By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Kyle Lee drove from his seventh-place start to the Super Late Model victory in an exciting 73^rd season opener at Hagerstown Speedway. It was the third career SLM win for the former track champion out of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania behind the wheel of his D & D Auto Recycling No.2t.

Nick Dickson and Andy Anderson paced the field at the start, with Anderson taking the top spot on the backstretch to lead the first circuit. While Anderson and Dickson were out front, Trever Feathers quickly moved into third from his fourth row start.

Anderson had a five car length advantage over Dickson in the Bruce Kane Racing No.25 by the tenth lap, and raced into traffic by the halfway mark. By this point, Feathers began hounding Dickson for second place, and then Lee entered into the fold moving past Feathers.

A caution for debris erased Anderson’s lead and setup a wild restart on Lap 17. Anderson’s car didn’t fire off the corner well on the restart. Dickson regained the top position for a lap while a four car battle jumbled off of turn two for third.

Logan Roberson moved from sixth to third, and then Lee moved around Dickson for the lead the next lap before the caution waved for Anderson, who went pitside.

On the final restart of the 25 lap main event, Lee charged away from Dickson and Roberson as Feathers moved in to second over the last few laps. But Feathers couldn’t mount a serious challenge as Lee drove away to victory.

“The fans come to see a race and I think that’s what they seen”, said Lee in his winner’s interview with Richard Newcomer. “I know everybody’s anxious to come out and watch the races, and I was anxious to get back to a local track. The track was great tonight. It’s the raciest I’ve seen Hagerstown in a long time, and I hope it’s a good start to the year”.

Dickson was third, followed by Roberson, and Justin Weaver rounded out the top five.

Brady Daniels resumed his winning ways in picking up the first Hobby Stock feature win of the 2020 season. It was his fourth career win.

Daniels picked up the lead on Lap 9, passing pole sitter Cody Sumption, who led the opening laps of the 15 lap feature event.

Tom Caravello also passed Sumption into second place on Lap 9, and battled Daniels briefly for the lead, but the recent high school graduate from Harrisonvile, Pennsylvania held Caravello off the rest of the way.

Sumption finished third in his Ford Thunderbird amongst a field of GM products. Finishing fourth and fifth were Andrew Fertig and Codey Breeden.

Joey Zambotti repeated opening night wins as he made the long tow from Kittanning, Pennsylvania worth the trip to score his seventh career triumph at Hagerstown in the15 lap Pure Stock feature. Zambotti dominated the race, but had to hold off Michael Warrenfeltz on a late race restart to take the win.

They were followed by Dylan Rutherford, Randy Zechman, and Wayne Hawbaker at the finish.

Notes: A great turnout of cars showed in the pit area, and a great show of support in the grandstands was on hand for the season opener.

Each feature winner respectively won their qualifying heat race, but neither of them started on the pole.

Daniels and Zambotti each earned guaranteed starts in next weekend’s Hub City 100.

Kenny Moreland had a great drive in the SLM feature to finish seventh after winning the B-main to earn the 19^th spot on the feature grid. Numerous drivers made advances from their starting spots proving how good the racing and track conditions were.

Feature Results

Super Late Models –  1. 2T-Kyle Lee[7]; 2. 20-Trever Feathers[6]; 3. 17D-Nick Dickson[1]; 4. 17-Logan Roberson[8]; 5. 41-Justin Weaver[10]; 6. 46-Marvin Winters[5]; 7. 24-Kenny Moreland[19]; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler[11]; 9. 05-Roy Deese Jr[9]; 10. 14-Tyler Horst[14]; 11. 86X-Austin Berry[4]; 12. 11B-Brian Booze[13]; 13. 2-Dan Zechman[15]; 14. 21-Chad Myers[3]; 15. 8F-Taylor Farlling[20]; 16. D19-Dillon Stake[17]; 17. 08-Keith Koontz[23]; 18. 11-Kirk Baker[12]; 19. 8-Matt Sponaugle[16]; 20. 48-Donnie Farlling[21]; 21. 93-Cory Lawler[24]; 22. 25-Andy Anderson[2]; 23. 86-Scott Palmer[22]; 24. (DNS) 13D-Jonathan DeHaven

Pure Stock – 1. 948-Joey Zambotti III[4]; 2. 55-Michael Warrenfeltz[2]; 3. 11-Dylan Rutherford[10]; 4. 2-Randy Zechman[8]; 5. 6-Wayne Hawbaker[9]; 6. 28-Ethan Ours[19]; 7. 83-Bryan Kerns[11]; 8. 00-Joshua Bloom[15]; 9. 21-Jason Stoner[3]; 10. 65-Dillon Wilson[13]; 11. 34C-Craig Parrill[5]; 12. 19M-Bobby Meixsell[12]; 13. 19-Danny Atherton[1]; 14. 7N-Rob Nichols[20]; 15. 69-Dwayne Snyder[23]; 16. 3J-Jerry Jenkins Jr[7]; 17. 3W-Branson Woodward[16]; 18. 62-Danny Beavers Jr[21]; 19. 88-Khi Swanger[22]; 20. 47-Tike Loizos[24]; 21. 15-Michael Carter[14]; 22. S7-Kory Sites[6]; 23. 70-Bobby Franklin[17]; 24. 56-Gregory Laird[18]

Hobby Stock – 1. 76-Brady Daniels[5]; 2. 141-Tom Caravello[4]; 3. 20-Cody Sumption[1]; 4. 10-Andrew Fertig[2]; 5. 14-Codey Breeden[8]; 6. 100-Dalton Dillman[3]; 7. 45-John Catlett[15]; 8. 5-Charlie Clise[7]; 9. 41-Sam Caravello[17]; 10. 64-William Crook[21]; 11. 28-Kyle Deneen[16]; 12. 04-Dakota Moreland[20]; 13. 39-Dalton Ritchey[14]; 14. 16B-Bryce Broadwater[18]; 15. 62-Dylan Beavers[19]; 16. 9-Jason Wilkins[6]; 17. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain[13]; 18. ZR1-Zack Reid[10]; 19. 00-Charles Noblitt[22]; 20. 19-Mike Fuller[9]; 21. (DNS) 03-Joe Rodgers; 22. (DNS) 12-Chad Brill; 23. (DNS) 11M-Gene Miller