts and Rico Abreu made contact on the backchute, again slowing the action.

Dewease went to work on the ensuing restart, keeping pace with Montieth and the pair crossed the line side by side, split by just .002 seconds with 10 laps completed.

After a turns three and four dive by Dewease coming to the line to get that close, the Fayetteville flyer crossed over entering the first corner to ride momentum around the outside of the track and net the lead with 11 completed.

Two laps later, Larson went low on Dietrich for third in the fourth turn and then held him down entering the first corner to get the position and begin his assault on the leaders.

Larson had run down Montieth for second with eight laps to go when Montieth suddenly dropped off of the pace and withdrew from the race.

That put Larson in clear sight of pacesetter Dewease and with five laps to go, he was clearly gaining on the leader.

Larson got close enough to mount a challenge with two laps to go but then a mistake when he hopped the first turn cushion just after the two to go mark cost him too much ground to make up again during the final one and one-half laps.

Dewease took the win by .931 seconds over Larson with Freddie Rahmer in third followed by Dietrich and Ryan Smith.

Sixth through 10th went to Anthony Macri, Brent Marks, Lucas Wolfe, Jeff Halligan and Brock Zearfoss.

Heats went to Montieth, Larson, TJ Stutts and Dietrich with Matt Campbell taking the last chance race.

Abreu set fast time over the 38-car field with a lap of 16.645 seconds.

Zach Newlin led the first three laps of the 358 sprint main before dropping out of the race while surrendering the lead to Kevin Nouse.

Nouse had started 10th in the field but quickly worked to the front during the early going to be in position to assume the lead.

Derek Locke started 11th in the field and drove into second on lap five.

Locke kept the leader in his sights for the remainder of the race but could not get close enough to make a bid for the win.

The victory was the 23rd of Nouse’s career at Williams Grove Speedway.

Russell Hammaker finished third followed by Kyle Denmyer and Chris Frank.

Heats went to Hammaker, Locke and Scott Fisher with Nat Tuckey scoring the consolation race.

Feature Finishes, 6/26/20:

410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Lance Dewease, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Freddie Rahmer, 4. Danny Dietrich, 5. Ryan Smith., 6. Anthony Macri, 7. Brent Marks, 8. Lucas Wolfe, 9. Jeff Halligan, 10. Brock Zearfoss, 11. Kyle Moody, 12. Kyle Reinhardt. 13. Rick Lafferty, 14. Robbie Kendall, 15. Chase Dietz, 16. Mike Wagner, 17. Robert Ballou, 18. Brian Montieth, 19. Tyler Bear, 20. Rico Abreu, 21. TJ Stutts, 22. Adrian Shaffer, 23. Matt Campbell, 24. Landon Myers

DNQ: Sammy Swindell, Doug Hammaker, Dylan Cisney, Logan Wagner, Brett Michalski, Troy Fraker, Kody Lehman, Mark Smith, Cale Thomas, Steve Buckwalter, Jared Esh, Chad Trout, Justin Whittall, Nicole Bower

358 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Kevin Nouse, 2. Derek Locke, 3. Russell Hammaker, 4. Kyle Denmyer, 5. Chris Frank, 6. Justin Foster, 7. Cody Fletcher, 8. Scott Fisher, 9. Matt Findley, 10. Brett Wanner, 11. Brett Strickler, 12. Dylan Norris, 13. Steve Owings, 14. Jordan Givler, 15. Rich Eichelberger, 16. Nat Tuckey, 17. Ashley Capetta, 18. Scott Flammer, 19. Chad Criswell, 20. Jay Krout, 21. Mark Van Vorst, 22. Zach Newlin, 23. Chris Arnold, 24. Jordan Strickler

DNQ: Allyson Dietz, Eric Parker, Mason Chaney, Billy Heltzel, Jacob Galloway, Hannah Riser, Joe Trone Jr., Shane Yost,