Westhafer & Montieth Win Williams Grove Super Sprints, Nouse Gets Fifth In 358s
9/12/14
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mechanicsburg – Rodney Westhafer of Mechanicsburg held off Lance Dewease to win the make up Billy Kimmel Memorial for 410 sprints at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, scoring his first ever 410 sprint main at the track.
In the regularly slated 410 sprint main, Brian Montieth got around Westhafer to prevent him from making a clean sweep of the night’s features while Kevin Nouse won his fifth 358 sprint main of the season at the track.
Westhafer led from the outset of the Kimmel feature, run as the first event on the program.
Cory Haas gave chase early with Alan Krimes and Ryan Smith in tow as Westhafer began working lapped traffic on the 12th tour.
Smith was up to third with 10 laps to go when a yellow flag regrouped the field, finding Montieth and Dewease rounding out the top five.
Dewease shot around Montieth on the restart and then Smith with eight laps to go before taking over second with five laps to go.
The Fayetteville flyer then drove down Westhafer’s advantage but seemingly had run out of time to take over the lead when instead of the checkered flag the yellow flag unfurled again with less than a lap to go for debris on the backstretch.
Westhafer held his line in the first and second turns on the restart, keeping Dewease at bay but as the pair shot toward the third corner Dewease was poised for a move.
But Westhafer shot across the bottom of the track to protect from a deep flyer, which proved to be a winning move as he thwarted Dewease’s attempt and pulled up out of the corner to take the hard fought victory by .148 seconds over Dewease.
Greg Hodnett rode home third followed by Smith and Brent Marks.
Sixth through 10th went to Don Kreitz Jr., Haas, Krimes, Nicole Bower and Brian Montieth.
Glenndon Forsythe took the lead at the start of the regularly slated 410 sprint feature and saw Westhafer drive into second on the second tour.
With Forsythe running the top, Westhafer pounded his bottom groove, keeping pace with Forsythe but struggling to complete a pass.
Meanwhile, ninth starter Montieth was working forward, zooming around the cushion and took over third on the ninth tour.
The rapid race pace was slowed on the 11th lap for a stopped Brock Zearfoss and the restart saw a wild three-car race for control take place.
As the leaders headed for the completion of the 14th lap, Westhafer finally got the run off of the bottom out of the second turn that he was looking for and he drove by Forsythe for control but at the same time, Montieth likewise got a run he needed and he drove even lower on the track as the trio entered the third corner, trying to take the lead with a two car pass.
But the near three wide move for control saw Forsythe shoot toward the top of the track in front of the field, losing control and causing another yellow flag to unfurl.
This gave the lead to Westhafer who just like before over Dewease held his ground over Montieth this time in the first and second turns.
But the third and fourth turns would be a different story this time as Montieth overtook the leader to gain control with 10 laps to go and cruise to this second Williams Grove win of the season.
Westhafer settled for a fine second followed by Alan Krimes, Haas and Dewease.
Sixth through 10th went to Don Kreitz Jr., Ryan Smith, Greg Hodnett, Brent Marks and Austin Hogue.
Heats for the 31-car field went to Smith, Dewease, Krimes and Westhafer with Brock Zearfoss claiming the consolation race.
Kevin Nouse motored from the ninth starting spot in the 20-lap 358 sprint main up to fourth on the first lap as Scott Fisher took control.
Nouse moved into third on the second circuit and then was forced to watch veteran Rich Eichelberger try to overtake Fisher for the lead.
It took until the halfway point for Nouse to finally find an opening to weave through in order to put Eichelberger behind him and after getting by for second he made quick work of Fisher for the lead with seven laps to go.
Adrian Shaffer took over second from Fisher with three to go.
Doug Hammaker got around Fisher for third at the finish with Fisher ending up fourth and Eichelberger fading to fifth.
Heats for the 21-car field went to Nouse, Chandler Leiby and Shaffer.
September 12, 2014 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps, Kimmel Memorial: 1. Rodney Westhafer, 2. Lance Dewease, 3. Greg Hodnett, 4. Ryan Smith, 5. Brian Montieth, 6. Don Kreitz Jr., 7. Cory Haas, 8. Alan Krimes, 9. Nicole Bower, 10. Brian Montieth, 11. Rick Lafferty, 12. Glenndon Forsythe, 13. Ryan Wilson, 14. Austin Hogue, 15. Danny Dietrich, 16. Brad Howard, 17. Hunter Mackison, 18. Nathan Berwager, 19. Jordan Mackison, 20. Troy Fraker, 21. Bill Stine
DNS: Brock Zearfoss, Adrian Shaffer
410 sprints, 25 laps, regular feature: 1. Montieth, 2. Westhafer, 3. Krimes, 4. Haas, 5. Dewease, 6. Kreitz Jr., 7. Smith, 8. Hodnett, 9. Marks, 10. Hogue, 11. Steve Buckwalter, 12. Justin Barger, 13. Robbie Kendall, 14. Gerard McIntyre Jr., 15. Wilson, 16. Bower, 17. Berwager, 18. Scott Wilson, 19. Forsythe, 20. Zearfoss, 21. Jim Shuster, 22. Tim Glatfelter, 23. Stine, 24. Chad Layton
DNQ: Ryan Kissinger, Brad Howard, Shane Hoff, Hunter Mackison, Troy Fraker, Jordan Mackison, Rick Lafferty, Danny Dietrich
358 sprints, 20 lap: 1. Kevin Nouse, 2. Adrian Shaffer, 3. Doug Hammaker, 4. Scott Fisher, 5. Rich Eichelberger, 6. Matt Campbell, 7. Matt Findley, 8. Jordan Givler, 9. Chris Arnold, 10. Jay Galloway, 11. Kody Lehman, 12. Ryan Higgins, 13. Tony Smolenyak, 14. John Braim, 15. CJ Quick, 16. Ashley Capetta, 17. Leah Starner, 18. Chase Dietz, 19. Tyler Templin, 20. Brie Hershey, 21. Chandler Leiby