By: Jenna Shotz
MECHANICSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (May 4th, 2018)-
For the first time, the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series has made its way to Central Pennsylvania for the historic two-night-event dubbed “The Battle Of The Groves.”
“I love the 360’s in this area. And ASCS is like their ‘Outlaws,’ so this is pretty exciting. I hope this event continues for years to come,” said one excited Pennsylvania race fan.
The ASCS teams made their way to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on Friday May 4th for Night No. 1, presented by 11 Oaks Farms. The ASCS/URC co-sanctioned event brought in a total of 46 360 Sprint Car entries, from 15 states, Australia, and Canada. Some of these drivers also pulled “double duty” in the 410 division last night.
Utilizing the ASCS race format, the drivers ran pill draw heat races. After calculating passing points, the top 30 ran qualifiers. The top 16 from the qualifiers moved directly to the A. The remaining cars ran B-mains filling out the 24 car field.
After watching the radars and operating under a short rain delay, the storm moved passed the speedway. The humidity and light precipitation left the tracks smooth and racey. Most drivers opted for the bottom groove, but the bold few found speed around the top line.
It was Central Pennsylvania favorite, Greg Hodnett who found himself on top at the finish line. Hodnett led all 25 laps of the feature event. It was obvious that his many laps at the Williams Grove Speedway “paperclip” gave him an edge against his competition. Mark Smith, Steve Buckwalter, Sam Hafertepe, and Wayne Johnson rounded out your top five.
On Saturday, May 5th the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, Capitol Renegade United Racing Club, and Selinsgrove Speedway Saturday night regulars will do battle for Battle of The Groves night No. 2 at the Selinsgrove Speedway.
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-Alex Vigneault, [8]; 8. 44-Chris Martin, [10]; 9. 119-Chandler Leiby, [9]; 10. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [1]
BMRS B-Main (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 45-Chuck Hebing, [2]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, [5]; 3. 77-Derek Locke, [4]; 4. 55-Alex Vigneault, [3]; 5. 119-Chandler Leiby, [6]; 6. 28-Scott Bogucki, [9]; 7. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [1]; 8. 42E-Eddie Strada, [14]; 9. 3-Ryan Taylor, [12]; 10. 22-Bryn Gohn, [8]; 11. X-Dan Mazy, [15]; (DNS) 49-Mallie Shuster, ; (DNS) 63-Josh Weller, ; (DNS) 10-Paulie Colagiovanni, ; (DNS) 88C-Chad Miller,
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [11]; 2. 1-Travis Rilat, [2]; 3. 29-Jason Shultz, [8]; 4. 99K-Cody Keller, [1]; 5. 19-Kyle Reinhardt, [5]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 7. 67W-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
- administrator on May 05, 2018
- Article Date: 5/5/2018 by Jenna Schostkewitz