Story By: A2DPR / ZACH NEWLIN RACING – MECHANICSBURG, PA – In case you haven’t noticed, Zach Newlin has been a consistent contender this summer in 358 sprint car competition.
It started with a hard charger award in early May. A few weeks later there was a podium finish. That was followed by a 23rd to 6th drive at BAPS Motor Speedway. In July, he reached victory lane at Williams Grove Speedway.
Now the calendar has turned to August and Newlin is still performing. Friday night he scored two top ten finishes in two feature events, and he had to get his elbows up to get it done.
Back on August 4th, Newlin had a rough qualifying night that saw him unable to dig out of an early hole that stemmed from an unlucky pill draw. Before the feature could be run that night, the rain came. Now, two weeks later, that feature rolled to the green to kick off the night at Williams Grove Speedway with the Millerstown, PA wheelman in the 19th starting spot.
When the green flag dropped on the 25-lap 358 Sprint Car Summer Series makeup feature, Newlin was ready to put the qualifying challenges of two weeks prior in the rear view mirror.
In the early going he reached 14th but was still mired there at the halfway point. That’s when the Manchester Hydraulics, Marlow’s Metal Fabrication, Safety Kleen, Lee Chassis Repair & Components, Will’s Lawncare, Mansberger Motorsports No.21m came alive.
Newlin navigated his way to 12th on lap fourteen, then cracked the top ten on lap sixteen. One lap later he climbed to 8th. He held on to finish there, completing a solid recovery with a strong run.
Thirty teams were on hand for the regular show Friday night at Williams Grove, which set heat lineups by the track’s handicapping system and the feature lineup was ‘heads up’ based on the heat race finishes.
Newlin started 7th in the third and final heat race of the evening. He made quick work of the cars directly in front of him, racing into 5th on the opening lap. He continued his push, claiming 4th on the following circuit and eventually 3rd on lap seven. He pulled even with Justin Foster coming to the checkered flag but fell 0.030 seconds short of a runner-up finish.
The heat race charge provided Newlin with the 9th starting spot for the 20-lap A-main. On the initial start he slipped back a couple spots but recovered within two trips around the legendary Mechanicsburg, PA half-mile.
Once he found his rhythm, Newlin began to chip away toward the top five. He took the 8th spot on lap three, then 7th the next time around. A few laps later he moved into 6th and began his pursuit of Kody Hartlaub for a spot in the top five.
It never materialized and Newlin closed out the night with a 6th place finish. The productive night brought his streak of top ten finishes to five, including a win in late July in the Manchester Hydraulics, Marlow’s Metal Fabrication, Safety Kleen, Lee Chassis Repair & Components, Will’s Lawncare, Mansberger Motorsports No.21m.
“We haven’t been out of the top ten anywhere we have gone with this car since May 5th, and that was an 11th place finish.“, Newlin said. “We passed a lot of cars tonight. We went forward every time we hit the track. Almost had second in our heat from seventh.”
“It feels good to have Dan’s (Mansberger) car running the way it should be. We struggled with odd issues and bad luck the last couple years, so it’s good to finally have things going our way and showing what we are capable of. You have to be consistent and be there first, then the wins will come. We have one so far and hopefully we can get a couple more before the season ends.“
Zach and the Mansberger Motorsports team will return to Williams Grove Speedway on Friday, September 1st looking to continue their climb up the season point standings at the track. Newlin currently sits 5th on that list.