From Shawn Brouse
Mechanicsburg – Cameron Smith of Spring Grove drove the race of his young sprint car career at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, overtaking outlaw invader Buddy Kofoid not once but twice to score an $8,000 payday in the Eash Brothers Tribute Race.
In other action, the 20-lap PASS IMCA 305 sprint main was scored by Jeff Paulson.
Smith started on the pole of the 25-lap Eash Tribute feature for the 410 sprints flanked by California’s Kofoid.
And the polesitter got a good start at the drop of the green to beat Kofoid onto the frontstretch with the lead.
Kofoid kept the leader in his sights early in the main and when the rear of the field entered the picture for Smith, he was there to challenge.
The Californian took the lead away from Smith’s No. 75 for the first time on lap nine only to see Smith muscle back in front with a power move the next time around.
But Kofoid wasn’t finished and again returned the favor on the 11th tour before beginning to thread his way through traffic.
However a bobble and near spin on the first turn cushion by Kofoid played into Smith’s hands on the 13th lap and when the door opened the talented youngster was there to drive through it.
And by lap 15 Smith had built a more than one second lead over Kofoid before the only caution flag of the race appeared with nine laps to go.
With clear track in front of him, Smith pulled away down the backchute when green replaced the yellow before again entering the backmarkers on the final lap.
But this time Kofoid wasn’t close enough to challenge as Smith instead drove to this second career oval win by 1.350 seconds.
Troy Wagaman Jr. was third followed by Nash Ely and TJ Stutts.
Sixth through 10th went to Freddie Rahmer, Garet Williamson, Lucas Wolfe, Kody Hartlaub and Matt Campbell.
Heat were taken by Smith, Wagaman, Stutts and Derek Locke with Preston Lattoumus taking the last chance race.
Ely set quick time over the 32-car field with a lap of 16.736 seconds.
Polesitter Landon Price led the first six laps of the 305 sprint main before crashing out and handing the lead over to Jeff Paulson of Honey Brook.
Paulson would lead the rest of the distance to score the victory over Mike Melair, Kasey Weaver, Shelby Kelly and Mike Alleman.
Heats went to Timmy Bittner, John Scarborough, Landon Price and Dustin Young with Jarrett Cavalet taking the consolation race.
The wingless super sportsman feature was postponed until a later date.
The start of the racing program was delayed more than an hour after a rain shower hit the oval prior to the posted starting time.
Keep up to date on all the latest speedway news and information by visiting the oval’s official website located at www.williamsgrove.com and by following the track on X, Facebook and Instagram.
Feature Finishes
5/23/25
410 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Cameron Smith, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Troy Wagaman Jr., 4. Nash Ely, 5. TJ Stutts, 6. Freddie Rahmer, 7. Garet Williamson, 8. Lucas Wolfe, 9. Kody Hartlaub, 10. Matt Campbell, 11. Dylan Norris, 12. Chad Trout, 13. JT Ferry, 14. Steve Buckwalter, 15. Derek Locke, 16. Ryan Taylor, 17. Aaron Bollinger, 18. Jake Karklin, 19. Ryan Newton, 20. Preston Lattomus, 21. Joey Amantea, 22. Tim Shaffer, 23. Kyle Moody, 24. Davie Franek
DNQ: Ricky Peterson Jr., Reese Nowatarski, Tim Glatfelter, Hayden Miller, Dave Grube, Cody Fletcher, Derek Hauck, Cole Knopp
305 sprint cars, 20 laps: 1. Jeff Paulson, 2. Mike Melair, 3. Kasey Weaver, 4. Shelby Kelly, 5. Mike Alleman, 6. DJ Tanner, 7. Tim Lulg, 8. Christian Rumsey, 9. Dylan Shatzer, 10. Drew Young,11. Colton Hendershot, 12. John Scarborough, 13. Dylan Smith, 14. Paul Moyer, 15. Kruz Kepner, 16. Jarrett Cavalet, 17. Erin Statler, 18. Ace Pruitt, 19. Kolby Weaver, 20. Landon Price, 21. Zach Rhodes, 22. Dustin Young, 23. Timmy Bittner, 24. Kenny Heffner
DNQ:
Logan Spahr, Croix Beasom, Cody Hoover, Johathan Swift, Nate Emig, Landon Tressler, John Smith, Danny Buccafusca, Brian Woodson