By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Scott Ellerman wired the field, but had to hold off a fast-closing Ken Duke, Jr. over the second half of the 25 lapper to win the finale of the inaugural IMCA RaceSaver East Coast Sprint Nationals at Hagerstown Speedway.

The Landisburg, Pennsylvania driver picked up $1,000 for his win in a race that paid $500 to qualify.

Duke worked his way up to Ellerman from his 7^th-place start, and put the sights of his No. 67 onto the tailtank of Ellerman’s No.8d on the sixteenth lap.

While Duke was working the bottom groove, he was able to pull even with Ellerman several times in the closing laps, but couldn’t quite edge ahead into the lead. Ellerman was ahead by a car length at the checkered flag.

“It felt really good there. Starting spot means a lot, especially on a dry-slick track. I figured Ken would be coming sooner or later. He’s been fast all year……I’m worn out! I saw him on the bottom and I knew I had to move down.”, stated Ellerman in Victory Lane.

Following Ellerman and Duke at the finish were Christian Rumsey, Stevie Kenawell, and Jonathon Jones.

Bryan Kerns led the final lap of the 15 lap Pure Stock feature marred by a controversial finish between front runners Joey Zambotti and Doug Hoffman.

Kerns started on the pole and led the first lap before 5-time winner Zambotti moved underneath in Turn 2 on the second lap. By the fourth lap, 2018 champion Hoffman moved around Kerns in the second spot, and began his assault on Zambotti’s lead.

Following a caution a lap later, the restart placed Zambotti’s No.948 machine alongside the No.Super7 of Hoffman on the double-file restart. The pair battled side-by-side for the next few laps, and Hoffman edged ahead for the lead on Lap 9.

A tenth lap caution placed Zambotti and Hoffman together again, and after another side-by-side battle, Zambotti reclaimed the lead on Lap 12.

Hoffman stayed on the rear bumper of Zambotti, and moved underneath to make a pass for the lead. Coming off of Turn 2, contact between the two drivers sent Zambotti into the outside guardrail and ending his night.

Officials made the call to disqualify Hoffman for unsportsmanlike conduct, and sent him to the pit area.

This gave Kerns the lead on a last lap shootout, and he was able to withhold the challenge of Tony Stoneberger to take his first feature win of 2019.

Dwayne Snyder debuted a new car to finish third, Joshua Bloom was fourth, and Danny Atherton finished fifth.

Brady Daniels scored his first career win in the 15 lap Hobby Stock feature event. The teenager from Harrisonville, PA in his No.76 Chevy Nova took the lead from Drew Fertig after an early race restart, and then held off the challenges of Billy Ecton, Sr. while surviving a couple more restarts along the way to the checkered flag.

Ecton, Fertig, James Speelman, and John Catlett trailed Daniels at the finish.

Notes: 69 cars were pit side with 38 Sprints, 16 Hobby Stocks, and 15 Pure Stocks. Drivers came from seven different states between New York and North Carolina to race over both nights.

Ken Duke, Jr. had a solid weekend at Hagerstown with two second place finishes in his 305 Sprint. In three career appearances at Hagerstown, he won his other track appearance in 2018.

Night one winner Zach Newlin had to work his way into the feature on night two through a B-main. He started 21^st in the feature and finished 6^th.

Hagerstown Speedway would like to thank all of the racers and fans that supported this inaugural event.

Feature Results

IMCA RaceSaver Sprints – 1. 8D-Scott Ellerman, [2]; 2. 67-Ken Duke Jr., [7]; 3. 1R-Christian Rumsey, [4]; 4. 17K-Stevie Kenawell, [3]; 5. 12J-Jonathon Jones, [6]; 6. 11Z-Zachary Newlin, [21]; 7. 77-Mike Leraas, [9]; 8. 33-Scott Lutz, [20]; 9. 4J-Jacob Gomola, [1]; 10. 5K-Jake Karklin, [11]; 11. 26-Ryan Lynn, [24]; 12. 20-Doug Dodson, [18]; 13. 6L-Tyler Denochick, [13]; 14. 6X-Brad Mellott, [16]; 15. 83-Lawrence McVay, [23]; 16. 69K-John Karklin, [10]; 17. 5-John Walp, [12]; 18. J9-Jerald Harris, [5]; 19. 88-Greg Dobrosky, [14]; 20. 36-Jaremi Hanson, [17]; 21. 55-Domenic Melair, [15]; 22. 31-Donnie Hendershot, [19]; 23. 88A-Fred Arnold, [22]; 24. 92-Dylan Proctor [8]

Pure Stock – 1. 83-Bryan Kerns, [1]; 2. 12S-Tony Stoneberger, [10]; 3. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [5]; 4. 00-Joshua Bloom, [9]; 5. 19-Danny Atherton, [6]; 6. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [7]; 7. 2-Randy Zechman, [11]; 8. 19M-Bobby Meixsell, [8]; 9. 948-Joey Zambotti, [3]; 10. 65-Dillon Wilson, [2]; 11. 56-Gregory Laird, [14]; 12. 47-Tike Loizos, [12]; 13. 25-Jeremy Mills, [13] DNS-Brian Swiger,  DQ-Doug Hoffman

Hobby Stock – 1. 76-Brady Daniels, [8]; 2. 67-Billy Ecton, [5]; 3. 10-Drew Fertig, [1]; 4. 11A-James Speelman, [10]; 5. 45-John Catlett, [3]; 6. 19-Mike Fuller, [7]; 7. 41-Sam Caravello, [4]; 8. 75-Courtney Deshong, [9]; 9. 43-Jason Sarver, [11]; 10. 7K-Michael Knight, [15]; 11. 28-Brad Umbrell, [14]; 12. 57-William Ecton Jr., [12]; 13. 64-William Crook, [2]; 14. 00-Charles Noblitt [13] DNS -Gary Breeden, Laura Chamberlain

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – On a night filled with hard racing, caution flags, and attrition, survival was the name of the game during the Turn 5 Turn Around Small Car Nationals at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night as James Lichliter, Joey Zambotti, Kevin Thomas, and Adam Campbell each took home victories in their respective divisions.

Cody Kershner led the way in the 25 lap Late Model Sportsman feature through the first 15 laps that saw cautions for a multi-car melee in turn one, a restart with multiple cars jumping positions, and a red flag for Bruce Kane after a stuck throttle sent his car straight into the turn one guardrail. Kane emerged uninjured in the hard impact, and walked away.

As the action settled down, Lichliter was racing his way through the field from the eighth spot, and had moved into second earlier, but began to pounce on Kershner’s lead in the final ten laps as Kershner hit lapped traffic. Five laps later, Kershner and Lichliter battled for the lead and with four circuits remaining, Lichliter made the winning pass up top on turn four and drove his No. 8 to his first LMS win of the 2019 season worth $1,500.

“Every time I’d go one way, there was a lapped car and I was like ‘I gotta stay on this high side’ and I knew Cody’s car handling was going away on the last green flag stretch we had. I was trying to see where I could capitalize, and finally, I got hooked up”, said Lichliter.

Kershner held on to second, followed by Chad Myers in third, Andrew Yoder in fourth, and Barry Miler finished fifth.

Joey Zambotti had to work hard and survive to keep his perfect record of Pure Stock feature wins intact as he started 16^th, and took the lead on lap 6 of 20 to score his 5^th win in five races.

Not only did Zambotti make it through the spins and cautions from other drivers, he had to endure three more after taking the lead from ninth-place starte, and fellow Kittanning, PA resident Bob Egley. Zambotti’s feature win was worth $750.

Egley finished second, while Dan Zechman recovered from an early race spin to finish third. Rob Nichols was fourth, and Tony Stoneberger also recovered from an early spin to crack the top five.

Kevin Thomas is also undefeated in Hobby Stock competition as he is now 4 for 4 in feature wins. He didn’t run away from the whole field as he had Brady Daniels hot on his heels for most of the 20 lapper, but he had to hold off Daniels in a one lap shootout to the finish to earn the checkered flag, and $500.

Mike Fuller, John Catlett, and Kirk Lawson rounded out the top five.

Adam Campbell closed out the night with his first U-Car win at Hagerstown worth $300. Campbell took the top spot from Matt Worley around halfway, and never looked back.

Travis Brown got around Worley before the end to grab the runner-up spot, while Robbie Carroll and Eric Boozel took home fouth and fifth, respectively.

Notes: There were 75 race teams pit side for the Turn 5 Turn Around SCN. Thanks go out to all the teams that supported this type of event that usually takes place later in the season.

Kershner, Zechman, Thomas, and Worley were guaranteed starters for the Turn 5 SCN from wins in 2018 that would have guaranteed them in the running of the SCN last October that got rained out.

Justin Weaver used an off night from the Coleman Farms No.72 Super Late Model to drive his own familiar No.2J in the LMS division. The 2018 LMS and Mason Dixon Shootout champion won his heat race and was scheduled to start outside the front row when it appeared that the car broke something in the rear end on the first pace lap ending his chance to race for the win.

Kirk Lawson made the tow from Delaware to race in Hobby Stocks with a unique, yet nostalgic looking machine featuring a 1957 Chevy Bel Air body.

Feature Results

Late Model Sportsman – 1. 8-James Lichliter [5], 2. 43-Cody Kershner, [1] 3. 21-Chad Myers, [4]; 4. 2-Andrew Yoder, [3]; 5. 88-Barry Miller, [8]; 6. 74-Derick Quade, [11]; 7. 33K-Devin Hart, [6] 8. 86-Scott Palmer, [15]; 9. 44S-Shawn Shoemaker, [18]; 10. K20-Kadden Smith, [16]; 11. 11B-Ronnie Bottenfield, [21]; 12. 17K-Steve Kent, [23]; 13. 13-Brad McGinnis, [19]; 14. 53-Tyler Kirby, [24]; 15. 72D-Dale Murphy, [17]; 16. D34-Curtis Dunn, [22]; 17. 77S-Elwood Sord, [26]; 18. 08-Keith Koontz, [13]; 19. 99*-Rick Singleton, [20]; 20. 3-Tyler Ritchey, [9]; 21. 85-Rodney Walls, [14]; 22. 1K-Bruce Kane, [12]; 23. 2C-Steve Campbell, [10]; 24. 48W-Greg Moore, [7]; 25. 33-Gino Comi, [25]; 26. 38-Carl Biddle, [28]; 27. 39-Tom Chaffins, [27] DNS-Justin Weaver, Jonny Oliver

Pure Stock – 1. 948-Joey Zambotti, [16]; 2. 30-Bob Egley, [9]; 3. 2-Dan Zechman, [3]; 4. 7N-Rob Nichols, [4]; 5. 12S-Tony Stoneberger, [12]; 6. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [7]; 7. 19-Danny Atherton, [10]; 8. 31H-Greg Hainsey, [6]; 9. 55-Kevin Boyer, [15]; 10. 19M-Bobby Meixsell, [13]; 11. 34-Brian Luttrell, [5]; 12. 65-Dillon Wilson, [2]; 13. 25-Jeremy Mills, [17]; 14. 83-Bryan Kerns, [11]; 15. S7-Doug Hoffman, [1]; 16. 81F-Dylan Welsh, [18]; 17. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [8]; DNS- Tike Loizos

Hobby Stock – 1. 03-Kevin Thomas, [3]; 2. 76-Brady Daniels, [9]; 3. 19-Mike Fuller, [5]; 4. 45-John Catlett, [8]; 5. X-Kirk Lawson, [21]; 6. X53-Gregory Morgan, [15]; 7. 0-Jamie Mills, [1]; 8. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [18]; 9. 4-Chuckie Johnson, [12]; 10. 17-Don Murphy, [7]; 11. 99-Hilton Pickeral, [10]; 12. 43-Jason Sarver, [13]; 13. 141-Tom Caravello, [11]; 14. 64-William Crook, [17]; 15. 10-Drew Fertig, [4]; 16. 25-Rodney Miner, [14]; 17. 41-Sam Caravello, [16]; 18. 52-Ron Benton, [2]; 19. 11A-James Speelman, [6]; 20. 51-Seth Jones, [19] DNS -Chet Morris

U-Cars – 1. 2C-Adam Campbell, [5]; 2. 47-Travis Brown, [2]; 3. 6-Matt Worley, [1]; 4. 69-Robbie Carroll, [6]; 5. 265-Eric Boozel, [9]; 6. 2T-Tim Campbell, [3]; 7. 19-Tim Raup, [7]; 8. 01-Kayla Bookwalter, [8]; 9. 81-Matthew Chronister, [4]

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – “Superman” Jonathan Davenport picked up the $12,000 payday in front of a packed house during the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 38th annual Stanley Schetrompf Classic at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night.

The 50 lap triumph was his second career win at the Hub City half-mile and the fifth LOLMDS win of the 2019 season for the series point leader. The Peltzer, South Carolina driver became the first LOLMDS repeat winner in the twelve LOLMDS races held at Hagerstown.

Davenport started on the pole, and outran Gene Knaub to the first turn to keep the lead. His advantage was quickly erased as the caution flag waved for a stopped Don O’Neal in turn four on Lap 6.

With the Delaware style restart, Davenport was all alone, but quickly had company as Jimmy Owens moved around Knaub for second position. Davenport began to distance himself from Owens until reaching traffic on the eighteenth circuit.

Owens then closed in on Davenport’s bumper on Lap 23, and was poised to make a move for the lead, until another caution waved at the halfway point of the feature event.

Following the restart, Brandon Sheppard passed Owens for the runner-up spot.  Once again, Davenport was able to pull away and reach lapped traffic by Lap 37.

In the closing laps, Davenport navigated through lapped traffic with some close encounters, but good enough to drive the No.49 to the win.

In Victory Lane with LOLMDS announcer James Essex, Davenport said “Man, I was worried there. We got really, really loose on that long green flag run when I got behind those lapped cars. Jimmy (Owens) and (Brandon) Sheppard, they reeled us in, and thank God for that caution. That really saved us. Thank all of you fans for coming out here. This is awesome. I’ve always heard about Hagerstown Speedway. I haven’t been able to get here many times, but I know it’s a very historic place”.

Following Davenport at the finish was Sheppard, Owens, Rick Eckert, and 19th-place starter Tim McCreadie finished fifth.

Joey Zambotti is now a perfect 4 for 4 in Pure Stock feature appearances and wins at Hagerstown in 2019. Zambotti started fourth, and battled 2018 Pure Stock champion Doug Hoffman side-by-side while exchanging the lead several times.

With just five laps to go in the 15 lap race, Danny Atherton came from the rear after being involved in an early race caution to make it a three car battle. Atherton got by Hoffman for second, but didn’t have enough to get by Zambotti.

Following the lead trio at the finish and rounding out the top five were Mike Desch, and Rob Nichols.

Notes:  37 SLM entered the pit area for a race that paid $1,000 to take the green flag. Kyle Bronson set overall quick time with a lap of 18.172 seconds. Kyle Hardy and Trever Feathers won the B-Mains.

Sheppard (10th to 2nd), McCreadie (19th to 5th),and Feathers (18th to 8th) each advanced numerous positions to take home solid finishes for their efforts.

17 Pure Stocks were pitside for the double point special event.

Feature Results

Super Late Models (LOLMDS) – 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, [1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard, [10]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens, [3]; 4. 0-Rick Eckert, [5]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie, [19]; 6. 1-Earl Pearson Jr, [4]; 7. 14-Josh Richards, [9]; 8. 20F-Trever Feathers, [18]; 9. 1K-Gene Knaub, [2]; 10. 72C-Jason Covert, [6]; 11. 40B-Kyle Bronson, [13]; 12. 1M-Devin Moran, [15]; 13. 24-Dylan Yoder, [12]; 14. 1T-Tyler Erb, [7]; 15. 71-Hudson O’Neal, [14]; 16. 45-Jamie Lathroum, [21]; 17. 50-Shanon Buckingham, [22]; 18. 2S-Stormy Scott, [20]; 19. 36V-Kyle Hardy, [17]; 20. 1GK-Ryan King, [24]; 21. 22-Gregg Satterlee, [11]; 22. 21-Billy Moyer Jr, [8]; 23. 72W-Justin Weaver, [25]; 24. 5-Don O’Neal, [16]; 25. 12J-Jason Jameson, [23]

Pure Stock – 1. 948-Joey Zambotti, [4]; 2. 19-Danny Atherton, [5]; 3. S7-Doug Hoffman, [2]; 4. 59-Mike Desch, [6]; 5. 7N-Rob Nichols, [8]; 6. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [3]; 7. 36A-Sam Archer, [14]; 8. 19M-Bobby Meixsell, [11]; 9. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [9]; 10. 12S-Tony Stoneberger, [7]; 11. 81F-Dylan Welsh, [12]; 12. 47-Tike Loizos, [13]; 13. 25-Jeremy Mills, [15]; 14. 7-Brian Swiger, [16]; 15. 65-Dillon Wilson, [10]; 16. 57H-TJ Henry  DNS- Randy Zechman