6/8/2020
BAPS Motor Speedway
Lance Dewease Sails to Victory in 27-Lap Greg Hodnett Foundation Race at BAPS
BAPS Motor Speedway
York Haven, PA
Sunday, June 7, 2020
For Immediate Release
LANCE DEWEASE SAILS TO VICTORY IN 27-LAP GREG HODNETT FOUNDATIONR RACE AT BAPS
YORK HAVEN, Pa.: Lance Dewease possesses a picture of he and Greg Hodnett laughing together that was given to him.
It’s special to Dewease. The two drivers were not only fierce competitors, but they were also friends. They had similar personalities, and no matter what happened on the track, they were able to put that aside the next day.
Dewease mentioned that he planned to have the picture auctioned off during the Pennsylvania Speedweek show at Port Royal. The proceeds will benefit the Greg Hodnett Foundation.
In the meantime, the Fayetteville, Pa., driver honored his friend in a different way. Dewease dominated Sunday’s 27-lap Greg Hodnett Foundation race at BAPS Motor Speedway, banking $4,000 for his effort.
“It means a lot,” Dewease said of the win. “Greg and I were very good competitors and very good friends. We raced really hard, but we could have fun the next day and not know anything about it.
“He was a lot like me. He took stuff and forget about it pretty quickly. He was low key, and I enjoyed racing with him a lot. He wasn’t from Pennsylvania, but I considered him Pennsylvania, because he lived here so long and made his life here.”
Continued Dewease, “It always means something special. It’s nice to have that trophy. It’s something more than what we normally get, and it has his picture on it. This really means a lot to me.”
This was one of the easier wins for Dewease, at least it looked that way if you were sitting in the grandstand. He took the lead at the start, beating Dwight Leppo into Turn 1 and opening up a 4.366-second lead by Lap 3.
Dewease’s pace was slowed on Lap 6, when Ryan Smith rolled to a stop coming out of Turn 4. There was oil on the speedway, and Dylan Norris also came to rest entering Turn 1 during the yellow flag.
The restart was a little wild. Steve Buckwalter, who took second from Leppo on Lap 3, tried a slider through the first and second corner. Dewease stayed pinned to the top and was able to pull out front in the second corner.
Lucas Wolfe also made a big charge on the restart. He passed JJ Grasso, Dietrich, and Mike Walter III to take over the third position.
While Wolfe was blowing around the top in an effort to catch Buckwalter, Dewease was pulling away. The Sprint Car Hall of Fame drivers entered lapped traffic on the 13th circuit and held a 4.363-second lead.
This is where things got a little tricky. As fast as Dewease was, he struggled to negotiate backmarkers. He was a little indecisive in Turns 3 and 4 and had to pick his spots at the other end of the speedway.
“We were fortunate enough to get a good start and get rolling,” Dewease said. “We are pretty good when we can get a rhythm and don’t get messed up. We were OK until the end with those lapped cars.
“I just didn’t know about three and four. I didn’t know if anyone could run up and make time. Sometimes, I would hit the bottom right and feel good. Other times, I would hit it and feel parked. I got around lapped cars, but I just didn’t know what to do or where to go. I didn’t want to miss the bottom and not have momentum.”
Dewease was on cruise control the rest of the way. He negotiated a couple of lapped cars at the end and took the win by five seconds.
Buckwalter finished second, with Mark Smith advancing from ninth to third. Wolfe and Grasso completed the top five.
Kenny Edkin made a brilliant move on an early restart and cruised to victory in the 27-lap Super Sportsman main event. It was Edkin’s second straight win to start the 2020 season at the speedway.
Russ Mitten found the top early on and cruised around Edkin for second on Lap 5. One lap later, he surged around Scott Dellinger for the lead, only to have the pass negated when the caution came out.
On the restart, Edkin dropped to the bottom and somehow got through Mitten and Dellinger. He shot to the top of Turn 1 and drove away from the field over the race distance to take the win.
“I have to thank Russell for that one,” Edkin said. “He showed me the top, and the caution came out at the opportune time for me.
“So, I caught those guys sleeping. I don’t know if they slid up the track, but I stuck it in the hole and went to the top.”
Mitten ended up second, with Dellinger, Frankie Herr, and Matt Ondek completing the top five in the final rundown.
SPRINTCARUNLIMITED.COM 410 SPRINT CARS
Feature (27 Laps) – 1. 69K-Lance Dewease[2]; 2. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[6]; 3. 38-Mark Smith[9]; 4. 24-Lucas Wolfe[5]; 5. 37-JJ Grasso[3]; 6. 5R-Tyler Ross[12]; 7. 75D-Chase Dietz[22]; 8. 8-Billy Dietrich[11]; 9. 51-Freddie Rahmer[14]; 10. 4-Dwight Leppo[1]; 11. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[21]; 12. 5B-Justin Barger[10]; 13. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr[16]; 14. 5C-Dylan Cisney[13]; 15. 33W-Michael Walter[4]; 16. 12-Brent Shearer[20]; 17. 66-Doug Hammaker[23]; 18. 73B-Brett Michalski[24]; 19. 33-Jared Esh[18]; 20. 16A-Aaron Bollinger[8]; 21. (DNF) 21-Brian Montieth[17]; 22. (DNF) 1X-Chad Trout[19]; 23. (DNF) 44-Dylan Norris[15]; 24. (DNF) 72-Ryan Smith[7].
Lap Leaders – Lance Dewease (1-27)
410 Sprint Heat 1 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[1]; 2. 69K-Lance Dewease[2]; 3. 38-Mark Smith[4]; 4. 5C-Dylan Cisney[3]; 5. 21-Brian Montieth[7]; 6. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[5]; 7. 99M-Kyle Moody[6]; 8. 75D-Chase Dietz[9]; 9. 19M-Landon Myers[8].
410 Sprint Heat 2 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 24-Lucas Wolfe[1]; 2. 4-Dwight Leppo[3]; 3. 5B-Justin Barger[6]; 4. 51-Freddie Rahmer[8]; 5. 33-Jared Esh[4]; 6. 73B-Brett Michalski[7]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard[5]; 8. 15-Kurt Conklin[2].
410 Sprint Heat 3 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 33W-Michael Walter[1]; 2. 72-Ryan Smith[4]; 3. 8-Billy Dietrich[2]; 4. 44-Dylan Norris[7]; 5. 1X-Chad Trout[8]; 6. 75B-Nicole Bower[5]; 7. 39-Cale Thomas[6]; 8. (DNF) 27G-Jay Galloway Jr[3].
410 Sprint Heat 4 Finish (10 Laps/Top 5 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 37-JJ Grasso[5]; 2. 16A-Aaron Bollinger[1]; 3. 5R-Tyler Ross[8]; 4. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr[2]; 5. 12-Brent Shearer[6]; 6. 66-Doug Hammaker[4]; 7. 1J-Kevin Nouse[3]; 8. 59S-Steve Wilbur[7].
410 Sprint Consolation Finish (10 Laps/Top 4 Qualify to A Main) – 1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[1]; 2. 75D-Chase Dietz[9]; 3. 66-Doug Hammaker[4]; 4. 73B-Brett Michalski[2]; 5. 39-Cale Thomas[7]; 6. 99M-Kyle Moody[5]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard[6]; 8. 19M-Landon Myers[11]; 9. 59S-Steve Wilbur[12]; 10. 27G-Jay Galloway Jr[13]; 11. (DNF) 75B-Nicole Bower[3]; 12. (DNF) 1J-Kevin Nouse[8]; 13. (DNF) 15-Kurt Conklin[10].
MARYSVILLE MOTORCARS SUPER SPORTSMAN TOUR
Feature (27 Laps) – 1. 75-Kenny Edkin[4]; 2. 77-Russ Mitten[3]; 3. 30-Scott Dellinger[2]; 4. 70D-Frankie Herr[7]; 5. 2M-Matt Ondek[6]; 6. 1A-Chase Gutshall[11]; 7. 16-Billy Brian Jr[5]; 8. 25-Bobby Hockenberry[1]; 9. 6-Chris Meleason[9]; 10. 360-Jay Fannasy[17]; 11. 71K-Tyler Wolford[13]; 12. 7-Timmie Barrick[18]; 13. 3B-Mike Enders[12]; 14. 5D-Luke Deatrick[10]; 15. 35-John Edkin[14]; 16. 6M-Craig Morrow[15]; 17. 7L-Todd Leonard[21]; 18. 14-Nate Young[20]; 19. 22-Daniel John[19]; 20. 10H-Dave Hollar[16]; 21. (DNF) 318-Steve Fannasy[8]; 22. (DNF) 8-Rich Eichelberger[22].
Lap Leaders – Scott Dellinger (1-5), Kenny Edkin (6-27)
Super Sportsman Heat 1 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 2M-Matt Ondek[1]; 2. 77-Russ Mitten[3]; 3. 70D-Frankie Herr[7]; 4. 5D-Luke Deatrick[6]; 5. 71K-Tyler Wolford[2]; 6. 10H-Dave Hollar[4]; 7. (DNF) 7L-Todd Leonard[5]; 8. (DNF) 8-Rich Eichelberger[8].
Super Sportsman Heat 2 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 16-Billy Brian Jr[1]; 2. 30-Scott Dellinger[3]; 3. 318-Steve Fannasy[2]; 4. 1A-Chase Gutshall[5]; 5. 35-John Edkin[7]; 6. 360-Jay Fannasy[4]; 7. 22-Daniel John[6].
Super Sportsman Heat 3 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 75-Kenny Edkin[2]; 2. 25-Bobby Hockenberry[3]; 3. 6-Chris Meleason[4]; 4. 3B-Mike Enders[6]; 5. 6M-Craig Morrow[7]; 6. 7-Timmie Barrick[5]; 7. 14-Nate Young[1].
Photo Credit: Tim Basehore (WRT Speedwerx)
Article Credit: BAPS Motor Speedway