A Bored Smith Pulls Off Last Lap Victory For Jack Gunn Victory

MECHANICSBURG
Mark Smith was bored following Alan Krimes for the first 19 laps so he made a final lap pass on Krimes to steal the $5,000 payday in the final race of Friday night’s Jack Gunn Memorial Triple 20’s at Williams Grove Speedway.

With the second and third features all follow the leader around the bottom for the most part, Smith woke up the crowd with his third turn pass for the victory.

“As horrible as this track was and everyone was pretty much following single file, it was pretty boring and I was getting bored,” said the Tower City driver. “I figured I’d didn’t have anything to lose so I thought I would try something on the last lap. These fans pay to get in to watch these races so I figured I’d try something on the last lap and try and make it interesting for them.”

Smith’s move worked as it brought the sleepy crowd to its feet for the final drag race to the checkered flag, which was Smith’s sixth career win at the track and second this season in Mark Coldren’s No. 07.

Krimes was second over Todd Shaffer, who took over the Williams Grove 410 Sprint car points lead with three top five finishes. Fourth was Lucas Wolfe over Doug Esh.

Fred Rahmer ducked under the front row on the start of the first 20 lap feature and led all 20 laps to end a 15 month winless spell at the Grove.

The first feature was marred by two crashes, one in which sent Blane Heimbach to the ambulance for a leg injury and the other when Lance Dewease made contact with Don Kreitz and flipped violently down the front stretch.

Rahmer, of Salfordville won over Mark Smith, Shaffer, Krimes and Kreitz. It was his 74th career Grove victory, the most of any driver. It was the first win at the track for car owner Chad Clemens.

After the front row of Jeff Shepard and Greg Hodnett were penalized after two false starts, Kreitz, of Sinking Spring moved to the front row and also wired the second 20 lap feature for the win. Kreitz’s win was the 52nd time he’s won at the Grove and his second this season in his own No. 69K sprinter.

Esh, Hodnett, Shaffer and Krimes were the top five finishers.

Both Rahmer and Kreitz won $2,500 for their feature wins.

Brian Leppo set fast time over the 38 car field with a lap of 17.535 seconds. The two non qualifier races were won by Dewease and Shaffer.
PIT STOPS…TJ Stutts was in a backup Zemco sprinter…Wolfe blew a motor during the qualifying race and was one of the two highest in Grove points to be added to the field. Steve Buckwalter was the other driver to be added to the lineups…

Williams Grove Speedway
First 20 lap feature
1. Fred Rahmer, 2. Mark Smith, 3. Todd Shaffer, 4. Alan Krimes, 5. Don Kreitz, 6. Doug Esh, 7. Greg Hodnett, 8. Jeff Shepard, 9. Kevin Nouse, 10. Brian Leppo, 11. Lucas Wolfe, 12. Todd Hestor, 13. Ryan Bohlke, 14. Mike Erdley, 15. Niki Young, 16. Alan Cole, 17. Craig Keel, 18. Jim Siegel, 19. Steve Buckwalter, 20. Lance Dewease, 21. Rick Lafferty, 22. Brian Montieth, 23. Blane Heimbach, 24. TJ Stutts.

Second 20 lap feature
1. Kreitz, 2. Esh, 3. Hodnett, 4. Shaffer, 5. Krimes, 6. Rahmer, 7. Lucas Wolfe, 8. Shepard, 9. Leppo, 10. Smith, 11. Erdley, 12. Hestor, 13. Young, 14. Dewease, 15. Bohlke, 16. Cole, 17. Siegel, 18. Buckwalter, 19. Keel, 20. Nouse, 21. Steve Clabaugh, 22. Chris Meleason, 23. Lafferty, 24. Stutts.
Did Not Start: Montieth and Heimbach.

Third 20 lap feature
1. Smith, 2. Krimes, 3. Shaffer, 4. Wolfe, 5. Esh, 6. Rahmer, 7. Hodnett, 8. Kreitz, 9. Young, 10. Keel, 11. Shepard, 12. Nouse, 13. Bohlke, 14. Erdley, 15. Dewease, 16. Cole, 17. Buckwalter, 18. Leppo, 19. Meleason, 20. Stutts, 21. Lafferty, 22. Siegel, 23. Hestor, 24. Clabaugh.
Did Not Qualify: Jonathon Eriksen, Josh Wells, Bob Bennett, Chad Layton, Clark Simonton, Jr., Tommy Beavers, Mark Freeland, AJ Michael, Bobby Weaver, Michael Carber.