ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — A patient drive through the field and a perfectly timed pass for the lead earned Matt Campbell the victory in the 30-lap Bob Leiby Memorial at Lincoln Speedway on Wednesday night.
Mark Smith and Dave Grube led the field to the green flag, with Smith quickly taking command while Jude Siegel powered around the outside of Grube to claim second.
The race’s only caution flew on the opening lap when Kyle Moody spun on the frontstretch, bunching the field back together. Smith was flawless on the restart, maintaining the lead over Siegel, Grube, Ayden Hare, and Matt Campbell.
Over the next several laps, Campbell began working his way forward. Hare and Campbell both slipped past Grube, while J.T. Ferry raced his way into the top five.
Out front, Smith and Siegel began to separate themselves from the field, with Smith holding an advantage of nearly a second as the leaders caught lapped traffic on lap eight. That traffic allowed the battle behind him to tighten, with Campbell closing rapidly on the leaders.
Campbell first disposed of Hare for third before turning his attention to Siegel. After several laps of pressure, Campbell executed a bold slide job coming off turn four to grab second place. He wasted little time tracking down Smith, using the momentum to complete another pass and take over the top spot.
Meanwhile, Danny Dietrich was putting together one of the night’s most impressive drives. After taking the green from the 18th starting position, Dietrich cracked the top six before charging into third with just nine laps remaining. Two laps later, he completed another pass to move into second and set his sights on Campbell.
With five laps remaining, Campbell appeared comfortably in control with a 2.123-second advantage. Dietrich, however, refused to give up, trimming the margin to 1.590 seconds in a single lap before Campbell stretched it back beyond two seconds. In the closing laps, Dietrich mounted one final charge, slicing the deficit to less than a second as the white flag waved.
Campbell remained composed over the final circuit, navigating traffic and holding off Dietrich’s late-race charge to score the victory in the Bob Leiby Memorial.
Dietrich’s remarkable drive from 18th to second earned him runner-up honors, while Smith completed the podium after leading the opening portion of the race. Hare and Freddie Rahmer rounded out the top five.
Chase Robinson led all 20 laps to capture his first career 358 Sprint Car feature victory at Lincoln Speedway, holding off defending feature winner P.J. Reutimann.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 10-Matt Campbell[8]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[18]; 3. 17K-Mark Smith[1]; 4. 4-Ayden Hare[6]; 5. 51-Freddie Rahmer[9]; 6. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[10]; 7. 5-Tyler Ross[20]; 8. 2-Jude Siegel[4]; 9. 17-Dylan Norris[11]; 10. 38-Brett Strickler[7]; 11. 18J-JT Ferry[5]; 12. 8-Billy Dietrich[16]; 13. 91-Preston Lattomus[13]; 14. 39-Lucas Wolfe[17]; 15. 69-Cameron Smith[19]; 16. 00-Chris Frank[22]; 17. 3D-Dave Grube[2]; 18. 23A-Chris Arnold[23]; 19. 99M-Kyle Moody[15]; 20. 6-Cole Knopp[3]; 21. 5F-Glenndon Forsythe[14]; 22. (DNF) 1X-Chad Trout[12]; 23. (DNF) 38S-Jordan Strickler[21]; 24. (DNF) 11H-Hayden Miller[24]
