Hodnett Hauls in Opener of the National Open at Williams Grove Speedway

By Tony Veneziano, Julia Johnson photo

Mechanicsburg, PA- October 1, 2010- Greg Hodnett has certainly been the man to beat at Williams Grove Speedway over the last two years, especially when the World of Outlaws have come to town. Entering the Morgan Hughes National Open this weekend at the famed half-mile in Central, Pennsylvania, the veteran had won four of the last eight races the series has sanctioned at the track. He made it five of the last nine on Friday night, winning the opener of the two-day event in front of a huge crowd.

The win for Hodnett in the Macri Concrete/J&S Fabrication Maxim was worth $8,000 and helped extend the Pennsylvania Posse’s win streak to nine over the World of Outlaws. Donny Schatz’s win in the finale of the 2008 Summer Nationals marked the last time a series driver won at Williams Grove.

“It always means a lot win, especially again competition like this,” said Hodnett. “We had a good car and a good starting spot and were in a good position. With how tough the competition is, you have to be in a good position and we were fortunate to be that this evening.”

The closest four-way championship battle in World of Outlaws history stayed tight after the first night of the National Open, as Jason Meyers finished eighth to remain on top of the standings by 60 markers over 20-time series champion Steve Kinser who rebounded from a hard wreck in the second heat race which forced him to use a provisional to start the main event. Kinser would come from the 25th starting spot to finish 13th in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.

Joey Saldana finished a very solid seventh in his return after missing a race last weekend with a concussion and gained a couple of points on Meyers and is now 83 markers back, as he remains third, with four-time and defending series champion Donny Schatz fourth in the standings, 95 points out of the lead. Schatz worked his way back from an opening lap accident in the main event and subsequent trip to the work area to finish 11th, after initialing starting third.

Hodnett darted into second at the start, which took a couple of attempts, following a yellow on the initial start and then a red flag for a multi-car accident on the complete restart. Hodnett was all over Tim Shaffer in the early going, as the latter paced the first 14 laps of the contest.

“I had to be somewhat patient tonight,” shared the winner. “The first 10 or so laps after they had watered the track, I could pretty much run anywhere. Then I got to where I couldn’t really pass lapped cars too easy, so I moved down to the bottom. Timmy (Shaffer) was trying to pass a lapped car and just got caught out off the rubber and we were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.”

Hodnett will seek his second straight National Open victory on Saturday night, which will consist of a 40-lap main event with $50,000 on the line to the winner again this year. The 1993 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner has led 91 laps of feature racing competition with the series at Williams Grove Speedway over the last two seasons.

“It’s going to be tough tomorrow night,” admitted Hodnett. “Tires will come into play tomorrow and we normally don’t run too hard of a tire here and I think if it’s like this tomorrow we’ll need to. It’s going to be a little bit of a guessing game, but we’re looking forward to coming back and seeing if we can be in contention again.”

The main event on Friday night began with Paul McMahan leading the field into turn one from the pole, only to have the yellow flag wave before that lap was in the books, setting up a complete restart. On the second start, a multicar accident brought out the red flag. Involved in the melee was Donny Schatz who started third. On the third start, Shaffer was able to take the lead from McMahan coming off the low side of turn two. Shaffer would lead the first 14 laps on Friday night as he looked to return to Victory Lane at Williams Grove, for the first time since 2001. He ended up second in the Kistler Engines J&J, which was his third straight Top-Five finish with the World of Outlaws.

“It was definitely a great night,” said Shaffer. “To be up front and get mad when you run second is amazing. This is a great team and it’s been an awesome three months. I really want to win bad here and that’s probably what hurt me tonight. I went a little too hard too early and used my tires up and didn’t find the rubber late, but there are no excuses. Greg (Hodnett) and Lee (Stauffer) did a great job and we’ll try again tomorrow. Hopefully we can be in contention again.”

Paul McMahan, who started on the pole ended up third in the Great Clips Maxim to score his second straight podium finish at Williams Grove and his fifth finish of third or better in the last seven World of Outlaws races as he closes in on the fifth spot in the series championship standings with just five races remaining on the season.

“I’ve been finishing on the podium a lot lately and need to get us a win,” said McMahan. “It’s kind of frustrating when we are in the Top-Two and Top-Three every night, but I’m not complaining. We had a good race car tonight and they were just a little better than us at the very beginning of the race. Once we got rolling I felt pretty good. I showed Greg (Hodnett) the bottom and wasn’t able to clear him and that’s what got him back down there and he was able to get by Tim (Shaffer). We’ll take third-place tonight and come back tomorrow for the big money.”

Mike Erdley finished fourth on Friday night in the Lisi Shell Maxim to earn his best career World of Outlaws finish. Stevie Smith was fifth in the Zemco Speed Equipment Maxim, with Kerry Madsen sixth in the Halls Haulage KPC. Joey Saldana was seventh in the Budweiser Maxim, to score the high finish of any of the title contenders. Jason Meyers was eighth in the GLR Investments KPC, with Brian Montieth coming from 19th to finish ninth in the Premiere Auto Works machine. Danny Lasoski rounded out the Top-10 in the Casey’s General Stores JEI.

The National Open at Williams Grove Speedway wraps up on Saturday, October 2 with the 40-lap $50,000 to-win finale which will be taped by SPEED for future broadcast.

NATIONAL OPEN NIGHT #1 NOTES

•FAST QUALIFIER: David Gravel paced the 58 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval at 17.107 seconds at 105.228 miles per hour. For his qualifying effort Gravel earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Tim Shaffer (4), Mark Smith (3), Greg Hodnett (2) and Paul McMahan (1).

•WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Joey Saldana, Tim Shaffer, Donny Schatz, Stevie Smith and Jason Meyers won heat races. Paul McMahan won the Dash. Brian Montieth won the Last Chance Showdown. Justin Henderson won the C-Main. Jessica Zemken won the D-Main.

• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 64 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway-twice, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, LaSalle Speedway, Beaver Dam Raceway, Lernerville Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Castrol Raceway and Deer Creek Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway, North Central Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Castrol Raceway and Silver Dollar Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Eldora Speedway, Autodrome Drummond, Fulton Speedway and Skagit Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway, Knoxville Raceway, Skagit Speedway, Clay County Fair Speedway and Eldora Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park, The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Ohsweken Speedway, Silver Dollar Speedway and Lernerville Speedway), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park, Tri-City Speedway, Missouri State Fair Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and Nodak Speedway), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway, Huset’s Speedway and Silver Dollar Speedway), Lance Dewease (Lernerville Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-twice), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Dale Blaney (Limaland Motorsports Park), Doug Esh (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Cottage Grove Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Tim Shaffer (I-55 Raceway).

•HALF-MILE-WINNERS: Williams Grove Speedway is a semi-banked half-mile. The World of Outlaws have raced 23 times at a track that size in 2010. The winners include: Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, Lakeside Speedway and Eldora Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-twice), Joey Saldana (Eldora Speedway-twice), Jason Sides (Tri-City Speedway and Missouri State Fair Speedway), Lance Dewease (Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Doug Esh (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park) and Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway).

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Williams Grove Speedway; Mechanicsburg, PA; October 1, 2010

Qualifying

1) 89G-David Gravel 17.107

2) 83-Tim Shaffer 17.128

3) 7M-Mark Smith 17.238

4) 22H-Greg Hodnett 17.239

5) 91-Paul McMahan 17.258

6) 3-Kerry Madsen 17.274

7) 7L-Chad Layton 17.362

8) 15-Donny Schatz 17.409

9) 7S-Jason Sides 17.412

10) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 17.434

11) 51-Fred Rahmer 17.488

12) 11-Steve Kinser 17.511

13) 11E-Mike Erdley 17.522

14) 1Z-Stevie Smith 17.526

15) 14-Jason Meyers 17.561

16) 9-Joey Saldana 17.574

17) 63-Chad Kemenah 17.589

18) 15X-Adam Wilt 17.622

19) 6-Danny Lasoski 17.625

20) D4-Danny Holtgraver 17.644

21) 48-Danny Dietrich 17.645

22) 71-Brian Leppo 17.666

23) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 17.703

24) 21-Brian Montieth 17.718

25) 55-Jason Solwald 17.772

26) 11C-Cory Haas 17.823

27) 59-Jim Siegel 17.854

28) 1-Sammy Swindell 17.921

29) 39-Keith Kauffman 17.922

30) 11K-Kraig Kinser 17.946

31) 2B-Ben Gregg 17.959

32) R19-Jac Haudenschild 17.997

33) 30C-Lance Dewease 18.001

34) 87-Alan Krimes 18.003

35) 35-Justin Henderson 18.008

36) 17-Tyler Walker 18.031

37) 7-Craig Dollansky 18.039

38) 4X-Toni Lutar 18.085

39) O-Rick Lafferty 18.112

40) 2L-Ed Lynch Jr. 18.117

41) 99K-Cody Keller 18.135

42) 93-Doug Esh 18.154

43) 22-Brian Ellenberger 18.155

44) 49-Brad Sweet 18.165

45) 46-T.J. Winegardner 18.166

46) 38N-Nick Schauch Jr. 18.191

47) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr. 18.202

48) 19M-Brent Marks 18.237

49) 25-Aaron Ott 18.252

50) 27-Daryn Pittman 18.298

51) 14Z-Jessica Zemken 18.572

52) 66-Ryan Kissinger 18.623

53) 14D-Doug Dodson 18.722

54) 6W-Josh Wells 19.012

55) 20S-Derek Sell 19.137

56) O7-Mark Coldren 19.148

57) 12W-Troy Fraker 19.396

58) 33-Brian Ehrenzeller 20.065

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 9-Joey Saldana[1]

2) 3-Kerry Madsen[3]

3) 51-Fred Rahmer[2]

4) 17-Tyler Walker[8]

5) 48-Danny Dietrich[5]

6) 89G-David Gravel[4]

7) 2B-Ben Gregg[7]

8) 11C-Cory Haas[6]

9) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[11]

10) 38N-Nick Schauch Jr.[10]

11) 99K-Cody Keller[9]

12) O7-Mark Coldren[12]

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 83-Tim Shaffer[4]

2) 63-Chad Kemenah[1]

3) 7L-Chad Layton[3]

4) 7-Craig Dollansky[8]

5) 93-Doug Esh[9]

6) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr.[10]

7) 71-Brian Leppo[5]

8) 59-Jim Siegel[6]

9) R19-Jac Haudenschild[7]

10) 66-Ryan Kissinger[11]

11) 12W-Troy Fraker[12]

12) 11-Steve Kinser[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 15-Donny Schatz[3]

2) 11E-Mike Erdley[2]

3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[5]

4) 1-Sammy Swindell[6]

5) 15X-Adam Wilt[1]

6) 7M-Mark Smith[4]

7) 30C-Lance Dewease[7]

8) 19M-Brent Marks[10]

9) 22-Brian Ellenberger[9]

10) 4X-Toni Lutar[8]

11) 14D-Doug Dodson[11]

12) 33-Brian Ehrenzeller[12]

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 1Z-Stevie Smith[2]

2) 6-Danny Lasoski[1]

3) 22H-Greg Hodnett[4]

4) 87-Alan Krimes[7]

5) 7S-Jason Sides[3]

6) 21-Brian Montieth[5]

7) 39-Keith Kauffman[6]

8) O-Rick Lafferty[8]

9) 49-Brad Sweet[9]

10) 6W-Josh Wells[11]

11) 25-Aaron Ott[10]

Heat 5 (8 Laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 14-Jason Meyers[2]

2) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[3]

3) D4-Danny Holtgraver[1]

4) 91-Paul McMahan[4]

5) 55-Jason Solwald[5]

6) 27-Daryn Pittman[10]

7) 35-Justin Henderson[7]

8) 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]

9) 20S-Derek Sell[11]

10) 46-T.J. Winegardner[9]

Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 91-Paul McMahan[2]

2) 83-Tim Shaffer[4]

3) 15-Donny Schatz[5]

4) 22H-Greg Hodnett[3]

5) 1Z-Stevie Smith[8]

6) 3-Kerry Madsen[1]

7) 11E-Mike Erdley[7]

8) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[6]

9) 9-Joey Saldana[10]

10) 14-Jason Meyers[9]

11) 6-Danny Lasoski[12]

12) 63-Chad Kemenah[11]

D-Main 8 Laps top 2 tranfser to C-Main- Starting Position [#]

1)14Z-Jessica Zempken [2]

2) 27-Daryn Pittman[1]

3) 4D-Doug Dodson[4] [$100]

4) 6W-Josh Wells[5] [$100]

5) 66-Ryan Kissinger[3] [$100]

6) 20S-Derek Sell[6] [$100]

7) O7-Mark Coldren[7] [$100]

8) 12W-Troy Fraker[8] [$100]

9) 33-Brian Ehrenzeller[9] [$100]

10) 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[10] [$100]

C-main (10 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to B-main) – Starting Position [#]

1) 35-Justin Henderson[1]

2) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr.[10]

3) 27-Daryn Pittman[14] [$125]

4) 4X-Toni Lutar[2] [$125]

5) 49-Brad Sweet[7] [$125]

6) 25-Aaron Ott[12] [$100]

7) 99K-Cody Keller[4] [$100]

8) 19M-Brent Marks[11] [$100]

9) 22-Brian Ellenberger[6] [$100]

10) 14Z-Jessica Zemken[13] [$100]

11) 46-T J Winegardner[8] [$100]

12) 38N-Nick Schauch Jr.[9] [$100]

13) 93-Doug Esh[5] [$100]

14) O-Rick Lafferty[3] [$100]

15) 14D-Doug Dodson[16] [$100]

16) 6W-Josh Wells[17] [$100]

17) 66-Ryan Kissinger[15] [$100]

18) 20S-Derek Sell[18] [$100]

19) O7-Mark Coldren[19] [$100]

20) 12W-Troy Fraker[20] [$100]

21) 33-Brian Ehrenzeller[21] [$100]

22) 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[22] [$100]

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]

1) 21-Brian Montieth[8]

2) 89G-David Gravel[1]

3) 48-Danny Dietrich[6]

4) 55-Jason Solwald[9]

5) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr.[18] [$200]

6) 11C-Cory Haas[10] [$180]

7) 71-Brian Leppo[7] [$175]

8) 39-Keith Kauffman[12] [$160]

9) 35-Justin Henderson[17] [$150]

10) 30C-Lance Dewease[16] [$150]

11) 11K-Kraig Kinser[13] [$150]

12) 2B-Ben Gregg[14] [$150]

13) 7M-Mark Smith[2] [$150]

14) R19-Jac Haudenschild[15] [$150]

15) 7S-Jason Sides[3] [$150]

16) 15X-Adam Wilt[5] [$150]

17) 59-Jim Siegel[11] [$150]

18) 11-Steve Kinser[4] [$150]

A-main (25 laps) – Starting Position [#]- Starting Position [#]

1) 22H-Greg Hodnett[4] [$8,000]

2) 83-Tim Shaffer[2] [$4,000]

3) 91-Paul McMahan[1] [$2,500]

4) 11E-Mike Erdley[7] [$2,200]

5) 1Z-Stevie Smith[5] [$2,100]

6) 3-Kerry Madsen[6] [$2,000]

7) 9-Joey Saldana[9] [$1,800]

8) 14-Jason Meyers[10] [$1,600]

9) 21-Brian Montieth[19] [$1,500]

10) 6-Danny Lasoski[11] [$1,300]

11) 15-Donny Schatz[3] [$1,200]

12) 63-Chad Kemenah[12] [$1,100]

13) 11-Steve Kinser[25] [$400]

14) 89G-David Gravel[13] [$700]

15) 17-Tyler Walker[23] [$600]

16) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[8] [$600]

17) 48-Danny Dietrich[17] [$600]

18) 51-Fred Rahmer[15] [$600]

19) 7S-Jason Sides[27] [$600]

20) 7L-Chad Layton[14] [$600]

21) 87-Alan Krimes[22] [$600]

22) 7M-Mark Smith[26] [$600]

23) 1-Sammy Swindell[21] [$600]

24) D4-Danny Holtgraver[16] [$600]

25) 7-Craig Dollansky[24] [$600]

26) 55-Jason Solwald[20] [$600]

27) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[18] [$600]

28) 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr.[28] [$0]

Lap Leaders: Tim Shaffer 1-14, Greg Hodnett 15-25

KSE Hard Charger Award: Steve Kinser

Penske Power Position Award: Greg Hodnett

Note: Steve Kinser and Jason Sides used World of Outlaws Provisionals to start the A-Feature. Mark Smith and Don Kreitz Jr. used Williams Grove Speedway Provisionals to start the A-Feature.

World of Outlaws Championship Standings through October 1

1. Jason Meyers 8597
2. Steve Kinser 8537 -60
3. Joey Saldana 8514 -83
4. Donny Schatz 8502 -95
5. Jason Sides 8364 -233
6. Paul McMahan 8355 -242
7. Craig Dollansky 7935 -662
8. Lucas Wolfe 7869 -728
9. Danny Lasoski 7849 -748
10. Kraig Kinser 7721 -876