HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWEEK TRIUMPH FOR HODNETT MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW
HAGERSTOWN, MD – Scoring the triumph in Tuesday’s 24th Annual PA Sprint Car Speedweek event at Grandview, Greg Hodnett headed South of The Border to Hagerstown Speedway on Wednesday for night five of the series and ended the night in victory lane for the second consecutive night.
Hodnett was sixth quick in time trials and sat on the pole for the inverted six car field. Trailing Donnie Kreitz Jr. for the first 20 laps, he pulled the trigger on a lap 20 restart and that was all it took as he went the rest of the way to beat Lucas Wolfe by 1.75 seconds for the $5,000 victory and increased his series point lead.
“We just got really lucky on starting position and was able to take advantage of it,” Hodnett said. ”We brought out a new car Friday and have been struggling with it and struggling with it. We brought this one here today and we’re trying to figure it out. It’s a little different, but hopefully we can gain on it by the end of the week.”
Lucas Wolfe was the fast timer with a lap around the half mile oval in 15.208, short of the 14.945 record set by Mark Kinser in 1999.
Heat wins went to Hodnett, Brent Marks and night three Path Valley winner Brady Bacon while Danny Dietrich was the consolation winner.
When the green flag waved, Kreitz was like a rocket off the outside row as he exited the second turn hammer down with Hodnett, Mike Wagner and Wolfe beginning to give chase. As the field stretched out, Kreitz was to the rear by lap eight with a caution two laps later when Aaron Ott came to a stop.
Kreitz maintained control on the restart and pulled away but Hodnett began to close in when Kreitz was to the rear cars again on the 18th lap and Hodnett was to his back bumper. While they were working through several cars on the tail end, the yellow again waved when Wagner suffered a flat and was sitting in the third turn.
When the green put the field in motion this time, Hodnett charged under and quickly sped from the second turn and was stretching his lead while Wolfe ducked under for the runner up spot on the 22nd lap.
Hodnett was in total control the final ten circuits as Wolfe was not close enough to mount a challenge with Kreitz and Stevie Smith in the next positions while fifth place went to night one winner at Williams Grove, Danny Dietrich who came all the way from 19th starting position.
“Donnie had the wing back and was having problems keeping the front end off that curb,” Hodnett said. “From about laps 15 to 20 when we got into traffic, he had his wing back and was trying to run underneath it but his car wasn’t sticking quite as good and I think he was a little hesitant of getting in. I think his car couldn’t steer to be honest. He looked like he had to get the front end back down and I figured if I stayed close enough on the front straightaway, I was going to try it and if it worked, it worked and if it didn’t, I was going to run second, third, fourth, it didn’t really matter. So it just happened to stick and I blew across there and had enough momentum and came out the other side.”
Brent Marks finished sixth with Alan Krimes, Bacon, defending race winner Dave Blaney and Blane Heimbach completing the top ten.
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Hagerstown Speedway Results
24th Annual PA Sprint Car Speedweek – 30 Entries, 30 Laps, (Lap leaders: Donnie Kreitz Jr 1-20; Gregg Hodnett 21-30): 1.Gregg Hodnett, 2.Lucas Wolfe, 3.Donnie Kreitz Jr, 4.Stevie Smith, 5.Danny Dietrich, 6.Brent Marks, 7.Alan Krimes, 8.Brady Bacon, 9.Dave Blaney, 10.Blane Heimbach, 11.Gerard McIntyre, 12.Ryan Smith, 13.Curt Stroup, 14.Glenndon Forsythe, 15.Robbie Kendall, 16.Lance Dewease, 17.Mike Wagner, 18.Phil Walter, 19.Darren Mollenoyux, 20.Jordan Givler, 21.Joey Hershey, 22.Aaron Ott, 23.Austin Wheatly, 24.Tim Glatfelter, DNQ-Troy Fraker, Cory Haas, Wayne Dadetto, Jay Reichard, Kyle Pruit, Robbie Stillwagon