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Red flag, rain storm force early stop at the Grove

MECHANICSBURG — A rogue rain shower hit Williams Grove Speedway and postponed the sprint car features Friday night.

The 30-lap, $5,077 to win Al Hamilton Tribute Race and Dirt Classic Qualifier began with Greg Hodnett grabbing the lead over Lucas Wolfe. Lance Dewease took second from Wolfe as they raced off turn four on the opening lap.

Behind the leaders, a seven-car crash occurred in turn four with two cars flipping. No drivers were injured, but the race was stopped to clean up the wreck.

One of the cars had a broken fuel cell dumping fuel on the track, which delayed the restart even longer. Crews were allowed on the track to work on the cars.

While the cars were waiting for the race to resume, rain began to fall and became heavy. The cars were pushed back to the pit area. The rain continued and track officials were forced to postponed the 410 and 358 sprint car features at 10:20 p.m.

The tentative make-up schedule looks like this: The 410s will complete their feature next Friday night after qualifying time trials for the National Open tune-up race. The 358 race will be made up on the last race of the season on Oct. 5.

Before the stoppage, T.J. Stutts set fast time over the 27-car field with a lap of 16.521. Hodnett, Wolfe and Trout won the eight-lap heat races. Robbie Kendall won the consolation.

The Williams Grove National Open is in two weeks, on Sept. 29, paying $56,000 to win.

Weather has hampered the Grove all season with only two shows completed at the track since July 20. Hodnett leads the point standings headed into the final weeks over Wolfe.

Hodnett is seeking his sixth career track championship. He’s a two-time winner at the track this season and ranks third all-time on the career win list with 73 victories.

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