By TODD HEINTZELMAN
MECHANICSBURG, PA – The Black Bandit rode again Saturday
night at Williams Grove Speedway.
Driving a sprinter with a retro No. 19 paint scheme, Stevie
Smith took the lead from Aaron Ott on lap eight and survived two late-race
restarts to score the $20,000 win in the World of Outlaws-sanctioned Summer
Nationals. Smith’s win also earned him the Morgan Cup and a $5,000 bonus.
“This feels great,” said Smith. “It’s hard to win these
Outlaw races. I know we won one last year, but until then it was a difficult
task for me to accomplish. I know it gets old, but I’ve got to thank these
guys for giving me a really, really good racecar. I’m glad it’s getting old
that I can say that. I’m very proud of them. Things went our way tonight and
it’s a great feeling to win a World of Outlaws show.”
Smith, of Broken Arrow, Okla., drives for retired Hall of
Fame driver Fred Rahmer and Massachusetts businessman Dave Pritchard. His
car was painted like his father’s No. 19 was painted years ago.
“I was feeling a little better tonight,” said Smith. “I
wasn’t really passing the lapped cars, but that’s getting common these days.
When I got to them, I could get by them pretty easily. Last week, we had a
more difficult time, but the track was different. We got up to Lance there
and he was running a good pace. I thought ‘keep your line and keep the most
speed you can keep up and you have a good chance at winning this thing,
don’t mess up now, you’re almost to the end.’”
“It feels really good,” said Rahmer. “He did a hell of a
job. When you’re at a World of Outlaws race, there’s a lot of great teams
and drivers, but I think I’ve got one of the best.”
Second starter Joey Saldana pitted before the feature even
lined up. A push truck ran over his left rear tire and Saldana pitted to
change it. Since the flat was caused by the truck, he was allowed to retain
his starting spot.
Polesitter Sammy Swindell was put back one row for getting
on the gas too early on the initial start. This moved Aaron Ott to the pole
and he grabbed the lead.
Smith, who started fourth, and Saldana were side-by-side
down the frontstretch with Smith securing the runner-up spot with one lap
down.
Ott began to pass slower cars on the sixth lap and Smith
closed. A slider through the third and fourth turns got Smith the lead as
they completed lap eight.
Swindell tried a slider on Saldana and they were close
racing off turn two. Swindell would get the spot a few laps later on the
backstretch.
Outlaw point leader Donny Schatz started fifth, but fell
back early in the event. He made a late run toward the front and a pass of
Saldana got him to fourth on lap 18.
Smith held a comfortable lead over Ott as Schatz closed on
third place.
Schatz got by Swindell on the frontstretch for third as they
completed lap 27. The yellow flag flew for Brock Zearfoss, setting up a
single-file restart with three to go. Smith’s lead was 1.624 seconds before
the yellow.
One more lap was completed before Jacob Allen flipped over
the fourth turn fence bringing out the red flag. He was okay.
Schatz had been challenging Ott for second before the red.
Smith led them down the front stretch for the restart with two laps left.
He got a good restart as Schatz got under Ott for second in
the second turn. Schatz had a slight bobble on the cushion coming off turn
four for the white flag. This gave Smith a clean run to the checkered flag
as he’d win by 1.131 seconds. Schatz settled for his seventh runner-up
finish in the last 13 races. Ott, Swindell and Saldana completed the top
five.
“Running second is hard to swallow especially as many times
as we’ve done it here lately,” said Schatz. “That’s racing and it works that
way. When you’re good enough to win a race, you win a race and we weren’t
good enough. We’ll work on it and try to get ourselves better.”
Brian Montieth, Brent Marks, Lucas Wolfe, Greg Hodnett and
Paul McMahan rounded out the top 10.
Swindell set fast time in the first flight of time trials
with a lap of 16.742. Smith, Paul McMahan, Kerry Madsen and Pat Cannon were
the top five in the first flight including 19 cars.
Saldana set fast time in the second flight with a lap of
16.831. Ott, Hodnett, Montieth and Schatz were the top five in the second
flight including 20 cars.
Swindell earned the Fast Tees Fast Time Award worth $300 for
being the overall fast timer.
The eight-lap heat races were won by Zearfoss, Wolfe, Schatz
and Marks.
Swindell won the six-lap dash over Saldana, Ott and Smith,
who nipped Schatz at the line for the spot.
J.J. Grasso won the first B-main over Kyle Reinhardt. Jacob
Allen won the second over Doug Esh.
Summer Nationals Sprint Car Feature (30 laps): 1. Stevie
Smith. 2. Donny Schatz. 3. Aaron Ott. 4. Sammy Swindell. 5. Joey Saldana. 6.
Brian Montieth. 7. Brent Marks. 8. Lucas Wolfe. 9. Greg Hodnett. 10. Paul
McMahan. 11. Danny Dietrich. 12. Kerry Madsen. 13. Kraig Kinser. 14. Daryn
Pittman. 15. Logan Schuchart. 16. Shane Stewart. 17. Brad Sweet. 18. Jason
Sides. 19. Lance Dewease. 20. Doug Esh. 21. Rodney Westhafer. 22. Jason
Johnson. 23. Brock Zearfoss. 24. Jacob Allen. 25. Kyle Reinhardt. 26. J.J.
Grasso. 27. Steve Buckwalter. 28. Pat Cannon.
Did Not Qualify: David Murcott, Darren Mollenoyux, Nicole
Bower, Wayne Dadetto, Troy Fraker, Tim Glatfelter, David Gravel, Jim Siegel,
Cory Haas, Hunter Mackison, Alan Krimes.
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