By Shawn Brouse
Mechanicsburg – Freddie Rahmer muscled around Danny Dietrich to claim his first sprint car victory of the season at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, worth $5,500.
The victory was the 18th of his career at Williams Grove, tying him with Mark Kinser on the oval all-time win list.
Tyler Emory of Chaptico, Maryland, wired the field in the 20-lap ULMS Late Model Series main to claim $4,000.
The entire racing program was completed less than two hours.
Defending track champion Rahmer started on the pole of the 25-lap 410 sprint main but allowed Dietrich to snag control when action began.
Dietrich was holding sway on the seventh tour when the first caution flag of the race unfurled for a stopped Devon Borden on the backstretch.
Dietrich would then lead another lap before the red flag appeared for a hard hit of the inside wall by Lynton Jeffrey on the frontchute.
Rahmer stuck with Dietrich when action resumed and got a set of front wheels alongside of him in the second turn on the 10th tour only to see Dietrich maintain control.
Rahmer dogged the leader for the next six laps before blasting across the bottom groove in turns three and four to net the top spot with eight laps to go.
The leader was forced to contend with traffic during the late going, allowing Dietrich to narrow the gap however a last lap upset was not to be as the Salfordville speedster took the win by .429 seconds.
Cory Eliason of Visalia, California, rode home third followed by Kyle Moody and Justin Peck.
Sixth through 10th went to Anthony Macri, 19th starter Dylan Norris, Chase Dietz, Dylan Cisney and TJ Stutts.
Norris was the PA Dyno Hard Charger.
Heats went to Cisney, Dietrich and Brandon Spithaler.
After a rough start to the 20 lap ULMS late model feature that saw eventual winner Tyler Emory get crossed up in front of the field, Emory would lead from start to finish in the event.
Fourth starter Justin Weaver motored into second early but failed to challenge for the win, instead finishing 1.371 seconds behind at the finish.
Drake Troutman, Ryan Montgomery and Matt Sponaugle completed the top five finishers.
Heats went to Weaver and Sponaugle.
Bryan Bernheisel set fast time with a lap of 19.852 seconds.
Williams Grove returns to action on Friday night, March 29 at 7:30 pm with a program of Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprints and the season debut of the HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprints.
Feature Finishes:
3/22/24
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Freddie Rahmer, 2. Danny Dietrich, 3. Cory Eliason, 4. Kyle Moody, 5. Justin Peck, 6. Anthony Macri, 7. Dylan Norris, 8. Chase Dietz, 9. Dylan Cisney, 10. TJ Stutts, 11. Devon Borden, 12. Austin Bishop, 13. Lucas Wolfe, 14. Troy Wagaman Jr., 15. Briggs Danner, 16. Ryan Taylor, 17. Logan McCandless, 18. Steve Buckwalter, 19. Ryan Wilson, 20. Brandon Spithaler, 21. Lynton Jeffrey
DNS: Skylar Gee
ULMS late models, 20 laps: 1. Tyler Emory, 2. Justin Weaver, 3. Drake Troutman, 4. Ryan Montgomery, 5. Matt Sponaugle, 6. Bryan Bernheisel, 7. Rick Eckert, 8. Michael Lake, 9. Chris Casner, 10. Dylan Lewis, 11. Dylan Fenton, 12. Dave Stamm
DNS: Logan Zarin