MECHANICSBURG -- Thomasville's Greg Hodnett turned in a flawless performance to win the 47th annual National Open for sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway Saturday night, besting a 60-car field for the most prestigious and lucrative victory of his stellar career, worth $50,000.
Hodnett turned in second-quick time in qualifying, then won his heat to earn the pole for the feature. He never wavered despite consistent and at times heavy pressure from four-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz of Fargo, N.D.
In the end Hodnett was the leader of all 40 laps, but Schatz, a four-time Open winner himself, made repeated bids for the lead after starting the race in fourth. Driving for Tony Stewart, Schatz came to second on the 10th circuit after second-place runner Brian Montieth of Phoenixville blew a tire in the third corner and flipped.
On the restart, Schatz went to work trying to overtake Hodnett and was nearly successful on the 26th tour when he briefly took the lead in the second corner with a move to the inside. But Hodnett, in a quest for his first career National Open, rode the outside cushion back into control in the blink of an eye and led the lap before a caution period regrouped the field.
Throughout his tenure as the leader, Hodnett changed lanes at will around the speedway, keeping Schatz on the defensive, forcing him to guess what route he should take to try and steal the win. The strategy worked for Hodnett, who was just a half-lap away from taking the checkers when another red flag stalled action, this time for a third-turn fracas involving Grove points leader Todd Shaffer, Craig Dollansky and Brooke Tatnell.
Hodnett proved unshakable on the restart and ran the final distance with a comfortable advantage over Schatz while pushing his 2009 record against the Outlaws at the track to 3-0, having also turned them away on May 15 and July 24.
"I hope you enjoyed it," Hodnett said. "It feels really good. This car's been good all year. We had to take advantage of the spots we were given. We're just very happy to be up here. I can't say enough for our crew. We're very fortunate; this is the most prestigious race on the East Coast. We've been trying for a long time and always had so many quirky things happen."
Schatz settled for second, followed by Jason Meyers, Colvis, Calif.; Fred Rahmer, Salfordville; and Danny Lasoski, Dover, Mo.
Pat Cannon set quick time. Heats were taken by Meyers, Lasoski, Paul McMahan and Jac Haudenschild. AJ Michael won the D Main, Rick Lafferty took the C Main and Brian Leppo scored the B.
At the close of the night, Red Lion's Cody Darrah also defeated the Outlaws drivers by scoring a dominating, flag-to-flag $20,000 victory in the postponed Summer National feature, held over from July 25. Darrah picked up the win over Saldana, Lance Dewease, Fayetteville, and Lasoski.
Sports
Motorsports: Hodnett, Darrah too much for Outlaws
- Sports
-
-
Shikellamy Braves rally to stay alive
SELINSGROVE — With 11 losses, the Shikellamy girls basketball team is teetering on the brink of elimination from the District 4 Class AAA playoffs. And on Wednesday night, it looked like the Braves were going to go quietly into the offseason when Selinsgrove built a 14-point lead early in the third quarter.
-
They learn to be tough young
It's difficult to recall exactly how the sequence unfolded because it happened so darn fast. Shikellamy made a couple baskets, and the crowd began to stir. It was still anybody's game, and the Braves had some momentum late in the third quarter of a recent run with Danville.
-
Motorsports: Selinsgrove, Lincoln speedways to host 360 sprint series
MECHANICSBURG -- Mach 1 Chassis of Mechanicsburg will be the title sponsor of the Mid-Atlantic 360 Sprint Car Championship Series, a $120,000 six-race tour that will include five shows at Selinsgrove Speedway and one event at Lincoln Speedway in 2012.
-
Girls basketball: Records fall, Red Tornadoes stay unbeaten
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- An overflow crowd zealously cheered Tierney Pfirman's pursuit of the South Williamsport scoring record throughout Tuesday's game, until their breathless faces matched the Mounties' royal blue.
-
High school roundup: Rosini pin lifts Ironmen over Tigers
DANVILLE -- Steven Rosini's pin over Connor Houseknecht in 37 seconds in the final bout of the day at 132 pounds prevented disaster for Danville as the Ironmen pulled out a 40-36 Heartland Athletic Conference crossover victory on Tuesday.
-
College sports notebook: Antensteiner starts, finishes fast
ANVILLE -- Ines Antensteiner, a member of the powerful Lewisburg girls track & field team for the past four seasons wasted little time making her presence felt in college. On Monday, Antensteiner, a freshman at Lebanon Valley, was named the Middle Atlantic Conference's Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week after a pair of event wins at Saturday's Ducharme Invitational.
-
Bill Bowman's column on college sports: Tale of two teams in the clutch
Because basketball season is so long it is easy to forget that one or two moments in a single game can essentially make or break an entire season. While teams might play 30 games or so, most of them come down to a couple of possessions, spots where one little thing can be the difference between winning and losing, between making the postseason tournament or turning in the uniforms.
-
Sports court strips Contador of 2010 Tour title
MADRID -- Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title Monday and banned for two years after sports' highest court found the Spanish cyclist guilty of doping. The Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the three-time Tour champion after rejecting his claim that his positive test for clenbuterol was caused by eating contaminated meat on a 2010 Tour rest day.
-
H.S. boys basketball: Selinsgrove rallies to top Southern Columbia
CATAWISSA -- In a battle between two schools better known for their football programs, Monday's game between host Southern Columbia and Selinsgrove naturally featured plenty of physical play. After a combined 43 fouls and 55 free-throw attempts, the Seals finally pulled it out. Reserve guard Tyler Krebs made five foul shots in the final minute and a half in Selinsgrove's 54-53 victory.
-
High School Bowling: Kratzer, Hartranft take home Pro-Am titles
SUNBURY -- The name might have changed, but the results were the same. Now called the 13th annual Best Bowl/Strike Zone High School Pro-Am Scholarship Challenge, the two-day tournament was another success as it pitted some of the Valley's best young bowlers against each other in friendly competition.
- More Sports Headlines
-
