ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – Billy Dietrich snapped a Lincoln Speedway drought dating back to 2016 on Saturday night, but in order to do it he had to beat his younger brother, Danny Dietrich.
The night started with time trials for the Gene Latta Ford 410 Sprint Cars, with Robbie Kendall setting quick time putting down a lap of 13.409 seconds. The PA Speedweek format was followed, lining up the fastest car fourth in each heat. From each heat race, the winner and the fastest car that qualified made the redraw for the 30-lap feature.
Chad Trout picked the number one pill to start on the pole with Billy Dietrich lined up to his outside. Danny Dietrich and Troy Wagaman shared the second row for the feature start.
Trout and Billy Dietrich raced side-by-side into turn three with Trout on the bottom. Billy Dietrich took the lead coming out turn four using the high line. Wagaman was running third and set his sight on Trout.
Danny Dietrich was running fourth and Chase Dietz worked his way into the top five after starting eighth.
Billy Dietrich had a 3.113 second lead on lap seven as he closed in on lapped traffic. Danny Dietrich had reeled in Wagaman and was battling hard for third. Danny Dietrich slid Wagaman in turns three and four to take the spot on lap nine.
Wagaman got him back coming out of turn two and Dietz was there to battle Danny Dietrich for fourth. Dietz got by Danny Dietrich on lap 13 to claim the fourth spot.
Dietz then got by Wagaman coming out of turn two. Wagaman battled back but Dietz held the third spot at the line.
Danny Dietrich got by Wagaman for fourth on lap 17 and made quick work of Dietz taking third on the next lap. Danny Dietrich was hunting down Trout for second when the yellow flag came out on lap 22 for debris on the track.
Billy Dietrich paced the field slowly, ahead of Trout, Danny Dietrich, Dietz and Wagaman for the restart.
All of the leaders went to the bottom in turn one except Danny Dietrich, who got by Trout for second.
Danny Dietrich tried a middle line in turns one and two on lap 26 to try and take the lead from his brother, but could not make the pass. Danny Dietrich was trying everything to get by Billy Dietrich and tried a slider in turns three and four but still couldn’t get around Billy Dietrich. As the laps wound down, Danny Dietrich was making contact with the wall in turn two, allowing Billy Dietrich to pull away ever so slightly.
Billy Dietrich got to the checkered flag 1.123 seconds ahead of Danny Dietrich. Trout held on to finish third and Dietz crossed the line fourth. Wagaman completed the top five.
In the 358 sprint car class, Jeff Rohrbaugh added to his already impressive 358 sprint win total, making it 17 wins for the leader of the all-time win list.
The finish:
1. 8-Billy Dietrich ($4,000); 2. 48-Danny Dietrich; 3. 1X-Chad Trout; 4. 39-Chase Dietz; 5. 19-Troy Wagaman; 6. 72-Tim Shaffer; 7. 87-Alan Krimes; 8. 51-Freddie Rahmer; 9. 21-Matt Campbell; 10. 59-Jim Siegel; 11. 75-Tyler Ross; 12. 55K-Robbie Kendall; 13. 5E-Tim Wagaman; 14. 99m-Kyle Moody; 15. 17B-Steve Buckwalter; 16. 16A-Aaron Bollinger; 17. 88-Brandon Rahmer; 18. 69-Tim Glatfelter; 19. 44-Dylan Norris; 20. 21T-Scott Fisher; 21. 7-Trey Hivner; 22. 11A-Austin Bishop; 23. 49H-Bradley Howard (DNF); 24. 2w-Glenndon Forsythe (DNF)