Williams Grove Results 98-04-10

Mechanicsburg, PA (April 10, 1998) - Fred Rahmer became the first repeat winner at Williams Grove Speedway this season when he won tonight's 25 lap feature event. Rahmer won the feature on opening day at Williams Grove on March 1st. Rahmer's win tonight was worth $3,000.

It took three waves of the green to get the first lap into the books, a spin by Dewease causing a yellow and a ten car accident in turn four occurring before the race was officially underway. When the race was lined up for the third start, Dewease had two strikes against him as he was involved in both incidents, the second not his fault.

On the second start, Brook Weibley ran in the fourth position through turns three and four when he lost control and spun in front of the field. Weibley collected Kevin Gobrecht, Todd Hesstor, Bill Sims, Lance Dewease, Alan Cole, Jess Thomas, Don Kreitz, Todd Shaffer and Johnny Mackison. Dewease, Weibley and Gobrecht were towed to the pits and Cole was pushed to the pits. Shaffer, Kreitz, Mackison, Hesstor and Sims were able to continue and they joined the rear of the field. After repairs were made to the cars of Cole and Dewease, they joined the field on the last row.

When the race got underway, Len Thompson jumped to the lead, passing polesitter Bill Brian as the pair raced off turn four. Sean Michael, who started on the outside of the third row, towed Rahmer to the front early. On the second lap, Michael took third place in turns one and two and moved into second place in turns three and four. Rahmer followed.

On lap four, Sean Michael dove low through three and four taking the lead from Thompson. Just as Michael and Thompson completed lap four, the yellow was shown for Todd Shaffer slowing on the backstretch.

Michael lined up at the point followed by Len Thompson, Rahmer, Randy Wolfe and Tim Shaffer in fifth.

When green replaced yellow, Rahmer moved around Thompson to take second. Sean Michael ran at the front with Rahmer eight car lengths back, both cars taking the high line around the track. On lap nine, Michael got out of shape coming off turn four. Instead of lifting and getting the car back under control, Michael got back on the throttle early, causing the car to lurch towards the outside rail. After sliding along the guardrail for most of the front straight, Michael's No. 88 was retired for the evening.

With Rahmer's strongest competition eliminated, it was all Fast Freddie for final 15 laps to the checkered.

Len Thompson lined up second for the final restart but faded to eighth over the next seven laps. Thompson finished eighth, unable to catch Dewease who had a motor go sour as he took the white flag.

While Rahmer ran away at the front, two groups of three battled behind him. Randy Wolfe, Tim Shaffer and Billy Pauch engaged in a three-way battle for second, seven car lengths back, Cris Eash, Don Kreitz and Lance Dewease fought for fifth place. With the cushion moving all the way out to the wall in three and four, Krietz could get under Eash in the turns but couldn't make the pass stick down the straights.

Rahmer's win tonight moved him into a tie for tenth place on the Williams Grove career sprint car win list. Rahmer is tied with the late Mitch Smith with 27 wins.

Thirty five sprint cars and forty two Sportsman cars were signed into the Williams Grove pits tonight.

Steve Wilbur won the twenty lap Sportsman race. He was followed across the line by Jim Shuttlesworth, Frankie Herr, Smokey Snellbaker and Bobby Weaver in fifth. Heat races were won by J.R. Fry, Frankie Herr, Bobby Howard and Jim Shuttlesworth. Consolation races were won by John Stoner and Danny Hager.

Sprint Heat Race One Results (10 laps/6 qualify) 1. 1 Billy Pauch 2. 75w Randy Wolfe 3. 12 Tim Shaffer 4. 92 Kevin Gobrecht 5. 69 Don Kreitz 6. 77 Fred Rahmer 7. 55s Bill Sims 8. 3 Bob Bennett 9. 87 George Suprick 10. i07 Mark Coldren 11. 32g Randy Glover 12. 33 Todd Hesstor Time: 3:08.16

Heat Race Two Results 1. 88 Sean Michael 2. 32 Brook Weibley 3. 07 Dave Haight 4. 461 Lance Dewease 5. 65 Johnny Mackison 6. 77e Dave Ely 7. 8 Dan Dietrich 8. 14 Troy Camp 9. 1/2 Von McGee 10. 10n Jeff Thompson 11. 92a Jon Armstrong 12. 25 Todd Gracey No Time

Heat Race Three Results 1. 16 Bill Brian 2. 10 Len Thompson 3. 17e Cris Eash 4. 88 Todd Shaffer 5. 77t Jess Thomas 6. 53 Shawn Keen 7. 17 Alan Cole 8. 16c Cliff Brian 9. 55 Mike Wagner 10. 623 Todd Bertolini 11. 7 Barry Camp Time: 3:09.32

Sprint Consolation Race Results (10 laps/6 qualify) 1. Alan Cole 2. Dan Dietrich 3. Mike Wagner 4. Cliff Brian 5. Bill Sims 6. Todd Hesstor 7. Bob Bennett 8. Troy Camp 9. Von McGee 10. George Suprick 11. Jon Armstrong 12. Mark Coldren 13. Todd Bertolini 14. Randy Glover 15. Todd Gracey Jeff Thompson (DNS) Barry Camp (DNS)

Feature Results (25 laps) 1. Fred Rahmer (3,000) 2. Randy Wolfe 3. Tim Shaffer 4. Billy Pauch 5. Cris Eash 6. Don Kreitz 7. Lance Dewease 8. Len Thompson 9. Mike Wagner 10. Bill Brian 11. Shawn Keen 12. Dave Ely 13. Alan Cole 14. Johnny Mackison 15. Dan Dietrich 16. Todd Hesstor 17. Bill Sims 18. Sean Michael 19. Todd Shaffer 20. Cliff Brian 21. Brook Weibley 22. Kevin Gobrecht 23. Jess Thomas 24. Dave Haight

David Reininger - Motorsport News International