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MECHANICSBURG -- Lance Dewease was declared the winner of a rain-shortened sprint car feature Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.
It was his seventh Grove win of the season, fourth straight, and 110th of his career. It was opening night of National Open weekend with the World of Outlaws in town.
Only 10 laps of 25 were completed, but under World of Outlaws' rules, a race can be deemed complete with any number of laps completed. That was the situation at the Grove Friday night. At most speedways, at least half of the laps must be completed for a race to be considered complete.
Victory lane ceremonies were held in Dewease's pit area.
"I never won a 10 lap feature before and I've been doing this a long time," Dewease said. "That's nice at my old age. They tried really hard to get the show in."
With rain falling, Dewease started on the pole and secured the lead from Sheldon Haudenschild on the start. He pulled away as Brent Marks and Anthony Macri traded the fourth spot. The Pennsylvania drivers are the leading feature winners in 410 sprint car racing in the country this season.
Dewease built a comfortable lead over Haudenschild and defending National Open winner Carson Macedo with five laps completed.
The rain started falling harder and the yellow flag flew with seven laps completed.
The cars stayed on the track and when the rain slowed down, they were allowed to run a few laps around the track to make sure it was safe to race, which it was. Dewease led the field back to green.
Marks restarted fourth and passed Macedo third, but then flipped violently out over the third turn fence bringing out the red flag and stopping the race with 10 laps completed. Marks hit a billboard and landed against the tin fence that separates the track from the road.
He was okay. He had closed quickly on Haudenschild entering turn three and when he checked-up, his car hooked the cushion sending it flipping.
Rain continued falling as the crews were allowed to refuel their cars under the red flag to get Marks' car back to the pit area.
Officials determined it was raining too hard to continue and cars were sent back to the pit area.
Around 9:40, cars were pushed back onto the speedway.
Unfortunately, the rain continued falling and cars were sent back to the pits once again and the feature was quickly called official with Dewease winning. $10,000. Haudenschild, Macedo, Macri and David Gravel completed the top five. Brad Sweet, Jacob Allen, Donny Schatz, Spencer Bayston, and Justin Peck rounded out the top 10.
The six-lap dash set the front four rows of the feature starting line-up. Dewease scored the win over Haudenschild. Two-time National Open winner Gravel finished third and defending National Open champion Macedo fourth. Marks, Macri, Sweet and Allen completed the dash finish.
The Last Chance Showdown went to Port Royal Mayor Dylan Cisney. TJ Stutts, Dayrn Pittman, and Logan Schuchart followed Cisney.
Marks had the fastest lap in qualifying time trials at 16.520 over the 51-car field. Haudenschild, Gravel, Marks and Macri won the eight-lap heat races. Steve Buckwalter won the C-main.
The 60th Anniversary Williams Grove National Open paying $75,000 to win is set for tonight. Donny Schatz, the 10-time Outlaws champion, has the most National Open wins with six. Dewease and "The King" Steve Kinser won the National Open four times.