Aaron Ott Wins Sprint Car A-Main Friday At Williams Grove

Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Aaron Ott held off a hard-charging Danny Dietrich to score the 410 Sprint car win Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.

Meanwhile, in the first ASCS race ever held at the famed speedway, it was five-time Grove track champion Greg Hodnett starting on the pole and leading all 25 laps in night number one of the “Battle of the Groves.”

In the 410 feature, Anthony Marci started second and drove into the lead over Chad Trout and Ott, who advanced from his sixth starting spot in the opening lap.

Dietrich was quickly moving forward on a tricky racing surface from his 10th starting spot. He was into the top five by the third lap. Another pass moved Dietrich to fourth as the leaders reached lapped traffic.

With Macri in control, Ott drove by Trout and into second with 10 laps completed. Macri’s lead was around a second as they reached the half-way point.

Macri scraped the fence as he tried to lap a car. Ott drove by and into the lead. Macri’s great run came to an end with 14 laps completed when he stopped in turn four with a flat right rear tire.

“I was reeling him in,” Ott said. “He was running around the top. He was in the predicament that I was at the end of the race. You just don’t know where to go. If you’re not searching and moving around, you’re going to lose these races because there are too many good cars and too many good drivers here.”

“He might have had a tire going down. I crowded him off two, but I figured that was my only chance. I don’t know if he got sucked into the fence and that ultimately cut his tire. He’s been doing a tremendous job. We had a new car tonight and changed some things and I think we’re on to something. Circumstances certainly played in our favor.”

Ott controlled the restart. Dietrich blasted under Trout as they raced into turn three taking second with seven laps to go.

Ott reached slower cars with a few laps left allowing Dietrich to close. Dietrich drove as hard as he could trying the outside line, but fell a few car lengths short at the checkers.

“I could hear him out there,” Ott said. “I was just biding my time. I wasn’t really sure where to go in three and four. I was pretty good in one and two. At that point, it was my race to lose. Everybody knows Danny is going to do everything he can to put a show on and get the job done.”

Ott, of East Berlin, earned $4,000 for his eighth career Grove win.

Alan Krimes, Trout, and Rodney Westhafer completed the top five. James McFadden, Greg Hodnett, TJ Stutts, Lucas Wolfe and Brian Montieth rounded out the top 10.

Trout, Macri and Logan Wagner won the heat races.

In the ASCS feature, Greg Hodnett scored the most passing points during qualifying earning himself the pole.

He drove into the lead over Mark Smith, Steve Buckwalter, defending series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Wayne Johnson.

Hodnett had a comfortable 1.210 second lead when he reached slower traffic with 10 laps completed. A caution flag then slowed the field.

Buckwalter briefly challenged Smith for second following the restart, but didn’t make the pass as Hodnett pulled away again.

A caution slowed the field again with 12 completed.

Hodnett once again controlled the restart and drove away. Lucas Wolfe battled Johnson for the fifth spot and then Chad Layton moved in on Wolfe.

Hodnett stretched his lead to 1.709 seconds as Wolfe made the pass of Johnson. Wolfe’s run came to an end when the inside wing panel of his sprinter came off.

Hodnett led the final laps scoring the win by 1.082.

“Anytime we can win is monumental at this point,” Hodnett said. “We’ve been struggling. These guys are the best in the business in this type of racing. We got lucky enough to start up front and take advantage of it. Everything went our way.”

Hodnett, of Spring Grove, earned $4,000 as well for his 72nd career Grove win.

Smith, Buckwalter, Hafertepe Jr., and Johnson completed the top five. Chad Layton, Jason Barney, Trey Starks, Johnny Herrera and Davie Franek rounded out the top 10.

Johnny Herrera, Mark Smith, Jason Barney, Ryan Smith and Chuck Hebing won the ASCS heat races. After the heat races, the top 30 in passing points moved on to three qualifiers. Defending series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr., Lucas Wolfe and Greg Hodnett won the qualifiers. Hebing and Seth Bergman won the B-mains.

Sprint Car Feature (25 laps): 1. Aaron Ott. 2. Danny Dietrich. 3. Alan Krimes. 4. Chad Trout. 5. Rodney Westhafer. 6. James McFadden. 7. Greg Hodnett. 8. TJ Stutts. 9. Lucas Wolfe. 10. Brian Montieth. 11. Freddie Rahmer. 12. Logan Wagner. 13. Brock Zearfoss. 14. Ryan Smith. 15. Cory Haas. 16. Ryan Taylor. 17. Anthony Fiore. 18. Jim Shuster. 19. Joe Trenca. 20. Troy Fraker. 21. Anthony Macri. 22. Jordan Givler. 23. Steve Buckwalter. 24. Brandon Rahmer. DNS – Nicole Bower.

ASCS Sprint Car Feature (25 laps): 1. Greg Hodnett. 2. Mark Smith. 3. Steve Buckwalter. 4. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 5. Wayne Johnson. 6. Chad Layton. 7. Jason Barney. 8. Trey Starks. 9. Johnny Herrera. 10. Davie Franek. 11. Brock Zearfoss. 12. Ryan Smith. 13. Gio Scelzi. 14. Travis Rilat. 15. Seth Bergman. 16. Blake Hahn. 17. Skylar Gee. 18. Roger Crockett. 19. Chuck Hebing. 20. Lucas Wolfe. 21. Bill Balog. 22. Jason Shultz. 23. Derek Locke. 24. Matt Covington.

DNQ: Alex Vigneault, Cody Keller, Chandler Leiby, Kyle Reinhardt, Scott Bogucki, Harli White, Robbie Stillwaggon, Justin Whittall, Eddie Strada, Matt Covington, Ryan Taylor, Chris Martin, Bryn Gohn, Blake Hahn, Dan Mazy, Robbie Price, Mallie Shuster, Jamie Ball, Josh Weller, Curt Michael, Paulie Colagiovanni, Aaron Ott, Alex Hill. DNS: Chad Miller.
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