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

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Attrition under a full moon dominated the 13^th-annual Small Car Nationals at Hagerstown Speedway, but setting the cautions and red flags aside, fans were treated to some excellent multiple groove racing throughout the night.

Cody Kershner powered past Spike Moore to lead the first lap of the 30 lap Late Model Sportsman portion of the SCN and led the first 19 laps through traffic up high and low, swapping grooves as Moore was in pursuit.

Following a restart, Moore slipped past Kershner into the lead right before another caution came out two laps later.

Going into Turn One following that restart, a multiple car melee and pileup took out over half of the field. All drivers were OK, but all cars weren’t. Moore was able to survive the final restart and pull away from Kershner to take the win.

Robbie Emory finished third, followed by Shaun Miller and Troy Miller in the top five.

Danny Atherton led the way early in the 25 lap Pure Stock feature, but fortunes turned against him after the halfway point after leading at times by over half of a straightway. Following a restart after Lap 17, Rob Nichols slid under Atherton coming off of Turn 2 to take the lead, and took the preferred fast line up top that Atherton was using to his advantage.

The final caution on Lap 19 setup a restart that put Jonathan DeHaven on the rear bumper of Atherton. DeHaven aggressively drove into the rear of Atherton, sending him into a spin that ultimately put Atherton on his roof.

DeHaven was immediately black flagged and disqualified for rough driving. Atherton was uninjured.

Over the last five laps, Nichols battled side by side with Michael Warrenfeltz, but was able to hold off Warrenfeltz to take the win.

Dylan Rutherford finshed third, Jeremy Tinsman brought his battered machine from the rear to finish fourth, and Craig Parrill survived the attrition from his 21^st place start to finish fifth.

A wild Hobby Stock feature event marred by multiple cautions was won by Ryan Leister after numerous side by side battles for the lead. Leister battled Ray Rothfuss early and often over the course of 25 laps, but was able to pull away towards the end to take the win.

Dustin Hoffman, Brady daniels, and Kevin Thomas completed the top five.

The Mid Atlantic Modifieds provided the nightcap with a 20 lap feature event, and racing legend Ken Schrader scored the victory.

Carl McKinney initially took the lead from his pole position before Schrader made a bold move up high coming off of turn two to take the lead on the third lap. Schrader led the next few circuits before a caution bunched the field back up for a restart.

McKinney regained the lead briefly before the duo exchanged sliders for a few laps, and then Schrader took the point for good. Schrader had to survive a one lap shootout after the last restart to pick up the popular win.

McKinney held on to second, while Ray Kable, Cody Williams, and Brad Kling rounded out the top five.

Feature Results

Late Model Sportsman (30 Laps)– 1. 48W-Greg Moore, [1]; 2. 43-Cody Kershner, [2]; 3. 9E-Robbie Emory, [3]; 4. 115s –Shaun Miller, [5]; 5. 115-Troy Miller, [8]; 6. 8F-Taylor Farlling, [10]; 7. 48-Donnie Farlling,[20]; 8. 92-Frankie Gordon, [13]; 9. 44-Shawn Shoemaker, [21]; 10. 88C-Chuck Cox III,[16]; 11. 16-Doug Jones, [18]; 12. 24-Daulton Bigler, [17]; 13. 18A-Dustin Arnold,[24]; 14. 74-Derick Quade, [6]; 15. 88-Marvin Winters, [19]; 16. 8-James Lichliter,[7]; 17. 08-Keith Koontz, [11]; 18. 86-Scott Palmer, [4]; 19. 01-Jim McBee,[15]; 20. 88X-Devin Weyandt, [9]; 21. 28Z-Ryan Zook, [14]; 22. 2-Dan Zechman,[12]; 23. 85-Rodney Walls, [22]; 24. D34-Curtis Dunn, [23]

Pure Stock (25 Laps)– 1. 7-Rob Nichols, [8]; 2. 12-Michael Warrenfeltz, [7]; 3. 11-Dylan Rutherford, [11]; 4. 8-Jeremy Tinsman, [6]; 5. 34C-Craig Parrill,[21]; 6. 57H-TJ Henry, [18]; 7. 2-Randy Zechman, [9]; 8. 3J-Richard Hawkins, [24]; 9. 33-Curtis Lawton, [15]; 10. 75-Marshall McMullen, [13]; 11. X99-Chris Heller, [16]; 12. 44-Charles Rupert, [22]; 13. 19-Danny Atherton, [1]; 14. 88-Brian Weyandt, [17]; 15. 12K-Bryan Kerns, [25]; 16. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [19]; 17. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [5]; 18. 65-Dillon Wilson, [4]; 19. 56-Gregory Laird, [14]; 20. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [12]; 21. 3W-Dickie Tharp, [20]; 22. 47-Tike Loizos, [23]; DNS -Joshua Bloom, Mike Desch, DQ –Jonathan DeHaven

Hobby Stock (25 Laps)– 1. 14L-Ryan Leister, [5]; 2. 17-Ray Rothfuss, [1]; 3. 7-Dustin Hoffman, [4]; 4. 76-Brady Daniels, [7]; 5. 03-Kevin Thomas, [2]; 6. 19-Mike Fuller, [3]; 7. 0-Jamie Mills,[14]; 8. 100-Dalton Dillman, [11]; 9. 41-Sam Caravello, [21]; 10. 141-Tom Caravello,[9]; 11. 53-Gregory Morgan, [13]; 12. 14-Codey Breeden, 16]; 13. 99-Hilton Pickeral, [25]; 14. 10-Drew Fertig, [27]; 15. 20-Jeremy Zufall, [17]; 16. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [12]; 17. 35-James Mongan, [22]; 18. 66*-Chet Morris, [20]; 19. 21H-Travis Horan, [6]; 20. 57-Billy Ecton Jr., [26]; 21. 117-Kevin Imes, [15]; 22. 28M-Miranda Minium,[23]; 23. 38M-Matt Mellott, [8]; 24. 52-Ron Benton, [18]; 25. 64-William Crook,[19]; 26. 27-Davey Gross Jr., [10], DNS-John Catlett

Mid Atlantic Modifieds (20 Laps)– 1. 9-Ken Schrader, [2]; 2. 90-Ray Kable, [6]; 3. 6M-Carl McKinney, [1]; 4. 41-Cody Williams, [23]; 5. 11-Brad Kling, [4]; 6. 25-Mike Corbin, [11]; 7. 1$-Dale Smith, [17]; 8. 95J-Justin Cullum, [15]; 9. 7+7-Jeff Solinger, [9]; 10. 55-Alyssa Rowe,[7]; 11. 21H-Kyle Lloyd, [13]; 12. 7H-Josh Hughes, [19]; 13. 0-Haley Kaiser, [12]; 14. 17-Andy Bosley, [24]; 15. 26XJames Sparks, [22]; 16. 80-Keith Reed, [16]; 17. 19-Jacob White, [25]; 18. 2-Michael Pappas, [10]; 19. 44-Frank DiBella, [18]; 20. 8M-Jeffrey McCauley, [14]; 21. 12S-Rusty Pennington, [27]; 22. 5-Jerry Foster, [8]; 23. 13G-David Green, [28]; 24. 26D-Derek Deusenberry, [3]; 25. 76-Ryan Hackett, [29]; 26. 85-Chuckie Johnson, [21]; 27. 59-Doug Stine, [5]; 28. 07-Charlie Summers, [20]; DNS -Matt Wallace

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Jason Covert picked up a big win at Hagerstown Speedway in the first running of the Tex Shaffer Memorial/Turn 5 Turnaround Summer Championship sanctioned by the Ultimate Northeast Super Late Model Series.

Covert picked up $5,046 for his efforts in the 46 lap feature event in honor of the car number of the longtime race team owner. It was his 19^th career win at the Hub City half-mile.

Covert shared the front row outside of pole sitter Jamie Lathroum, but didn’t take the lead until pulling off a slide job coming out of turn two on the ninth lap.

Covert began working traffic on Lap 13. Kyle Lee had just moved around Roy Deese, Jr. , and Alex Ferree into third on Lap 17, when a caution flag waved for Lathroum who was stopped from a flat right rear tire a lap later.

Lee inherited second, and followed Covert from the Delaware-style restart while keeping the leader within sight. Just past the halfway point, Covert was running the cushion through lapped traffic while Lee was working the bottom and top groove to reel in Covert’s lead.

With just ten laps remaining, Lee was within a couple car lengths of Covert before a slight bobble in turn four cost him some momentum.

Covert was able to maintain his distance the rest of the way toward the checkered flag.

A jubilant Covert climbed from his Cameron-Mann No.72 in victory lane, and said: “This is for Tex Shaffer. I came here when I was a kid, and that 46 car was here a lot longer than what I’ve been alive. Just the memory of him, and thanks for all of the fans for coming out. I hope we put on a little bit of show there.”

Lee’s right rear tire went flat just as he crossed the checkered flag to finish second, while Trever Feathers made a late pass of Deese to finish third, and Jared Miley recovered from a spin that brought out a caution and sent him to restart in the rear before the first lap was completed to finish fifth.

After a few cautions and restarts resulting in a green/white/checkered finish, Joey Zambotti returned to Hagerstown Speedway after a lengthy absence and picked up his sixth Pure Stock feature win of the season after leading the whole distance from his outside front row starting spot.

Zambotti beat 2019 track champion Danny Atherton into the corner of turn one and never looked back to claim the $1,000 top prize.

Atherton battled third and fourth place finishers Dillon Wilson and Craig Parrill throughout most of the 15 lap event, while Jonathan DeHaven made a cameo appearance to round out the top five.

Brady Daniels came from ninth, and survived the attrition to take his third Hobby Stock feature win of the season. Davey Gross was second, followed by Sam Caravello, Gene Miller, and Mike Fuller.

Daniels picked up $500 for the win.

Notes: Alex Ferree set quick time over the 22 car field with a best lap of 18.101 seconds. Heat race winners were Covert, Deese, Jr., and Matt Cosner.

With some fresh clay added about a month ago to the racing surface, the track yielded some excellent multiple groove racing with three-wide action racing in all three divisions all night long.

Lee came from 9^th, and Feathers came from 10^th place starts to each claim podium finishes.

Hagerstown Speedway is off the next couple of weekends before the Small Car Nationals on September 13-14.

Feature Results

Super Late Models (46 Laps) – 1. 72C-Jason Covert, [2]; 2. 2T-Kyle Lee, [9]; 3. 20-Trever Feathers, [10]; 4. 05-Roy Deese Jr., [4]; 5. 10-Jared Miley, [5]; 6. 44-Gary Stuhler, [13]; 7. 66C-Matt Cosner, [3]; 8. 46-Marvin Winters, [11]; 9. 4-Alex Ferree, [6]; 10. 41-Andy Anderson, [8]; 11. 32J-Shaun Jones, [16]; 12. 8-Matt Sponaugle, [12]; 13. 21-Chad Myers, [15]; 14. 43-Cody Kershner, [22]; 15. 45-Jamie Lathroum, [1]; 16. 08-Keith Koontz, [21]; 17. 86-Scott Palmer, [14]; 18. 5-Brad Omps, [19]; 19. 48-Colton Flinner, [7]; 20. 11-Kirk Baker, [17]; 21. 85-Rodney Walls, [18]; 22. 2J-Justin Weaver, [20]

Pure Stock (15 Laps)– 1. 948-Joey Zambotti, [2]; 2. 19-Danny Atherton, [1]; 3. 65-Dillon Wilson, [5]; 4. 34C-Craig Parrill, [3]; 5. 54-Jonathan DeHaven, [6]; 6. 59X-Ryan Smith, [8]; 7. 11-Dylan Rutherford, [13]; 8. 72M-Russel Shoop, [17]; 9. 75-Marshall McMullen, [4]; 10. 94-Zachary Myers, [7]; 11. 15-Ricky Feltner, [10]; 12. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [12]; 13. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [11]; 14. 56-Gregory Laird, [14]; 15. 47-Tike Loizos, [15]; 16. 59-Mike Desch, [9]; 17. 7-Rob Nichols, [19]; 18. 2-Randy Zechman, [16] DNS-Charles Rupert

Hobby Stock (15 Laps) – 1. 76-Brady Daniels, [9]; 2. 27-Davey Gross Jr., [3]; 3. 41-Sam Caravello, [12]; 4. 11M-Gene Miller, [1]; 5. 19-Mike Fuller, [5]; 6. 0-Jamie Mills, [4]; 7. 14-Codey Breeden, [15]; 8. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [11]; 9. X53-Gregory Morgan, [8]; 10. 35-James Mongan, [14]; 11. 2-Preston Imler, [18]; 12. 10-Drew Fertig, [7]; 13. 64-William Crook, [13]; 14. 75-Bradley Vaughn, [16]; 15. 03-Kevin Thomas, [2]; 16. 141-Tom Caravello, [10]; 17. 00-Charles Noblitt,[6]DNS- Andy Lufkin, Scot Sipes