Rahmer runs to first Williams Grove sprint win

Freddie Rahmer scored his first-ever Williams Grove Speedway sprint car win on Friday night, racing ahead of Alan Krimes and Greg Hodnett to the win as he etched another Rahmer name on the historic oval’s all-time win list.

In the $4,000 to win, 25-lap URC/ESS 360 sprint car nationals, Greg Hodnett wired the field from the pole for the victory to record a hat track in 360 action at the track to date this season.

Matt Campbell took the lead from the pole at the start of the 410-sprint car main followed by Steve Buckwalter and Rahmer, who started sixth. Rahmer wasted very little time putting himself into contention, blasting by Buckwalter for second on the second tour only to see Buckwalter reclaim the spot. Rahmer finally completed the pass on the fifth circuit with a low side move in the third corner and Campbell and Rahmer entered the backmarkers on the eighth lap. Campbell held a good lead and ran a good line while blasting around the top of the speedway and forced Rahmer to track him down in order to get his shot at the victory.

With 12 laps to go, the Salfordville 20-year-old pilot was poised to begin challenging for the top spot and after three laps of trying Rahmer again blasted low into the third turn, underneath Campbell this time, to take control. However at the same time as Rahmer was going out front, tenth starter Greg Hodnett was motoring into the top spots as well along with Alan Krimes.

Hodnett took second on the 17th tour and was chasing Rahmer through heavy traffic, trying to take the win away. But strong, deliberate moves by Rahmer in traffic kept him comfortably ahead of Hodnett and then just when he appeared home free, a caution flag with two laps to go slowed the pace, now finding Krimes in second for the restart.

Rahmer would drive uncontested over the final mile of competition to take the payday by .953 seconds over Krimes, Hodnett, Campbell and Buckwalter. Sixth through 10th went to Brian Montieth, Danny Dietrich, Brock Zearfoss, Lucas Wolfe and Mark Smith.

410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Freddie Rahmer, 2. Alan Krimes, 3. Greg Hodnett, 4. Matt Campbell, 5. Steve Buckwalter, 6. Brian Montieth, 7. Danny Dietrich, 8. Brock Zearfoss, 9. Lucas Wolfe, 10. Mark Smith, 11. James McFadden, 12. Austin Hogue, 13. Daryl Stimeling, 14. Rick Lafferty, 15. Nicole Bower, 16. Cory Haas, 17. Rodney Westhafer, 18. Troy Fraker, 19. Anthony Fiore, 20. Shane Hoff, 21. George Streaker, 22. Scott Wilson, 23. Brandon Rahmer, 24. Doug Esh URC/ESS 360 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Greg Hodnett, 2. Chuck Hebing, 3. Aaron Ott, 4. Robbie Stillwaggon, 5. Davie Franek, 6. Josh Weller, 7. Lucas Wolfe, 8. Curt Michael, 9. Kyle Reinhardt, 10. Jason Schultz, 11. Eric Tomecek, 12. Adam Carberry, 13. Davey Sammons, 14. Steve Porier, 15. Jimmy Stitzel, 16. Paulie Colagiovanni, 17. Larry Kelleher, 18. Chris Arnold, 19. Troy Betts, 20. Keith Prutzman, 21. Troy Wagaman, 22. Jordan Thomas, 23. Rob Dietrick, 24. Jason Clauss, 25. Jeff Cook, 26. Mark Sasso, 27. Mark Smith

GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY (THUNDER ON THE

HILL, TUESDAY) >> Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Stevie Smith captured the 410 Sprint Car Thunder Cup trophy, the $5,000 top prize, and his first career Grandview Speedway win this past Tuesday Night when the NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series presented the 2nd Annual 410 Sprint Thunder Cup event at the Berks County dirt track.

Greg Hodnett picked up the win in the 410 Sprint car make-up feature event, rain halted from PA Sprint Car Speedway. Duane Howard claimed the 30 Lap, $3,000 NASCAR 358 Modfied main event while Craig VonDohren picked up the win in the 358 make-up feature event.

Kunkletown’s Ryan Smith started on the pole of the 35 lap Thunder Cup main event setting a rapid pace and hitting lapped traffic by the fourth circuit. Smith aboard the Warko No. 94 swapped grooves dodging lapped cars with Stevie Smith in the second position. Stevie Smith – the veteran – made his move on the fourth circuit pulling outside the ‘Kunkletown Kid’ – but it was the younger Smith making a bold move dodging between lapped cars to hold on to the top spot.

A lap 10 red flag for Freddie Rahmer – who got upside down after contact with a lapped car – halted the action for the only time of the race.

During the red flag, Ryan Smith discovered an issue with the radiator hose on his No. 94 machine draining the water out of his sprint car, handing the lead over to ‘The Black Bandit’ Stevie Smith.

On the restart, Stevie Smith powered away while Tim Shaffer battled Danny Dietrich and Greg Hodnett for the second spot.

With Smith at the helm at the halfway point, all eyes were on Myerstown’s Brent Marks moving forward from the 11th starting position into the fifth spot. Smith held a full straight-a-way lead while Shaffer, Hodnett, Dietrich and Marks battled for the runner-up position.

Dietrich would overtake the second spot and close on Smith through the later portion of the event but it was ‘The Black Bandit’ maintaining the lead and rolling under the checkered flag in first position. Danny Dietrich finished in second, Greg Hodnett in third, Tim Shaffer in fourth and Brent Marks in fifth.

410 Sprint Car Time Trials: 1. Tim Shaffer – 12.603 2. Danny Dietrich – 12. 620 3. Stevie Smith – 12.635 4. Ryan Smith – 12. 643 5. Greg Hodnett – 12. 661 6. Aaron Ott – 12.707 7. Billy Dietrich – 12. 720 8. TJ Stutts – 12.741 9. Brent Marks – 12.746 10. Lucas Wolfe – 12.788 11. Alan Krimes – 12.828 12. Davey Sammons – 12.847 13. Freddie Rahmer – 12.866 14. Ryan Taylor – 12.979 15. Brandon Rahmer – 13.006 16. Tyler Ross – 13.496 17. Joe Kata III – 13.560 18. Jevon Ahner – 13.743 19. Dave Carlberg – 13.743 20. Bobby Manzingo – 13.757 21. George Streaker, Jr. – 14.362 Heat 1 (8 Laps ) – 1. Lucas Wolfe 2. Billy Dietrich 3. Ryan Smith 4. Tim Shaffer 5. Freddie Rahmer 6. Tyler Ross Heat 2 (8 Laps) – 1. Alan Krimes 2. Danny Dietrich 3. Greg Hodnett 4. Ryan Taylor 5. TJ Stutts 6. Bobby Manzingo Heat 3 (8 Laps) – 1. Davey Sammons 2. Brent Marks 3. Stevie Smith 4. Aaron Ott 5. Brandon Rahmer 6. Jevon Ahner Thunder Cup A-Main (35 Laps) – 1. Stevie Smith 2. Danny Dietrich 3. Greg Hodnett 4. Tim Shaffer 5. Brent Marks 6. Lucas Wolfe 7. Alan Krimes 8. Aaron Ott 9. Davey Sammons 10. Ryan Taylor 11. Billy Dietrich 12. Tyler Ross 13. Brandon Rahmer 14. Joe Kata III 15. Jevon Ahner 16. George Streaker, Jr. 17. Bobby Manzingo 18. Ryan Smith 19. Freddie Rahmer 20. Dave Carlberg 21. TJ Stutts Make-Up Feature (35 Laps) – 1. Greg Hodnett 2. Brent Marks 3. Lucas Wolfe 4. Aaron Ott 5. Stevie Smith 6. Danny Dietrich 7. Alan Krimes 8. TJ Stutts 9. Ryan Taylor 10. Tyler Ross 11. Freddie Rahmer 12. Billy Dietrich 13. Ryan Smith 14. Jevon Ahner 15. Brandon Rahmer 16. Joe Kata 17. Davey Sammons 18. Bryan Clauson 19. Doug Esh 20. Robbie Stillwaggon 21. Brock Zearfoss 22. Sean Zemunik 23. Dave Carlberg 24. Tim Shaffer NASCAR 358 Modfieds Heat 1 (10 Laps) – 1. Jeff Strunk 2. Craig VonDohren 3. Brian Hirthler 4. Jimmy Horton 5. Duane Howard 6. Danny Erb Heat 2 (10 Laps) – 1. Rick Laubach 2. Colt Harris 3. Mike Lisowski 4. Ryan Watt 5. Brett Kressley 6. Brian Krummel Feature (30 Laps) – 1. Duane Howard 2. Craig VonDohren 3. Brett Kressley 4. Jeff Strunk 5. Mike Lisowski 6. Jimmy Horton 7. Danny Erb 8. Ray Swinehart 9. John Willman 10. Brian Krummel 11. Colt Harris 12. Brian Hirthler 13. Chris Esposito 14. Ryan Watt Make-Up Feature (30 Laps) – 1. Craig VonDohren 2. Jeff Strunk 3. Jimmy Horton 4. Brian Hirthler 5. Brett Kressley 6. Ryan Watt 7. Chris Esposito 8. Ryan Grim 9. Colt Harris 10. Mike Lisowski 11. Steve Swinehart 12. Rick Laubach 13. Duane Howard 14. John Willman 15. Ray Swinehart

RAINOUTS >> All tracks with Saturday action slated were rained out on July 30.