Anderson Un-retires to get Hagerstown SLM Win

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – “Double A” Andy Anderson, who briefly retired from racing last season, completed his comeback behind the wheel of the Bland’s Towing No.41 by winning the 25 lap Super Late Model feature event Saturday night at Hagerstown Speedway.

The Bunker Hill, WV resident started third, and quickly settled his way into second place on the grid behind early race leader Scott Palmer. Palmer was in command while Anderson was in pursuit through the halfway point of the feature race.

Palmer encountered lapped traffic, and Anderson used that to his advantage to power around Palmer on the outside groove of the sixteenth lap.

A caution with five laps to go bunched the field back up, and gave Palmer another shot at Anderson, but it wasn’t enough as Anderson sped away from the competition to record his first win of 2017.

 “Well, it’s always better being the cat than the mouse, but uh, he (Palmer) was pretty good. I mean, I kinda just… he got away from me a little bit there because I started searching around there trying to get him, and once I seen that lapped traffic, I had to get back up in the middle and try to run him down.”

“And then I just had to go where he wasn’t.”, said Anderson in his victory lane interview.

Palmer, who had sat out a few weeks following a violent rollover at another track, recorded his best finish of the season in second place, while Marvin Winters, Roy Deese, Jr., and Gary Stuhler rounded out the top five.

Kyle Lee went flag to flag in the 20 lap Crate Late Model feature event, picking up the win in the Walter Nichols No.75 for his first win of 2017. Lee never relinquished the lead once the race started. He steadily pulled away from Tanner Kerr as the race progressed. His lead was a straightaway length at the halfway point, and the margin over Kerr at the finish was 6.737 seconds.

Kerr held on to finish second, while Timmy Booth, Lindsey Barton, and Clinton Hersh completed the top five.

Craig Parrill drove to his fourth consecutive and fifth overall Pure Stock win of the 2017 season behind the wheel of the Dickie Tharp No.3. Parrill drove past Brandon Churchey for the lead on the sixth circuit, and never looked back for the rest of the 15 lap feature event.

Churchey was second, Nick DiBella was third, Dwayne Snyder was fourth, and Sean Dawson came back from a previous spin to record a fifth place finish.

Jonathan Raley battled side by side with Dylan Rutherford for several laps, and the duo exchanged the lead over the final few laps before Raley was able to take the final command and hold on for the 15 lap Hobby Stock feature win by about a car length over Rutherford.

Following them at the stripe were Jamie Mills, James Speelman, and Davey Gross, Jr.

Barry Miller wired the Late Model Sportsman field to record his first win of 2017. Miller was fast and wasn’t going to be denied victory. He was trailed by Craig Smith, Paul Cursey, Jr., Dale Murphy, and Ronnie Bottenfield at the checkered flag.

Feature Results:

Super Late Model – 1. Andy Anderson, 2. Scott Palmer, 3. Marvin Winters, 4. Roy Deese, Jr., 5. Gary Stuhler, 6. Kenny Moreland, 7. Bryan Bernheisel, 8. Kyle Lee, 9. Rodney Walls, 10. Brad Omps, 11. Brian Booze, 12. Reese Masiello, 13. Chad Myers, 14. Kirk Baker, 15. Pancho Lawler, 16. Randy Burkholder, 17. Devin Friese,  DNS- D.J. Myers, DQ- Steve Gibney

Late Model Sportsman – 1.Barry Miller, 2. Craig Smith, 3. Paul Cursey, Jr., 4. Dale Murphy, 5. Ronnie Bottenfield, 6. Frankie Gordon, 7. Alan Sagi, 8. Kyle Lear, 9. Michael Walls, 10. Justin Jesmer, 11. John Rowland, 12. D.J. Groft, 13. Eddie Cornett, 14. Joe Westerman, Jr.

Pure Stock – 1. Craig Parrill, 2. Brandon Churchey, 3. Nick DiBella, 4. Dwayne Snyder, 5. Sean Dawson, 6. Ed Pope, 7. Wayne Hawbaker, 8. Joshua Bloom, 9. Shane Wilt, 10. William Crook, 11. Brian Swiger, 12. Scooter Jones, 13. Jamie Zentmyer ,DNS-Danny Atherton

Hobby Stock – 1. Jonathan Raley, 2. Dylan Rutherford, 3. Jamie Mills, 4. James Speelman, 5. Davey Gross, Jr., 6. Willie Ling, 7.Jerry Deason, 8. John Catlett, 9. Rodney Miner, 10. Ralph Hansberger, 11. Gary Breeden, DNS- Bryan Neff

Crate Late Model – 1. Kyle Lee, 2. Tanner Kerr, 3. Timmy Booth, 4. Lindsey Barton, 5. Clinton Hersh,  6.Steve Lowery, 7.Levi Crowl, 8. Transtan Stoner, 9. Scott Sweeney, 10. Chuck Bowie, 11. Harry Shipe III, 12. Cory Lawler, 13. Zach Price