HARTFORD, Ohio — Ryan Smith made it a winning streak Saturday night at Sharon Speedway.
One night after claiming his first Lernerville Speedway 410 sprint car victory, Smith drove his No. 6 to a $3,850 score at Sharon Speedway.
“So far so good- it’s a shame Mother Nature was rude to us the first two nights,” acknowledged the 33-year-old Fleetwood, Pa. winner. “This place is awesome. The guys do a heck of a job with the race track. Thanks to Tyler (Beichner) for putting this together and the place is packed — it doesn’t get any better than this.”
Carl Bowser and Smith brought the 24-car starting field to green for the 30-lap feature with Bowser getting the jump and taking the early lead over Smith, Dan Kuriger, Brandon Matus, and Brandon Spithaler. Sye Lynch and Cody Bova tangled on the backstretch on lap two with both cars spinning wildly and kicking up a cloud of dust from the infield; thankfully everyone was able to avoid them.
Back under green, Bowser and Smith broke away from the field on lap four. Eighth starting Darin Gallagher was on the move taking fourth from Matus on lap six and closed in on Kuriger one lap later. Bowser was in lapped traffic on lap 10, but a caution for Spithaler gave him a clear track.
When green replaced yellow, Smith tried the bottom as he raced side-by-side with Bowser, but Bowser had the momentum off the top to maintain the lead, while Gallagher nosed ahead of Kuriger for third. A.J. Flick started alongside Gallagher in row four and followed him forward taking fourth from Kuriger on lap 13. Bowser caught lapped traffic on lap 17, while Flick made the pass of Gallagher for third.
As the laps ticked off, Smith continued to stay right with Bowser and closed in on lap 23. Smith made an excellent move in traffic on lap 24 sliding past Bowser for the winning pass. Bowser kept Smith in striking range over the final six laps, but once again was denied his first Sharon win as Smith took the BJD Motorsports-owned, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers/Western Mountain/X-1 Race Cars-sponsored No. 6 to the win by 0.623 of a second.
After a runner-up finish on Friday night at Lernerville, Flick made the podium again with a third-place effort. Kuriger was fourth with Bradley Howard fifth.
Other winners were Nolan Groves (RUSH sprint cars), Chas Wolbert (RUSH sportsman modifieds) and Jeremy Double (Econo Mods).