Mechanicsburg – Gerard McIntyre Jr. held off the furious charges of Stevie Smith and Brian Montieth to win the 2014 season opener for sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
In the 358 sprint main it was frontrow starter Adrian Shaffer who wired the field for the 20-lap victory.
Cory Haas held sway from the start in the 410 sprint feature over McIntyre with Greg Hodnett running third.
The pace was slowed on the second circuit for a stopped Doug Esh on the backstretch and Haas had the field firmly under his control when action resumed.
Hodnett was really coming after McIntyre for second with repeated attempts in the turns when he came up lame, with failed brakes with 11 laps in the book.
On the restart Haas looked good-to-go but his run at the front would only last for another lap as engine woes forced him to stop on the frontstretch, turning the helm over to McIntyre.
The final 13 circuits would go nonstop with all eyes turning to 14th starter Brian Montieth who was up to fifth by the time Haas lost his engine.
Montieth pounced on Rick Lafferty for fourth on the restart and then got by Ryan Smith for third with 14 down.
The front trio remained comfortable distances apart until the five to go point when the rear of the field came into play just ahead of leader McIntyre.
Both Montieth and Smith swarmed all over one another during the late going while the pair as a whole drilled down on McIntyre only to cross the finish line under a blanket with the winner, all three drivers separated by no more than .948 seconds.
Ryan Smith crossed the line in fourth with Lafferty fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Trey Starks, Robbie Stillwaggon, Kyle Reinhardt, Chad Layton and Don Kreitz Jr.
Heats for the 30-car field went to Lafferty, Stillwaggon and McIntyre with the consolation going to Dave Ely.
Adrian Shaffer led all 20 laps of the 358 sprint main for his eighth career victory in the division at the track.
Chandler Leiby wrestled his way up to second by the halfway point but there was no closing on Shaffer at the front.
Kevin Nouse dueled with Brad McClelland early to advance into third for the finish.
McClelland was fourth with Jay Galloway finishing fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Kody Lehman, Brock Zearfoss, Brie Hershey, Duane Watson and Matt Campbell.
Heats went to Shaffer and Leiby.
March 28, 2014 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1.
1) 16 Gerard McIntyre Jr. 2) 51 Stevie Smith 3) 21 Brian Montieth 4) 94 Ryan Smith 5) 0 Rick Lafferty
6) 55 Trey Starks 7) 89 Robbie Stillwaggon 8) 21 Kyle Reinhardt 9) 7 Chad Layton 10) 69K Don Kreitz Jr.
11) 20s Derek Sell 12) 5 Justin Barger 13) 1 Lucas Wolfe 14) 48 Danny Dietrich 15) 65 Dave Ely 16) 15
Adam Wilt 17) 75 Nicole Bower 18) 11c Cory Haas 19) 27 Greg Hodnett 20) Austin Hogue 21) M1
Mark Smith 22) 17B Steve Buckwalter 23) 8H Doug Esh 24) 87 Alan Krimes
DNQ: 29 Ryan Wilson, 44 Rodney Westhafer, 93 Glenndon Forsythe, 3 Pat Cannon, 19m Brent Marks,
3z Brock Zearfoss
358 sprints, 20 laps:
1) 27s Adrian Shaffer 2) 119 Chandler Leiby 3) 4R Kevin Nouse 4) 6R Brad McClelland 5) 27 Jay
Galloway 6) 47K Kody Lehman 7) 1w Brock Zearfoss 8) 97 Brie Hershey 9) 3w Duane Watson 10) 16
Matt Campbell 11) 35 Tyler Esh 12) 64K Kyle Purks 13) 11 Leah Starner 14) 21 Scott Fisher