By Shawn Brouse
Mechanicsburg – Anthony Macri drove from 17th to the win in the 25-lap Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint car feature at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
The Dillsburg driver pocketed $6,000 for his second win of the year at the track including a $500 bonus from WC Eshenaur for making a last lap pass for the win.
In the 20-lap HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprint main, Dylan Norris jetted from 14th to the victory to open the season for the division at Williams Grove.
Mike Walter II., started on the pole of the 410 sprint main and was leading over Ryan Wilson when Steve Buckwalter stopped on the third tour.
Fifth starter Kyle Moody motored into second on the restart but failed to produce any results over Walter on ensuing restarts of laps nine, 10 and 13.
The restart of lap 13 came after a red flag for the tangled cars of Danny Dietrich and Logan McCandless in the fourth turn.
Macri was up to third behind Walter and Moody for that restart and went to work on Moody when action resumed.
It took until lap 16 for him to net second and begin running down Walter.
Macri was turning laps some four-tenths of a second faster than the leader as he honed in for the lead.
And then on what would have been lap 22, Macri blasted underneath Walter for control in the first corner only to see the move negated seconds later when Jake Karklin spun his mount in the fourth corner, nearly collecting the front two cars.
With three laps to go, Macri settled in for his final runs at leader Walter and after nearly pulling off the pass in the second turn on the final lap only to see Walter regain control, Macri ran down the backchute in the leader’s shadow.
And when Walter entered the third corner in the middle trying to make his car as wide as possible, Macri decided at the last moment to make a bid on the ragged outside.
Side by side the pair ran into the fourth turn with Macri barely squeezing by for the victory as Walter bicycled on the cushion and nearly crashed while losing not one but two spots when Dylan Norris got by for second.
The checkers were the seventh of Macri’s career at Williams Grove, coming by 1.767 seconds over Norris.
Moody and Briggs Danner followed Walter across the line to complete the top five.
Sixth through 10th went to Cory Eliason, Ryan Taylor, Freddie Rahmer, Devon Borden and TJ Stutts.
Heats went to Walter, Ryan Wilson and Buckwalter while Danny Dietrich won the consolation race.
Macri was the PA Dyno Hard Charger.
Norris backed up his second in the 410 sprint main with a win in the 358 feature, taking the lead from Matt Findley with four laps to go.
Findley had led from the outset and withstood four restarts and challenges from Zach Newlin to maintain control until Norris struck late in the event.
Norris got around Newlin for second with six laps to go before gaining on the leader and making a lowside pass for the top spot in the first turn.
Norris’ second career win at the track came by 3.228 seconds over Newlin, Kyle Spence, Preston Lattomus and Doug Hammaker.
Sixth through 10th went to Findley, Nat Tuckey, Dwight Leppo, Chris Frank and Chase Gutshall.
Heats went to Derek Locke, Frankie Herr and Leppo.
Norris was the PA Dyno Hard Charger.
Feature Finishes:
3/29/24
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Anthony Macri, 2. Dylan Norris, 3. Mike Walter II., 4. Kyle Moody, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Cory Eliason, 7. Ryan Taylor, 8. Freddie Rahmer, 9. Devon Borden, 10. TJ Stutts, 11. Lucas Wolfe,12. Spencer Bayston, 13. Matt Campbell, 14. Troy Wagaman Jr., 15. Justin Whittall, 16. Austin Bishop, 17. Tony Jackson, 18. Ryan Wilson, 19. Jake Karklin, 20. Logan McCandless, 21. Danny Dietrich, 22. Billy Dietrich, 23. Dylan Cisney, 24. Steve Buckwalter
DNQ: Jarrett Cavalet, JJ Loss, Kyle Keen, Lynton Jeffrey,
358 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Dylan Norris, 2. Zach Newlin, 3. Kyle Spence, 4. Preston Lattomus, 5. Doug Hammaker, 6. Matt Findley, 7. Nat Tuckey, 8. Dwight Leppo, 9. Chris Frank, 10. Chase Gutshall, 11. Logan Rumsey, 12. Wyatt Hinkle, 13. Frankie Herr, 14. Derek Locke, 15. Tyler Rutherford, 16. Scott Fisher, 17. Cody Fletcher, 18. Kruz Kepner, 19. Will Brunson, 20. Andy Best, 21. Samuel Miller, 22. Justin Foster, 23. Chad Criswell, 24. Steve Owings
DNQ: Brady Dillon, Hayden Miller, Cole Young