Common logic suggests that the best years of Lance Dewease — a 59-year-old driver who has been a fixture on the auto racing scene since the early 1980s — should be long behind the “Fayetteville Flyer.”
But nobody bothered to tell this to Dewease, as the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer turned back the clock once again at PA Speedweek with a $20,000 win at Port Royal Speedway’s Greg Hodnett Classic on Saturday.
After taking third in his heat race, Dewease drew the pole for the 410 Sprints 30-lap feature. There, he spent the majority of the race dueling for the top spot with Dillsburg’s Anthony Macri, the eventual PA Speedweek champion. The decisive moments of the race came on a couple of late restarts. A restart with nine laps remaining saw Dewease overtake Macri for the lead, but the Dillsburg’s “Concrete Kid” got another shot at Dewease one lap later when another caution came up. It was a close battle of the finish, but Dewease held off Macri for the win.
“It’s hard to beat Lance with the experience that he has,” Macri said in his podium interview. “He did a really good job of taking my air away and keeping his speed up. There’s a reason he has so many wins here. I wish I could be that good someday.”
It was truly a special night at Port Royal as another ageless wonder, National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Gary Stuhler, showed he can still nail down podium finishes, even at 70. Greencastle’s Stuhler started on the pole in the Super Late Models feature and finished second in the 25-lapper after a hard-fought battle with Andrew Yoder.
Two other PA Speedweek races at Hagerstown and Williams Grove Speedways saw Dewease land Top 10 finishes. He finishes eight in the PA Speedweek standings with 642 points.
Dewease didn’t compete at the PA Speedweek finale at Path Valley Speedway on Sunday, but another area driver, Greencastle’s Transtan Stoner, left his mark. Competing in the Wingless Super Sportsman feature, Stoner finished as the runner-up behind Eric Walker.
At McGrewBid Motoplex, Greencastle’s Todd Walls nailed down a win in the PA Micro Midgets 500cc race, while Hagerstown’s Cheyenne Snodderly posted a second-place finish in the Junior Slingshots race.
Finally, it’s safe to say that DJ Myers’ latest project of building an all-new race car, the TRW 70J, has been a resounding success. The Greencastle driver has now piloted his new Limited Late Models to three podium finishes in three tries after winning at Dog Hollow Speedway on Friday and taking second at Winchester Speedway on Saturday.
Below is a track-by-track, feature-by-feature look at races from last weekend that included drivers from the Local.News1 coverage area:
FEATURE RESULTS
PA Speedweek Standings (Final): 1. Anthony Macri (Dillsburg) 1,035, 2. Danny Dietrich (Gettysburg) 998, 3. Chase Dietz (York) 843, 4. Ryan Smith (Fleetwood) 783, 5. Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown) 705, 6. Freddie Rahmer (Salfordville) 697, 7. Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg) 664, 8. Lance Dewease (Fayetteville) 642, 9. Troy Wagaman Jr. (Hanover) 627, 10. Cameron Smith (Spring Grove) 614.
Hagerstown Speedway
Thursday, July 3
410 Sprints: 1. Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), 2. Danny Dietrich (Gettysburg), 3. Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg), 4. Anthony Macri (Dillsburg), 5. Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown), 6. Troy Wagaman Jr. (Hanover), 7. Lance Dewease (Fayetteville), 8. Justin Whittall (Vincentown, N.J.), 9. Cameron Smith (Spring Grove), 10. Freddie Rahmer (Salfordville), 11. JJ Loss (Hanover), 12. Chase Dietz (York), 13. Michael Walter (Selinsgrove), 14. Logan Wagner (Harrisonville), 15. Dylan Norris (Hanover), 16. Ashton Torgerson (Glendale, Ariz.), 17. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.), 18. Ryan Newton (Meridan Plains, QLD), 19. Preston Lattomus (Lewes, Del.), 20. TJ Stutts (Liverpool), 21. Jordan Givler (Enola), 22. Kody Hartlaub (East Berlin), 23. Tyler Walker (Hermoso Beach, Calif.), 24. Ryan Smith (Fleetwood).
Williams Grove Speedway
Friday, July 4
410 Sprints: 1. Danny Dietrich (Gettysburg), 2. Anthony Macri (Dillsburg), 3. Brent Marks (Myerstown), 4. Troy Wagaman Jr. (Hanover), 5. Lance Dewease (Fayetteville), 6. Ryan Smith (Fleetwood), 7. Ashton Torgerson (Glendale, Ariz.), 8. Logan Schuchart (Hanover), 9. Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg), 10. Chase Dietz (York), 11. Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown), 12. Cameron Smith (Spring Grove), 13. TJ Stutts (Liverpool), 14. Justin Whittall (Vincentown, N.J.), 15. Freddie Rahmer (Salfordville), 16. Steve Buckwalter (Royersford), 17. JJ Loss (Hanover), 18. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) DNF, 19. Dylan Norris (Hanover) DNF, 20. Kody Hartlaub (East Berlin) DNF, 21. Chad Trout (Dover) DNF, 22. Jordan Thomas (Harding) DNF, 23. Austin Bishop (Morgantown) DNF, 24. Tyler Ross (Lincoln University) DNF.
McGrewBid Motoplex
Friday, July 4
PA Micro Midgets 500cc: 1. Todd Walls (Greencastle), 2. Jermey Sperlein (Littlestown), 3. Katelyn Johnson (Quarryville), 4. Josh Forry (Spring Grove), 5. Matt Kiefert (Colora, Md.), 6. CJ Kimm (Fredericksburg), 7. Ryan Wells (Jonestown), 8. Nick Decker (Halifax), 9. Ryan Rost (Delta), 10. Chase Frey (Airville), 11. Chason Hauck (York), 12. Wesley Walls (Saint Thomas), 13. Bobby Geiman (Felton), 14. Landon Godfrey (Loganville), 15. Daniel Feltch (Quarryville), 16. Timothy Hartle (Sykesville, Md.), 17. Maddox Wire (York Haven), 18. Lily Barrett (Fleetwood), 19. Chris Lennox (Eagle Bridge, N.Y.) DNF, 20. Jim Rost (Darlington, Md.) DNF, 21. Ronald Blizzard Jr. (Gettysburg) DNF.
Junior Slingshots: 1. Aubrey Romig (Mertztown), 2. Cheyenne Snodderly (Hagerstown, Md.), 3. Hayden Kimm (Fredericksburg).
Port Royal Speedway
Saturday, July 5
410 Sprints: 1. Lance Dewease (Fayetteville), 2. Anthony Macri (Dillsburg), 3. Ryan Smith (Fleetwood), 4. Justin Whittall (Vincentown, N.J.), 5. Danny Dietrich (Gettysburg), 6. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.), 7. Chase Dietz (York), 8. Mike Wagner (Harrisonville), 9. Freddie Rahmer (Salfordville), 10. Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown), 11. Logan Wagner (Harrisonville), 12. Michael Walter (Selinsgrove), 13. Doug Hammaker (Grantville), 14. Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg), 15. Garrett Bard (Wells Tannery), 16. Jeff Halligan (Ephrata), 17. Austin Bishop (Morgantown), 18. Mark Smith (Sunbury), 19. Alex Attard (Mangrove Mountain, NSW), 20. Brent Marks (Myerstown), 21. Domenic Melair (Warrington), 22. Troy Wagaman Jr. (Hanover), 23. Blane Heimbach (Selinsgrove), 24. Preston Lattomus (Lewes, Del.).
Super Late Models: 1. Andrew Yoder (Middleburg), 2. Gary Stuhler (Greencastle), 3. Gene Knaub (Dover), 4. Trever Feathers (Winchester, Va.), 5. Hayes Mattern (Beavertown), 6. Dillan Stake (Mapleton Depot), 7. Rick Eckert (York), 8. Justin Weaver (Clear Spring, Md.), 9. Justin Kann (Huntingdon), 10. Dylan Yoder (Middleburg), 11. Danny Snyder (Green Lane), 12. Jason Schmidt (Lewistown), 13. Shawn Shoemaker (Mt. Union), 14. Chad Myers (Hampstead, Md.), 15. Roy Deese Jr. (Laurel, Md.), 16. Shaun Jones (Shermans Dale), 17. Austin Berry (Mifflin), 18. Scott Flickinger (Elliottsburg), 19. Kody Lyter (Lewistown), 20. Kyle Lee (Mercersburg), 21. Colton Flinner (Allison Park).
Path Valley Speedway
Sunday, July 6
Wingless Super Sportsman: 1. Eric Walker (Gettysburg), 2. Transtan Stoner (Greencastle), 3. Brandon Shearer (Mount Joy), 4. Brad Mellott (Needmore), 5. Steve Wilbur (Mechanicsburg), 6. Kevin Gutshall (Mechanicsburg), 7. Luke Lenker (Mechanicsburg), 8. Brad Cowan (Neelyton), 9. Craig Perigo (Stoystown), 10. Dylan Norris (Hanover), 11. Austin Bishop (Morgantown), 12. Donnie Farlling (New Paris), 13. Wyatt Rotz (Spring Run), 14. Tony Hampton (Spring Run), 15. Sam Leonard (Marysville), 16. Brad Kling (Mount Union), 17. Jason Failor (Newville), 18. Josh Smith (Asper), 19. Billy Doyle (Dry Run), 20. Rohan Beasley (Mechanicsburg) DNF, 21. Jordan Fulton (Newport) DNF, 22. Brett Perigo (Stoystown) DNF, 23. Dexter Ehrenzeller (McAllisterville) DNF.
