From Williams Grove
Mechanicsburg – Brent Marks held off a charging Brian Montieth to claim the sprint car feature at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night by .067 seconds, or a half car length. It was close.
In the URC sprint feature, polesitter Daryn Pittman held sway the entire way to record the victory, his 11th of the season overall in both 410 and 360 sprint competition.
Marks started seventh in the 25-lap sprint main and advanced into fourth on the first circuit while New Jersey’s Davey Sammons held control.
Marks assumed the second spot behind Sammons with five down and began running down Sammons quickly.
The Myerstown driver slid up in front of Sammons in the second corner for the lead with seven away only to see Sammons battle back on the inside as the pair ran down the backchute.
But Sammons lost control of his mount as the pair dove side by side into the third corner, bringing out the red flag after backing the car into the outside turn three wall.
The race resumed with Derek Sell lining up second while Marks drove off from the field and opened up more than a straightaway lead as the race progressed.
Meanwhile, 11th starter Lance Dewease worked through the top five, moving into second with 10 laps to go just before Sell looped his car, setting up a restart with nine laps left.
Dewease tried a duck underneath on the restart but Marks was clearly stronger and was on his way to the win when a final caution flag for debris came out with three laps to go.
Dewease’s efforts were more noticeable this time around as he slid Marks for the lead between the first and second turns only to see Marks drive back in front down the backstretch.
But Dewease wasn’t done and again dove low and took the lead briefly before Marks went back out in front to lead lap 23.
Again Dewease slid Marks in one and two as the pair worked lap 24 and again Marks reclaimed command off of the second corner.
But then it was 10th starter Montieth’s turn as he disposed of Dewease just after the white flag to set up a move for the win in the final set of turns.
Marks drove low to ward off a deep third turn dive however and slid out of turn four scraping to hold control, which he did by the blink of an eye as Montieth pulled up beside him on the inside at the finish line.
“It’s really tough to keep them behind you, especially when the track’s like this,” Marks commented.
“Lance has got some competition because I kind of figured out his corner down there,” he said of racing through turns three and four at the end.
“I think I had a good enough car to keep him behind us too,” he said of Montieth.
“This is the best place to win in the country, everyone knows I won here tonight so that’s pretty cool!”
Following Marks and Montieth was Dewease, Greg Hodnett and Chad Layton.
Sixth through 10th went to Aaron Ott, Daryn Pittman, Ryan Bohlke, Steve Buckwalter and Doug Esh.
Heats went to Don Kreitz Jr., Nicole Bower and Sammons.
Pittman led the entire 25 laps of the URC feature to win over Chad Layton, Pat Cannon, Dave Ely and 15th starter Lance Dewease.
Cannon held second from laps 13 through 22 before Layton surged back into second after some sideswiping action with Cannon high in the second corner.
“I’d take this thing anywhere in the country when we put this motor in,” Pittman said of his Rider Racing Engines 360 powerplant.
“We ran two cars tonight, didn’t hurt anything and was competitive with both so it was a real team effort,” he said.
Pittman was one of several drivers who competed in both sprint car classes on the night.
Cannon tried to move in for the lead amid traffic after taking second but eventually Pittman was able to pull away and escape.
Heats went to Layton, Colby Womer and Kevin Ward with Robbie Stillwaggon taking the B Main.
Feature Finishes
August 26, 2011
Sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Brent Marks, 2. Brian Montieth, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Greg Hodnett, 5. Chad Layton, 6. Aaron Ott, 7. Daryn Pittman, 8. Ryan Bohlke, 9. Steve Buckwalter, 10. Doug Esh, 11. Mark Smith, 12. Rick Lafferty, 13. Justin Henderson, 14. Don Kreitz Jr., 15. Todd Shaffer, 16. Cory Haas, 17. Troy Fraker, 18. Nicole Bower, 19. Derek Sell, 20. Tim Glatfelter, 21. Jay Reichard, 22. Davey Sammons, 23. Danny Dietrich, 24. Fred Rahmer.
URC sprints, 25 laps: 1. Daryn Pittman, 2. Chad Layton, 3. Pat Cannon,, 4. Dave Ely, 5. Lance Dewease, 6. Blane Heimbach, 7. Colby Womer, 8. Curt Michael, 9. Mark Smith, 10. Gerard McIntyre Jr., 11. Kramer Williamson, 12. Jason Clauss, 13. Randy West, 14. Ed Aiken, 15. Kevin Ward, 16. Josh Weller, 17. Davie Franek, 18. Robbie Stillwaggon, 19. Billy Johns, 20. Andy Best, 21. Steve Whary, 22. Art Leidl, 23. Aaron Ott, 24. Joey Biasi, 25. Denny Garl.