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By JACK O’CONNOR
Ryan Smith headed into this past weekend’s Central PA Sprint Car events hoping to get the Kreitz Racing No. 69k team back on the right track following a horrid week prior that saw him watch the Williams Grove Speedway feature from the sidelines and be taken out of contention at Port Royal Speedway while running second due to a radiator issue.
The Kunkletown, PA driver got exactly what he wanted and more when the dust settled on the weekend as he finished a close second to Justin Peck at Williams Grove Friday before hunting down Chase Dietz in the waning moments at Port Royal to grab the checkered flag, his first for Kreitz since last April’s Keith Kauffman Classic.
As he pulled into victory lane to celebrate with the crew and take pictures, it seemed like a five-ton weight had been lifted off the shoulders of “The Kunkletown Kid.”
“I really can’t put it into words how bad we needed this,” Smith, who celebrated his birthday the day after, said back at his trailer.
“I don’t want to make excuses, but most of these guys have raced more than me so far this year, so I was definitely a little rusty the first couple races. Plus, we’re running a little bit of a different package, and then during the first three races, I couldn’t draw a pill. So, to have a weekend like this is huge for my confidence as a driver and our team morale. It’s not that we were all down in the dumps, but we needed to get back in the hunt. I felt like I gave one away at the Grove last night (Friday), so was nice to come here and get first win out of the way.”
Smith took a methodical approach to victory lane. Starting on the outside of the second row, Smith let those ahead pound the fence while he cruised around the middle of the speedway, knowing he would eventually reel them back in.
“I wasn’t going to let it swing on the fence like Chase (Dietz) and (Justin) Whittall were doing at the beginning,” Smith said. “I could get close to it, but the racetrack was great and there were multiple lines, so I searched around a little bit until I found something I liked. Chase was good; I slowly closed in on him in clean air and then I knew it was going to get dicey once we got to traffic.”
Smith made the winning move going into turn one with seven laps to go when he rolled the middle lane after getting Dietz to go low to defend.
“I showed him my nose (in turns three and four on the previous lap) and got him to run where he probably hadn’t yet,” Smith said. “Then I was just able to drive around him. It’s always good to be second because while he’s trying to figure out how to get by somebody, I’m back there finding some better lines.”
Once out front, it wasn’t smooth sailing to the checkered flag with the slower traffic. Smith split the cars of Tanner Holmes and JT Ferry in turns three and four with five laps to go, a move that he believed won him the race.
“I was hearing him the whole time, and I saw him once,” he said. “So, I was thinking if I made one mistake, he was going to drive me. I had to pick the right lane going into the corner and not followed a lapped car. I caught those two (Holmes and Ferry), split them, and then thought to myself ‘Alright, I think I got some breathing room here.’ They call this Sprint Car racing for a reason; you’re on kill the entire time.”
The victory propelled Smith to third in the PA Posse 410 Sprint Series standings. With multiple cars at his disposal, including the Kreitz machine and the BJD Motorsports No. 6, he intends to follow the tour until at least May and then assess where his programs are at.
Regardless, you’ll find him at the controls of the No. 69k at half-mile facilities and the No. 6 at short tracks.
“I was going to run through April, see where we were in points and then go from there,” he said. “But since we’re now in the top three in points, my plan is to run as many of the Posse races with two or three different teams for the moment. I love Ohio Speedweek with the (BJD) No. 6 car, and I’d like to go to Eldora again, but there are some Posse races in I’d miss. So, now I’m going to give until May and then go from there.”
