By Shawn Brouse
Mechanicsburg – Invader Justin Peck upended Ryan Smith with a late race pass and went on to win the 25-lap feature for Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
The victory was the third of Peck’s career at the track and was worth $5,000.
In the 25-lap Dirty Deeds 25 main for HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprints, Mechanicsburg’s Derek Locke took the lead from Cole Young for the victory.
Polesitter Buddy Schweibinz zoomed into the lead at the start of the 410 sprint feature with second starter Ryan Smith giving chase.
Third starter Peck of Monrovia, Indiana, was trailing in third when Cameron Smith slowed to a stop on the fourth lap.
Schweibinz got away from the field when action resumed and entered the backmarkers on the ninth tour.
But with 10 laps to go Smith had caught the leader and on lap 18 he drove into the lead with an outside turn two move only to see the pass negated when an untimely caution slowed the pace and placed Schweibinz back on the point.
Aboard his mount owned by Don Kreitz Jr., Smith made good on his chances when action resumed and took control by driving across the bottom in the first and second turns.
Peck soon followed Smith and took second spot.
Smith appeared to be home free, headed for his first win at the track since 2016 when Doug Hammaker rolled his car in the fourth turn with three laps to go, bringing out the red flag.
Peck and his team used the open red flag period to make changes on his Rudeen Racing No. 26 and on the restart a blast around the top in the first turn nearly netted him control and gave notice of his new corner speed.
And then the next time around Peck made it stick by again rolling the top groove while picking up speed from the middle of the corner to the exit.
Smith didn’t give up however and just past the white flag he drove his blue racer fully in front of Peck with a low side dive into the first corner.
And with that Smith tried to drive up in front of Peck and take his line away but Peck used his mid-corner speed to rally back and prevent him from completing the move.
Peck then went on to the victory by .811 seconds.
Lance Dewease was third followed by Schweibinz and Brent Marks.
Sixth through 10th went to Troy Wagaman Jr., Dylan Norris, Freddie Rahmer, Chase Randall and Aaron Bollinger.
Heats went to Smith, Dewease and Peck.
Overall fast time was set by Marks with a lap of 16.916 seconds.
The start of the Dirty Deeds 25 for 358 sprints was called back when polesitter Jacob Galloway spun in front of the field as he entered the first turn.
The restart saw Cole Young take command with fifth starter Derek Locke moving forward.
Locke was up to second by lap four but trailed Young by a straightaway.
A caution on the eighth lap bunched the field and allowed Locke to work on the leader but it took until lap 20 for him to make the winning pass.
It was Locke’s 18th career limited sprint win at the oval.
Young settled for second by .864 seconds.
Austin Reed rode home third followed by Matt Findley and Cody Fletcher.
Sixth through 10th went to Hunter Fulton, Steve Wilbur, Chase Gutshall, Brayden Mickley and Brett Wanner.
Heats were taken by Young, Fletcher and Locke.
Feature Finishes
4/10/26
410 sprint cars, 25 laps: 1. Justin Peck, 2. Ryan Smith, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Buddy Schweibinz, 5. Brent Marks, 6. Troy Wagaman Jr., 7. Dylan Norris, 8. Freddie Rahmer, 9. Chase Randall, 10. Aaron Bollinger, 11. Tanner Holmes, 12. Brady Bacon, 13. Brent Shearer, 14. TJ Stutts, 15. JJ Loss, 16. James Roselli, 17. Chris Frank, 18. Dave Grube, 19. Doug Hammaker, 20. Brock Zearfoss, 21. Cole Knopp, 22. Tim Glatfelter, 23. Troy Fraker, 24. Cameron Smith, 25. Samuel Miller.
358 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Derek Locke, 2. Cole Young, 3. Austin Reed, 4. Matt Findley, 5. Cody Fletcher, 6. Hunter Fulton, 7. Steve Wilbur, 8. Chase Gutshall, 9. Brayden Mickley, 10. Brett Wanner,11. Seth Schnoke, 12. Jacob Galloway, 13. Brock Hammaker, 14. Justin Foster, 15. Logan Spahr, 16. Hank Donovan Jr., 17. Tom Senseney, J r.. 18. Cole Small, 19. Denny Gross, 20. Brandon Reiblich, 21. Adam Carberry, 22. Dave Luther, 23. Eli Tuckey
DNS: Will McNeal, Jake Eldreth