WoO 4-wide Salute at BAPS Motor Speedway (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
7/20/23
BAPS Motor Speedway
York Haven, PA
WoO
32 cars
The first visit for the WoO in 31 years was put off a day by a Wednesday night thunderstorm.
Justin Peck (5th car out to time) set quick time on the 4/10-mile oval at 14.979 seconds. Brad Sweet (18th car out) was second quick, followed by Dylan Norris (7th), Logan Schuchart (30th), Cory Eliason (2nd), Gio Scelzi (16th), Sheldon Haudenschild (26th), Brent Marks (3rd), Kasey Kahne (8th) and James McFadden (15th).
Heat one (started): 1. Peck 13 (1) 2. Eliason 11 (2) 3. Kahne 9 (3) 4. Kyle Reinhardt 91 (7) 5. Donny Schatz 15 (4) / 6. Tyler Ross 75 (5) 7. Freddie Rahmer 8 (6) 8. Jordan Givler 90 (8)
Peck led the distance and pulled away in convincing fashion. Rahmer spun out of the fifth and final transfer spot three laps in. Ross inherited the final transfer spot, but Schatz took the high side of three and four on the restart to claim the spot.
Heat two (started): 1. Sweet 49 (1) 2. Scelzi 18 (2) 3. McFadden 83 (3) 4. Jacob Allen 1a (6) 5. Brock Zearfoss 3z (7) / 6. Robbie Price 7s (4) 7. Lucas Wolfe 5w (5) 8. Cameron Smith 39T (8)
Sweet led wire to wire over Scelzi and McFadden. Allen put a bad slider on Wolfe to take fifth on lap two. Smith stopped with two to go. That set up a mad scramble fo the final transfer that saw Price in the spot and up to fourth, before Allen and Zearfoss both got by to sneak in.
Heat three (started): 1. Carson Macedo 41 (3) 2. Haudenschild 17 (2) 3. Norris 44 (1) 4. Troy Wagaman Jr. 27 (4) 5. Danny Dietrich 48 (7) / 6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (5) 7. Brett Strickler 38 (6) 8. Domenic Melair 55 (8)
No change in the top four in this one from green to checker, but Danny Dietrich slid Hafertepe for the final transfer, making contact in turn four.
Heat four (started): 1. Schuchart 1s (1) 2. David Gravel 2 (3) 3. Marks 19 (2) 4. Spencer Bayston 5 (4) 5. Kyle Moody 99m (5) / 6. Devon Borden 23 (7) 7. Noah Gass 20G (6) 8. Bill Rose 6 (8)
Again, not much movement in the top four, but a good battle for the final transfer between Moody, Borden and Gass. The latter two put some good sliders on each other to carry the entertainment in the heat.
Dash (started): 1. Sweet (1) 2. Schuchart (2) 3. Gravel (4) 4. Eliason (3) 5. Macedo (5) 6. Haudenschild (7) 7. Scelzi (6) 8. Peck (8)
The 6-lap Dash set up to the first four rows of the feature.
B main (started): 1. Hafertepe (3) 2. Price (1) 3. Borden (4) 4. Rahmer (5) / 5. Wolfe (6) 6. Givler (9) 7. Gass (8) 8. Strickler (7) 9. Melair (11) 10. Rose (12) 11. Ross (2) 12. Smith (10)
The 12-lapper took the top four to the feature. Gass contacted Ross who got upside down hard in turn two, collecting Smith. Both were done. Hafertepe shot into the lead at the outset, and the top four were never seriously challenged.
A main (started): 1. Gravel (3) 2. Sweet (1) 3. Schuchart (2) 4. Macedo (5) 5. Marks (12) 6. Haudenschild (6) 7. Scelzi (7) 8. Dietrich (19) 9. McFadden (10) 10. Peck (8) 11. Norris (11) 12. Schatz (17) 13. Borden (23) 14. Reinhardt (13) 15. Kahne (9) 16. Allen (14) 17. Wagaman Jr. (15) 18. Moody (20) 19. Price (20) 20. Zearfoss (18) 21. Bayston (16) 22. Eliason (4) 23. Rahmer (24) 24. Hafertepe (21)
The 30-lap feature went non-stop. Sweet led early over Gravel, Schuchart, Macedo and Scelzi. Eliason took over fifth from Scelzi on lap two, which started a good battle for the spot. Scelzi took it back a lap later. The leaders were single-file early and entered lapped traffic on lap ten. Traffic began to be an issue and Gravel passed Sweet low in turn four on lap 14 for the lead. The next circuit, he was the one caught behind traffic and Sweet took over again. Five laps later, Gravel went high in turn two to take command for good over the last ten laps. Marks was on the move late, getting by Scelzi to nail down fifth. Dietrich was the hard-charger.