7/25/2009
Sprint Source
Two in a Row for Hodnett with the World of Outlaws
[b Two in a Row for Hodnett with the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove Speedway: Wins Opener of the Summer Nationals]
[i Mechanicsburg, PA— July 24, 2009]
Priot to the 2009 season, it had been nearly seven years since Greg Hodnett had won a World of Outlaws race at Williams Grove Speedway. After picking up a victory back in May in the series first trip of the year to the half-mile, he made sure it would not take quite as long to follow that win up, as he dominated the opener of the Summer Nationals on Friday night at the famed track.
It was the ninth win of Hodnett’s career with the World of Outlaws and was worth $8,000. It was his third career victory with the series at Williams Grove and his third win of the 2009 campaign at the track.
“It was another great win,” said Hodnett. “I’m very fortunate. The guys did a great job on the car and I got a few breaks as well. Stevie (Smith) was all over me at the end and I just kind of got through there. It’s a good thing it wasn’t 30 laps, let’s put it that way.”
Hodnett started on the pole in the Macri Concrete Maxim for the 25-lap event and quickly shot to about a six car length lead over Jason Meyers and Brian Leppo on the opening circuit. The only stoppage of the night came on the second lap when the red flag flew for an incident involving Lucas Wolfe and Aaron Ott.
Hodnett used a strong restart to pull away from Leppo as the pair entered lapped traffic on the sixth go-around. The veteran driver worked his way through traffic for much of the remainder of the race, as the final 23 laps would go non-stop. A couple of times he had some trouble getting around lapped cars allowing first Leppo to close in and then late in the race Stevie Smith and Jason Meyers.
“It was a little tough,” Hodnett shared when asked about lapped traffic. “I wasn’t real good around the top. In (turns) one and two I really needed make my own line and my own lane. Once I didn’t have to throw it around and could pin it on one side by the way I was driving it, it all kind of worked out. In traffic I really couldn’t do that and to be honest, I was just holding on.”
After finishing second in the fourth heat race to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, Hodnett and his team discovered a problem with their engine, which ended up being an oil leak and quickly began to work on it before the dash rolled off. He would go on to win the dash after starting second to earn the pole position for the 25-lap A-Feature.
“I wasn’t really worried,” he noted of his engine. “It did run a little hot and slowed down a little bit. We lost some oil, but fortunately for us we didn’t lose all of it. If the heat race would have lasted a lap or two more, we would have fried it. Don Ott did a great job. He came down and fixed it for us. He knew exactly what it was and went to work on it. With his efforts, we were able to stand up here in Victory Lane.”
Stevie Smith, who won the finale of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s on Wednesday night at Lernerville Speedway, made a late charge at Hodnett and came up just six-tenths of a second short, after starting in the third position aboard the Zemco Speed Equipment Maxim. It was his seventh Top-Five of the season at Williams Grove.
“I’m really happy with second,” said Smith. “These guys did a great job and gave me a great race car. We got through traffic pretty good and had a good chance of winning. We just didn’t get it done. Sometimes you have to be happy with second and I think the Zemco team is.”
Smith ran third in the early going and then began to work on Brian Leepo. He got around him on the 12th lap and set his sights on the leader. In lapped traffic he made up a lot of ground on Hodnett. With four laps to go, he got a good run on the leader and looked under him in turns and one and two, but could not make the pass. Again on the next lap he was right there, but could not get quite enough of a run to make a bid for the lead.
“Our car better in the last 10 or 15 laps,” he noted. “That was the best we were all night and that is what you shoot for. It’s hard to time that and I was really happy with that part.”
Jason Meyers finished third on Friday night to earn the second podium finish of his career at the always challenging half-mile. After falling back to fourth early in the race after starting second in the GLR Investments KPC, Meyers was able to get around Brian Leppo just past the halfway point.
“You’re always disappointed when you pull the number one (pill for the dash) at a place like this where the competition is so tough and then to give it away is disappointing,” said Meyers. “We learned some things tonight. To come out here and finish in the Top-Three, at the toughest place in the country to race is an accomplishment.”
Meyers closed in on Stevie Smith as the laps wound down and consistently had one of the fastest cars down the stretch. The strong third-place run helped him move up to second in the series championship standings, overtaking Joey Saldana for the spot. He earned five bonus points on the night for setting fast time in qualifying.
“I was a lot better at the end of the race,” said the native of Clovis, California. “I needed a 40-lap race and I think we would have had something for them. We were just a little bit too tight out of the gate and those guys got away from me a little bit. I chased them down at the end, but it was too little too late.”
Cody Darrah finished fourth on Friday night in the J&K Salvage Maxim. Lance Dewease was fifth aboard the Infinity Design J&J, with Brian Leppo sixth in the Swope Salvage & Recycling JEI. Pat Cannon was seventh, with three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion and two-time defending winner of the Summer Nationals Donny Schatz eighth in the Armor All J&J. Mark Smith was ninth in the Bricker’s French Fries Mach 1. Brian Montieth came from the 20th starting spot to finish 10th in the Premiere Auto Works Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.
The World of Outlaws wrap-up the Summer Nationals on Saturday, July 25 at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania with a full night of racing beginning with time trials and heat races, with $20,000 awaiting the winner of the 30-lap A-Feature.
SUMMER NATIONALS NIGHT #1 NOTES
• FAST QUALIFIER: Jason Meyers paced the 39 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval at 16.749 seconds at 107.469 mph. For his qualifying effort, Meyers earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Donny Schatz (4), Steve Kinser (3), Chad Kemenah (2), and Mark Smith (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Pat Cannon, Stevie Smith, Fred Rahmer and Brian Leppo won heat races. Danny Lasoski won the B-Main. Greg Hodnett won the Crane Cams Dash.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There has been 42 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway, Houston Raceway Park, The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park-twice, U.S. 36 Raceway and 34 Raceway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and Eldora Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Eagle Raceway, Charter Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway, Paducah International Raceway, I-96 Speedway and Red River Valley Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-twice), Steve Kinser (Tri-State Speedway and Limaland Motorsports Park), Terry McCarl (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway), Tim Kaeding (Riverside International Speedway),Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway) and Stevie Smith (Lernerville Speedway).
• HALF-MILE WINNERS: Williams Grove Speedway is a half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has raced 16 times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Lone Star Speedway and Virginia Motor Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-twice), Terry McCarl (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Jason Meyers (I-96 Speedway and Red River Valley Speedway), Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway) and Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway Night #1; Mechanicsburg, PA; July, 24, 2009
Qualifying
- 14-Jason Meyers 16.749
- 15-Donny Schatz 16.883
- 11-Steve Kinser 16.887
- 35-Chad Kemenah 16.899
- 7M-Mark Smith 16.913
- 7-Chad Layton 16.924
- 6-Danny Lasoski 16.930
- 71-Brian Leppo 16.937
- 87-Alan Krimes 16.941
- 1-Stevie Smith 16.942
- 89-Cody Darrah 16.942
- 6N-Trevor Lewis 16.943
- 3-Pat Cannon 16.975
- 30C-Lance Dewease 16.978
- 51-Fred Rahmer 16.990
- 22H-Greg Hodnett 16.994
- 75-Dave Ely 17.030
- 25A-Aaron Ott 17.039
- R19-Jac Haudenschild 17.093
- 15X-Adam Wilt 17.112
- 17B-Steve Buckwalter 17.119
- 39-Doug Esh 17.133
- 21-Brian Montieth 17.139
- 7S-Jason Sides 17.174
- 10-Sammy Swindell 17.175
- 22-Brian Ellenberger 17.176
- 8M-Chris Meleason 17.194
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe 17.206
- 88-Todd Shaffer 17.215
- 19-Craig Dollansky 17.228
- 11E-Mike Erdley 17.282
- 59-Jim Siegel 17.324
- 17-Dayrn Pittman 17.326
- 9-Joey Saldana 17.331
- 20-Kraig Kinser 17.342
- 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr. 17.374
- 45-A J Michael 17.417
- 11C-Cory Haas 17.505
- 19M-Brent Marks 17.561
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 3-Pat Cannon
- 7M-Mark Smith
- 87-Alan Krimes
- 14-Jason Meyers
- 75-Dave Ely
- 10-Sammy Swindell
- 88-Todd Shaffer
- 17-Dayrn Pittman
- 17B-Steve Buckwalter
- 45-A J Michael
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 1-Stevie Smith
- 30C-Lance Dewease
- 15-Donny Schatz
- 25A-Aaron Ott
- 7-Chad Layton
- 39-Doug Esh
- 22-Brian Ellenberger
- 19M-Brent Marks
- 19-Craig Dollansky
- 9-Joey Saldana
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 51-Fred Rahmer
- 89-Cody Darrah
- 11-Steve Kinser
- R19-Jac Haudenschild
- 21-Brian Montieth
- 6-Danny Lasoski
- 11E-Mike Erdley
- 8M-Chris Meleason
- 20-Kraig Kinser
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 71-Brian Leppo
- 22H-Greg Hodnett
- 35-Chad Kemenah
- 6N-Trevor Lewis
- 7S-Jason Sides
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe
- 59-Jim Siegel
- 15X-Adam Wilt
- 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr.
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
- 22H-Greg Hodnett
- 14-Jason Meyers
- 1-Stevie Smith
- 71-Brian Leppo
- 3-Pat Cannon
- 30C-Lance Dewease
- 15-Donny Schatz
- 89-Cody Darrah
- 7M-Mark Smith
- 51-Fred Rahmer
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
- 6-Danny Lasoski
- 39-Doug Esh
- 17B-Steve Buckwalter
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe
- 88-Todd Shaffer [$200]
- 15X-Adam Wilt [$0]
- 22-Brian Ellenberger [$175]
- 9-Joey Saldana [$160]
- 59-Jim Siegel [$150]
- 11E-Mike Erdley [$150]
- 19M-Brent Marks [$150]
- 8M-Chris Meleason [$150]
- 20-Kraig Kinser [$150]
- 17-Dayrn Pittman [$150]
- 45-A J Michael [$150]
- 10-Sammy Swindell [$150]
- 19-Craig Dollansky [$150]
- 69K-Donald Kreitz Jr. [$150]
- 11C-Cory Haas [$150]
A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#]
- 22H-Greg Hodnett[1] [$8,000]
- 1-Stevie Smith[3] [$4,000]
- 14-Jason Meyers[2] [$2,500]
- 89-Cody Darrah[8] [$2,200]
- 30C-Lance Dewease[6] [$2,100]
- 71-Brian Leppo[4] [$2,000]
- 3-Pat Cannon[5] [$1,800]
- 15-Donny Schatz[7] [$1,600]
- 7M-Mark Smith[9] [$1,500]
- 21-Brian Montieth[20] [$1,300]
- 51-Fred Rahmer[10] [$1,200]
- 11-Steve Kinser[11] [$1,100]
- 7-Chad Layton[13] [$1,000]
- 87-Alan Krimes[15] [$700]
- R19-Jac Haudenschild[19] [$600]
- 35-Chad Kemenah[12] [$600]
- 6N-Trevor Lewis[16] [$600]
- 19-Craig Dollansky[27] [$0]
- 6-Danny Lasoski[14] [$600]
- 7S-Jason Sides[23] [$600]
- 88-Todd Shaffer[26] [$0]
- 9-Joey Saldana[25] [$0]
- 39-Doug Esh[21] [$600]
- 5W-Lucas Wolfe[22] [$600]
- 75-Dave Ely[17] [$600]
- 25A-Aaron Ott[18] [$600]
- 15X-Adam Wilt[24] [$600]
- 17B-Steve Buckwalter[28] [$180]
Notes: Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky used World of Outlaws provisionals to start the A-Feature. Todd Shaffer used a Williams Grove Speedway track provisional to start the A-Feature. Adam Wilt started the A-Feature as the alternate after Steve Buckwalter scratched before the feature.
Lap Leaders: Greg Hodnett 1-25
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Lucas Wolfe
Penske Power Position Award: Jason Meyers
KSE Hard Charger Award: Brian Montieth
World of Outlaws championship standings trough July 24
- Donny Schatz 5616
- Jason Meyers 5570 -46
- Joey Saldana 5532 -84
- Steve Kinser 5512 -104
- Danny Lasoski 5374 -242
- Jason Sides 5367 -249
- Craig Dollansky 5260 -356
- Jac Haudenschild 5197 -419
- Kraig Kinser 5130 -486
- Lucas Wolfe 4784 -832
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Crane Cams (Official Valvetrain), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Fusion Energy Boost (Official Energy Boost), Quaker State (Official Motor Oil), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder's Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.
Submitted By: Tony Veneziano