ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — A pair of late race cautions could not slow down Chase Dietz as he powered to victory in Saturday night’s 35-lap Kramer Klash at Lincoln Speedway, pocketing the $7,300 winner’s share in honor of National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee Kramer Williamson.
Freddie Rahmer, fresh off his victory one week ago, started from the pole position and immediately jumped into the lead when the green flag waved. Chad Trout settled into second while Austin Bishop ran third during the opening laps.
Rahmer appeared poised to control the event early, but a fierce battle soon developed behind him. Bishop pressured Trout for second before making the pass on lap three. Meanwhile, Dietz methodically worked his way forward, taking over third from Trout and then setting his sights on Bishop.
As the leaders entered lapped traffic on lap eight, Rahmer held a 1.8-second advantage, but Dietz quickly erased that margin. By lap 10, Dietz had moved into second and was challenging Rahmer when the caution flag flew for Jude Siegel, who spun in turn four.
The restart ignited the crowd as Dietz was all over Rahmer, throwing a slider in turns three and four to briefly take the lead. Rahmer answered on the following lap, but Dietz remained relentless.
Another caution on lap 13 for Aaron Bollinger tightened the field once again. Dietz continued his assault and eventually wrestled the lead away from Rahmer for good as the race approached the halfway point.
Wagaman emerged as the driver on the move, charging into the top five before taking over fourth and then challenging the front runners.
By lap 19, Dietz had stretched his advantage to nearly two seconds while navigating lapped traffic. Rahmer slowly chipped away at the deficit, but a caution for Talan Haas on lap 23 erased the leader’s advantage.
Dietz delivered another flawless restart, immediately pulling away from Rahmer. Wagaman capitalized as well, driving past Bishop for third and then slipping by Rahmer for second on lap 27.
With clean air in front of him, Dietz was untouchable. He returned to lapped traffic on lap 28 and continued to build his lead, extending it to nearly four seconds while ripping around Lincoln’s high side.
A red flag with two laps remaining for Tyler Ross in turn four set up a green-white-checkered finish and one final challenge for the leaders. Dietz never flinched, executing a perfect restart and driving away over the final two laps to secure the Kramer Klash victory.
Wagaman crossed the line second, followed by Rahmer, Bishop, and Billy Dietrich to complete the top five.
Jayden Wolf took command on an early restart and never looked back, cruising to victory in Saturday night’s 20-lap McConkey Insurance & Benefits 358 Sprint Car feature.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 23-Chase Dietz[6]; 2. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[10]; 3. 51-Freddie Rahmer[1]; 4. 11A-Austin Bishop[4]; 5. 8-Billy Dietrich[3]; 6. 1A-Cameron Smith[5]; 7. 71-Logan Rumsey[7]; 8. 1X-Chad Trout[2]; 9. 99M-Kyle Moody[11]; 10. 91-Preston Lattomus[12]; 11. 4-Ayden Hare[15]; 12. 10-Matt Campbell[14]; 13. X-Dallas Schott[8]; 14. 17-Dylan Norris[18]; 15. 39-JJ Loss[19]; 16. 55-Domenic Melair[22]; 17. 5-Tyler Ross[13]; 18. 88-Brandon Rahmer[16]; 19. 3D-Dave Grube[23]; 20. 69-Tim Glatfelter[24]; 21. 2-Jude Siegel[9]; 22. 11-Talan Haas[21]; 23. 75-Aaron Bollinger[17]; 24. 23A-Chris Arnold[20]
