By Shawn Brouse
Mechanicsburg – Lance Dewease of Fayetteville picked up his first win for his new car owner, Rich Eichelberger, by scoring the 25-lap Opening Day feature for Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
It was the third Grove opener triumph of Dewease’s career at the oval, worth $6,000.
His previous lidlifter wins came in 1995 and 2006.
The victory was also the 117th career Williams Grove win for the veteran pilot.
A sterling spring day greeted fans and racers alike as they gathered to kick off the new 2026 season at Williams Grove on Sunday.
A field of 28 cars entered action with heats going to Dewease, Justin Whittall and Cameron Smith while the consolation race was taken by Tyler Ross.
Freddie Rahmer was in hot pursuit of leader Dylan Norris on just the second lap of the main event when he got too high in the first corner and looped his No. 51, surrendering what could have been a top finish or even a second career opener win.
The yellow for Rahmer’s spin bunched the field and placed third starter Dewease on Norris’ tail for the restart.
Norris initially got away from Dewease’s red, white and blue racer only to see the eventual winner drive his advantage back down.
And then with eight laps away Norris also got too high on the track albeit at the other end and when he slipped, Dewease was there to take advantage.
Dewease motored by on the inside of turn four to net control as Norris had to regroup.
The new leader had just entered the rear of the field and had began lapping cars on the 12th tour when a pair of spins in front of him slowed the pace and brought out the final yellow flag of the race.
The restart saw Dewease pull away but then work to stay behind traffic in the closing laps, allowing Norris to make it a nose-to-tail battle.
With three laps to go Norris took a look to the leader’s outside in the fourth turn and then a lap later when Dewease got hard on the binders entering the third corner Norris nearly came into contact as he ran hard into the turn.
Following the accordion effect that Dewease’s check-up move had on Norris, the Fayetteville flyer drove to a .890 second advantage at the finish to pick up the victory.
Fresh off of a runner-up finish Saturday night in Western Pennsylvania, Norris again rode home second on Sunday.
Justin Whittall was third followed by Danny Dietrich and Kody Hartlaub.
Sixth through 10th went to Cameron Smith, Brent Shearer, Billy Dietrich, Anthony Macri and Doug Hammaker.
Williams Grove Speedway returns to action on Friday night, March 27 at 7:30 pm with a program of 410 and 358 sprint car racing.
Feature Finish
3/22/26
410 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Lance Dewease, 2. Dylan Norris, 3. Justin Whittall, 4. Danny Dietrich, 5. Kody Hartlaub, 6. Cameron Smith, 7. Brent Shearer, 8. Billy Dietrich, 9. Anthony Macri, 10. Ryan Smith, 11. Ryan Smith, 12. Matt Campbell, 13. Troy Wagaman Jr., 14. Chase Dietz, 15. TJ Stutts, 16. Brock Zearfoss, 17. Briggs Danner, 18. Cole Knopp, 19. Buddy Schweibinz, 20. Tyler Ross, 21. Austin Bishop, 22. JJ Loss, 23. Aaron Bollinger, 24. Freddie Rahmer
DNQ: Jude Siegel, Troy Fraker, Chris Frank, Mike Thompson