MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — A night to remember, indeed, Danny Dietrich performed the unthinkable Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway and beat the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 not only once, but twice.
Dietrich swept the annual Jack Gunn Memorial Twin 20’s program for back-to-back $4,000 paydays.
Dietrich, now a four-time All Star winner this season with his first two occurring during Ohio Sprint Speedweek, led all but four circuits of the combined 40-lap Tri-State Summer Swing presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts contest.
Dietrich led wire-to-wire ein the first feature, followed by a quick charge from sixth in the second feature, taking command over Lance Dewease on lap five.
Brent Marks, who finished second in each of the Jack Gunn Memorial showstoppers, did his best to spoil Dietrich’s clean sweep with a final corner move in the second main event, but Dietrich prevailed, driving back underneath the “Myerstown Missile” after Marks attempted a slider entering turn one.
Traffic played a pivotal role in Marks’ final lap pursuit, creating a two-wide roadblock in front of “Double-D” that commenced with a handful remaining.
An invert was utilized to set the grid for the second 20-lap feature; Dietrich pulled a six following the first 20-lapper.
“I have a great car and a great team supported by great partners…that makes something like this possible,” said Dietrich, driver of Gary Kauffman’s No. 48 sprint car. “Just a great effort by everyone involved. Things got a little dicey there in the closing laps of the second feature, and when I saw Brent get underneath me, I thought ‘oh crap.’ Luckily, I was able to get the car turned back underneath and drive off the corner. It feels good to be back at The Grove. We haven’t been here since we raced with the Outlaws. Hopefully we can turn things around and do it again tomorrow at Lincoln.”
The finishes:
First feature (20 Laps): 1. 48-Danny Dietrich [1]; 2. 19M-Brent Marks [6]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [7]; 4. 13-Justin Peck [5]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [2]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog [4]; 7. 11-Anthony Macri [13]; 8. 18-Gio Scelzi [10]; 9. 8-Freddie Rahmer [9]; 10. 44-Dylan Norris [3]; 11. 39-Chase Dietz [16]; 12. 19T-Tyler Reeser [11]; 13. 11T-TJ Stutts [12]; 14. 99M-Kyle Moody [15]; 15. 26-Zeb Wise [22]; 16. 19-Chris Windom [8]; 17. 1W-Robbie Kendall [18]; 18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [14]; 19. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [24]; 20. 4-Cap Henry [20]; 21. 45-Jeff Halligan [23]; 22. 17X-Steve Buckwalter [21]; 23. 35-Austin Bishop [19]; 24. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [25]; 25. 23-Devon Borden [17]
Second feature (20 Laps): 1. 48-Danny Dietrich [6]; 2. 19M-Brent Marks [5]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [4]; 4. 13-Justin Peck [3]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 6. 11-Anthony Macri [7]; 7. 39-Chase Dietz [11]; 8. 18-Gio Scelzi [8]; 9. 26-Zeb Wise [15]; 10. 44-Dylan Norris [10]; 11. 19T-Tyler Reeser [12]; 12. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [19]; 13. 8-Freddie Rahmer [9]; 14. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [18]; 15. 11T-TJ Stutts [13]; 16. 99M-Kyle Moody [14]; 17. 4-Cap Henry [20]; 18. 35-Austin Bishop [23]; 19. 19-Chris Windom [16]; 20. 1W-Robbie Kendall [17]; 21. 17X-Steve Buckwalter [22]; 22. 1x-Chad Trout [24]; 23. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [2]; 24. 45-Jeff Halligan [21]