Anderson Triumphs in Sagi Tribute at Hagerstown

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By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – On a night of nostalgic proportions, Andy Anderson triumphed in the 2nd annual Frank Sagi Tribute at Hagerstown Speedway. It was the 28th career Super Late Model win at the Hub City oval for the veteran resident of Bunker Hill, WV.

The 25 lap feature event honoring the late Sagi known best as “the Voice of Hagerstown Speedway” was held on a Sunday evening as were many of the races throughout the years of the historical Maryland facility.

Kyle Hardy powered past Gary Stuhler, who was driving the Bare Racing No.30, to take the lead coming off of turn two while Anderson quickly moved into second from his fourth starting spot.

Hardy raced away from Anderson until reaching traffic on the 11th lap as Anderson closed to within five car lengths of Hardy’s lead. While dicing through traffic, Hardy was able to keep Anderson at bay until a caution flag waved on Lap 19 for the stopped car of longtime racer Roger Jenkins.

Hardy chose the topside for the restart and that was his undoing as Anderson found a better bite down low in the Bland Racing No.41, and sped to the lead. Once out front, Anderson drove away over the final six laps to pick up the popular win in front of the appreciative crowd.

Anderson said: “Well, I don’t know if was going to get him if the yellow didn’t come out. I don’t think I was. He (Hardy) picked the top and usually the top is the best way to start here on a restart and I don’t think he realized it was starting to stripe-up there a little bit. I knew I had to stay in the stripe and when we fired off, he kinda tried to pinch me down there, and I wasn’t going to let it happen. I knew if I could beat him into one, it was over.”

Hardy finished second, followed by Late Model Sportsman competitor Justin Weaver, Marvin Winters, and Stuhler.

Craig Parrill took the lead away from Chris Ebersole on the fifth circuit and went unchallenged the last ten laps to claim the win in the 15 lap Pure Stock feature event. It was his third win of the 2018 season behind the wheel of the Dickie Tharp No.3 Chevy Monte Carlo.

Parrill was trailed by Dan Zechman, Ebersole in the Wilt Racing No. 2+2 was third, while Jamie Zentmyer and Bryan Neff rounded out the top five.

Rick Hulson survived several cautions and a one lap shootout holding off 2017 Mid Atlantic Modifieds champion Brad Kling to win the 20 lap Cool Weld Classic portion of the Sagi Tribute. Hulson was fast and led every lap to break a string of runner-up finishes. They were trailed at the finish by multi-time feature winner Michael Altobelli, Mike Corbin, and current MAM point leader Ray Kable.

Notes: Former 5-time Late Model track champion and winner of over 80 features Buddy Armel was the featured special guest honored in part of the Frank Sagi Tribute. Sagi interviewed Armel in each one of those feature wins throughout his illustrious career with none bigger than the 1983 Conococheague 100 over a field of NDRA touring pros.  Armel is best known as the driver behind the wheel of the famed No. S-3 owned by the late Lee Stultz.

Around 100 legendary former drivers and car owners of Hagerstown Speedway were on hand for the celebration to honor the 39 year announcing career of Sagi and the racing career of Armel.

Special thanks go out to Alan Sagi for his work in producing the event and the many contingency sponsors that contributed to the race.

Feature Results

Super Late Models – 1. 41-Andy Anderson, [4]; 2. 99-Kyle Hardy, [2]; 3. 2J-Justin Weaver, [3]; 4. 46-Marvin Winters, [7]; 5. 30S-Gary Stuhler, [1]; 6. 85-Rodney Walls, [6]; 7. 0-Dale Hollidge, [5]; 8. 30-Allen Brannon, [14]; 9. 05-Roy Deese Jr., [8]; 10. 43A-Tyler Bare,[23]; 11. 19R-Greg Roberson, [10]; 12. 19-Jason Miller, [11]; 13. 20-Trever Feathers, [16]; 14. 5-Brad Omps, [20]; 15. 2T-Kyle Lee, [13]; 16. 30G-Cody Gray, [15]; 17. 119-Bryan Bernheisel, [9]; 18. 7-Darryl Hills, [19]; 19. 86-Scott Palmer, [21]; 20. 3-Tim Wilson, [22]; 21. 43-Cody Kershner, [12]; 22. 72J-Roger Jenkins, [18]; 23. 72G-Rance Garlock, [17]; 24. 171-Alan Sagi [24] DNQ- Kirk Baker, JT McLanigan, Kevin Palmer , DNS-Reese Masiello, Jeff Johnson

Mid Atlantic Modifieds  – 1. 40-Rick Hulson, [1]; 2. 11-Brad Kling, [2]; 3. 95A-Michael Altobelli, [10]; 4. 25-Mike Corbin, [14]; 5. 90-Ray Kable, [15]; 6. 7H-Josh Hughes, [4]; 7. 55-Alyssa Rowe, [11]; 8. 1ST-Brett Hamilton, [23]; 9. 0-Haley Kaiser, [13]; 10. 95-Fred Cullum, [12]; 11. 99-Bryan Green, [21]; 12. 95C-Justin Cullum, [3]; 13. 10S-Tim Schulte, [5]; 14. 80-Keith Reed, [17]; 15. 8M-Jeffrey McCauley, [20]; 16. 1N-Hunter Nester, [19]; 17. 68-Adam Hoegrel, [22]; 18. 17-Andy Bosley, [27]; 19. 47-Jason Sarver, [26]; 20. 51-Joey Polevoy, [8]; 21. 26D-Derek Deusenberry, [9]; 22. V16-Vic Vandergrift, [7]; 23. 62-Mark Jones, [18]; 24. 33-Brandon Churchey, [24]; 25. 83-Ray Ciccarelli, [6]; 26. 44-Frank DiBella, [16]; 27. 13M-Gary Moreland Sr., [25]

Pure Stocks – 1. 3-Craig Parrill, [4]; 2. 2-Dan Zechman, [8]; 3. 2+2-Chris Ebersole, [1]; 4. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [2]; 5. 03-Bryan Neff, [3]; 6. S7-Doug Hoffman, [7]; 7. 36A-Sam Archer, [10]; 8. 34-Brian Luttrell, [5]; 9. 00-Joshua Bloom, [9]; 10. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [12]; 11. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [13]; 12. 83-Bryan Kerns, [15]; 13. 51-Mark Patterson, [14]; 14. 35-Ryan Smith, [17]; 15. 54-John Catlett, [18]; 16. 25-Rodney Miner, [16]; 17. 11-Ed Pope, [6]; DNS -Will Walls, Michelle Walls

Sagi Tribute with Buddy Armel this Sunday

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The much-anticipated Frank Sagi Tribute with Special Guest Buddy Armel is up next on Sunday, August 5th, at Hagerstown Speedway.

Over $12,000 of sponsored contingency cash and product bonuses have now been collected for this special event, surpassing last year’s total.  These numerous gifts will be distributed to drivers and fans alike throughout the evening.  All 24 starting drivers in each of the three divisions competing in the evening’s card will receive either extra cash, gift certificates or product bonuses according to their finishing positions.

Race fans will not be left out either, as everyone entering the gates will be offered a unique, hand-drawn print done by racing artist Jeff Lindsay.  These colorful prints will be free of charge and feature multiple cars of legendary drivers from the rich history of Hagerstown Speedway.  Fans will get their choice of one of three different drawings, all of which were specially created for this event and can only be obtained on this night.  Fans will also have the chance to take home free racing t-shirts that will be shot into the grandstands throughout the evening with cannon-like devices operated by race supporters Tim and Brent Hottle of Outback Motor Speedway.

Come out to honor the legendary driving career of Hall of Fame driver Buddy Armel, along with the numerous contributions to the sport by 39-year track announcer Frank Sagi.

Gates open at 4pm with a special Meet & Greet autograph session being held with Buddy Armel and a huge collection of retired drivers between 4:30-5:30.  On track action for Super Late Models, Mid Atlantic Modifieds, and Pure Stocks begins with hot laps at 6pm.

Rain Forces UNSLMS and MDSS Rescheduling

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Torrential rainfalls throughout the Mid-Atlantic on Saturday wiped out racing in the region everywhere, including here at Hagerstown Speedway.

The card originally scheduled for July 21 with the Ultimate Northeast Super Late Model Series, Mason Dixon Shootout Series, Pure Stocks and Hobby Stocks will now take place on October 13 with an earlier 6pm start.

Regular racing will be off for Monster Jam the weekend of July 27-29, but will return for a special Sunday night rendition of the Frank Sagi Tribute on August 5 with a 6pm start time.

The Red Nininger Memorial for Super Late Models will now be part of the Clash for Cash on August 11.

Please take note of the date changes and start times accordingly. Stay up to date on Hagerstown Speedway news and information here on the website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.

***Editor note – The Small Car Nationals are on September 14-15, NOT 13-14 as was mistakenly noted in last week’s press release.  I apologize for any confusion.

Thanks,

Brett Rose – PR/Media Relations Director

Two Big Weekends of Action at Hagerstown Speedway

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As we complete the first month of summer, July ends with two big weekends of action at Hagerstown Speedway featuring Super Late Models and Monster Trucks.

This Saturday, July 21 brings back the return of the Ultimate Northeast Super Late Model Series in the $5,000 to-win Red Nininger Memorial presented by All Things Automotive. Many of the area’s best Super Late Model teams are expected to be on hand to battle in the 40 lap main event.

Trever Feathers is looking to repeat his season opening win at Hagerstown, which was also the opener for the UNSLMS. 2017 Hagerstown SLM champion Kyle Lee has been competing in most of the series events and he will be seeking his 1st win of the season at the Hub City oval.

Series point leader Jared Miley leads Ross Robinson by five markers going into Saturday night, and Matt Cosner sits in third place just six points out of front in a tight point battle.

Joining the UNSLMS on the card is another appearance of the Mason-Dixon Shootout Series gunning for a $1,500 to win payday. Many of the area Late Model Sportsman and 358 steel block racers are expected for one of the best payouts in the division. Justin Weaver leads the contingent to Hagerstown where he has already scored one feature win in 2018.

Pure Stocks and Hobby Stocks both will be racing with feature events paying $500 to the winner. This night has shaped up to be one of biggest race nights of the summer for the racers and the fans.

General admission is $18, Students/Seniors/Military $15, Kids 12 and under are free, and pit admission is $35. Grandstand gates open at 5pm, and racing begins at 7pm.

Monster Jam returns for another three day weekend show on July 27-29 presenting the top stars in Monster Trucks. For ticket ordering information, visit speedwayshopping.com, or call the speedway office at 301-582-0640.

Kershner Leads All SCN Qualifiers with 1st LMS Win

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By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Cody Kershner fulfilled a career racing goal by winning his first Late Model Sportsman feature event during the Small Car Nationals automatic qualifiers Saturday night at Hagerstown Speedway. By doing so, the Hagerstown resident also earned a guaranteed starting position in his No. 43 Rocket at the SCN held at the Hub City oval in September.

Kershner raced his way toward the front from fifth on the grid to catch early leader Justin Weaver at the halfway mark of the 20 lapper. Following a restart, Kershner powered past Weaver to take the lead at Lap 12 and pulled away as Weaver faded back a couple spots.

Kershner went onto victory to a memorable moment celebrated with his family and crew.

“This is a dream come true, man. It’s been childhood dream of mine to win in one of these cars and I can’t explain it.”, exclaimed an emotional Kershner in his winner’s interview.

He was followed at the finish by a strong effort from Derick Quade, last week’s winner James Lichliter, Weaver, and Ronnie Bottenfield.

Logan Roberson got his guaranteed SCN start as he picked up his second Crate Late Model win of the season in similar fashion as he did a couple weeks ago in a nonstop feature event. As was the case then, Roberson ran the table leading every lap in his heat race as well as the 20 lap feature event.

Trailing Roberson at the checkers were Jake Piper, Transtan Stoner, Jimmy Jesmer, and Timmy Booth.

Dan Zechman utilized a rare Hagerstown Speedway appearance to good use by scoring the Pure Stock feature win.  Zechman battled Sam Archer in an exchange several times for the lead early in the 15 lap event before settling into a comfortable margin.

A late caution setup a one lap dash to the finish, but Zechman wasn’t going to be denied an automatic SCN entry as he raced away over the final lap from Archer, Wayne Hawbaker, Doug Hoffman, and Dwayne Snyder.

Former 4 Cylinder Mini- Stock racer Kevin Thomas came out of a four year retirement to put himself in the Hobby Stock portion of the SCN with his first career win in the division, making it his 100th overall feature event win.

Thomas had to thwart off the challenges of multi-time winner Jonathan Raley to earn the coveted spot over a competitive field of cars including fellow top five finishers Travis Horan, Tom Caravello, and James Speelman.

Jason Stoner and Matt Worley each punched their tickets into the SCN with respective wins in the 4 Cylinder and U-Car feature events.

Notes: The SCN is a two day show scheduled to take place with qualifying events on September 13 and all features on September 14. As mentioned, all of this week’s winners received a guaranteed spot in the SCN.

Feature Results

Late Model Sportsman – 1. 43-Cody Kershner, [5]; 2. 74-Derick Quade, [6]; 3. 8L-James Lichliter, [2]; 4. 2J-Justin Weaver, [1]; 5. 11B-Ronnie Bottenfield, [11]; 6. 77-Randy Burkholder, [7]; 7. 72D-Dale Murphy, [4]; 8. 99-Michael Walls, [12]; 9. 12-Bobby Beard, [8]; 10. 08-Keith Koontz, [10]; 11. 11-Joe Westerman Jr., [9]; 12. 3-Tyler Ritchey, [15]; 13. 92-Frankie Gordon, [3]; 14. 9A-Kurt Zimmerman, [13]; 15. 08K-Zach Kauffman, [17]; 16. 24R-John Rowland, [18]; 17. 72B-Shyann Bard, [16]; DNS -Clinton Hersh

Crate Late Models – 1. 17-Logan Roberson, [1]; 2. 21-Jake Piper,[3]; 3. M14-Transtan Stoner, [5]; 4. 747-Jimmy Jesmer, [4]; 5. 95B-Timmy Booth, [6]; 6. 14-Jennae Piper, [7]; 7. 48-Steve Lowery, [11]; 8. 5-Levi Crowl, [8]; 9. 71P-Jon Painter, [13]; 10. 38-Chad Click, [15]; 11. 27-Cuyler Upperman, [17]; 12. 21M-Michael Ott, [10]; 13. 38B-Carl Biddle, [12]; 14. 21C-Coty Ramirez, [14]; 15. 32-Lindsey Barton, [9]; 16. 93-Cory Lawler, [2]; DNS -Brian Coe Jr., Justin Jesmer

 Pure Stock – 1. 2-Dan Zechman, [2]; 2. 36A-Sam Archer, [1]; 3. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [6]; 4. S7-Doug Hoffman, [7]; 5. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [9]; 6. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [3]; 7. 19-Danny Atherton, [10]; 8. 54-John Catlett, [12]; 9. 27P-David Puckett, [16]; 10. 16-Tom Brady, Jr. [14]; 11. 52-Michelle Walls, [13]; 12. 6X-Shawn Wyles, [15]; 13. 08-Will Worthington, [18]; 14. 4J-Bob Jay, [4]; 15. 65-Dillon Wilson, [5]; 16. 21W-Will Walls, [8]; 17. 1-Charles Shearer, [19]; DNS -Joshua Bloom, Bryan Neff

Hobby Stock – 1. 03-Kevin Thomas, [1]; 2. 92-Jonathan Raley,[4]; 3. 21H-Travis Horan, [2]; 4. 41-Tom Caravello, [5]; 5. 11A-James Speelman, [7]; 6. 55-Pat McCalane, [9]; 7. 21A-Sam Rial, [6]; 8. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [13]; 9. 7K-Michael Knight, [10]; 10. 25-Rodney Miner, [14]; 11. 34-Terry Leach, [12]; 12. 15-Jeffery Gill, [11]; 13. 57-William Ecton Jr., [8]; 14. 14-Gary Breeden, [3]; 15. 28-Brad Umbrell, [15]; 16. 67-Billy Ecton, [17]; DNS-Sam Caravello

4 Cylinders – 1. 21-Jason Stoner, 09:47.886[1]; 2. 6-Shaine Sixeas, 09:48.463[2]; 3. 85-Allen Whitt Jr., 09:49.685[5]; 4. 43X-Mike Kershner, 09:50.128[3]; 5. 19-Jacob Whitt, 09:50.295[9]; 6. 24-Kevin Bard, 09:51.735[4]; 7. 74-Tommy Whitt, 03:23.644[7]; 8. 18-Ronnie Garlock III, 03:46.594[6]; (DNS) 2-Justin McKee, 03:46.594

U-Cars – 1. 6W-Matt Worley, [4]; 2. 15-Chris Anderson, [2]; 3. 69-Robbie Carroll, [3]; 4. 151-Eric Boozel, [1]; 5. 47-Travis Brown, [5]; 6. 12-Kyle Rohrbaugh, [7]; 7. 18-Anthony Varner, [12]; 8. 98-Bill Sheehan, [6]; 9. 15K-Douglas Conrath, [9]; 10. 15C-Korby Crawley, [8]; 11. 55-Andrew Long, [10]; 12. 2SLOW-Kevin Banzhoff, [13]; DNS-Rusty Martin, Dale Varner Jr.

Lichliter Wins Mason-Dixon Shootout at Hagerstown

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By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – James Lichliter drove to victory in the 25 Lap Mason-Dixon Shootout Series headliner on Saturday night at Hagerstown Speedway.

The Maurertown, Virginia racer took home $1,000 for his efforts from setting the pace in his No.8 MastersBilt machine after taking the lead away from Craig Wagaman on the high side of the third circuit.

Lichliter was able to stretch out his lead to a half-straightaway over Wagaman until a caution flag waved on Lap 11. A couple laps after the restart, Barry Miller moved around Wagaman into second.

Lichliter caught traffic with two laps to go, and Miller was able to close the gap a little, but the traffic didn’t impede Lichliter’s progress towards the checkered flag.

“We’re used to the 20 lap races here and with 25 (laps), I started to see the rubber come in on the bottom and I was getting worried, but I knew if I caught the lapped cars, I wasn’t sure if they were running side by side and I didn’t know what to do and finally one got around each other. I got up alongside one and knew nobody could get on the outside of me and I continued that line.” said Lichliter.

Miller held on the second as Wagaman, Devin Hart, and 13th starting Justin Weaver rounded out the top five.

Craig Parrill returned to racing at Hagerstown, and he put the Dickie Tharp No.3 back into victory lane by winning the Jim Cornett Tribute for the Pure Stock division.

The winningest Pure Stock driver at Hagerstown in 2017, Parrill had his work cut out for him over the first half of the 20 lap special event as he had to battle Dillon Wilson throughout most the feature race with a side-by-side battle for the lead until taking it over solely by Lap 12.

With three laps to go, a caution setup a restart to give Wilson one more shot, but to no avail. The Clearbrook, Virgina racer picked up his second win of the season in only his third start at the Hub City half-mile.

Wilson’s strong run netted him the runner-up spot. He was followed at the finish by Jeremy Tinsman, Sam Archer, and Bryan Neff.

It took 25 years of racing, but Billy Ecton, Sr. finally celebrated in victory lane with his first career win in the Hobby Stock division. It was also a big moment for the Ecton family with a father/son 1-2 finish as Billy Ecton, Jr. followed him at the checkered flag.

The Ectons were trailed by 14th place starter Don Murphy, Jeff Dillon, and James Speelman.

Taking home the win in the Classic Car Series nightcap was Wes Brown.

Notes: Lichliter said that this win was huge because he finally was going home with a big souvenir check to hang on his shop wall.

The ever popular Small Fry Night was a success with many smiling kids’ faces after getting their chance to take a lap at idle speed in a race car. This has been a longtime tradition at Hagerstown Speedway. Thanks to all of the drivers that participated.
Next week is the Small Car Nationals automatic qualifiers.

Feature Results

Mason-Dixon Shootout Series – 1. 8L-James Lichliter, [2]; 2. 88-Barry Miller, [3]; 3. 5-Craig Wagaman, [1]; 4. 33K-Devin Hart, [4]; 5. 2J-Justin Weaver, [13]; 6. 13-Brad McGinnis, [17]; 7. 77-Randy Burkholder, [8]; 8. 43-Cody Kershner, [7]; 9. 2-Steve Campbell, [5]; 10. 87-Eric Irvin, [12]; 11. 99-Michael Walls, [6]; 12. 7-Kenneth Yoder, [9]; 13. 72D-Dale Murphy, [11]; 14. 1K-Bruce Kane, [20]; 15. 32J-Shaun Jones, [21]; 16. 37-Paul Cursey Jr., [10]; 17. 11-Joe Westerman Jr., [14]; 18. 11B-Ronnie Bottenfield, [18]; 19. 48-Donnie Farlling, [16]; 20. 12K-Jared Fulkroad, [22]; 21. 24R-John Rowland, [24]; 22. 5J-Jeremy Ohl, [23]; 23. 24-Daulton Bigler, [15]; 24. 5B-Wes Bonebrake, [19]

Pure Stock – 1. 3-Craig Parrill, [6]; 2. 65-Dillon Wilson, [2]; 3. 8-Jeremy Tinsman, [1]; 4. 36A-Sam Archer, [3]; 5. 03-Bryan Neff, [7]; 6. S7-Doug Hoffman, [4]; 7. 19-Danny Atherton, [5]; 8. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [8]; 9. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [10]; 10. 2+2-Chris Ebersole, [9]; 11. 08-Will Worthington, [12]; 12. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [11]

Hobby Stock – 1. 67-Billy Ecton, [2]; 2. 57-William Ecton Jr., [5]; 3. 17-Don Murphy, [14]; 4. 52-Jeff Dillon, [1]; 5. 11A-James Speelman, [9]; 6. 99-Hilton Pickeral, [8]; 7. 41-Tom Caravello, [4]; 8. 28-Brad Umbrell, [13]; 9. 92-Jonathan Raley, [6]; 10. 7K-Michael Knight, [11]; 11. 41X-Sam Caravello, [15]; 12. 03-Kevin Boyer, [3]; 13. 43-Jason Sarver, [7], DNS-Davey Gross Jr., Jamie Mills