MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Chase Dietz won the first 410 sprint car main of his career at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, outracing Freddie Rahmer for the win.
Dietz already owned six career oval wins in the 358 sprint division during his career.
In the 358 sprint Summer Series race, veteran Frankie Herr snapped the 10-race win streak that had been ongoing at the hands of Derek Locke.
The start of the 25-lap 410 sprint main was quickly slowed when second starter Chad Trout looped his mount in the second turn.
Freddie Rahmer also spun his car but kept going and restarted in his original spot.
When action got going, polesitter Dietz sped into control over T.J. Stutts and Rahmer.
Another yellow flag bunched the field on the fourth lap, wiping out a 2.3-second lead already built up by Dietz aboard the Trone No. 39.
Just prior to the caution, Rahmer had swooped under Stutts for the second spot.
Laps five through 20 went non-stop with Dietz entering the backmarkers on lap 10.
At times traffic held Dietz up, allowing Rahmer to close but he was always able to break free just in time to shake off Rahmer.
And then with five laps to go, the yellow flag again appeared, this time for debris on the track.
Rahmer raced to Dietz’s outside in the first turn when racing restarted but the leader held control however moments later in the third turn, when Dietz entered on the cushion Rahmer bolted underneath to take the lead.
But as Rahmer slid up, Dietz turned his car down off of the fourth turn cushion to race Rahmer back to the line and regain control just before another yellow slowed the pace.
Rahmer stayed glued to Dietz’s bumper when action resumed but it was again slowed a lap later.
And on this restart, Dietz got a better start in order to get away from his challenger and pull out to a .641-second advantage at the finish, performing flawlessly on the bottom to hold onto the victory.
Rahmer was second followed by Stutts, Devon Borden and Dylan Norris.
Scott Fisher led the first two laps of the 25-lap 358 sprint main before fourth starter Frankie Herr drove to his outside in the first corner to get control.
Herr had built up a 4.181-second lead by the time the first caution flag of the race unfurled with eight laps completed.
The restart saw Steve Owings battling with Fisher for second before securing the spot on lap 10.
Owings gave chase of the leader and when Herr began lapping cars with six laps to go, he was in the hunt to steal the lead.
Owings closed dramatically in traffic but found his challenging pace slowed and Herr’s way cleared when a final yellow flag unfurled with three laps to go.
Herr to the win by 1.5 seconds over Owings.
It was his fourth career 358 win at the track but his first in decades.
The run to the victory put an end to Derek Locke’s domination of the division that dates back to September of 2020.
Locke had won 10 races in a row, sweeping the entire 2021 season before also claiming the first race of the 2022 season a few weeks ago.
Scott Fisher was third followed by Devin Adams and Chris Frank.
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. Chase Dietz, 2. Freddie Rahmer, 3, TJ Stutts, 4. Devon Borden, 5. Dylan Norris, 6. Rick Lafferty, 7. Lucas Wolfe, 8. Dylan Cisney, 9. Billy Dietrich, 10. Kyle Moody, 11. Austin Bishop, 12. Matt Campbell, 13. Kassidy Kreitz, 14. Chad Trout, 15. Justin Whittall, 16. Tyler Ross, 17. Troy Fraker, 18. Tyler Reeser, 19. Steve Kisamore, 20. Steve Buckwalter, 21. Dwight Leppo, 22. Aaron Bollinger, 23. Brad Howard, 24. Niki Young
Keyword: Dietz Breaks Through At The Grove