Yoder and Moist claim stock cars
Port Royal – Danny Dietrich of Gettysburg won the 63rd annual Labor Day Classic for 410 sprint cars at Port Royal Speedway on Monday afternoon, becoming the third and final leader in the event that saw a total of four lead changes.
In the 355 econo late feature it was Middleburg’s Andrew Yoder who dominated for the victory to record his fourth oval win of the season while Andrew Moist came out on top in the four cylinder main event.
A draw put two-time Labor Day Champion on the pole for the start of the 25-lap Classic event with two-time Port Royal 2014 winner Brent Marks alongside. Just behind in row two was Dietrich and four-time and defending Classic champion Lance Dewease.
Just as the feature green unfurled rains hit the third and fourth corner of the speedway, causing an abrupt stoppage of the race.
After a delay of about an hour, Hodnett took the lead over a fast starting Dewease when action got underway.
A caution flag regrouped the field with three laps down and on the restart Lance Dewease powered around Hodnett to take control.
Dewease’s run at the front looked at first solid but quickly found him struggling on the daytime surface and Hodnett drove underneath in the first and second corner to reclaim control on the 10th tour.
A lap later, the only driver who was running the top of the track, Dietrich motored by Dewease for second and began running down a stellar-running Hodnett.
Dietrich was right at home using the high outside, ever-slickening groove, rooster-tailing at times as he chased Hodnett through traffic.
And then with a little more than eight laps to go he surged to Hodnett’s outside as the pair ran down the backchute and shot through the middle entering the third corner to take over Hodnett’s bottom groove and the lead.
After getting control, Dietrich continued to take chances with his lead and nearly gave up control after a brush with the outside wall but he soon went back to the bottom to maintain his advantage.
With a lap to go, a final yellow set up a restart but Dietrich pulled away on the restart for the prestigious $4,000 victory, his first ever at the track and seventh overall of the season.
Hodnett was second followed by Dewease, Marks and Mike Erdley.
Sixth through 10th went tot Chad Layton, Dave Ely, Blane Heimbach, Logan Wagner and Billy Dietrich.
Heats for the 24-car field went to Dietrich, Hodnett and Marks.
Rick Lafferty entered the race with the season point lead over Layton but after a finish of 16th, both he and Layton are now tied at the top of the chase for the title with Erdley just 50 points back.
Andrew Yoder wired the field for the 15-lap econo late model main.
Jason Nace trailed early but gave way to one-time winner Dave Leidy with under five laps to go .
Nace held on to third with a hard charging, 12th starter Tim Krape finishing fourth and Todd Snook ending up fifth.
Heats for the 14-car field went to Leidy and Ralph Morgan Jr.
A 27-car field of four cylinder stock cars competed on the Labor Day clay and after working forward the entire 15-lap main from the ninth starting spot, Andrew Moist powered into the lead with just two laps left in the race.
The event was riddled with caution flags while also producing exciting action.
Ricky Weaver Jr. led from the outset before Ryan Peer took control on the seventh tour.
Weaver went back out in front with five laps left and then fell victim to Peer again with three to go before Moist upended them all for the victory.
Lee Zook, Weaver, Peer and Cale Martin rounded out the top five finshers.
Heats went to Josh Frantz, Weaver and Terry Hartlouv.
Race Results: 9/1/14
410 sprints, 25 laps,: 1. Danny Dietrich, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Brent Marks, 5. Mike Erdley, 6. Chad Layton, 7. Dave Ely, 8. Blane Heimbach, 9. Logan Wagner, 10. Billy Dietrich, 11. Daryl Stimeling, 12. Curt Stroup, 13. Tyler Bear, 14. Dylan Cisney, 15. Brock Zearfoss, 16. Rick Lafferty, 17. Mark Zimmerman, 18. Troy Fraker, 19. Wayne Dadetto, 20. Vince Snyder, 21. Joey Hershey, 22. Dan Shetler, 23. Jack Thornton, 24. Bradley Howard
Econo late models, 15 laps: 1. Andrew Yoder, 2. Dave Leidy, 3. Jason Nace, 4. Tim Krape, 5. Todd Snook, 6. Devin Hart, 7. Eric Irvin, 8. Jared Fulkroad, 9. Shaun Miller, 10. Brett Hockenberry, 11. Danny Sollers, 12. Chase Bowsman, 13. Troy Miller, 14. Garrett Gray, 15. Ralph Morgan Jr.
Four cylinder feature, 15 laps: 1. Andrew Moist, 2. Lee Zook, 3. Ricky Weaver Jr., 4. Ryan Peer, 5. Cale Martin, 6. Matt Chronister, 7. Darly Sipe, 8. Scott Peters, 9. Brian Lefebre, 10. Kolton Wagner, 11. Terry Hartlouv, 12. Brendan Conrad, 13. Garrett Watkins, 14. Eric Boozel, 15. Fulton Menovich, 16. Nick Myers, 17. Marley Whitcomb, 18. Josh Frantz, 19. Kali Hockensmith, 20. Wesley Miller, 21. Adam Morgan, 22. Jarred Rudy, 23. Zach Moist
DNS: Jeff Foster, Sam Barge, Robby Carroll, Curt Breinich