ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — Doug Esh kicked off Pennsylvania Speedweek with a victory in the 30-lap Kevin Gobrecht Memorial at Lincoln Speedway.
The event was delayed for almost four hours after a thunderstorm struck during the third sprint-car heat. Racing resumed around midnight and the feature was complete at 2 a.m. Sunday.
Esh started on the pole and drove into the lead over second-place starter Brian Montieth and third-place starter and 10-time Speedweek champ Fred Rahmer. Esh’s wife, Kelly, waved the green flag after winning a raffle to be the honorary starter.
Following a lap-two restart, Rahmer dove under Montieth to take second as Chad Layton put a similar move on Greg Hodnett for fourth. Meanwhile, Esh was building a comfortable lead.
Esh was into lapped traffic by lap seven, allowing Rahmer and Montieth to erase his lead. By lap 11, the top three were nose to tail and slicing through lapped traffic.
Montieth took second back on lap 12 and was under Esh three laps later, but Esh’s momentum around the outside allowed him to keep the lead.
The final caution waved on lap 18 with no lapped cars between the top three. Esh and Montieth drove away from Rahmer and were back to traffic with five laps to go. Esh held off Montieth by a couple of car lengths for his first Lincoln win of the season. Rahmer settled for third ahead of Layton and Hodnett.
“It was a great race. Thanks to the fans for sticking around because it’s been a marathon,” said Esh. “There’s nothing like starting Speedweek with a little momentum.”
Sunday’s Speedweek event at Bedford Speedway was rained out.
The finish:
Doug Esh, Brian Montieth, Fred Rahmer, Chad Layton, Greg Hodnett, Jeff Shepard, Niki Young, Cody Darrah, Brian Paulus, Brian Leppo, Cris Eash, Josh Wells, Jim Siegel, Cory Haas, Keith Kauffman, Mark Smith, Nick Schlauch, Jr., Mike Bittinger, Michael Carber, Jeff Busby, Stevie Smith, Alan Krimes, Aaron Ott, John Rudisill.