ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – It had been more than a month since Freddie Rahmer last stood in victory lane at Lincoln Speedway.
Since his win in April Rahmer had only finished outside the top-five once. Despite the solid finishes Rahmer shows up every week wanting a win. He did just that on Monday, capturing the Hank Gentzler Memorial at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval.
“It feels really good to win again, it feels like it’s been a while,” he said in victory lane.
The race was named after Hank Gentzler, who was a staple in racing and his legacy continues on with the annual running of his memorial race.
“He supported racing in a lot of different ways. I’ve never won this race before, so it was pretty cool to do that,” Rahmer said.
The victory was his 16th at Lincoln and ties him with Steve Kinser on the all-time win list.
Ryan Smith, the winner of the 2019 Hank Gentzler Memorial, started on the pole of the 35-lap feature.
Smith led the field into turn one with Aaron Bollinger, Freddie Rahmer and Brandon Rahmer battling for position behind him.
Freddie Rahmer drove to the outside of Bollinger coming out of turn four and took second at the line.
The first caution of the race came on lap three when Bollinger got turned around in turn two. Bollinger had been running third and was able to rejoin the field.
Smith led Freddie Rahmer, Brandon Rahmer, Dylan Norris and Chad Trout to the cone for the single-file restart.
Freddie Rahmer looked to the inside of Smith into turn 1 and took the lead coming out of turn two. Trout was also on the move and got by Norris for fourth.
Brandon Rahmer was working the bottom trying to reel in Smith for second. Brandon Rahmer took the spot at the line on lap nine.
Freddie Rahmer entered lapped traffic on lap 10.
As the leaders worked through lapped traffic Trout was closing in on Smith for third as Smith was battling to take second back from Brandon Rahmer. The three-car battle was put to a halt when the yellow flag waved on lap 20 for Bradley Howard who got spun around in turn two.
The Rahmer brothers paced the field ahead of Smith, Trout and Tyler Ross for the restart.
Smith and Trout raced side by side at the line on lap 22 with Trout having the slight advantage to take third. Smith took the spot back on the next lap. Ross entered the picture making it a three-car battle for third.
Smith created some distance and pulled away from Trout and Ross leaving them to duke it out for fourth.
Lapped traffic came back into play on lap 27. Lapped traffic did not slow Freddie Rahmer down and he had a 2.446 second lead over Brandon Rahmer with five laps to go.
Smith got by Brandon Rahmer in lapped traffic for second on lap 31 and Trout followed on the next lap taking third.
Freddie Rahmer got to the checkered flag 4.741 seconds ahead of Smith. Trout was closing in on Smith but ran out of laps and settled for third. Brandon Rahmer crossed the line fourth and Ross completed the top five.
The finish:
1. 51-Freddie Rahmer ($5,000); 2. 10X-Ryan Smith; 3. 1X-Chad Trout; 4. 88-Brandon Rahmer; 5. 75-Tyler Ross; 6. 99m-Kyle Moody; 7. 44-Dylan Norris; 8. 39-Chase Dietz; 9. 87-Alan Krimes; 10. 59-Jim Siegel; 11. 91-Tony Fiore; 12. 8-Billy Dietrich; 13. 7-Trey Hivner; 14. 5E-Tim Wagaman; 15. 69-Tim Glatfelter; 16. 2w-Glenndon Forsythe; 17. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer; 18. 19-Troy Wagaman; 19. 16A-Aaron Bollinger; 20. 11A-Austin Bishop; 21. 21T-Scott Fisher (DNF; 22. 90-Jordan Givler (DNF); 23. 49H-Bradley Howard (DNF); 24. 9-Dalton Dietrich (DNF)