9/16/2021
BAPS Motor Speedway
Dietrich Scores Second Consecutive Sprint Win at BAPS
YORK HAVEN, PA - Danny Dietrich seems to have a pretty good handle on BAPS Motor Speedway.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s the top, middle, or bottom of the speedway. Dietrich’s car works across the board.
That was the case again Thursday night. This time, Dietrich started on the pole, gave the lead away to Ryan Smith on the start, retook it, and survived a pair of late restarts to capture the 30-Lap Greg Hodnett Foundation Race presented by Drydene Performance Products.
“I think the racing is better when the track is like this, because it gets nice and wide,” Dietrich said after back-to-back wins at the speedway. “That’s what everybody in Sprint Car racing is here to see, a wide racetrack with a high lane, and you can drive through the middle with a little moisture everywhere.
“It was kind of stale starting on the pole and winning, but I will take it with not being on the front row much this year."
Brent Marks followed Dietrich to the stripe to finish second. Freddie Rahmer, who ran his first race for Super Sportsman driver Rich Eichelberger, came from 12th to third. Ryan Smith, and Rico Abreu completed the top five.
Dietrich lined up on the pole, but Smith got a strong push off the Turn 1 cushion and ducked under the leader coming off of the second corner.
The pace was slowed for the first time on Lap 3, when Doug Hammaker spun in Turn 2. Smith built a .701-second lead on the restart, with Dietrich staying close behind.
It didn’t take long for Dietrich to make his move. He closed to within .145 seconds on the ninth circuit and slid Smith for the lead in Turns 3 and 4 to lead Lap 12.
“I was better than he was, and I was just biding my time,” Dietrich said. “It kind of tells you how much speed you have when you are following someone.
“When you are out front, you really don’t know how much speed you have or how fast you are compared to other people. The fact that I was able to stalk him, I felt like I had good speed.”
Dietrich did, and it didn’t take long for the Gettysburg, Pa., driver to stretch his advantage over the rest of the field.
By the time the halfway point hit, Dietrich was leading by 2.113 seconds. One lap later, Brent Marks drove by Smith in Turn 2 and took second.
The lead ballooned to 2.745 seconds on Lap 20. Meanwhile, Justin Peck, Smith, Rahmer, and Chase Dietz diced for the third position. Peck took the spot and held it until a Lap 26 restart, when Smith and Rahmer drove by.
Riley Emig brought out the caution on the 26th circuit. It didn’t stop Dietrich from pulling away to a 1.285-second lead on the double-file restart.
It looked like Dietrich was on cruise control until Emig got upside down in Turn 4 on the final lap. It only postponed the inevitable, as Dietrich drove away to the .725-second victory over Marks and Rahmer, who passed Smith late. Rico Abreu earned Mac Tools Hard Charger honors after starting 15th.
“I was just getting through lapped traffic so good that I couldn’t imagine anyone else getting through lapped traffic as good as I was,” Dietrich said. “That was the frustrating part of that first caution.
“It’s frustrating seeing the caution coming to the checker, but I was pretty confident with our restart with five to go that the one with one to go ... I felt we would be OK.”
Bill Brown Jr. claimed the win in the 15-lap Classic Car feature.
SPRINTCARUNLIMITED.COM 410 SPRINT CARS - DRYDENE GREG HODNETT FOUNDATION RACE
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 48-Danny Dietrich[1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[4]; 3. 8L-Freddie Rahmer[12]; 4. 10X-Ryan Smith[2]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[15]; 6. 13-Justin Peck[5]; 7. 39-Chase Dietz[6]; 8. 39M-Anthony Macri[8]; 9. 58-Troy Wagaman Jr[10]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[7]; 11. 75-Tyler Ross[14]; 12. 8-Aaron Reutzel[16]; 13. 99M-Kyle Moody[3]; 14. 27-Devon Borden[11]; 15. 49H-Bradley Howard[19]; 16. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[13]; 17. 44B-Dave Brown[22]; 18. 44-Dylan Norris[24]; 19. 4-Dwight Leppo[18]; 20. (DNF) 33-Riley Emig[20]; 21. (DNF) 77K-Steve Kisamore[23]; 22. (DNF) M1-Mark Smith[9]; 23. (DNF) 07-Mark Coldren[21]; 24. (DNF) 4R-Doug Hammaker[17]; 25. (DNF) 9-Gordon Senft Jr[26]; 26. (DNS) 1W-Aaron Bollinger
Lap Leaders: Ryan Smith (1-11), Danny Dietrich (12-30)
410 Sprint Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 39-Chase Dietz[1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 3. 10X-Ryan Smith[4]; 4. 27-Devon Borden[3]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6]; 6. 8-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard[8]; 8. 44B-Dave Brown[7]; 9. 44-Dylan Norris[9]
410 Sprint Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 48-Danny Dietrich[1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[4]; 3. M1-Mark Smith[5]; 4. 8L-Freddie Rahmer[3]; 5. 75-Tyler Ross[7]; 6. 4R-Doug Hammaker[6]; 7. 33-Riley Emig[8]; 8. (DNF) 1W-Aaron Bollinger[2]; 9. (DNS) 9-Gordon Senft Jr
410 Sprint Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 99M-Kyle Moody[2]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 3. 58-Troy Wagaman Jr[1]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[4]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[5]; 6. 4-Dwight Leppo[6]; 7. 07-Mark Coldren[7]; 8. 77K-Steve Kisamore[8]
410 Sprint Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 10X-Ryan Smith, 00:15.141[9]; 2. 27-Devon Borden, 00:15.187[7]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:15.491[4]; 4. 39-Chase Dietz, 00:15.524[8]; 5. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 00:15.584[2]; 6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 00:15.626[1]; 7. 44B-Dave Brown, 00:15.641[6]; 8. 49H-Bradley Howard, 00:15.878[5]; 9. 44-Dylan Norris, 00:15.911[3]
410 Sprint Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks, 00:15.391[3]; 2. 8L-Freddie Rahmer, 00:15.401[6]; 3. 1W-Aaron Bollinger, 00:15.502[4]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:15.504[2]; 5. M1-Mark Smith, 00:15.509[9]; 6. 4R-Doug Hammaker, 00:15.671[5]; 7. 75-Tyler Ross, 00:15.685[1]; 8. 33-Riley Emig, 00:15.735[8]; 9. 9-Gordon Senft Jr[7]
410 Sprint Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 13-Justin Peck, 00:15.153[7]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri, 00:15.217[8]; 3. 99M-Kyle Moody, 00:15.551[5]; 4. 58-Troy Wagaman Jr, 00:15.577[2]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:15.587[6]; 6. 4-Dwight Leppo, 00:15.898[1]; 7. 07-Mark Coldren, 00:16.765[4]; 8. 77K-Steve Kisamore, 00:16.960[3]
Article Credit: BAPS Motor Speedway