SHARON, Ohio – Pennsylvania Posse kingpin Danny Dietrich earned his first Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek victory Tuesday night at Sharon Speedway and led the series standings after four of the first eight races.
It was Dietrich’s 14th career triumph with the All Star Circuit of Champions.
The victory followed an 11th-place effort at Wayne County Speedway, a second-place run at Fremont Speedway and a sixth-place result in the Speedweek opener at Attica Raceway Park.
Dietrich led All Star point leader Tyler Courtney by 12 points at the midpoint in the series.
“I just can’t thank my team enough for their hard work and determination,” said the driver of Gary Kaufffman’s No. 48 after winning at Sharon. “It’s been a pretty solid week so far. That’s all we can ask for.”
Dietrich is the only Central Pennsylvania regular taking on the full Speedweek schedule.
His victory on Tuesday also made him the fourth different winner in four Speedweek events and the 19th driver to win an All Star feature this season.
- Ohio sprint car fans are getting well acquainted with a new face during Ohio Speedweek.
Australian sprint car sensation Lachlan “Lockie” McHugh, has caught the attention of many during his stateside debut driving the No. 101 sprint car owned by Jim Muth and prepared by Dean “Bonzai” Bruns.
McHugh, who has won 20 features in Australia this season, made his stateside debut at Atomic Speedway in late May and plans to run all of the Speedweek events.
He made three of the first four features, finishing ninth at Fremont Speedway and 10th at Sharon.
- Former USAC sprint car champion C.J. Leary ran the first two nights of Ohio Speedweek aboard NASCAR racer Alex Bowman’s No. 55 sprint car and then left to compete in USAC’s Eastern Swing through Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“Speedweek is no joke. Such a cool week with a ton of awesome fans,” Leary tweeted.
- Kyle Larson and Buddy Kofoid wasted little time basking in the glory of their victories.
After winning the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway, Larson headed to Ohio and promptly won Monday’s event at Wayne County Speedway.
Kofoid, meanwhile, wrapped up the Indiana Midget Week crown on Saturday and then joined the CJB Motorsports sprint car team at Wayne County, finishing fourth to Larson.
- Jac Haudenschild and the Rico Abreu Racing No. 22 made their Speedweek debut at Wayne County Speedway on Monday night with Haudenschild finishing third, but getting disqualified after failing to report to the scales immediately following the feature.
Haudenschild was back in action Tuesday at Sharon but failed to qualify for the feature.
Haudenschild’s Wooster, Ohio, race shop was utilized by several teams during Speedweek, including the No. 55 Vermeer Motorsports operation with driver Hunter Schurenburg.
- After winning the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series feature at Sharon Speedway in May, Dave Blaney was noticeably absent from the field there on Tuesday night.
- Cole Duncan’s victory at Fremont Speedway on Saturday was his fifth career All Star triumph, passing his dad, Rodney, who won four All Star races.
- George Hobaugh started on the pole and finished fifth Tuesday at Sharon.
- Tim Shaffer has returned to the Grove Racing No. 28 sprint for Ohio Speedweek competition.
- Fifty-three cars Tuesday night at Sharon Speedway was the high-water mark for the first four races of Speedweek. Other car counts were 49 at Wayne County, 44 at Fremont and 46 at Attica.
- Second-generation Canadian sprint car driver Skylar Gee took over the Coldren Motorsports No. 07 at the beginning of June and opened Speedweek with a third-place finish at Attica Raceway Park.
- Kyle Larson’s victory at Wayne County Speedway was his 13th in Ohio Speedweek competition. Interestingly, that ranks him second all-time behind Dale Blaney, who has 32 Ohio Speedweek victories.
- Speedweek heads to Waynesfield Raceway Park Wednesday and concludes with events at Muskingum County Speedway, Limaland Motorsports Park and Portsmouth Raceway Park.