10/12/2019
BAPS Motor Speedway
Chase Dietz Wins Capitol Renegade Showdown at BAPS Motor Speedway
YORK HAVEN, Pa.: Chase Dietz is still in his first season with the Rick Lefever-owned team and doesn’t have a lot of experience at BAPS Motor Speedway.
Those two factors probably didn’t help expectations Saturday night at the York Haven facility. Still, this team is starting to jell and find speed.
That was obvious in the 30-lap main event. Dietz fell back to third, but he made a late-race charge to earn a confidence-building victory worth a $5,000 payday.
“This was huge,” Dietz said. “We had a pretty good year at Lincoln. We would be consistent for a little bit and then fall off. We messed around with a few things the last couple of weeks, racing away from where we are comfortable [at Williams Grove].
“To come here where we don’t get to run too often and feel as good as we did and race as well as we did, it’s a great thing for us.”
Billy Dietrich beat Dietz into Turn 1 at the drop of the green flag, but he didn’t stay there for long. Fourth-place starter Freddie Rahmer ripped around the bottom of three and four to pass both Dietz and Dietrich to take the lead at the completion of Lap 1.
Dietz took second from Dietrich, as Rahmer opened up a 1.208-second lead by the fifth circuit. Just as the lap was scored, Dylan Norris spun and stopped at the exit of Turn 2. During the caution period, Hunter Mackison stopped on the frontstretch.
Rahmer pulled away on the restart, leaving Dietz to dice with Brian Montieth for second. There was also a three-car battle for the fourth position, with Ryan Smith, finally, slipping past Brock Zearfoss and Dietrich.
Brian Montieth and Dietz were back-and-forth for the second position on Lap 13. Montieth, finally grabbed the position coming off the fourth corner.
Montieth was the fastest car on the track with 10 laps to go. With Rahmer pinned on the bottom, Montieth used the top to close to within .338 seconds by the time Lap 16 was on the board. Rahmer countered and moved to the top, opening up a .684-second lead on Lap 18.
But, Rahmer’s race came to an abrupt end on Lap 20. He shot into Turn 1 and misjudged the corner, slapping the fence and suffering significant damage to his car.
Rahmer’s misfortune gave Dietz new life. He stalked Montieth on the restart and made his move on Lap 21, sliding Montieth through the first and second corner. Montieth didn’t give and ducked under Dietz coming out of the second corner to maintain the top spot.
Dietz pulled the same move on Lap 24. Montieth tried to duck back under off the corner, but Dietz was able to carry enough speed off the top of Turn 2 to wrestle the top spot away.
“It was just more being patient," Dietz said. "As we got to lapped traffic, it was more intense between lapped cars and knowing where to go. I figured, at one point, we were going to have to move around. When Freddie had that incident, it gave me another chance.
“[Brian] peeled off and tried to run the middle. As soon as I saw him go to the top, I was going to be even better. It gave me more open air and allowed me to drive into the corner like I needed to. I kept working it and working it and knew I would have a good chance. It came down to being patient and getting there when I could.”
Dietz couldn’t afford to be patient once he got the lead. Smith was on the charge and disposed of Montieth for second coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 27.
Smith was 1.354 seconds back when he took second. He chopped the margin down to .705 seconds on Lap 28 and was on Dietz’s rear coming to the white flag.
But, lapped cars didn’t play out in Smith’s favor. Meanwhile, Dietz nailed the bottom to get past a back marker in Turn 2 and took the win by .594 seconds at the stripe.
“I saw him in lapped traffic a couple of times,” Dietz said. “I thought he was almost going to get me out of four, because we got tight between lapped cars.
“At the end, I could see his shadow, but I wasn’t sure what was going on. I felt pretty good on the bottom to middle, so I just committed there and was going to make him drive around me. You’ve got to adjust to the track but also adjust to what you need. It was just great to go back and forth with those guys.”
Smith settled for second, with Montieth earning a third-place finish. Brock Zearfoss and Lucas Wolfe completed the top five in the main event.
“One [lapped car] went one way, and the other didn’t go the way I thought he was going to,” Smith said. “That’s just racing. That’s probably the best we have been here all year in the 410.
“It’s good to race to the front from seventh and have a shot at it. We just didn’t get it done. We had a shot, just lapped cars didn’t fall my way. All and all, second, another second, and another second.”
Chad Layton took the lead from Ryan Smith and went on to score the victory in the 360/358 Challenge featuring the United Racing Club.
Smith got the jump on Layton at the start, but it didn’t last long. The United Racing Club point leader went to the outside of Smith in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 8.
But, Layton didn’t get away. Smith took the lead back on a Lap 9 restart. Six laps later, Layton regained the point and never looked back. Freddie Rahmer also passed Smith for second on Lap 15 and settled for second. Smith, Brock Zearfoss, and Lucas Wolfe completed the top five.
SPRINTCARUNLIMITED.COM 410 SPRINT CARS – CAPITOL RENEGADE SHOWDOWN
Feature (30 Laps) – 1. 75-Chase Dietz, [2]; 2. 72-Ryan Smith, [7]; 3. 21-Brian Montieth, [3]; 4. 9-Brock Zearfoss, [6]; 5. 24-Lucas Wolfe, [11]; 6. 8-Billy Dietrich, [1]; 7. 39M-Anthony Macri, [14]; 8. 55K-Robbie Kendall, [5]; 9. 88-Brandon Rahmer, [9]; 10. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr, [16]; 11. 99M-Kyle Moody, [20]; 12. 91-Anthony Fiore, [19]; 13. 42-Sye Lynch, [13]; 14. 33-Jared Esh, [10]; 15. 73B-Brett Michalski, [21]; 16. 4-Dwight Leppo, [8]; 17. 1080-Jordan Mackison, [17]; 18. 23A-Chris Arnold, [23]; 19. 99G-George Riden III, [22]; 20. 12-Barry Shearer, [24]; 21. (DNF) 51-Freddie Rahmer, [4]; 22. (DNF) 33W-MIke Walter, [15]; 23. (DNF) 3J-Hunter Mackison, [18]; 24. (DNF) 44-Dylan Norris, [12].
Lap Leaders – Freddie Rahmer (1-19), Brian Montieth (20-23), Chase Dietz (24-30.
410 Sprint Car Heat 1 Finish (10 Laps/Top 6 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 75-Chase Dietz, [4]; 2. 55K-Robbie Kendall, [2]; 3. 33-Jared Esh, [1]; 4. 72-Ryan Smith, [7]; 5. 42-Sye Lynch, [6]; 6. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr, [9]; 7. 73B-Brett Michalski, [8]; 8. 99M-Kyle Moody, [3]; 9. 23A-Chris Arnold, [5].
410 Sprint Car Heat 2 Finish (10 Laps/Top 6 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 24-Lucas Wolfe, [1]; 2. 88-Brandon Rahmer, [2]; 3. 9-Brock Zearfoss, [3]; 4. 8-Billy Dietrich, [4]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri, [8]; 6. 1080-Jordan Mackison, [5]; 7. 91-Anthony Fiore, [7]; 8. 23P-Darren Pifer, [6]; 9. 11P-Greg Plank, [9].
410 Sprint Car Heat 3 Finish (10 Laps/Top 6 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 44-Dylan Norris, [2]; 2. 51-Freddie Rahmer, [5]; 3. 21-Brian Montieth, [8]; 4. 4-Dwight Leppo, [1]; 5. 33W-MIke Walter, [6]; 6. 3J-Hunter Mackison, [4]; 7. 99G-George Riden III, [7]; 8. 12-Barry Shearer, [3].
410 Sprint Car Consolation Finish (10 Laps/Top 6 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 91-Anthony Fiore, [2]; 2. 99M-Kyle Moody, [4]; 3. 73B-Brett Michalski, [1]; 4. 99G-George Riden III, [3]; 5. 23A-Chris Arnold, [7]; 6. 12-Barry Shearer, [6]; 7. 23P-Darren Pifer, [5]; 8. 11P-Greg Plank, [8].
358/360 URC CHALLENGE
Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 35-Chad Layton, [2]; 2. 10X-Freddie Rahmer, [8]; 3. 72-Ryan Smith, [1]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, [7]; 5. 5G-Curt Michael, [9]; 6. 63-Josh Weller, [14]; 7. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, [5]; 8. 66-Doug Hammaker, [6]; 9. 7X-Steve Buckwalter, [16]; 10. 11A-Austin Bishop, [19]; 11. 8C-Brian Carber, [13]; 12. 44-Dave Brown, [15]; 13. 5-Tyler Ross, [17]; 14. 19-Troy Wagaman Jr., [10]; 15. 47-Adam Carberry, [3]; 16. 1W-Matt Campbell, [23]; 17. 23J-Jake Eldreth, [12]; 18. 22-Troy Betts, [20]; 19. 5Q-Ryan Quackenbush, [25]; 20. (DNF) 7-Ed Aikin, [21]; 21. (DNF) 4-Jimmy Stitzel, [4]; 22. (DNF) 00R-Jeff Rohrbaugh, [22]; 23. (DNF) 00-Chris Frank, [24]; 24. (DNF) 66A-Cody Fletcher, [11]; 25. (DNF) 77-Derek Locke, [18].
Lap Leaders – Ryan Smith (1-7), Chad Layton (8), Smith (9-14), Layton (15-25)
358/360 Sprint Car Heat 1 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 19-Troy Wagaman Jr., [2]; 2. 66A-Cody Fletcher, [1]; 3. 4-Jimmy Stitzel, [3]; 4. 8C-Brian Carber, [4]; 5. 5-Tyler Ross, [9]; 6. 9-Ryan Linder, [10]; 7. 7-Ed Aikin, [7]; 8. 34-Mark Van Vorst, [6]; 9. 3-Jeff Paulson, [8]; 10. (DNF) 5Q-Ryan Quackenbush, [5].
358/360 Sprint Car Heat 2 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 72-Ryan Smith, [1]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, [5]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, [3]; 4. 63-Josh Weller, [6]; 5. 77-Derek Locke, [10]; 6. 00-Chris Frank, [2]; 7. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon, [8]; 8. 19S-Steven Drevicki, [4]; 9. 3G-Todd Gracey, [7]; (DNS) 669-Dave McGough.
358/360 Sprint Car Heat 3 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 5G-Curt Michael, [2]; 2. 47-Adam Carberry, [1]; 3. 10X-Freddie Rahmer, [3]; 4. 44-Dave Brown, [8]; 5. 11A-Austin Bishop, [6]; 6. 1-Scott Flammer, [4]; 7. 22L-Connor Leoffler, [10]; 8. 1W-Matt Campbell, [9]; 9. 99-Joe Trone Jr, [5]; 10. 6M-Chad Criswell, [7].
358/360 Sprint Car Heat 4 Finish (8 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 35-Chad Layton, [4]; 2. 23J-Jake Eldreth, [2]; 3. 66-Doug Hammaker, [9]; 4. 7X-Steve Buckwalter, [8]; 5. 22-Troy Betts, [5]; 6. 00R-Jeff Rohrbaugh, [7]; 7. 13S-Jon Stewart, [6]; 8. 67C-Jason Cherry, [3]; 9. 15-Cameron Burke, [10]; 10. 12D-Steve Downs, [1].
358/360 Sprint Car Consolation 1 Finish (8 Laps/Top 2 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 7-Ed Aikin, [3]; 2. 1W-Matt Campbell, [6]; 3. 6M-Chad Criswell, [10]; 4. 34-Mark Van Vorst, [5]; 5. 5Q-Ryan Quackenbush, [9]; 6. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon, [4]; 7. 3-Jeff Paulson, [7]; 8. 1-Scott Flammer, [2]; 9. 9-Ryan Linder, [1]; (DNS) 99-Joe Trone Jr.
358/360 Sprint Car Consolation 2 Finish (8 Laps/Top 2 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 00R-Jeff Rohrbaugh, [2]; 2. 00-Chris Frank, [1]; 3. 3G-Todd Gracey, [7]; 4. 19S-Steven Drevicki, [5]; 5. 22L-Connor Leoffler, [3]; 6. 13S-Jon Stewart, [4]; 7. 669-Dave McGough, [9]; 8. 67C-Jason Cherry, [6]; 9. 15-Cameron Burke, [8]; (DNS) 12D-Steve Downs.
Article Credit: BAPS Motor Speedway
