Dewease Gets Storybook Williams Grove Win To Celebrate Mechanic Brown’s Career
Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Like a poet puts pen to paper, Lance Dewease put wheels to track on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway and wrote another verse in the story of his sprint car career by claiming the Davey Brown Tribute race, an event run in honor of his 87-year old Hall of Fame Mechanic.
It was a storybook opener to the annual Pennsylvania Speedweek series for Dewease as he claimed the 102nd victory of his career at the track worth $6,000 as the 2021 version of speedweek opened to the roar of 38 cars and a huge crowd.
In the 358 sprint main, Derek Locke continued to dominate the division by winning his fourth win in as many races run at the track to date this season.
Dewease set overall fast time to start the night with a lap of 16.846 seconds and then fell way behind in his heat race before racing back to fifth in order just to make the show.
And then a redraw of four set him on the outside of the second row to start the 25-lap Davey Brown Tribute speedweek opener.
Rico Abreu and Dylan Cisney shared the front row.
Abreu took to the cushion and the lead when action began with Cisney, Anthony Macri and Dewease following.
Dewease edged by Macri for third on the third lap but by that time Abreu and Cisney had a sizable advantage.
But when the leaders entered the backmarkers on lap nine, Dewease began to dramatically close before first moving ahead of Cisney for second on the 11th tour.
However Cisney raced back into the spot and then drew up on Abreu as Dewease stalked them both.
It seemed almost too good to be true for Dewease who next found himself bearing down on the pair as they entered the third turn with Abreu on the cushion and Cisney just to his inside.
That’s when Dewease made a two-for-one pass and motored off of the bottom groove to bolt from third to the lead in the fourth turn to lead lap 12.
And the rest was history as the Fayetteville driver sped to a 5.247 second win over Macri and Danny Dietrich.
Dietrich started eighth in the field and came on late to duel with Macri as the pair advanced.
Freddie Rahmer and Abreu completed the top five.
Sixth through 10th went to Alan Krimes, Cisney, Brent Marks, Sam Hafertepe Jr., and Logan Wagner.
Dewease gave all the credit to his 87-year old mechanic, the honoree of the night, Davey Brown.
“It’s not about what it pays or anything, it’s all about the guy behind me,” Dewease said of Brown.
“This is his night and it’s all about him. I’m just fortunate enough to drive this thing. He does a wonderful job.”
“Tonight was a hectic night for him…but we put it in victory lane and that was the most important thing to me for him tonight. He’s not about being recognized for this stuff. He just wants to work on this racecar and make it go fast. That’s why he’s been so good for all these years.”
“It’s a neat deal they did for him tonight because usually the people aren’t racing anymore and Davey’s still at it at 87-years-old. He works really hard at this. It’s a big deal to drive this thing and be in victory lane for him,” Dewease said.
And Brown credited his driver.
“Lance drove a heck of a race tonight. I don’t think the car was super good, but he made up the difference. Nobody gets around this track better than him. It was a great night,” Brown said.
Heat races were won by Danny Dietrich, Paul McMahan, Anthony Macri and Rico Abreu. TJ Stutts won the B-main.
Derek Locke started second in the 20-lap 358 sprint main and took the lead from Devin Adams on the sixth tour to speed to his fourth oval win of the year.
Locke to the win by well over a straightaway.
Adams rode home second followed by Rich Eichelberger, Steve Wilbur and Justin Foster.
Twin heats went to Wilbur and Locke.
Feature Finishes
6/25/21
410 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Lance Dewease 2. Anthony Macri 3. Danny Dietrich 4. Freddie Rahmer 5. Rico Abreu 6. Alan Krimes 7. Dylan Cisney 8. Brent Marks 9. Sam Hafertepe Jr 10. Logan Wagner 11. Steve Buckwalter 12. Justin Peck 13. Lucas Wolfe 14. Buddy Kofoid 15. Ryan Smith 16. Skylar Gee 17. Paul McMahan 18. Dylan Norris 19. Chad Trout 20. TJ Stutts 21. Mike Wagner 22. Kyle Moody 23. Matt Campbell 24. Robbie Kendall
DNQ: Brandon Rahmer, Landon Myers, Ricky Dieva, Justin Whittall, Brad Howard, Devon Borden, Chase Dietz, Doug Hammaker, Steve Downs, Jared Esh, Curt Stroup, Chris Arnold, Kyle Reinhardt, Tucker Klaasmyer
358 sprints, 20 laps:1. Derek Locke, 2. Devin Adams, 3. Rich Eichelberger, 4. Steve Wilbur, 5. Justin Foster, 6. Brett Wanner, 7. Cody Fletcher, 8. Matt Findley, 9. Chris Frank, 10. Tyler Brehm, 11. John Stehman, 12. Scott Fisher, 13. Riley Emig, 14. Brett Strickler, 15. Jake Galloway, 16. Colby Womer, 17. Zachary Cool
DNS: Wyatt Hinkle, Zach Newlin, Chad Criswell
