It’s been said that the best way to protect a points lead is to win races. Jason Meyers did just that as he continued his winning ways by taking the checkers in the $50,000 to win National Open at Williams Grove Speedway. Meyers has now won the last three consecutive Outlaw races at the famed half mile oval near Mechanicsburg, Pa. and the past three races on the schedule.
“I’m not even sure where to begin,” said Meyers as he caught his breath in Victory Lane. “We wanted to win here for so long and now we’ve got three in a row. It’s a huge race to win, not only because of the prestige and the payday but because it’s in Charlie Garrett’s backyard. His shop is in Hanover (Pa.) and this is just a testament to just how strong his engines are. I knew I wasn’t going to get very many shots at Daryn (Pittman) and I didn’t want to see that late race single file restart but we made it work. We started fifth and won tonight which is very difficult to do here. Everybody on this DDNi/Media-Tile/GLR Investments/All-Star Performance team totally deserves this and I still can’t believe it.”
20 time champion Steve Kinser started from the pole position and led the first eleven circuits until Owasso, Okla. native Daryn Pittman but his #27 Leylands.com Maxim into the lead. Pittman would then blast away from the field until a series of late race cautions bunched the field up enough for Meyers to get within striking distance. On a double file restart, Meyers dove underneath Pittman in turns one and two but couldn’t hold the position. Doug Esh crashed hard into the wall moments later which set up a single file restart for the28 car field. Pittman looked to have the advantage initially but was reeled in by the 2010 Champion on lap 34 of 40.
“We just got beat tonight,” said Pittman, who won the spring World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event at Williams Grove.”Jason and his entire time are really great and there’s a reason why they are winning a lot of races. I thought I had him cleared but I just made some mistakes. It’s pretty hard to swallow the fact that we just lost the $50,000 but we did finish second. There are two types of seconds; the ones you feel good about and the ones you feel like the win got away. Tonight was certainly the latter.”
Kinser would end up settling for third after battling with Justin Henderson late in the race.
“We weren’t quite as good as we needed to be tonight,” said Kinser, driver of the #11 Bass Pro Shops/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet. “We ended up blistering both rear tires and you hate to throw away such a good starting position. It’s just tough to lose a race where you led some laps like we did.”
Henderson would settle for fourth as Tim Shaffer rounded out the top-5. Sammy Swindell set Quick Time on the night and finished 25th in his bid to repeat as National Open champion.
The Outlaws now head north to the Empire State of New York and Rolling Wheels Raceway Park. The STP Shootout will see the series best tackle a 5/8 th’s mile oval as the series winds down before the World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte.
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