Hogue and Shaffer win with final lap passes at the Grove

Williams Grove Speedway Top Story

From Williams Grove Speedway

Mechanicsburg, PA — (August 28, 2015) — A pair of last lap passes netted sprint car wins at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night for drivers Austin Hogue and Adrian Shaffer.

For Hogue, the victory was a career first at the historic oval in the 410 sprint division while Shaffer notched his second win of the season in the 358 sprint class.

Hogue started second in the 25-lap 410 sprint car feature and led from the beginning with Cory Haas moving into second on the second tour.

The race was slowed moments later for a three-car entanglement in the fourth corner involving Pat Cannon, Jordan Givler and Troy Fraker.

The final 23 laps of the event went non stop with Haas chasing Hogue throughout until the leader by his own admission got sucked into the first turn cushion with nine laps to go, forcing him to swing wide into the corners and also allowing Haas to drive by for the win.

The West York driver had been staying close enough to Hogue to easily capitalize on the miscue however Hogue was not done in his quest for a first career victory.

After a lap or two that allowed him to get his wheels back underneath, Hogue tracked Haas down to also be within striking distance and another miscue on the cushion, this time by Haas as he ran up on Cannon to put him a lap down, set up a wild finish.

When Cannon bobbled on the fourth turn cushion, it forced Haas to backpedal and that allowed Hogue to drop down and run underneath Haas back to the white flag, with Haas scoring the lap by just half of his car’s length with Hogue directly beside him.

And as the pair raced into the first corner, Haas broke low for a sweep thru the turns while Hogue went to the cushion for a sweep and that move netted him control as the pair raced onto the backchute.

Haas was close enough as the pair entered the third turn to pull a big old slide job in an attempt to again get the lead and win but Hogue anticipated the move perfectly to already be turning his car off of the cushion before Haas even completed his glide up across the track.

And with that turn of the car set up perfectly while Haas was sliding sideways, Hogue drove forward to again take the lead back from Haas off of the fourth corner to pick up the exciting win by .410 seconds.

Sixth starter Steve Buckwalter rode home a stout third followed by 10th starter Greg Hodnett and Danny Dietrich.

Sixth through 10th went to Brian Montieth, Brent Marks, Brock Zearfoss, Frankie Herr and Lance Dewease.

Heats went to Haas, Jay Reichard and Montieth.

Cody Fairchok would lead 16 laps of the 20-lap 358 sprint main before ninth starter Kevin Nouse took over on a restart after getting by a well-running Adrian Shaffer for second on the ninth tour.

Nouse seemed to be in good shape when a final of three yellow flags appeared with just two laps to go.

Nouse pulled away from Shaffer on the restart and again seemed headed for his first win of the year and then suddenly as he raced toward the white flag his whole night changed thanks to a flipped up front wing.

With his front wing flipped upside down on the hood of the car, unsettling his momentum as he shot down the frontstretch, Shaffer used a full head of steam to blast around Nouse in the first corner to steal the win away on the final circuit.

Nouse limped home second followed by 11th starter Chase Dietz, Matt Campbell and Fairchok.

Sixth through 10th went to Chandler Leiby, Doug Hammaker, Rich Eichelberger, Matt Findley and Nyle Berkes.

Heats went to Todd Reed, Kyle Denmyer and Fairchok.

August 28, 2015 Feature Finishes:

410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Austin Hogue, 2. Cory Haas, 3. Steve Buckwalter, 4. Greg Hodnett, 5. Danny Dietrich, 6. Brian Montieth, 7. Brent Marks, 8. Brock Zearfoss, 9. Frankie Herr, 10. Lance Dewease, 11. Ryan Smith, 12. Wayne Dadetto, 13. Pat Cannon, 14. Rick Lafferty, 15. Glenndon Forsythe, 16. Tim Glatfelter, 17. Jordan Givler, 18. Alan Krimes, 19. Troy Fraker, 20. Lucas Wolfe, 21. Rodney Westhafer

DNS: Jay Reichard

358 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Adrian Shaffer, 2. Kevin Nouse, 3. Chase Dietz, 4. Matt Campbell, 5. Cody Fairchok, 6. Chandler Leiby, 7. Doug Hammaker, 8. Rich Eichelberger, 9. Matt Findley, 10. Nyle Berkes, 11. Bill Stine, 12. Brie Hershey, 13. DJ Montgomery, 14. Kyle Dunmyer, 15. Russell Hammaker, 16. Brian Garland, 17. Ryan Hansen, 18. Phil Walter, 19. Todd Reed, 20. Leah Starner, 21. Amy Ott

DNS: Austin Kirby