|
WILLIAMS GROVE SET FOR MARCH 2 OPENER
MECHANICSBURG, PA -- Williams Grove Speedway will open the 2008
racing season on Sunday afternoon, March 2, with sprint car racing as
the sole attraction.
The first heat is scheduled to start at 2:00.
Sunday afternoon sprint car action will continue through the winter
racing season before the Grove switches to Friday nights on March 21.
Afternoon racing involves a different driving style to negotiate
the hard, slick surface which is usually prevalent during the daylight
hours.
In this historic racetrack's recent history, nobody has been more
successful on early season Sunday afternoons than Greg Hodnett.
Since the turn of the century Hodnett has scored a total of five
victories on Sunday afternoons.
In 2004 Hodnett, a Memphis native currently residing in York, won
the first three races of the season, then made it four out of five in
the daylight.
But afternoon dominance is not necessarily a precursor of Friday
night success. Hodnett went on to win the first night race in `04,
pushing his record to 5 of 6, then was shut out of victory lane for more
than five months before his next triumph came on September 24.
Other drivers who have scored multiple early season afternoon
victories during the new millennium include Don Kreitz, Jr., who won in
2000, '01 and `02, and Fred Rahmer, who scored twice in 2000 and once
in `05. Lance Dewease won in 2000 and in `01, Cris Eash in '01 and '03,
and Keith Kauffman in '02 and `06.
Current NASCAR star Kasey Kahne won the first race of 2000. Brook
Weibley (`01), Todd Hestor (`04) and Niki Young (`06) have also notched
Sunday afternoon victories since that time.
There were no Sunday afternoon races in 2007.
|
|
