From Williams Grove Speedway
Mechanicsburg, PA — (July 3, 2015) — Doug Esh of Lancaster held off Brian Montieth and Brock Zearfoss to win the prestigious Mitch Smith Memorial for sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night as part of the 25th annual Pennsylvania Speedweek series.
The victory was Esh’s second in the big oval event, worth $10,000. It was also Esh”s first win for his current team, owned by Mark Coldren.
Esh would end up leading flag to flag in the 30-lap affair with Zearfoss dogging him from the start.
Montieth drove by Aaron Ott and into third on the third circuit but had considerable distance to make up before catching Esh and Zearfoss.
Zearfoss made his first stabs for the lead on the 10th lap when he ducked under Esh for the top spot in the first corner.
But Esh rolled the top back into control as the pair exited the second corner.
And all the while the pair was racing for the lead, Montieth was reeling them in.
At the halfway point, the front four cars of Esh, Zearfoss, Montieth and by this time Greg Hodnett were running under a blanket through traffic, all within a turn of taking control of the event.
Montieth muscled around Zearfoss for second with 12 laps to go and applied heavy pressure to Esh for the lead and win.
Having moved down to the bottom groove in the first and second turns after Zearfoss made his attempts down low on the 10th lap, Esh still maintained the top lane in the third turn and that”s where Montieth was able to get underneath and take the lead with nine laps to go.
But Esh was having none of surrendering the point and would end up allowing Montieth to lead only the 21st lap as he drove to Montieth”s outside in the first corner to draw back in front as the pair scrambled down the long backchute.
In the meantime, while watching all the action for the lead in front of him, Zearfoss switched lanes to the topside of the track and began making time on the lead cars.
He motored by Montieth for second with five laps to go and for a few laps closed back in on pacesetter Esh before again falling prey to Montieth at the finish.
Hodnett rode home fourth followed by Aaron Ott.
Sixth through 10th went to Stevie Smith, Alan Krimes, Danny Dietrich, Lucas Wolfe and Tim Glatfelter.
“Hell I never know if I have a ride,” Esh said in victory lane, “But it”s all good.”
“I love Central Pa and all the fans and lets drink a beer!”
Heats for the 34-car field went to Esh, Hodnett, Montieth and Zearfoss with Mike Wagner taking the consolation race.
Stevie Smith set quick time with a lap of 16.499 seconds and finished the night with a commanding point lead in the 2015 speedweek standings.
Jasen Geesaman took the lead from Craig Morgan on lap 11 of the 15-lap street stock main to pick up his first win of the year in the Saturday Night Series division that was making a rare Friday night start.
Randy Zechman lead the first pair of laps before Chris Heller took over only to give way to Morgan on the seventh tour.
Geesaman and Morgan then waged a door to door battle for the last half of the race with Geesaman securing the lead and win despite pressure from Morgan to the finish.
Zechman finished third followed by Wayne Dutterer and Kory Sites.
Heats went to Morgan, Sites and Heller.
July 3, 2015 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 30 laps: 1. Doug Esh, 2. Brian Montieth, 3. Brock Zearfoss, 4. Greg Hodnett, 5. Aaron Ott, 6. Stevie Smith, 7. Alan Krimes, 8. Danny Dietrich, 9. Lucas Wolfe, 10. Tim Glatfelter, 11. Brent Marks, 12. TJ Stutts, 13. Lance Dewease, 14. Dave Ely, 15. Jac Haudenschild, 16. Nicole Bower, 17. Steve Buckwalter, 18. Robbie Stillwaggon, 19. Mike Wagner, 20. Chase Dietz, 21. Davey Sammons, 22. Adam Wilt, 23. Pat Cannon, 24. Gerard McIntyre Jr.
DNQ: Ryan Wilson, Jim Shuster, Wayne Dadetto, JJ Grasso, Karl Baker, Rodney Westhafer, Cory Haas, Troy Fraker, Kevin Nouse, Joe Kata