Bryan Householder| For The York Dispatch
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After a full season of racing that started in late February and will conclude in mid-November, the chase for the J&S Classics Central PA Sprint Car Series presented by Hoseheads point title will go down to the last race.
Danny Dietrich kept his hopes alive with a second-place finish at Bridgeport (N.J.) last weekend.Dietrich will enter the final race of the season at BAPS Motor Speedway on Nov. 11 just 38 points behind Freddie Rahmer, who finished fifth at Bridgeport.
Weekend results: Kyle Reinhardt takes home $15K from 410 sprint feature in Bridgeport
High school football: Central York celebrates latest D-I title before turning page to playoffs
More local sports: York Suburban girls, York Catholic's Murphy claim district cross country titles
The Central PA series awards points to top-10 finishers in all races held at local tracks or at tracks that have races that are designated for local racers.During the course of the season, 110 drivers have earned points.Races award 50 points for a win, 35 for a second-place finish, 30 for third, 25 for fourth and 20 for fifth. The number drops by two points for the rest of the top 10, down to 10 for a 10th-place finish.
With Rahmer holding a 38-point lead Dietrich, must win at BAPS to have a chance at the title.Rahmer, on the other hand, can take the title by finishing ninth no matter where Dietrich finishes.A Dietrich win and a Rahmer ninth would create a tie, but the tiebreaker is number of wins, and Rahmer has 17 (most of which have come at Lincoln Speedway) to Dietrich's 5.
With such a big difference in the win total, Dietrich has kept pace with consistent finishes.Dietrich has 52 top-10s in the series while Rahmer has 46.
The battle for the top spot is the one everyone will be watching, but there are several closer battles in the top 10 spots, which pay at season’s end. Devon Borden regained the third spot from Brent Marks at Bridgeport, but by the slimmest of margins.Borden is three points ahead of Marks.
Dillsburg’s Anthony Macri is locked into fifth, with Lance Dewease locked into sixth.
Hanover’s Troy Wagaman Jr. is just eight points ahead of Justin Peck in the battle for seventh. Hanover’s Dylan Norris is 42 points ahead of York’s Chase Dietz for ninth.Dietz could get ahead of Norris with a win, but 11th-place Dylan Cisney is just 20 points behind Dietz.
J&S Classics will return as the series sponsor in 2024.
NASCAR: Has anyone else noticed that the first two drivers to lock into NASCAR’s final four for the Cup Series racers have both competed and won on the local sprint car circuit? Both Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell have raced the local tracks on numerous occasions, Larson more so than Bell.
Larson won the PA Speedweek title a few years ago and has won at Williams Grove, Lincoln, Port Royal, Hagerstown, and Grandview.Bell was a Speedweek winner at Grandview with good runs at a few other tracks as well.
Now both will be gunning for NASCAR’s top prize. Larson won the title two years ago, while Bell has yet to win the NASCAR title but made the Final Four last year as well. They'll go up against Ryan Blaney and William Byron, who clinched their spots at Martinsville on Sunday.
This week: The local tracks will be dark this weekend, but all eyes will be on the World Finals at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s dirt track.
The World of Outlaws sprint cars, World of Outlaws late models and Super Dirt Car modifieds will all conclude their season at Charlotte. There will be feature racing for all three series on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The sprint and late model races on Thursday and Friday pay $15,000 to win, while the modifieds race for $10,000 to win those nights. Saturday’s main events see $25,000 on the line for the sprint and late model winners and $15,000 for the top modified driver.
The event usually draws several local racers each year, and I’m sure this year will be no different.
BAPS: As noted above, the local season wraps up on Nov. 11 at BAPS Motor Speedway.The event will honor the memory of former car owner Les Stewart with $20,000 on the line for the winner of the 410 sprint car feature. Stewart owned York Excavating Company and fielded sprint cars for Jeff Shepard. He also sponsored cars over the years for several other drivers.
2023 J & S CLASSICS CENTRAL PA SPRINT CAR SERIES presented by HOSEHEADS
Listing: position, car number, driver, points, series wins
After 10/28
1. 8/51 Freddie Rahmer 1487 17
2. 48 Danny Dietrich 1449 5
3. 23 Devon Borden 1087 7
4. 19 Brent Marks 1084 10
5. 39m Anthony Macri 972 7
6. 12 Lance Dewease 711 4
7. 27 Troy Wagaman Jr 626 3
8. 13 Justin Peck 618 1
9. 44 Dylan Norris 549 1
10. 2D Chase Dietz 507 3
11. 5 Dylan Cisney 487 2
12. 11 T J Stutts 463
13. 99M Kyle Moody 457 1
14. 91 Kyle Reinhardt 440 2
14. 75/5 Tyler Ross 440
16. 5w Lucas Wolfe 401 2
17. 45 Jeff Halligan 358 1
18. 39T Cameron Smith 339
19. 17B Steve Buckwalter 338 2
20. 24 Rico Abreu 331 4
21. 7BC Tyler Courtney 309 3
22. 12 Blane Heimbach 297 1
23. 26 Zeb Wise 288 3
24. 49 Brad Sweet 277 2
25. 55 Mike Wagner 268
