By BOB VORES For Public Opinion

Excerpts:

The Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek events have concluded and in the end, Daryn Pittman won the battle but Greg Hodnett won the war.

Pittman, of Owasso, Okla., was the only driver to win twice all week, taking Friday's Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove Speedway for the second consecutive time and also Sunday's Selinsgrove finale to amass a total of 1,087 points. That was 35 points short of Greg Hodnett of Thomasville. Hodnett won Saturday at Port Royal which helped with the overall speedweek points. He won for the second consecutive and third overall time in his career. In last year's events, Hodnett won over Pittman by 239 points.

WILLIAMS GROVE: Race six, the Mitch Smith Memorial, found Stevie Smith taking the lead but Pittman got by him on the third circuit while fifth starter Hodnett took the runner-up spot two laps later. Donnie Kreitz Jr. then entered the picture and finally got the spot from Hodnett on the 14th lap.

During the battle for second, Pittman opened a sizeable lead, but Kreitz began to close in until a lap-22 red flag.

On the restart, Pittman pulled away while Hodnett regained second on lap 26, but was unable to reel in Pittman, who went on to win the $10,000 event by 1.56 seconds. Kreitz ended third while Hagerstown winner and fast-timer Alan Krimes was fourth with Lance Dewease coming from 12th to finish fifth.

"We haven't been great this week, we've been solid," Pittman said. "I'm glad to win when the money is on theline. Any time ten-grand is on the line, it makes you step up in the seat. It's good to get these guys back to victory lane."

...

SELINSGROVE: Pittman out-dueled Dewease on the second lap to come away with the lead and later, a slim victory in Sunday's finale, the Jan Opperman Memorial.

Dewease began on the pole with Pittman outside, but Pittman used the inside line to grab the lead.

On a lap 12 restart, Dewease pulled alongside and dragged Pittman down the backstretch and reclaimed the top spot off turn four.

Pittman continued his quest to regain the top spot and did so with three laps remaining as Dewease came up a mere .44 seconds short of becoming the eighth different winner in the eight events.

"We aren't dead until the checkered flag falls -- that's what I keep telling myself," Pittman said. "We keep plugging away until the end of the race. Hats off to this whole team. We got off to a slow start, but we picked it up as the week went on."

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Daryn Pittman of Owasso, Okl., out-dueled Lance Dewease of Fayetteville for another exciting win at Selinsgrove Speedway in Sunday night’s Jan Opperman Memorial/PA Speedweek finale for 410 sprint cars sponsored by Mach 1 Chassis.

The $5,000 victory in the 30-lap feature marked the second of Pittman’s career at Selinsgrove and the seventh of the 2010 season driving the Leelands.com No. 27 for car owner Michael Heffner.

While Pittman became the first and only repeat winner in the 20th anniversary eight-race series, Greg Hodnett of Thomasville clinched the prestigious PA Speedweek title for the second year in a row and third time in his career.

COLUMN By BRYAN HOUSEHOLDER
For The York Dispatch

The 20th edition of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek is now in the history books -- and what a Speedweek it was.

For the first time since 2005, all the Speedweek events made it into the record books without a rainout.

Eight races in nine days can take its toll on man and machine, but there were 11 teams that made it to all eight races. In all, 77 different drivers took part in Speedweek this year, and among them they produced some interesting results.

It took until the final race to get a repeat winner during this year's Speedweek. The first seven races produced seven different winners. Mark Smith, Ed Lynch Jr., Tyler Walker, Alan Krimes, Lance Dewease, Daryn Pittman and Greg Hodnett each scored wins, before Pittman scored a repeat win in the final race of the series.

By: Todd Heintzelman

SELINSGROVE – Daryn Pittman won the battle, but Greg Hodnett won the war.

Pittman, of Owasso, Okla., took the lead back from Lance Dewease with three laps to go and went on to win the Jan Opperman Memorial at Selinsgrove Speedway on Sunday night.

Hodnett’s fourth place finish was enough to secure his second straight Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek title in the Jim and Sandy Kline sprinter by 35 points over Pittman. It was Hodnett’s third career title with the other coming in 2002.

As it did during Keystone Cup in May, a late-race pass netted Pittman the win. “We aren’t dead until the checkered flag falls, that’s what I keep telling myself,” Pittman said. “We keep plugging away until the end of the race. Hats off to this whole team. We got off to a slow start, but we picked it up as the week went on.”

Fayetteville’s Lance Dewease started on the pole and drove into the lead at the start. Pittman dove under Dewease in turn one to take the lead on the second lap.

The first caution of the event flew on lap two when Phil Walter stopped with a flat tire after contact with Hodnett on the backstretch.

Dewease tried to take the lead in turn three, but couldn’t hold the move and remained second. Fred Rahmer drove by Brent Marks and into fourth. Hodnett was racing seventh after starting 10th.

As Pittman reached lapped traffic, Mark Smith drove by Hodnett.

The red flag was displayed on lap 11 for Blane Heimbach, who was running third. The rear axle broke sending him into the wall and a small fire erupted. He was not seriously injured.

Dewease would take the lead back from Pittman on the restart. Hodnett was moving forward on the restart as well. He moved by three cars and was up to fourth.

Dewease was racing around slower cars with 10 laps to go as Pittman made contact with the outside wall in turn four.

Pittman slipped back a little and Rahmer got within striking distance. Pittman gathered himself back together and closed on Dewease again. Dewease was trying to pass lapped cars, but was struggling with one lane around the bottom of the racetrack.

This was the break Pittman needed as he charged off the outside of turn four and into the lead with three laps to go. Dewease tried to take the lead back in turn two, but Pittman would lead lap 28. Dewease stayed right there as Hodnett challenged Rahmer for third.

Pittman would become the first repeat winner of Speedweek by 0.442 over Dewease. Rahmer held back Hodnett for third. Todd Shaffer finished fifth.

Danny Dietrich, Brent Marks, Rick Lafferty, Mark Smith and Doug Esh completed the top 10.

Final Speedweek Points
Greg Hodnett 1122
Daryn Pittman 1087
Lance Dewease 951
Mark Smith 908
Alan Krimes 887
Fred Rahmer 870
Chad Layton 750
Danny Dietrich 706
Brent Marks 566
Stevie Smith 559

By BRYAN HOUSEHOLDER
For The York Dispatch

HodnettDaryn Pittman won the battle, but Thomasville's Greg Hodnett won the war in Sunday night's finale to the Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek.

Pittman won the 30-lap feature at Selinsgrove Speedway and collected $5,000 for his efforts.

However, Hodnett, who finished fourth, edged Pittman by 35 points for the Speedweek title.

Lance Dewease and Pittman swapped the lead several times during the course of the event, with Pittman taking command for good on the 27th lap.

Dewease had to settle for second, with Fred Rahmer, Hodnett and Todd Shaffer in the top five.

Rounding out the top 10 were Danny Dietrich, Brent Marks, Rick Lafferty, Mark Smith and Doug Esh.

Hodnett won the Speedweek title with 1,122 points, followed by Pittman (1,087), Dewease (951), Mark Smith (908), Alan Krimes (887), Rahmer (870), Chad Layton (750), Dietrich (706), Marks (566) and Stevie Smith (559).

By Shawn Brouse
For The Daily Item

An excerpt:

Speedweek moved back to Lincoln on Thursday, where Dewease battled Greg Hodnett and Brian Montieth for the win he picked up. On Friday at Williams Grove, Daryn Pittman won his second Mitch Smith Memorial in a row with Hodnett finishing second, biting into Krimes' shrinking point lead.

By Brad Vores  July 4, 2010

An excerpt:

Daryn Pittman and Lance Dewease put on quite a show in Sunday night's Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek finale at Selinsgrove Speedway but it was Pittman emerging the winner by a scant .44 seconds to secure his second win of the Speedweek series.

Photo by: Brian Harro

Pittman was the only driver to repeat trips to victory lane during the eight races after winning Friday at Williams Grove Speedway. The win was worth $5,000 to Pittman and the Mike Heffner owned racing team and was the team's seventh overall win in 2010.

Dewease led lap one before yielding to Pittman on the next lap.

Dewease got back around the Oklahoma racer following a lap 11 restart and maintained the top spot until Pittman powered back into the lead on lap 27.

Dewease pulled alongside Pittman on the final lap but fell just short at the checkered.

by Steve Inch

SELINSGROVE, Pa. -- Daryn Pittman of Owasso, Okl., out-dueled Lance Dewease of Fayetteville for another exciting win at Selinsgrove Speedway in Sunday night’s Jan Opperman Memorial/PA Speedweek finale for 410 sprint cars sponsored by Mach 1 Chassis.

The $5,000 victory in the 30-lap feature marked the second of Pittman’s career at Selinsgrove and the seventh of the 2010 season driving the Leelands.com No. 27 for car owner Michael Heffner.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Daryn Pittman dominated the Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove Speedway for his first win during the Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek Friday night.

Pittman had finished no worse than sixth in the series, but had not been in contention for a win.

The former World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series regular started second and fell in line behind Stevie Smith on the first lap. Pittman got a great run down the backstretch and put a slider on Smith in turns three and four. He was the leader by lap three.

Pittman maintained his lead as Don Kreitz, Jr. and Greg Hodnett passed Smith. Kreitz and Hodnett would then fight for the runner-up spot for much of the event.

They closed on Pittman in lapped traffic during the middle stages of the 30-lap main event.

Kreitz took a shot at Pittman following a lap 19 restart, but Pittman was too strong off the bottom. Kreitz would get another shot following a lap 22 red flag, but Pittman was up to the challenge again.

Hodnett would finally get by Kreitz with four laps to go. Pittman would hold on for the $10,000 win, his first at the Grove and sixth overall in the Mike Heffner sprint car.

“We haven’t been great this week, we’ve been solid,” Pittman said. “I’m glad to win when the money is on the line.”

Alan Krimes maintained his Speedweek point leader by finishing fourth. Lance Dewease was fifth.

MECHANICSBURG, PA --Daryn Pittman won his second consecutive Mitch Smith Memorial for sprint cars Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.

Pittman, the ex-Outlaw from Owasso, Oklahoma, had won just about everywhere else in Pennsylvania this year, but scored his first victory of the season at Williams Grove Friday night, and it was also the first ever Grove win for his car owner, Michael Heffner.