MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Anthony Macri won the battle and Lance Dewease won the war in the sprint car races at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
Just weeks after getting his long-awaited first 410 sprint car win at the half-mileoval, Macri led from start to finish to pick up a $7,000 payday in the 39th running of the Jack Gunn Memorial sanctioned by the All Stars Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars Series.
And with a second place run in the Gunn Memorial, Lance Dewease clinched his seventh speedway track title, this time at the wheel of the Don Kreitz Jr.-owned No. 69k.
Macri started on the pole of the 30-lap Gunn Memorial with Chase Dietz to his outside but when the green flag fell only the first half lap could be scored before Matt Campbell flipped in the second turn and onto the backstretch.
The restart saw Macri take command on the cushion around the blistering fast half-mile with Dietz and fifth starter Dewease running in third.
The rear of the field came into play on the sixth lap as Macri hit the backmarkers at a dizzying pace.
This allowed Dietz to drive down a near straightaway advantage held by Macri to a margin of less than one corner before the final yellow flag of the race came out with nine laps in the book.
Brent Marks lined up behind Dewease for the restart and drove to his outside when green reappeared as the pair worked the first and second turns.
Marks pulled alongside Dewease as the pair raced toward the bridge but Dewease made his car wider and wider as the bridge came upon them with Marks backing out and settling into fourth.
Macri again entered the rear of the field at the halfway point carrying a near two-second lead.
By lap 19 the trio of Dietz, Dewease and Marks were all racing under a blanket for second, all within the space of one corner.
Dewease finally made a move for second with nine laps to go and Marks followed him a few laps later.
But Macri again had nearly a two second lead with five laps to go and as Marks battled Dewease for second all the way to the finish, they ended up 2.331 seconds behind Macri.
“Track position was everything tonight,” Macri said. “I knew starting on the front row, I had to get out front and make 30 clean laps. It got a little sketchy in lapped traffic at times. I knew I had to keep my pace up.”
By virtue of his win, Macri earned a guaranteed starting spot in Saturday night’s All Stars Dirt Classic at Lincoln Speedway.
Dewease reflected on what was his championship run.
“We’ve been pretty good all year,” Dewease said.
“We can pass race cars even on a track like this. It seems like it didn’t matter where we started, we’d get to the top three, top five.
“It’s nice to get Donald (Kreitz) and Davey (Brown) a championship. I’m glad it’s over and we can worry about racing again.”
Dietz and 13th-starter Danny Dietrich completed the top five.
Austin Reed won the 20-lap PASS/IMCA 305 sprint car main over Devin Adams, Jeff Geiges, Dave Grube and Brandon McClain.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. Anthony Macri. 2. Lance Dewease. 3. Brent Marks. 4. Chase Dietz. 5. Danny Dietrich. 6. Brian Brown. 7. Zeb Wise. 8. Dylan Cisney. 9. Robbie Kendall. 10. Cory Eliason. 11. Aaron Reutzel. 12. Rico Abreu 13. Spencer Bayston. 14. Chad Trout. 15. Bill Balog. 16. Gio Scelzi. 17. Devon Borden. 18. Tyler Courtney. 19. Justin Peck. 20. Ian Madsen. 21. TJ Stutts. 22. Skylar Gee. 23. Lucas Wolfe. 24. Dylan Norris. 25. Matt Campbell.