Altobelli Tops in Mid Atlantic Modifieds, Open Comps to Kerns and Thomas
By Brett Rose
HAGERSTOWN, MD – Michael Altobelli, Jr. has been tough to beat in the HTMA Mid Atlantic Modifieds Series action thus far in 2018, and he was on top of the charts again at Hagerstown Speedway for his 2nd MAM win at the Hub City oval.
The win for the Saxon, Pennsylvania driver was his 7th overall this season, coming in the milestone 50th race in series history.
Altobelli held off 2017 MAM champion Brad Kling in strong performance of survival over the final half of the caution-marred feature for numerous incidents under a full moon.
Altobelli said: “The track felt pretty fast tonight. There was a cushion up in 3 and 4 and I could get around really good. I think you could add up all of the yellows we’ve had all year in this division and we matched it tonight.”
Brian Duffy, driving a team car to Altobelli finished third, while previous 2018 MAM series winners Rick Hulson and Ray Kable completed the top five.
It was an open competition format throwback to the “Runwhatchabrung” days in the Pure Stock and Hobby Stock divisions, and each winner used the style of racing to their advantages.
Pure Stock winner Bryan Kerns sported a standard 5×5 Sprint Car wing on top of his Chevy Camaro to lead every lap, outrunning the topless Camaro of Jamie Zentmyer by a whopping eleven second advantage at the checkered flag for his first win of 2018. Finishing in the top five in machines with more conventional bodywork were Danny Atherton, Mike Walls, and Mike Desch.
Kevin Thomas removed the roof and added plexi-glass side boards to his ride and took the checkers for the second time in a very competitive Hobby Stock feature. Thomas battled early leader Eric Johnson who chose to go sans roof, but as Johnson faded, Ryan Leister moved into contention with his conventional ride from a ninth-place start.
Leister finished second over Shawn Shoemaker, Johnson, and Brady Daniels.
The Classic Car Series provided the nightcap as Matt Wallace nipped Dylan Brown in a close finish.
Notes: Racing takes a break at Hagerstown until the Small Car Nationals on September 14-15. The 4 Cylinder RWD Mini-Stocks have been dropped from the SCN lineup entirely due to the low amount of racer participation in previous races held in 2018. The MAM will be racing in place of that division on September 15 only.
Feature Results
Mid Atlantic Modifieds – 1. 95H-Michael Altobelli, [3]; 2. 11-Brad Kling, [5]; 3. 95D-Brian Duffy, [2]; 4. 40-Rick Hulson, [8]; 5. 90-Ray Kable, [4]; 6. 25-Mike Corbin, [11]; 7. 98K-Keith Lauphere, [1]; 8. 26D-Derek Deusenberry, [7]; 9. 95C-Justin Cullum, [14]; 10. 21-Cody Oliver, [13]; 11. 0-Haley Kaiser, [9]; 12. K2-Logan Terry, [12]; 13. H20-Ridge Bookwalter, [21]; 14. 7-George Gutridge, [19]; 15. 33-Brandon Churchey, [20]; 16. 17-Andy Bosley, [16]; 17. 7H-Josh Hughes, [6]; 18. 12S-Rusty Pennington, [15]; 19. 70L-Kyle Lloyd, [22]; 20. 55-Alyssa Rowe, [10]; 21. 47-Jason Sarver, [18]; 22. 44-Frank DiBella [17]
Pure Stock – 1. 83-Bryan Kerns, [1]; 2. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [2]; 3. 19-Danny Atherton, [3]; 4. 52-Mike Walls, [11]; 5. 59-Mike Desch, [4]; 6. 12R-Mike Raleigh,[6]; 7. 22-Jamey Swank, 5]; 8. 5-Chris Wolfe, [7]; 9. 44-Charles Rupert, [8]; DNS-Randy Zechman, Kevin Sigler
Hobby Stock – 1. 03-Kevin Thomas, [3]; 2. 14L-Ryan Leister, [9]; 3. 44-Shawn Shoemaker, [5]; 4. 1J-Eric Johnson, [2]; 5. 76-Brady Daniels, [8]; 6. X-Kirk Lawson, [12]; 7. 53-Gregory Morgan, [11]; 8. 14-Gary Breeden, [10]; 9. 0-Jamie Mills, [15]; 10. 10-Drew Fertig, [7]; 11. 19-Mike Fuller, [14]; 12. 12LC-Steven Chamberlain, [19]; 13. 2-Preston Imler, [18]; 14. 34-Chaseton Leach, [13]; 15. 3-Harold Robinson, [17]; 16. 00-Charles Noblitt, [4]; 17. 54-John Catlett, [16]; 18. 25-Rodney Miner, [20]; 19. 36-Sam Archer, [1]; DNS-Curtis Guyer, Joe Rodgers