MECHANICSBURG
It was about this time last season when Doug Esh and
the Leach Brothers Motorsports sprint car team turned up
the wick.
And we all know what the end result was.
The team went on a tear, winning 14 times including the
Williams Grove National Open.
Esh was back to his winning ways Friday night at
Williams Grove Speedway as the Lancaster driver
destroyed the field for his second 25-lap Sprint car win
of the year at the track.
Esh came from the ninth starting spot into the lead by
lap 13 and won by a full straightway for his 13th career
win at the Mechanicsburg oval.
“Dennis (Kohler) had the car right all night long and
we were pretty good in our heat race too,” said the
defending Lincoln Speedway Sprint car champion. “We’ve
struggled all year and we finally got the monkey off our
back. I spent the week at the beach with my kids and my
son showed my how to race on the go kart track so I had
to come out tonight and show him how to win races.”
While Bob Bennett set the early pace, it appeared Lance
Dewease and Fred Rahmer would be the cars to beat as
they both entered the top six on the first lap.
With Bennett out front and Alan Krimes second, Rahmer
motored into fifth on lap four then took the fourth spot
a lap later.
Jim Siegel got around Krimes for the runner-up spot on
lap seven as Rahmer moved by Krimes for third with nine
laps complete.
Esh entered the top five on the seventh lap and blew by
Rahmer for the spot with 10 laps complete.
Esh drove by Siegel for second place on lap 12 when
Mark Smith’s stopped car brought out the yellow flag.
Esh wasted no time in driving by Bennett for the race
lead while Siegel also got around Bennett on the 14th
lap for second spot.
With Esh pulling away from the field, a red flag
appeared on lap 18 for Ryan Bohlke, who flipped on the
front stretch after contact with another car.
Rahmer pulled a slider on Siegel on lap 19 for the
second spot but was never able to catch Esh’s fast I
Lend Mortgage, Kinard Trucking, Benkowitsch Custom
Counters, Bud’s Spring and Suspension, The Butcher
Motorsports, Frankie’s 4x4, Ed Ross State Farm
Insurance, JB Custom Counters sponsored No. 30 sprinter.
“We used last week to work on the car alittle bit and
came out with a little bit of confidence,” Esh said of
his two top 10 finishes with the World of Outlaws
including a sixth in the finale. “That’s what you need
in this deal. When you get down like we’ve been, it’s
hard to get back on top but I can’t say enough about my
crew, my car owners and my wife for putting up with
this. We started to pick it up last year at this time
and it’s so hard to get momentum built in this deal but
hopefully this will help us do that.”
Rahmer, whose car smoked for most of the feature event
finished a distant second over Siegel, Dewease and
Carlisle’s Chris Meleason.
Jeff Shepard, Lucas Wolfe, Krimes, Brian Montieth and
Chad Layton were the top 10 finishers.
Cory Haas raced to his first win of the year in the
20-lap 358 Sprint car feature.
Haas started 11th and raced to the win over Pat Cannon,
in the Highlands Tire and Service Center sprinter.
Adrian Shaffer came from 21st starting spot to finish
third ahead of Chad Trout and Carlisle’s Jake Raudabaugh.
Completing the top 10 were Dave Calaman, Jay Galloway,
Gerard McIntyre, Billy Johns and Elvin Diller III.
Krimes, Siegel, Meleason and Steve Buckwalter won heats
for the 32 sprints on hand. Greg Hodnett won the B-Main.
John Barnett, Chad Jumper, Todd Spangler and Stewart
Smith won heats for the 34 358 sprint cars. The B-Main
was won by Adrian Shaffer.
Williams Grove returns to action tonight with the Super
Sportsman, 358 late models, street stocks and
4-cylinders at 7p.m.
PIT STOPS…TJ Stutts destroyed the John Trone owned
sprinter during the heat race. Stutts hit the inside
tire in turn one and crashed hard on the backstretch
wall and was t-boned by Gary Heckman. Trone said the
team will be revamping its remaining schedule as the
team is low on equipment…Keith Kauffman blew a motor
while in a transfer spot in his heat race and was out
for the night…
