1st Career SLM Win for Lee at Hagerstown

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Kyle Lee is not a stranger to victory lane at Hagerstown Speedway as he has won in both the Late Model Sportsman and Crate Late Model divisions, but he parked his D&D Auto Recycling No.2t Super Late Model there after the 25 lap feature event for the first time in his racing career.

Lee shared the front row with pole starter Bryan Bernheisel, and blasted himself into the lead from the start. A quick caution flag unfurled to setup a restart, and Lee repeated with the same results.

By the halfway point, the young Mercersburg, PA driver put his red Rocket XR-1 about a straightway between him and Bernheisel’s No.119 BRC Lazer. With seven circuits remaining, Lee hit lapped traffic but continued his torrid pace to wire the field to the checkered flag.

 “Yeah, that thing was great, uh, I can’t thank the crew enough.  I was only into the shop last night until 11:30 and everyone else was in the shop until 3 in the morning, back at it at 11:00 today clean up until race time. This is what makes it worth it; all the countless hours.”, said Lee.

“We’re starting to figure a little bit more on the slick track. We’re getting better each week.”

Bernheisel finished a distant second, but was well ahead of third place finisher Roy Deese, Jr., fourth place finisher Trever Feathers, and fifth place finisher Andy Anderson.

Kyle Lear recorded his fourth win of 2017 in the 20 lap Late Model Sportsman feature. Lear had to chase and battle race-long leader Barry Miller until a late caution gave Lear a chance to get by Miller. On the restart,  Lear charged hard into turn one and made the pass stick up high with just three laps to go, and went on the rest of the way for the win.

Miller was second, while Alan Sagi, Dan Zechman, and tenth place starter Paul Cursey, Jr. completed the top five.

The Mid Atlantic Modifieds were on the card for their second appearance of the season, and Jimmy Jesmer took the checkered flag in a wild 15 lap feature that saw many of the top runners taken out in a multi-car pileup and spins at the initial start.

One of the cars affected was piloted by pole starter Rick Hulson, who had to go to the rear of the field. Hulson drove from the back to finish second, while Carl McKinney, Mike Potosky, and Jonathan Taylor rounded out the top five.

Craig Parrill recorded his seventh Pure Stock win of the season. This time, he was behind the wheel of his own No.34c instead of the Dickie Tharp No.3. Parrill took the lead from outside of fellow front row starter Tom Wakefield, and never looked back.

Sean Dawson drove into second in the early going of the 15 lap feature, but was a distant second to Parrill at the finish.

Following the top tandem at the checkers were Keith Koontz, Brandon Churchey, and Wakefield.

Davey Gross, Jr. was the Hobby Stock victor for the second consecutive race, and for the third time in 2017. Gross had Jeff Dillon closing on his bumper, but it wasn’t enough to take away the win.

Gary Breeden finished third, James Speelman was fourth, and Willie Ling finished fifth.

Feature Results

Super Late Model – 1. 2T-Kyle Lee, 2. 119-Bryan Bernheisel, 3. 05-Roy Deese Jr., 4. 20-Trever Feathers, 5. 41-Andy Anderson, 6. 46-Marvin Winters, 7. B2-Brian Booze, 8. 74-Tyler Hershey, 9. 86-Scott Palmer, 10. 94-Jason Miller, 11. 55-Gary Stuhler, 12. 5-Brad Omps, 13. 3-Tim Wilson, 14. 11-Kirk Baker, 15. 3V-Kyle Hardy, 16. 5M-Mike Steck, 17. 39-Bill Kessler, DNS 22R-Reese Masiello

Late Model Sportsman – 1. 151-Kyle Lear, 2. 88-Barry Miller, 3. 5-Alan Sagi, 4. 2-Dan Zechman, 5. 37-Paul Cursey Jr., 6. 43-Cody Kershner, 7. 9A-Kurt Zimmerman, 8. 11-Joe Westerman Jr., 9. 39-Ryan Walls, 10. D34-Curtis Dunn, 11. 24R-John Rowland, 12. 121-Larry Neiderer, 13. 33-Craig Smith, 14. 81-Eddie Cornett, DNS 99-Michael Walls

Mid Atlantic Modifieds – 1. 47-Jimmy Jesmer, 2. 40-Rick Hulson, 3. 6M-Carl McKinney, 4. M20-Mike Potosky, 5. 5-Jonathan Taylor, 6. 8-Brad Kling, 7. 95-Chris Fletcher, 8. 0-Haley Kaiser, 9. 90-Ray Kable, 10. 99-Bryan Green, 11. 83-Ray Ciccarelli, 12. 26X-James Sparks, 13. 80-Keith Reed, 14. 28-Jim Trenary, 15. 67-Chris Beall, 16. 55-Alyssa Rowe, 17. 74-Rich Goodman, 18. 1N-Hunter Nester, 19. 95C-Justin Cullum, 20. 21H-Quintin Hankla, 21. 7H-Josh Hughes, DNS 70L-Kyle Lloyd

Pure Stock – 1. 34C-Craig Parrill, 2. S7-Sean Dawson, 3. 08-Keith Koontz, 4. 05-Brandon Churchey, 5. 27W-Tom Wakefield, 6. 62-Danny Beavers Jr., 7. 00-Joshua Bloom,  8. 2+2-Shane Wilt, 9. 64-William Crook, 10. 59-Mike Desch, 11. 3T-Dickie Tharp, 12. 25X-Jeremy Mills, 13. 7-Brian Swiger, 14. 4-Nick DiBella, (DNS) 81F-Marshall McMullen, DNS 44-Frank DiBella DQ 6-Wayne Hawbaker

Hobby Stock – 1. 27-Davey Gross Jr.,  2. 52-Jeff Dillon, 3. 6-Gary Breeden, 4. 11A-James Speelman,  5. 31-Willie Ling,  6. 18-Ralph Hansberger,  7. 54-John Catlett,  8. 25-Rodney Miner,  9. 72-Jimmy Kline,  10. 0-Jamie Mills, DNS 92-Jonathan Raley