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 – Greg “Spike” Moore drove to his second straight and overall Late Model Sportsman win of the 2019 season at Hagerstown Speedway on April 20. .

As opening night winner Scott Palmer powered around pole sitter Zach Kauffman at the start, Moore moved around Kauffman into second a lap later. Palmer maintained the lead through Lap 8 until he encountered traffic and was held up by a slower car, giving Moore the opportunity to take lead away.

While Moore overtook the lead from Palmer, Barry Miller and James Lichliter battled for third. One more caution flag unfurled with just seven laps to go giving that group one more shot at the win.

Moore was able to distance himself from the group as they broke away from the rest of the field, and the Defiance, PA driver wasn’t going to be denied another trip to victory lane.

“Yeah I just kind of played it cool there because I figured maybe the track would come to me a little bit. My car was a little tight to start off with there, and I can’t say enough about my car and how it works down here. We’ve been trying stuff to get better here, and I think we got it”, said Moore.

Palmer, Miller, 14^th place starter Cody Kershner, and Lichliter completed the top five.

The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature came to a stop almost as quickly as it started as heat race winner Jake Karklin spun in turn one, backed it into the fence, and rolled on his top. He was OK.

On the restart, Jonathan Jones of Irvona, PA powered into the lead, and pulled away from the field. But as the laps wound down, second place runner Christian Rumsey began chasing Jones around the halfway mark.

Rumsey slowly chipped away at the lead, closing the gap through traffic in the final laps, but it was not enough as Jones took the checkered flag.

Jones said: “I’m speechless. I honestly don’t know what to say. I just can’t thank everybody enough that got us here. Thanks to Hagerstown for having us; nice, smooth surface and thanks to the fans that support us.”

Following Jones and Rumsey at the finish were Drew Ritchey, Tyler Denochick, and Ryan Lynn came from 14^th to finish fifth.

Brad Kling used a late-race restart with just six laps remaining to move around Carl McKinney to pick up the Mid Atlantic Modifieds feature win.  McKinney slid up a little coming to the green, allowing the former MAM champion to move underneath him and grab his first Hagerstown Speedway win of 2019.

“Well, I got in a little hot down there and I seen him (McKinney) on the top and I got a good run in the corner”, stated Kling in victory lane. Tim Fedder, Ray Kable, and Justin Cullum rounded out the top five.

Kevin Thomas drove off to his third Hobby Stock win of the season. Thomas survived a late race caution to hold off a fast-charging Brady Daniels to take victory. Billy Ecton, Jr. was third, Jamie Mills was fourth, and Mike Fuller finished fifth.

Notes: 93 total cars were pit side for the first of a few races featuring cars of the open-wheeled variety. Four distinctively different divisions were on the card giving fans a true variety to watch.

Late Model Sportsman heat race winner Tyler Ritchey competes with a car that utilizes hand controls for throttle and braking as he is paralyzed from the waist down. He finished sixth in the LMS feature event.

No winners started on the pole. Only Jones won from the front row on a night that plenty of racers were moving through the field in their respective divisions.

Feature Results

IMCA RaceSaver Sprints – 1. 12J-Jonathan Jones, [2]; 2. 1R-Christian Rumsey, [4]; 3. 880-Drew Ritchey, [8]; 4. 6L-Tyler Denochick, [1]; 5. 26-Ryan Lynn, [14]; 6. 33-Scott Lutz, [17]; 7. 46-Michael Alleman, [7]; 8. 6X-Brad Mellott, [11]; 9. 86-Ron Aurand, [3]; 10. 00S-Randy Sterling, [5]; 11. 39-Tom Humphries, [22]; 12. 31-Donnie Hendershot, [13]; 13. 6-Tony Harris, [9]; 14. 44V-Daren Bolac, [16]; 15. R6-Reed Thompson, [10]; 16. J9-Jerald Harris, [18]; 17. 90-Charlie Ware, [12]; 18. 25K-Matthew Kline, [23]; 19. 43-Chris Ware, [20]; 20. 7-Ben McCall, [21]; 21. 88-Bill Rice, [15]; 22. 5K-Jake Karklin, [6] DNS-Neil Sandridge

Mid Atlantic Modifieds – 1. 11-Brad Kling, [7]; 2. 6M-Carl McKinney, [2]; 3. 8-Tim Fedder, [5]; 4. 90-Ray Kable, [10]; 5. 95J-Justin Cullum, [6]; 6. 25-Mike Corbin, [21]; 7. 55-Alyssa Rowe, [11]; 8. 97-Mitch Thomas, [9]; 9. 5-Jerry Foster, [14]; 10. 51-Joey Polevoy, [3]; 11. 55C-Cody Oliver, [12]; 12. 21H-Kyle Lloyd, [8]; 13. 1N-Hunter Nester, [18]; 14. 41-Cody Williams,[19]; 15. 99-Bryan Green, [4]; 16. 0-Haley Kaiser, [20]; 17. 57-Ken Singer, [16]; 18. 8M-Jeffrey McCauley, [17]; 19. H20-Ridge Bookwalter, [13]; 20. 13G-David Green, [23]; 21. 086-Tracey Hichs, [24]; 22. 17-Andy Bosley, [25]; 23. 7H-Josh Hughes, [15]; 24. 80-Keith Reed, [22]; 25. 29-Douglas Ostwald  DNS-Beau Aikey

Late Model Sportsman – 1. 48W-Greg Moore, [4]; 2. 86-Scott Palmer, [2]; 3. 88-Barry Miller, [6]; 4. 43-Cody Kershner, [14]; 5. 8-James Lichliter, [3]; 6. 3-Tyler Ritchey, [5]; 7. 1K-Bruce Kane, [11]; 8. 08-Keith Koontz, [9]; 9. 000-Paul Cursey Jr., [16]; 10. 85-Rodney Walls, [12]; 11. 44S-Shawn Shoemaker, [7]; 12. 88X-Devin Weyandt, [10]; 13. 21M-Matt Murphy, [13]; 14. 08K-Zach Kauffman, [1]; 15. 52-Bryan Benton, [18]; 16. 22*-Ryan Sager, [15]; 17. 11B-Ronnie Bottenfield, [22]; 18. 53-Tyler Kirby, [21]; 19. 77S-Elwood Sord, [17]; 20. 16-Clinton Hersh, [8]; 21. 36-Sam Archer, [19]; 22. 24R-John Rowland, [20]; 23. 38-Carl Biddle, [23] DNS-Travis Wilson, Eddie Cornett

Hobby Stock – 1. 03-Kevin Thomas, [5]; 2. 76-Brady Daniels, [6]; 3. 57-William Ecton Jr., [7]; 4. 0-Jamie Mills, [8]; 5. 19-Mike Fuller, [1]; 6. 67-Billy Ecton, [4]; 7. 11A-James Speelman, [9]; 8. 10-Drew Fertig, [2]; 9. 53-Gregory Morgan, [12]; 10. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [14]; 11. 64-William Crook, [10]; 12. 28-Brad Umbrell, [15]; 13. 7K-Michael Knight, [11]; 14. 25-Rodney Miner, [16]; 15. 43-Jason Sarver, [13] DNS -Sam Caravello