Hollidge Claims Nininger Memorial at Hagerstown
By Brett Rose
HAGERSTOWN, MD – 2008 Hagerstown Speedway Pure Stock track champion Dale Hollidge drove his Gunter’s Honey No. 0 machine to win the Super Late Model portion of the Red Nininger Memorial-Hagerstown/Winchester Shootout on a special Friday night show. Hollidge took the lead away from Marvin Winters following an early race restart, and then he had to contend with Trever Feathers following another restart just a few laps later. A third caution on lap 10 for a multi-car incident in turn one that shuffled the running order took Winters and Gary Stuhler out of contention led to yet another restart, and Hollidge had Feathers hot on his heels. This time, Hollidge and Feathers got together in turn one, and Feathers spun bringing out another caution. The incident relegated an unhappy Feathers to the rear of the field. Hollidge drove away from Kyle Hardy over the second half of the race, and although Hardy was able to gain some ground late in the race, it wasn’t enough as Hollidge went on to get his first career Hagerstown Speedway SLM win. After the race, Hollidge commented: “You know, I don’t like to drive like that anywhere, everybody is upset and Trever (Feathers) is too, but to be quite honest with you, he wasn’t clear. And when he come left, you know this place is so aero-sensitive if he had got in front of me, I’m not going to lie; I wouldn’t had been able to pass him.” “Everybody else can be the judge but at the end of the day, it is what is it is. I’m sure he would’ve done the same thing to me.”, said Hollidge. Hardy held on to finish second, while Kyle Lee, Scott Palmer, and D.J. Myers rounded out the top five. Lee was able to regain the point lead by 15 points over Winters going in to the last point race of the 2017 season. James Lichliter wired the field from start to finish in the 20 lap Late Model Sportsman feature event for his first 2017 win at the Hub City oval. Lichliter steadily pulled away from Justin Weaver as the feature progressed throughout the non-stop race. Both drivers distanced themselves away from the field, but Lichliter was able to maintain over a seven car length lead through lapped traffic over Weaver. Following the top duo at the checkers were Bobby Beard, Alan Sagi, and point leader Kyle Lear. Craig Parrill came from fifth on the grid to score the 15 lap Pure Stock feature win of the season, after passing pole sitter and early race leader Keith Koontz on the fourth circuit. As Parrill battled Koontz, Brandon Churchey and Sean Dawson began their chases to the lead. Churchey and Dawson both got around Koontz, but Parrill was too far gone for either driver to contend for the win. Parrill won his ninth feature of the season, followed by Churchey, Dawson, Koontz, and Wayne Hawbaker. With just one point race left, point leader Dawson maintains a 15 point advantage over Parrill. In the Hobby Stock feature, it was Jonathan Raley in victory lane for the fifth time in 2017. Raley checked out away from a season best second-place finish by James Speelman. Jamie Mills, Davey Gross, Jr., and Dylan Rutherford rounded out the top five. Gross, Jr. leads Mills by 18 markers heading into the final point race.
Feature Results Super Late Models – 1. 0-Dale Hollidge, 2. 3V-Kyle Hardy, 3. 2T-Kyle Lee, 4. 86-Scott Palmer, 5. 70J-DJ Myers, 6. 45-Jamie Lathroum, 7. 05-Roy Deese Jr., 8. 74-Tyler Hershey, 9. 94-Jason Miller, 10. 119-Bryan Bernheisel, 11. 20-Trever Feathers, 12. 46-Marvin Winters, 13. 21-Chad Myers, 14. 11H-Austin Hubbard, 15. B2-Brian Booze, 16. 22R-Reese Masiello, 17. 55-Gary Stuhler, 18. 81-Steve Axtell, Jr. 19. 37-Brian Tavenner, 20. 11-Kirk Baker, 21. 85-Rodney Walls, 22. 119M-Chad McClellan, 23. 5-Brad Omps
Late Model Sportsman -1. 8L-James Lichliter, 2. 2J-Justin Weaver, 3. 33-Bobby Beard, 4. 5-Alan Sagi, 5. 151-Kyle Lear, 6. 99-Michael Walls, 7. 13-Brad McGinnis, 8. 77-Randy Burkholder, 9. 72D-Dale Murphy, 10. 37-Paul Cursey Jr., 11. 39-Ryan Walls, 12. 92-Frankie Gordon, 13. 24R-John Rowland, 14. 11-Joe Westerman Jr., 15. 16-Justin Dillman, 16. 121-Larry Neiderer, 17. 0X-Peter Neuder, 18. 88H-Kris Holliday, 19. 81-Eddie Cornett
Pure Stocks- 1. 3-Craig Parrill, 2. 05-Brandon Churchey, 3. S7-Sean Dawson, 4. 08-Keith Koontz, 5. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, 6. 44-Frank DiBella, 7. 12-Michael Warrenfeltz, 8. 83-Bryan Kerns, 9. 31-Drew Fitzsimmons, 10. 2+2-Shane Wilt, 11. 5-Randy Wible, 12. 3T-Bubby Tharp, 13. 4-Nick DiBella, 14. 81F-Gary Calimer Jr., 15. 7-Brian Swiger, 16. 19-Danny Atherton, 17. 27-Doug Hoffman, 18. 64-William Crook, 19. 72-Michael Kratovil, DNS -Dwayne Snyder, Ed Williamson, Tom Wakefield
- Hobby Stocks- 1. 92-Jonathan Raley, 2. 11A-James Speelman, 3. 0-Jamie Mills, 4. 27-Davey Gross Jr., 5. 11-Dylan Rutherford , 6. 31-Willie Ling, 7. 54-John Catlett, 8. 94-Dalton Myers , 9. 18-Ralph Hansberger, DNS- Gary Breeden, Bryan Neff