Zach Newlin 11th in 358 Match Race at Williams Grove Speedway

Zach Newlin returned to the seat of a sprint car Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway for the first time in a month, and the first time in the Mansberger Motorsports No.21m since mid-July thanks to Mother Nature.

The 2022 season for the 358 sprint cars has been interrupted numerous times by weather, making it difficult for Newlin and Mansberger, who only compete at ‘The Grove’, to get into a rhythm.  With two September races remaining, the team came into Friday’s event aiming to close out the season with some positive momentum; something they can build on for 2023.

September 2:  Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA

     [37 cars, Heat 4th (8), A-main 11th (13)]

The Match Race event, which offered an increased purse for the 358 sprint cars, drew a larger than usual field of 37 cars to Williams Grove Speedway Friday night.  The 25-lap main event offered a purse worth over $20,000, with $2,021 going to the winner and last place taking home $696.

Four 8-lap heat races were lined up by pill draw.  The top five finishers from each would transfer to the A-main.  The top two would participate in a redraw to set the top eight starting spots of the finale.

Newlin lined up 8th for the first heat of the night, but the rush hour like traffic at the back of the pack shuffled him to 10th by the end of lap one.  The Millerstown, PA resident collected his ride and made his way to 9th on lap two.

Newlin didn’t stop there.  He continued picking off the competition and capitalized on a late restart to race his way to a 4th place finish, securing his spot in the feature.

Rolling to the green flag in 13th for the 25-lap A-main, Newlin had his eyes set on a solid top ten run.  Forward progress was hard to come by in the early going.  By lap six Newlin had lost a spot and by the halfway point he was riding in 16th.

Over the final seven laps, after a large portion of the fuel load had burned off, Newlin’s car came alive.  He was able to be more aggressive and began to steadily climb through the running order.  With two laps remaining, Newlin moved into 12th and was looking for more.  On the final circuit, he wrestled 11th away from Frankie Herr.

“It was good to get a full night under our belt.  This was only our third race this season, and we haven’t raced together since mid-July.  Getting comfortable is the key and we haven’t had enough consistent laps to accomplish that.  We were able to learn some things tonight, so we’ll build on it and hopefully finish the year out strong in a couple weeks.“, Newlin commented.

Up Next

Newlin and the Mansberger Motorsports team will be back at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday, September 23rd looking to close out the season with a strong finish in the final 358 sprint car race of 2022 at the legendary Pennsylvania track.