MECHANICSBURG
 Jim Siegel knew he had a good chance of winning Friday night’s 410 Sprint car feature at Williams Grove Speedway.

 Siegel was handicapped to the front row of heat race and feature race action and the New Oxford racer turned it into his second career Williams Grove feature win.

 It was the fourth straight week that the sprint car feature winner came from the front row.

 But little did he know was how fast Brian Leppo, Fred Rahmer and Doug Esh were catching him at the end of the feature event.

 “I saw the 71 and the 51 up on the board and they are both fast race cars,” said Siegel, whose last win at the Grove came in 2006. “Me and Leppo are friends and there’s nothing more than I like to do than beat him. I was really trying hard when I saw his number up on the board.”

 The start of the feature saw a seven car melee in turn two after Steve Buckwalter spun, collecting Niki Young, Mark Smith, Brian Montieth, Cody Darrah, Don Kreitz and TJ Winegardner, who got upside down.

 Following the red, Siegel set sail from the front row followed by Craig Keel.

 A lap six red flag for an incident involving defending track points champ Todd Shaffer and Rick Lafferty slowed the pace.

 Leppo, who started 10th blasted around Keel for the runner-up spot on lap 12 as Rahmer, who started 8th moved into the third spot.

 Siegel had opened up a near four-second advantage but lap after lap, Leppo closed some distance between himself and Siegel’s Nline Sports Apparel No. 59 Maxim.

 Leppo was within a car length of Siegel on lap 20 and made a bid for the lead when Siegel was able to drive through the lapped cars of AJ Michael and Bob Bennett. 

 Leppo struggled through to get around the cars while keeping Esh and Rahmer at bay as Siegel was able to pull away over the final few laps for the win.
 He became the  10th different winner this season.

 “Those guys were racing for position and I didn’t expect them to just get out of the way,” Siegel said of the slower cars. “They kept their line and I was able to split them. That was probably the difference in the race. I was just waiting for the right time and I knew I had to get going and I just gassed it up and got around them. We had a good car tonight but it helped starting on the front row.”

 New Oxford’s Leppo turned in a impressive effort in the Swope Salvage No. 71 JEI with a runner-up finish as Lancaster’s Esh stole third from Rahmer in the Leach/Lawler No. 30. Rahmer, of Salfordville maintained a commanding lead in the points with a fourth place finish  in the Chad Clemens owned sprinter with Harrisburg’s Chad Layton fifth in the YTI Technical School No. 25.

 Greg Hodnett came from 16th to finish sixth over Kreitz, Mike Erdley, Michael Carber and Alan Krimes.

 Etters driver Pat Cannon used a slider on lap 14 of the 20-lap 358 Sprint car event to race to his third win of the year.

 Cannon started 12th and was up to third behind race leader Austin Reed and Matt Boland when a lap 11 caution for Kevin Nouse closed the gap.

 Boland drove into the lead with Cannon following him into second a lap later then driving by him for the top spot in turn two on lap 14.

 Cannon drove off for the win, his seventh overall this season in the Zane and Vicky Highlands owned No. 3.

 Cory Haas finished in the runner-up spot over Chad Trout, Austin Reed and Carlisle’s Dave Calaman, who started 18th.

 Rounding out the top 10 were Boland, Aaron Ott, Scott Geesey, Newville’s Todd Reed and Adrian Shaffer.

 Siegel, Buckwalter and Chris Meleason were sprint car heat winners for the 23 car field.

 Austin Reed, Tony Smoleynak, Mark Coldren and John Barnett won heats for the 39 358 Sprint car field. Nouse won the consolation.

 Williams Grove returns tonight with Twin 20s for Super Sportsman joined by the 358 late models and pro stocks. Racing begins at 7pm.