Brock Zearfoss And The Pennsylvania Posse Round Up The Outlaws At Williams

Brock Zearfoss And The Pennsylvania Posse Round Up The Outlaws At Williams

Brock Zearfoss held off World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series regulars David Gravel and Donny Schatz to win his first race in the series.

Jul 23, 2017 by Victoria Beaver
Brock Zearfoss And The Pennsylvania Posse Round Up The Outlaws At Williams
Pennsylvania Posse member Brock Zearfoss held off World of Outlaws regulars David Gravel and Donny Schatz for the win at William Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA Friday night. This was Zearfoss' first victory in an Outlaws race and second major win of the season. This was the first night of the two-night Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals event.

"How many times do you get to win an Outlaw race?" Zearfoss questioned. "This first time, I don't even know what to say. I'm sick to my stomach; I'm that excited. You know, this is just a dream come true."

Zearfoss had only run with the Outlaws one time prior to Friday night's race. He raced with them last May at The Grove, but did not advance to the feature that night, finishing 10th in the last chance showdown.

"We debuted this deal at the first Outlaw race, and we weren't good at all. To go from not making the show to standing on the front stretch of an Outlaw show, that's just saying something about these guys."

Fellow Posse member Lance Dewease had a run at the coveted Outlaws win by starting on the pole when a full-field Craftsman Club Dash inversion was pulled at the eighth position. Dewease led early claiming 15  of the first 16 laps after briefly losing the lead to last year's winner Daryl Pittman on lap one.

A caution came out on lap 17 when Danny Dietrich and Sheldon Haudenschild got into it outside of turn one. The restart had Dewease and Zearfoss on the front row; Gravel stole second from Zearfoss before sliding past Dewease. While challenging to reclaim his lead Dewease went too high in the cushion and flipped twice in turn two.

While there was no contact between Gravel and Dewease, the fans saw it differently and voiced their outrage on the double-file restart. Gravel set the record straight when he finished on the podium and answer the post-race interview.

"I know I never touched him," argued Gravel. "Lance probably had a pretty tight race car and flipped over in the curb. I honestly didn't want to slide him. I checked up. I thought, he doesn't get back around me, but he obviously got stumbled up in the curb. That's what happened, and then I had to work really hard to get back to second. I feel like we had the best car but finished second."

Gravel and Schatz traded second and third for the last 10 laps of the race. The last restart of the night saw Zearfoss and Gravel on the front row, but Zearfoss' car wouldn't go and Gravel was called for a jumped start. The restart was recalled and Gravel was moved to the second row with Schatz replacing him up front. Zearfoss was able to hold off the eight-time champion and pull away as Schatz and Gravel continue to battle for second.

"This motor was stumbling all night," said Zearfoss. "I got it to go a couple of times, but obviously that one time David [Gravel] actually didn't jump me, but it just didn't go. I kind of got lucky there. Got it to go for Schatz and didn't want to see another caution because I wasn't sure if I could do it again. Luckily I got a good jump on him on that last restart and held him off. Tell you what, I was either going out of the park or I was winning this bitch."

Brad Sweet and Daryl Pittman rounded out the top-five.

Top 10 Finishers
1. Brock Zearfoss
2. David Gravel
3. Donny Schatz
4. Brad Sweet
5. Daryn Pittman
6. Brian Montieth
7. Aaron Ott
8. TJ Stutts
9. Freddie Rahmer
10. Greg Hodnett
Complete Results, with heat finishes