Brent Marks wins Speedweek finale at Selinsgrove, but Danny Dietrich takes overall crown

SELINSGROVE – One of the largest crowds in recent history flocked to Selinsgrove Speedway on Sunday night for the final night of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek.

They witnessed a tight duel between Brent Marks of Myerstown, Lebanon County, and Danny Dietrich of Gettysburg, Adams County. They entered the 30-lap Opperman-Bogar-Heintzelman Memorial for the 410 sprint cars as the top two Speedweek point leaders. 

Marks secured the lead late in the race after exchanging multiple slide jobs with Dietrich and took the checkered flag and the $7,500 winner’s share. Dietrich, however, grabbed the overall Speedweek championship, the second of his career. Only 50 points separated Dietrich and Marks entering Sunday’s finale of the series, presented by Red Robin.

Marks ended the eight-race series (there were two rainouts) with a total of three wins and a second-place overall points finish. It was also his second sprint win of the year at the Snyder County track. Dietrich, who won the overall Speedweek title without a win, finished 24 points clear of Marks.

In the race itself, Dietrich grabbed the early lead from the second starting position, while Marks vaulted from fourth to second at the beginning. From there the race was on.  Marks stalked Dietrich the entire distance, pulling alongside as the pair worked lapped traffic late in the race. It wasn’t until the 25th lap that Marks was able to take the top spot. He went on to win over Dietrich. 

Anthony Macri of Dillsburg was the night’s fast qualifier over the 33-car field with a lap time of 16.923 seconds. Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove earned a $600 bonus as the race’s hard charger.

At the checkered flag, Marks was victorious by just two second over Dietrich. Rico Abreu was credited with third when apparent third-place finisher Kyle Reinhardt had his car disqualified for being under weight. Lance Dewease and ninth-place starter Justin Peck rounded out the top five. Abreu took third in the overall points chase.

Rounding out the top 10 were Logan Wagner, Paul McMahan, Lucas Wolfe, Etters' Pat Cannon and Fawn Grove's Matt Campbell.

Garrett Bard won his second 20-lap 305 sprint feature of the season at the track. Bard passed race leader Derek Hauck on the 13th of 20 laps for the lead.  Hauck finished second, followed by Nick Sweigart, Doug Dodson and Mike Alleman.

Selinsgrove Speedway provided information for this report. Reach Bryan Householder at sports@yorkdispatch.com.