Outlaws set to return to region for busy racing weekend
The World of Outlaws sprint cars return to Central Pennsylvania this week for three days of local racing action. The Outlaws will race at Lincoln on Wednesday evening and Williams Grove on Friday and Saturday evenings.
This will be the second Outlaw swing through the area this season, although the last time didn’t work out too well. The Outlaws were set for a two-weekend visit in March, but only one of four events got into the record books, as races at Port Royal and Williams Grove were rained out.
The Lincoln race was held, and Rico Abreu scored the big win. Abreu is on a bit of a roll right now — not only will he come to Lincoln as the only Outlaw winner in the area this year, but also as the most recent World of Outlaws winner. Last weekend in Ohio, Abreu finished third against the All Stars on Thursday evening at Atomic and second with Outlaws at Eldora on Friday, and then won Saturday’s Outlaw show at Eldora.
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Lincoln’s Wednesday night show is billed as the Gettysburg Clash and will offer $10,000 to the winner.
Last year, hometown Outlaw Jacob Allen, of Hanover, brought the house down with his Lincoln Outlaw win. Allen and his nephew, Logan Schuchart, will be greeting fans for a while on Wednesday evening.
When the Outlaws roll into Williams Grove on Friday to start the two-day Morgan Cup weekend of events, Lance Dewease will be the man everyone has their eyes on. The veteran racer was the top gun in last year’s Outlaw events at the Grove.
The Outlaws raced five times at the Grove last season, and Dewease won three of them. He won the prelim to the Summer Nationals, and then swept the National Open weekend, although that should be termed National Open weekends. The first day of the National Open saw the feature shortened by rain and the next day rained out. The big race was held a few weeks later but the results were the same, as Dewease won both times.
Brent Marks was last year’s Morgan Cup winner, and Outlaw champ Brad Sweet finally got the Williams Grove monkey off his back with the Summer Nationals win last season.
The Morgan Cup is named in memory of longtime Speedway owner Morgan Hughes, and carries with it a winner’s cup which is held for the year between races at either the Williams Grove office or the World of Outlaws headquarters, depending on weather the race winner is Outlaw or Posse.
Friday’s show at the Grove pays $10,000 to win. Saturday’s actual Morgan Cup event pays $12,000 to win plus a $5,000 Morgan Cup bonus, making the winner’s share $17,000.
Other weekend racing: Several tracks don’t plan on racing this weekend as the Outlaws sweep through the area, while others have differing shows planned.
Port Royal is off for the week, while BAPS Motor Speedway will drop the cars in favor of livestock. Bull Ride mania will be at BAPS on Saturday. Likewise, Hagerstown offers the Bonaza Extravaganza instead of racing Saturday.
Bedford is in action Friday with the super late models and URC 360 sprints headlining.
Saturday sees Path Valley offering up the 358 sprints along with the wingless super sportsmen, 305 sprints and 600 cc micro sprints.
Selinsgrove offers the PASS 305 sprints, limited late models and roadrunners on its Saturday show.
The wingless USAC East Coast 360 sprint cars join in Grandview’s modified stock car show Saturday.
TIME TRIAL TURNAROUNDS
When a track runs a time trial show, drivers will often claim the pill draw either made or broke their night. Most time trial shows feature a blind pill draw to determine the order in which cars take to the track for time. As I have conducted more that a few of these pill draws, I’ve probably heard it all.
It’s interesting to note that drivers on dirt tracks all want to go out early in the order when the track is expected to be at its best. Conversely, when working the indoor winter shows, drivers all want to go out late in the order on the concrete surface used in those races, since it’s expected the track will be better later.
Last weekend’s events on the local tracks may have changed some minds about the pill draw hurting a driver’s chances, at least for last weekend’s track conditions.
At Williams Grove on Friday evening, York’s Chase Dietz won the feature event. Dietz didn’t do well in the pill draw; as it turned out, he was the 19th of 25 cars to take time Friday. Still, he was able to get the third-quickest time of the night. In an Outlaw format, that put him on the pole position for a heat race which he won.
On Saturday at Lincoln, Freddie Rahmer, who went out first at Williams Grove on Friday, drew much worse. Rahmer was the last of 30 cars to time on Saturday, but he was still fourth-quickest. In the PA Speedweek format used for that race, he also got to start on the pole position and won his heat race. He then also won the feature.
Strange though it may seem, after 30 cars took time Saturday at Lincoln, the first heat found brothers Freddie and Brandon Rahmer on the front row. The second heat had Dietz and his uncle Cory Haas side-by-side in the second row. And the third heat included brothers Danny and Billy Dietrich.
2023 J & S CLASSICS CENTRAL PA SPRINT CAR SERIES presented by HOSEHEADS
Listing: position, car number, driver, points, series wins
After 5/6
1. 48 Danny Dietrich 393 1
2. 8/51 Freddie Rahmer 361 3
3. 23 Devon Borden 326 2
4. 39M Anthony Macri 231 1
5. 2D Chase Dietz 190 2
6. 99M Kyle Moody 180 1
7. 5 Dylan Cisney 162 1
8. 13 Justin Peck 145 1
9. 91 Kyle Reinhardt 139
10. 45 Jeff Halligan 118
11. 19 Brent Marks 115 1
11. 69k Lance Dewease 115 1
13. 5w Lucas Wolfe 113 1
14. 75/5 Tyler Ross 108
15. 5e Brandon Rahmer 92
16. 44 Dylan Norris 85
17. 11 T J Stutts 84
18. 26 Zeb Wise 80 1
19. 39 Troy Wagaman Jr 77
20. 12 Blane Heimbach 75 1
21.. 67 Justin Whittall 72
22. 16 Matt Campbell 62
23. 1x Chad Trout 61
24. 33 Gerard McIntyre Jr 54
25. 24 Rico Abreu 50 1
25. 35/11a Austin Bishop 50