SPRINT: Williams Grove report 96-08-30

• DREINING@VMS1.GMU.EDU (David Reininger)
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Wed Sep 4 23:14:24 EDT 1996

Russ was feeling a bit under the weather and decided to skip
the action at Williams Grove on Friday 30 August. Russ will
be back when Sprint car racing returns to Williams Grove
for a USAC race on 13 September.

First on the card for the evening was a Sportsman race which
was rained out on 12 July. Mark Smith won the 20 lap make-up
race. Larry Jackson lead most of the race but had the right rear
tire go flat in turn four on the last lap. Jackson put his foot
back into it, throwing bits of his shredded tire fifty feet in
the air as he crossed the finish line in third place.

Sprint Cars
Heat One Lineup  10 laps  6 cars transfer to feature
1. 15L Larry Miller
2. 25 Scott Ausherman
3. 27 Ron Cramer
4. 13 Scott Jones
5. 16 Billy Brian
6. 07 Dave Haight
7. 17E Chris Eash
8. 461 Lance Dewease

Larry Miller decided to start from the rear.

Chris Eash and Billy Brian made great starts. Brian moved into second
on the first lap. By lap five the order was Ausherman, Brian, Eash
and Dewease a distant fourth. Ausherman pulled out a decent lead as
Brian and Eash battled for second place. Slowly, the battle for second
closed the gap on the leader Ausherman. On lap nine, Eash passed Brian
for second and immediatlely closed the door on him as Brian tried to 
regain the lost position. Eash ran down Ausherman on the last lap and
passed him in turn four to take the win.

Heat One Results
1. Chris Eash
2. Scott Ausherman
3. Billy Brian
4. Lance Dewease
5. Scott Jones
6. Dave Haight
7. Ron Cramer

Heat Two Lineup
1. 10N Jeff Thompson
2. 2C Will Cramer
3. 5 Craig Eshenaur
4. 12F John Fraker
5. 55 Mike Wagner
6. 5G Rod George
7. 1 Billy Pauch
8. 7 Barry Camp

Pauch jumped to fourth on the first lap and went to second
on the second lap. At the end of the second lap the order was
Rod George, Billy Pauch, Will Cramer, Jeff Thompson and
Craig Eshenauer. The first three cars seperated themselves
from each other while Thompson and Eshenaur ran side by side for
the fourth position. Pauch started taking the low line and began to
gain ground on George who ran the high side. On the last lap, it
looked like Pauch would be able to pass George on the inside when
both racers dove for the inside line into turn one. Pauch had to brake
to avoid hitting George and this cemented George's win.

Heat Two Results
1. Rod George
2. Billy Pauch
3. Mike Wagner
4. Will Cramer
5. Craig Eshenaur
6. Jeff Thompson

Heat Three Lineup
1. 3 Bob Bennett
2. 7 Dave Cordier
3. 10 Len Thompson
4. 8 Rick Hench
5. 5K Mark Richard
6. 88 Todd Shaffer
7. 69K Don Kreitz Jr.
8. 1B Jimmy Burns

At the end of the first lap the order was Cordier, Thompson, Shaffer,
Kreitz and Bennett. With four laps in the book, the yellow flag flew
for Jimmy Burns who stopped on the track. Bob Bennett had a flat tire
during the yellow and reported to the pits. Todd Shaffer was put back two 
positions for jumping the intitial start. When green replaced the yellow
the order was Cordier, Thompson, Kreitz, Richard, and Shaffer. Kreitz 
passed Thompson on the restart in turn four and passed Cordier for the 
lead going into turn one. Kreitz opened up a big lead over Cordier.
Thompson followed Cordier with Richard in fourth with a very determined
Todd Shaffer on his rear. Shaffer tried everything but was not able to pass
Richard. On the last lap, the battle between Mark Richard and Todd Shaffer
caught up to Len Thompson. Richard passed Thompson for

Heat Three results
1. Don Kreitz Jr.
2. Dave Cordier
3. Mark Richard
4. Len Thompson
5. Todd Shaffer

There was no consi for the sprint cars.

Sprint Feature Lineup
1. Scott Ausherman
2. Will Cramer
3. Dave Cordier
4. Len Thompson
5. Billy Brian
6. Mike Wagner
7. Mark Richard
8. Rod George
9. Chris Eash
10. Billy Pauch
11. Don Kreitz Jr.
12. Lance Dewease
13. Scott Jones
14. Craig Eshenaur
15. Todd Shaffer
16. Dave Haight 
17. Jeff Thompson
18. Rick Hench
19. Ron Cramer
20  Barry Camp
21. Bob Bennett
22. Larry Miller
23. John Fraker
24. Jimmy Burns

Ron Cramer stopped on the backstretch and Mike Wagner spun in turn four
bringing out the yellow with two laps in the books. At the end of two
the order was Ausherman, Brian, Pauch, Will Cramer, Cordier, Len Thompson,
George, Dewease, Eash, Richard, Shaffer, Kreitz, Haight and Jeff Thompson.
Bill Brian made his move on Ausherman on the restart, passing him for the
lead going into turn one. The first three cars broke away from the pack,
with Pauch passing Ausherman for second.

With four laps in the book, Mark Richard got out of shape coming out of
turn four and managed to collect the 2C of Will Cramer. Richard ended up
with his rear tires on the inside guardrail and the front tires on Cramer's
car. The red flag appeared to untangle the mess on the frontstretch. 
Racing resumed with the order: Brian, Pauch, Ausherman, Dewease, Eash,
George, Shaffer, Cordier, Len Thompson and Don Kreitz.

On the restart Pauch pulled even with Brian down the front straight and
that's the way they went through turns one and two. Pauch pulled out
a small lead out of turn two but Brian stayed right with him through
turns three and four. Dewease emerged from the pack in third to chase
after the leaders. After Dewease the order was Eash, Ausherman, 
Shaffer, George, Cordier and then Kreitz in the ninth position.
Brian continued to stay right with Pauch as they pulled away from
third place Dewease.

By midpoint there were big gaps between the first five cars but there
were fierce battles for fifth between Ausherman and Shaffer and then
a small gap back to a three way race for seventh between Cordier, George
and Kreitz. Both George and Kreitz were on the move as both improved their
positions late in the race.

Billy Pauch won his fourth this season at Williams Grove, his best
season ever at the famous half mile track.

Sprint Feature Results
1. Billy Pauch
2. Billy Brian
3. Lance Dewease
4. Chris Eash
5. Rod George
6. Scott Ausherman
7. Don Kreitz
8. Todd Shaffer
9. Dave Haight
10. Len Thompson
11. Dave Cordier
12. Jeff Thompson
13. Mike Wagner
14. Rick Hench
15. Craig Eshenaur
16. Barry Camp
17. John Fraker
18. Jimmy Burns
19. Bob Bennett
20  Will Cramer
21. Mark Richard
22. Larry Miller
23. Ron Cramer
24. Scott Jones


Frankie Herr won the Sportsman feature.

After the fireworks display, Williams Grove Sprint car drivers
were invited to take off their wings and practice for the USAC
sprint car race on 13 September. Only three cars took the chance to
run topless. Len Thonpson spun three times trying to find the limit
without wings. Jimmy Burns went topless as did Mark Richard. Richard
did not remove his front wing for the test. Over two hundred fans
stayed for the 11:30 p.m. wingless test.

Sprint cars will take the week off while Williams Grove runs an
Enduro feature this friday night 6 September.

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