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MECHANICSBURG, PA – Danny Dietrich got some redemption at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night in the Mitch Smith Memorial.

Dietrich, of Gettysburg, was leading last week at the Grove, but got passed on the final lap. There was no passing him on the final lap this week.

He grabbed the lead from Donnie Kreitz on lap 18 and went on to score the Smith Memorial win and $10,000 in a car owned by Gary Kauffman. It was his third Grove win of 2013.

“We were pretty good from the get-go,” said Dietrich. “Donnie was good too and had a lot of corner speed. It was making it hard to slide him in three and four. I saw Fred (Rahmer) stick his nose in there and I knew I had to get by Donnie before I got racing with Fred. This is one of the biggest local shows of the year and it feels good to put it on the frontstretch. I should have had one last week, but there was driver error on the last lap.”

Kreitz started on the pole with Oklahoma invader Brady Bacon and grabbed the early lead. Bacon would flip in the first turn with one lap completed bringing out the red flag. He was okay.

Dietrich started third and was in second for the restart.

He started to hound Kreitz for the lead, but couldn’t make the slide-job work in turns three and four. Fast timer Greg Hodnett started eighth and was up to third after battling with Brent Marks and Rahmer. For a while, the top five drivers were all racing only a few car lengths apart.

Dietrich was next to Kreitz in turn three on lap 16, but couldn’t clear the pass and fell back into second. The next time around, he tried it again and made the move work and was the new leader with 18 laps completed.

Dietrich would go unchallenged over the final 12 laps for the win and Kreitz would hold off Hodnett for second. Marks, who was as high as second before getting into lapped cars, settled for fourth. Logan Schuchart passed Rahmer for fifth.

Rahmer, Stevie Smith, who started 16th, Speedweek point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr., Chad Layton and Adam Wilt completed the top 10.

Hodnett set fast time over the 34-car field with a lap of 16.980. Kreitz, Rahmer, Bacon and Layton won the 10-lap heat races. Gerard McIntyre Jr. won the consolation. 

Mitch Smith Memorial (30 laps) 1. Danny Dietrich. 2. Donnie Kreitz. 3. Greg Hodnett. 4. Brent Marks. 5. Logan Schuchart. 6. Fred Rahmer. 7. Stevie Smith. 8. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 9. Chad Layton. 10. Adam Wilt. 11. Lance Dewease. 12. Brian Montieth. 13. T.J. Stutts. 14. Jim Siegel. 15. Gerard McIntyre Jr. 16. Ryan Taylor. 17. Ryan Smith. 18. Darren Mollenoyux. 19. Nicole Bower. 20. Mark Smith. 21. Steve Buckwalter. 22. Cory Haas. 23. Danny Lasoski. 24. Brady Bacon.

Did Not Qualify: Ryan Smith, Jacob Allen, Eric Riggins Jr., Robin Dawkins, Troy Fraker, Karl Baker, Ryan Wilson, Aaron Ott, Davey Sammons, Alan Krimes.