By Shawn Brouse
Mechanicsburg – A pair of new winners visited victory lane at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night when Kody Hartlaub walked off with the 410 sprint win and Cameron Merriman scored an exciting win in the Dirty Deeds 25 Finale for 358 sprints worth $3,000.
Hartlaub would lead all 25 laps of the 410 sprint main with TJ Stutts trailing.
His pace was slowed twice during the feature, once on lap 11 for a stopped Lance Dewease and again with six laps to go for a stopped Doug Hammaker.
Hartlaub entered the rear of the field with the lead on the sixth circuit and began opening up some distance in traffic.
Ninth starter Brock Zearfoss raced into fourth on lap 12 and appeared ready to continue his advance before he too slowed and pulled pitside.
The leader again entered traffic on lap 18 just before the final caution flag unfurled.
Hartlaub pulled away on the restart as Cameron Smith flexed his muscle and drove by point leader Troy Wagaman Jr. before going after Stutts for second.
Smith briefly took the spot only to see Stutts reclaim it with five laps to go.
Hartlaub would go on to score his first career Williams Grove Speedway victory by 1.691 second, worth $5,000.
Stutts finished second followed by Smith, Wagaman Jr., and Anthony Macri.
Sixth through 10th went to Kyle Moody, Freddie Rahmer, Brady Bacon, Jordan Thomas and Preston Lattomus.
Heats went to Macri, Wagaman J r., and Dewease.
Macri set fast time in warm-ups with a lap of 17.317 seconds.
Cameron Merriman of Ellicott City, Md., turned in an impressive and exciting run to victory in the Dirty Deeds 25 feature for the 358 sprints.
After starting third in the feature he raced into second behind leader Chase Gutshall on the opening lap.
Merriman wasn’t within striking distance during the early going but a lap 10 restart bunched the field and that’s when he went to work for the win.
For three consecutive laps Merriman thrust his No. 8 to the outside of Gutshall’s No. 1a in the third and fourth turns and all three times he took the lead only to see his car slip over the cushion, allowing Gutshall to race back by before the stripe on laps 11, 12 and 13.
After that Merriman regrouped and actually lost second briefly to a surging Ayden Hare.
However with five laps to go Merriman was again ready to mount a challenge and after drag racing Gutshall down the backstretch he stuck to his outside into the third turn and this time made the move stick as the pair raced through the fourth corner on lap 21.
And once in front Merriman was able to drive away to the $3,000 win for his first ever win anywhere in a 358 sprint car.
He took the victory by 2.338 seconds over Hare, who took second with three laps to go.
Third went to Gutshall with Cody Fletcher finishing fourth and Adam Carberry riding home in fifth spot.
Sixth through 10th went to Dylan Norris, Derek Locke, Bryn Gohn, Jude Siegel and Nash Ely.
Heats were taken by Hare, Frankie Herr and Eli Tuckey with Norris scoring the consolation race.
Norris set fast time in warm-ups with a lap of 18.445 seconds.
Feature Finishes
8/15/25
410 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Kody Hartlaub, 2. TJ Stutts, 3. Cameron Smith, 4. Troy Wagaman Jr., 5. Anthony Macri, 6. Kyle Moody, 7. Freddie Rahmer, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Jordan Thomas, 10. Preston Lattomus, 11. Gerard McIntyre Jr., 12. Ryan Taylor, 13. Tyler Ross, 14. Dave Grube, 15. Samuel Miller, 16. Logan Rumsey, 17. Doug Hammaker, 18. Ricky Dieva, 19. Brock Zearfoss, 20. Lance Dewease, 21. Chad Trout, 22. Jordan Givler, 23. Chris Frank
DNS: Mark Smith
358 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Cameron Merriman, 2. Ayden Hare, 3. Chase Gutshall, 4. Cody Fletcher, 5. Adam Carberry, 6. Dylan Norris, 7. Derek Locke, 8. Bryn Gohn, 9. Jude Siegel, 10. Nash Ely, 11. Steve Owings, 12. Andy Best, 13. Eli Tuckey, 14. Frankie Herr, 15. Tyler Ulrich, 16. Steve Wilbur, 17. Colton Moyer, 18. Tom Senseney Jr., 19. Cole Young, 20. Brayden Mickley,21. Trevor Stover, 22. Austin Reed, 23. Matt Findley, 24. Chad Criswell
DNQ: Jacob Galloway, Hunter Fulton, Will McNeal