YORK HAVEN, Pa.: When there is a local Sprint Car race at BAPS Motor Speedway, Danny Dietrich is going to be listed as a favorite to sit in Victory Lane at the end of the night.
There are a variety of reasons. One that sticks out is that it’s a driver’s track, and Dietrich likes the configuration, the technical aspect, and seems to always be in the mix come feature time.
Dietrich didn’t wait around during Saturday’s EK Services Britton Finkenbinder Kevin Gobrecht Classic presented by Denk Electric. He got to the front in a hurry, but banking $10,000 was no easy task. It came down to the wire.
Brent Marks lost the lead to Dietrich and took it back at the white flag. The Gettysburg, Pa., driver returned the favor in the first and second corner and held on … barely … to score the win in the 30-Lap affair.
“Thank you to Brent Marks for not spinning me out off two on the last lap,” Dietrich said. “We race each other really clean, and this time I came out on top. Usually, I feel like it’s always him … especially here.
“It (the car) was really good. Jake, Chad, Eric all did a great job. This was Gary [Kauffman’s] 150th win. I thought we were already there. I’m happy for him, this team, and everybody who supported us to get here over the years.”
Dietrich started fifth on the grid and settled into fourth at the completion of Lap 4. Meanwhile, Jacob Allen got the jump on Brent Marks and set the pace at the front of the field.
Marks chipped away at Allen’s advantage and sailed into the lead on the eighth circuit. By that time, Dietrich was up to third and started to gain on Allen through the corners.
The Gary Kauffman-owned No. 48 worked all over the speedway. Dietrich caught Allen on Lap 12 and shot to the inside to take over the runner-up position, which played huge when the caution was displayed on Lap 19.
Dietrich got a good jump and nailed the bottom on the restart. He slid across the track in front of Marks, who had to check up in a hurry.
“He left me the bottom on the restart, and I’m not going to lie, I bottomed out going into one and came across the track harder than I wanted to,” Dietrich said in Victory Lane. “I don’t know how close it was, and I ended up backing into the wall harder than I wanted to. Racing him is hard. He just won $70,000 the last two weekends.”
There was no getting away from Marks. Dietrich started to catch the back of the field, which let the High Limit driver and Freddie Rahmer close in the hurry.
Marks took his shot coming to the white flag. He got under Dietrich and held a slim lead at the stripe. Dietrich returned the favor in the first and second corner, parking his car as the two made contact off of the second corner.
“At the end, I didn’t know where I needed to be,” Dietrich said. “I was catching lapped cars and felt like I was losing my right rear in one and two. I didn’t want to be in their dirty air losing my tires, so I was cheating it.
“I just decided to drive across and park it in the middle of the track. It’s really flat up there in two and hard to carry that speed on to the straightaway. If I could get parked and turn left perfect, I could block the crossover. He got into the back of me and could’ve spun me, and I appreciate him not doing that.”
It was close at the finish, but Dietrich claimed the win by .487 seconds. Marks was second, with Rahmer a mere .143 seconds out of second. Allen was fourth, with 18th-place starter Justin Whittall completing the top five.
The win was Dietrich’s 21st at the speedway, which ties him with Lance Dewease and Greg Hodnett for 10th on the track’s all-time win list.
“Pretty good damn company,” Dietrich said. “In my world, it doesn’t get much better than that. We miss Greg, and being tied with him is phenomenal. It’s hard to imagine where he would be if he was still with us.”
Bill Brian Jr. earned $2,500 for his flag-to-flag win in the 40-Lap Wingless Super Sportsman main event. There were seven cautions during the event, which also featured a fuel stop.
Tony Jackson started 13th and made a late bid for the win, but Brian was up to task and claimed the win by .570 seconds. Brian Nace, Chad Thomas, and Chad Baker completed the top five.
In the Superior Homes Extreme Stock main event, Patrick McClane wired the field to score the win in the 20-Lap main event. Sammy Rial finished second and was named track champion in the division.
10/26 Bap Motor Speedway
HVAC Distributors Kevin Gobrecht Classic & EK Services Britton Memorial - Presented By Denk Electric
RV 4 Wheel Drive 410 Sprints ( 38 Cars ):
- 48 Danny Dietrich 2) 19 Brent Marks 3) 8 Freddie Rahmer 4) 1A Jacob Allen 5) 23 Justin Whittall 6) 69K Logan Wagner 7) 35 Austin Bishop 8) 2D Chase Dietz 9) 5 Tyler Ross 10) 10x Ryan Smith 11) 19R Mark Smith
- 88 Brandon Rahmer 13) 92 Troy Wagaman Jr. 14) 55 Domenic Melair 15) 00K Kyle Spence 16) 75 Kenny Edkin 17) 6K Dylan Norris 18) 5w Lucas Wolfe 19) 75 Cameron Smith 20) 67 JJ Loss 21) 91 Kyle Reinhardt
- 88 Lance Dewease 24) 28F Davie Franek
DNQ: 41 Logan Rumsey, 39M Anthony Macri, 12 Brent Shearer, 99M Kyle Moody, 24T TJ Greve, 7 Ian Borden, 27s Robbie Kendell, 6K Cole Knopp, 11Z Zach Newlin, 35 Steve Owings, 11 Mike Thompson, 9 Gordon Senft III,
38s Brett Strickler, 14 Anthony Foscone Jr.
Lap Leaders: 1A Allen ( 1 - 7 ), 19 Marks ( 8 - 18 ), 48 Dietrich ( 19 - 28 ), 19 Marks ( 29 ), 48 Dietrich ( 30 )
Heat Winners: 6K Norris, 69K Wagner, 48 Dietrich, 35 Bishop
B - Main Winner: 75 Smith
Hard Charger: 23 Whittall ( +13 )
Hard Luck: 91 Reinhardt
Quick Time: 8 Rahmer ( 15.468 )
Racing For Outreach Wingless Sportsman ( 22 Cars ):
- 16 Billy Brian Jr. 2) 88 Tony Jackson 3) 28N Brian Nace 4) 33 Chad Thomas 5) 11 Chad Baker 6) 59 Steve Wilbur 7) 1A Craig Perigo 8) 2J Jason Failor 9) 38DD Luke Lenker 10) 35 John Edkin 11) 69 Brandon Shearer
- 66 Trent Yoder 13) 64 Stan Wanner 14) 37 Jordan Fulton 15) 318 Cliff Brian Jr. 16) 21R Jamie Rickert 17) 63 Kevin Gutshall 18) 14 Rohan Beasley 19) 222 Jay Fannasy 20) 44 Dexter Ehrenzeller 21) 12 Andy Burkhart
- 30 Scott Dellinger
Lap Leaders: 16 Brian ( 1 - 40 )
Heat Winners: 1A Perigo, 16 Brian, 88 Jackson
Quick Time: 88 Jackson ( 18.553 )
Hard Charger: 2J Failor ( +14 )
Superior Homes Extreme Stocks ( 15 Cars ):
- 79 Patrick McClane 2) 11 Sam Rial 3) 28 Brian Walls 4) 7F Hunter Fulton 5) 97 Donnie Broderick 6) 7P Justin Palm 7) 5N Matt Ney 8) 9 Matt Adams 9) 12x Tommy Randall 10) 51 Hunter Whitcomb 11) 25C Nick Clemens
- 79s Michael Stoppard Jr. 13) 24 Presley Almoney 14) 28 Miranda Minium 15) 45 Ernie Posey
Lap Leaders: 79 McClane ( 1 - 20 )
Heat Winners: 28 Walls, 11 Rial
BAPS Motor Speedway has two November events left in the 2024 season.
Saturday November 16, 2024-Heavy Equipment Loaders & Parts Sprint Showdown featuring $10,000 to Win 410 Sprints, 358 Modifieds and Enduros.
Saturday November 23, 2024-2nd Annual Drydene Gobbler Bash featuring Classic Cars, Scramble Cars, Demo Derby (Large & Small Cars), Women on Wheels, Figure 8 and Car Soccer.
Visit www.bapsmotorspeedway.com for details.
- April Clark on Oct 29, 2024
- Article Date: 10/29/2024