MECHANICSBURG

 When the World of Outlaws invade Williams Grove Speedway in May, July and September, there is usually a good chance they will take the big money with them.

 It happened a little earlier this season as World of Outlaws regular Craig Dollansky paid a visit to the Grove for the first Friday night show of the season and led all 25 laps to record the victory.

 The win came in dominating fashion for the Elk River, Minnesota native who lined up on the pole by virture of a five car inversion from passing points. Dollansky was never challenged.

 Fellow WoO regular Joey Saldana, of Brownsburg, Indiana made it a clean sweep up front finishing in the second spot with Red Lion High School Senior Cody Darrah third, Salfordville’s Fred Rahmer fourth and Chad Layton, of Harrisburg fifth.

 “I tell you what, anytime you win here at the Grove, you know you did something,” stated Dollansky after earning the $3,000 payday for the Larry Woodward-owned, Auto Value, Karavan Motorsports team. “Whether it’s an Outlaw show or on a regular night, we’re just happy to be able to get a win here. We enjoy coming out here to Pennsylvania to race.”

 Carlisle’s Chris Meleason’s violent flip on lap two slowed Dollansky’s pace during the early laps. Meleason was not injured in the front stretch crash.
 Darrah started fourth and settled into the runner-up spot behind Dollansky, who caught the rear of the field by lap 10.

 Darrah had Saldana applying pressure at the midway point when Brian Montieth’s car came to a stop in turn four to bring out a yellow.

 The yellow flag played right into Fred Rahmer’s hands, as the track’s all-time leading winner blasted from seventh to fourth on the restart as Saldana drove by Darrah for the runner-up spot.

 Dollansky drove off from the field but the racing for the second through ninth spot provided fans with some excitement during the final ten laps.

 “We’ve had a good start to the season but we just gotta keep it going that way,” said Dollansky in front of a nice-size crowd on a chilly evening. “We took advantage of a good starting spot but we had a good race car tonight. We could get through traffic pretty well. We had a new Rider motor in there tonight and the boys worked hard at getting that ready. I’m just happy for the entire team.”

 Stevie Smith finished in the sixth spot trailed by Brian Paulus, Greg Hodnett, Lance Dewease and Brian Leppo.

 NASCAR Sprint Cup star Kasey Kahne made a rare start at the Grove finishing in the 14th spot in a second team car to Saldana. Kahne has the weekend off from NASCAR competition.

 Defending 358 sprint car champion Pat Cannon picked up where he left off last season by picking up the 20-lap 358 Sprint car feature.

 Cannon started fifth in the Zane and Vicki Highlands owned No. 3 and scored the win over Carlisle’s Dave Calaman, Aaron Ott, Kevin Nouse and Chad Criswell with John Westbrook, Scott Geesey, Cory Haas, Adam Wilt and Brad McClelland the top 10 finishers.

 McClelland, Westbrook, Nouse and Cannon won heat races for the 48-car 358 sprint car field. Double consolations were won by Chad Trout and Joey Borich.
 Sprint car heat races were won by Hodnett, Tony Bruce, Jr., Dollansky and Paulus. The consolation for the 35-car field was won by Lucas Wolfe.

PIT STOPS…Ryan Bohlke had a transfer spot all but wrapped up on the final lap of the consolation before getting a wheel from Mark Smith. Bohlke flipped, but was not injured and expressed his displeasure with Smith under the red flag…Williams Grove returns next Friday night with 410 Sprints joined by the super late models at 7:30pm…Hagerstown and Port Royal Speedway’s have canceled their racing programs for Saturday night. As of Friday night, Lincoln and Selinsgrove Speedway’s were still planning on racing tonight…