SELINSGROVE, Pa.: Anthony Macri has put the struggles of late June and July behind him and orchestrated a pretty good August run.
It started with a win in West Virginia and continued when he made the Knoxville Nationals finale. When he returned to central Pennsylvania, he rattled off two wins in his next two starts.
That roll continued Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway. Macri won a fierce battle with Pat Cannon before driving away to a dominating victory in the 41st annual Jack Gunn Memorial. He earned $5,000 for the win.
Ryan Smith finished second, with Danny Dietrich earning a third-place finish. Blane Heimbach and Jason Shultz completed the top five.
KEY MOMENT: Ryan Smith got a great start and blew past Lance Dewease and Danny Dietrich in Turn 1. He also slipped under outside pole-sitter Anthony Macri to take over the runner-up spot behind Cannon.
But, Macri didn’t go away and kept Danny Dietrich and Lance Dewease behind him. He showed patience in reeling in Smith and took over the second spot with a slide job through the third and fourth corner on Lap 4.
Once the Dillsburg, Pa., ace got into second, he chased Cannon down and put himself in position for the victory.
WINNING PASS: Macri closed to within .510 seconds on Lap 8 and hung there for the next five circuits, using patience to find the best way to make a pass.
Cannon got held up behind the backmarker of Aaron Bollinger, who was running the top of the speedway. Macri closed to within .183 seconds on the 14th circuit and was side-by-side with the leader out of Turn 2 on Lap 15.
In each instance, Cannon had an answer and remained out front. Macri finally pulled the slider in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 18 and made it stick to take the lead.
BARELY MAKING IT: Once Macri got out front, he drove away from the field. By the time Lap 22 was scored, he had built a 4.023-second advantage.
That lead continued to grow despite a Lap 23 caution for Cannon, who shredded a right rear tire heading into Turn 1 while running second. When the green dropped, Macri dominated the last eight laps, taking the win by 5.582 seconds.
The only hiccup for Macri came in the last two laps. His fuel was running low, and he had to nurse it to the finish.
“With two laps to go, it started spitting and sputtering, and I started losing power,” Macri said. “So, I backed off to half throttle and tried to cruise. Coming out of four to the checker, it shut off.”
BY THE NUMBERS: The victory at Selinsgrove was Macri’s ninth of the season in the 410 Sprint Car division and 10th overall.
In Macri’s last four starts in central Pennsylvania, he has three wins and a second-place finish, which came Thursday night against the FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions at Grandview Speedway.
Danny Dietrich’s third-place finish Saturday night gave him 24 top-five finishes in Central Pa. this season. Macri is tied with Lance Dewease and Freddie Rahmer for second on the list with 22.
THEY SAID IT: “I just had a good car all night long and kept tweaking on it. Pat got out to a lead there, and I actually had to work really hard to find what was best for me and get my wing in the right position and try to position myself to pass him. I tried a couple of times in three and four, and it just wasn’t right … just too long a slider to clear him. So, one and two was a little narrower, and I slid him down there, and it stuck. After that, I just tried to control the race and conserve fuel.” — Selinsgrove Speedway winner Anthony Macri.
“Mentally, it’s getting me in the right spot for this time of year. We’re racing for big money, so to be mentally fit, I guess is the word, is very important. I feel like I’m mentally sharp and making the right decisions behind the wheel and not making dumb decisions and conserving my stuff. I say it’s all in preparation for the Tuscarora 50, because you can’t go wide open for 50 laps and be there at the end. So, it feels good, and we are just going to try and keep going.” — Macri on his recent success and the confidence he has as a driver.
“I thought I was going to win this thing on the first lap. We were really good. Once it got around the top there … honestly, that’s really the first time I ever ran the wall here in three and four. That’s the long way around. I still had flashbacks to two years ago, so I was slowly making my way up. About Lap 10, I started running a foot off of it, and I needed to be a foot and a half higher.” — Ryan Smith on his charge on the first lap of the main event.
“The restart there, I rolled some wing back, and I was going to try and pounce on the bottom. He [Macri] kind of rolled the middle, and he’s in a different zip code. I wasn’t sure if he was running at the end, because I didn’t even see him anymore. Good night for us. We started fifth and to run second, we’ll take it.” — Smith on the last restart and trying to chase down the leader.