MECHANICSBURG

 Lucas Wolfe had some down time from the World of Outlaw tour this weekend so he decided to make a visit to Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.

 And the visit paid off to the tune of a $3,600 paycheck after Wolfe emerged from an exciting four-car battle midway through the 25-lap 410 Sprint car feature and drove off from the field to collect his eighth career track win.

 Wolfe’s win was his first at the track since October 13, 2007 and came in front of a chilled sparse crowd.

 “Anytime you can win here is fantastic,” said Wolfe, the 2008 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year. “I was a little worried after the heat races that the racing wasn’t going to be good. I thought maybe it might just be a one lane track and obviously we have very difficult weather conditions tonight. But I think it turned out to be a really good race.”

 Wolfe lined up third in the feature as Daryn Pittman grabbed the early lead from the front row.

 Wolfe drove by Curt Michael for second place on lap five as sixth-starting Brian Montieth moved into the third spot a lap later to mix things up with the leaders.

 Wolfe was all over Pittman on lap eight and drove into the lead with a move in turn three to lead the ninth circuit.

 Once in front, Wolfe had to dodge spinning cars and take evasion action around slower traffic before coming out on top of  a fantastic battle with Montieth, points leader Fred Rahmer and Pittman.

  Pittman actually regained the lead on lap 11 after Wolfe nearly collided with Danny Dietrich, who did a complete 360 spin and kept going. Dietrich’s spin bottled up the leaders in turn two.

 Wolfe drove back by Pittman on lap 12 as Montieth followed into the runner-up spot and then Rahmer nearly got around Wolfe on lap 14 when the lapped car of Cory Haas gave Wolfe some trouble.

 But Wolfe used his valuable experience from traveling with the Outlaws to power back out front and then drove off from the field only to see a four-second lead gone with Pat Cannon spun and brought out a yellow flag with three laps to go.

 Wolfe wasn’t challenged over the final laps as the Mechanicsburg racer parked the Allebach Racing owned, Rick’s Auto Body sponsored sprinter into victory lane.

 “Once I got into lapped traffic, I had to make some hard decisions on which way to go and then I had a couple of guys spin in front of me so that was interesting,” said Wolfe, who should be back at the track again next Friday night. “I knew Brian was there and he was awful fast all of last year so I knew he would be tough but I was able to keep position and stay ahead of him.”

 Montieth, of Phoenixville was second over Salfordville’s Rahmer, Owasso, Oklahoma’s Pittman and Greg Hodnett of Thomasville.

 Completing the top 10 were Curt Michael, Alan Krimes, Lance Dewease, Steve Buckwalter and Chad Layton.

York Haven's Racin' Jason Covert came from ninth starting spot to win the non stop 20 lap late model feature over Darryl Hills, Dan Stone, Gary Stuhler and Brian Booze. There were 23 late models on hand for their season opener.

 Heats for the 33 Sprint cars were won by Buckwalter, Justin Henderson, Wolfe and Rahmer with Adam Wilt winning the consolation. Stevie Smith actually won the second heat race but failed to report to the scales for post-race weigh and was disqualified.