YORK HAVEN, Pa. — Danny Dietrich has taken strides in the offseason to become a smarter and improved sprint car driver.
His dedication has paid off. Not only has he become a more tactical driver, it’s led to more early-season wins.
That was the case Sunday at BAPS Motor Speedway. Dietrich lost the lead to Brock Zearfoss, stayed focused and retook the top spot to capture his 12th career win at the York Haven speedway.
“I kind of had a new focus since January 1st,” Dietrich said after his third win in eight starts this season. “I’m just focused really, really hard on racing and getting myself in better shape, getting healthier, going to the gym.
“I think that’s propelled the beginning of the season. For me, personally, hopefully I can keep working on that and get back to the gym when things slow down. Racing is keeping us in pretty good shape now.”
Dietrich grabbed the lead at the drop of the green, passing pole-sitter Brett Michalski. Brock Zearfoss also dipped under Michalski and took the second spot, with Ryan Smith taking third before the completion of lap one.
The leaders approached lapped traffic on the eighth circuit. Dietrich dropped down to the bottom of turn two, which allowed Zearfoss to fly around the cushion and take the lead out of the second corner.
“I hate leading a race,” Dietrich said. “I would rather run second. I’ve told people that multiple times, and I don’t like starting in the front row.
“I don’t like setting the pace. I would rather pass someone knowing what my car has in it. You don’t know until you are in second how good you are. We weren’t the best, but we were good and had to make the most of it.”
The frontrunners got into lapped traffic on Lap 9. Dietrich was able to close and stalked Zearfoss for the next four laps.
Dietrich pounced on lap 13. Zearfoss was attempting to get by Trey Hivner and lost momentum. Dietrich closed in a hurry and pulled off a slider through Turns 3 and 4 to regain the top spot.
“I know exactly what my mistake was, and it was the same mistake Danny made,” Zearfoss said. “I was just kind of messing around too long.
“He left the door open, and I got him. I tried to drive away, caught lapped traffic, just messing around too long. That’s the deal breaker right there. I need more laps on short tracks to gauge when to pull the slide job on somebody, so I learned a lesson and got beat by it.”
Dietrich opened up a half-straightaway lead by the halfway point. Four laps later, Zearfoss got a shot at the leader after Chase Dietz got upside down in turn two. Jared Esh was also involved.
After the red flag, Dietrich was able to stretch his advantage. But, Zearfoss closed again when the leaders approached a four-pack of backmarkers on lap 29.
Dietrich took action, squeezing around Dylan Norris and Dan Shetler in turn two and sped away over the final circuit to take the win by 1.928 seconds.
Zearfoss settled for second, with Smith holding third. Anthony Macri came from 13th to fourth, and Cory Eliason completed the top five.
Kevin Nouse started seventh and methodically made his way to the front to earn the win in the 25-lap 358 sprint car main event.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps) – 1. 48-Danny Dietrich; 2. 70-Brock Zearfoss; 3. 72-Ryan Smith; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri; 5. 26-Cory Eliason; 6. 99-Kyle Moody; 7. 24-Lucas Wolfe; 8. 40-George Hobaugh; 9. 51-Freddie Rahmer; 10. 67-Justin Whittall; 11. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr.; 12. 91-Tony Fiore; 13. 73B-Brett Michalski; 14. 44-Dylan Norris; 15. 7K-Dan Shetler; 16. 19-Bryn Gohn; 17. 90-Jordan Givler (DNF); 18. 33-Jared Esh (DNF); 19. 75-Chase Dietz (DNF); 20. 7-Trey Hivner (DNF); 21. 2W-Glenndon Forsythe (DNF); 22. 9-Ryan Linder (DNF), DNS: 21-Brian Montieth, 49H-Bradley Howard.