70th Anniversary Race Weekend Canceled, Awards Picnic Moved to Nostalgia Day
/in News /by hagerOfficial management at Hagerstown Speedway has made the difficult decision to cancel the 70th Anniversary Celebration race weekend originally scheduled for October 13-14, and end the 2017 campaign earlier than expected.
“Insufficient attendance at area tracks and competing against other venues are two risks that are not necessary to take this late in the season. It has been a constant struggle to coordinate events with area tracks. Seeing other promoters gamble on big purse events and come out in the red is not a comforting feeling. We took time to develop an attractive purse and program. Knowing there are other venues to compete against along with the possibility of poor weather and attendance, it only makes good business sense to close early.” said promoter Doug Timmons.
So with those tracks competing against each other this late in the year, along with cooler weather and football season in full swing, it gets tough to schedule races to have a good fan turnout.
“Racers get pumped up and want to put on a good show in front of a good crowd of fans, and when there are too many other options of entertainment for fans elsewhere this time of the year, it is best to not take a huge financial risk. We feel it is in our best interests to look forward to 2018.”said general manager Lisa Plessinger.
In the best interests of all of those involved, Hagerstown Speedway officials have decided to make their 70th Anniversary Nostalgia Day on Sunday, October 15 completely free of charge to all who attend. There will be an open track test & tune along with exhibition races, along with an antique car and tractor exhibit. Only a signature of release will be required to enter the pit area this day.
The Championship Awards Picnic has also been moved to October 15th at 1PM. Those interested in buying tickets for the ceremony may contact Lisa Plessinger at the speedway 301-582-0640 ext. 202. Fans wishing to watch the awards ceremony may do so, but a ticket must be purchased to participate and eat.
The entire staff of Hagerstown Speedway sincerely thanks all of the racers and fans that supported Hagerstown Speedway during our 70th year of operations in 2017. We wish everyone the very best during the off-season, and we are looking forward to having everyone return for a 71st year of racing in 2018.
Covert and Miller Score Wins at Hagerstown
/in Results /by hagerBy Brett Rose
HAGERSTOWN, MD – On a crisp, early autumn evening, Jason Covert and Barry Miller parked their rides into victory lane at Hagerstown Speedway on September 30.
Covert began the march to his Super Late Model victory at the Hub City oval for the first time in 2017 from the fifth spot on the starting grid. Pole sitter Roy Deese, Jr. led the first lap before he was overtaken by three-time winner Gary Stuhler.
Covert moved up to third by the third lap, and moved around Deese for second on the eighth lap. A caution flag unfurled the same lap for Jerry Bard, who had a flat right rear tire.
This setup the only restart of the feature, and Stuhler was able to hold off Covert for several laps. Stuhler was rolling through the middle to the top groove as Covert kept circling around the bottom.
On Lap 18, Covert went low under Stuhler coming off of turn 4 to take the lead. Covert hit traffic a lap later and put some distance between him and Stuhler until the traffic got thicker. With the white flag waving, Stuhler had caught Covert, but just didn’t have enough to reclaim the lead on the 25th lap at the checkered flag.
At the end of the race, Covert said: “At least tonight it was heads-up which it should be, and we made a (tire) choice right there and it took me a little bit to get going, and once I got going, I was pretty good.”
“I’ll tell you what, I just want to say what a race track it was compared to the last few years I was here….it had character tonight, and that’s what makes racing good. The couple times I’ve been here this year has been absolutely phenomenal.”, stated Covert.
Following Covert and Stuhler at the finish were Kyle Hardy, Brian Booze, and Kyle Lee.
Miller drove to his second Late Model Sportsman win of the season as part of the Mason-Dixon Shootout Series. The Three Springs, PA resident powered past Eric Irvin from outside the front row, and led all 20 laps in a flag-to-flag effort. An early restart and lapped traffic halfway through wasn’t enough to slow Miller down as he took the checkered flag.
In his winner’s interview, Miller said: “Yeah, I do lot of work myself, my daughter helps me a little bit; you know I live in the boonies and not anybody around to help, but it feels real good. It was a stout field of cars.”
Irvin finished second, while Justin Weaver, Derick Quade, and Ralph Morgan rounded out the top five.
Notes: The two-division show was completed in less than 2 ½ hours, and featured a full 24 car field in each division.
Trever Feathers qualified in his own No.20, but mechanical issues forced him to borrow a ride from Brad Omps. Feathers tagged the rear of the field in 24th place and drove the Omps No.5 to a very respectable 10th place finish.
Tyler Bare made his first career SLM start at Hagerstown, and recorded a solid sixth place finish in his debut. Bare is the son of Booper Bare, and grandson of Tommy Bare. The third generation Virginia racer has done quite well in Crate Late Models.
Feature Results
Super Late Models- 1. 72C-Jason Covert, 2. 55-Gary Stuhler, 3. 3V-Kyle Hardy, 4. B2-Brian Booze, 5. 2T-Kyle Lee, 6. 30B-Tyler Bare, 7. 24-Kenny Moreland, 8. 41-Andy Anderson, 9. 05-Roy Deese Jr., 10. 20-Trever Feathers, 11. 30-Allen Brannon, 12. 46-Marvin Winters, 13. 86-Scott Palmer, 14. 46E-Tyler Emory, 15. 81-Steve Axtell Jr, 16. 37-Brian Tavenner, 17. 45-Jamie Lathroum, 18. 94-Jason Miller, 19. 1MD-Jeremy Miller, 20. 21-Chad Myers, 21. 22R-Reese Masiello, 22. 11-Kirk Baker, 23. 26-Jerry Bard, 24. 14-Tyler Horst
Late Model Sportsman (Mason Dixon Shootout Series)- 1. 88-Barry Miller, 2. 87-Eric Irvin, 3. 2J-Justin Weaver, 4. 74-Derick Quade, 5. 44X-Ralph Morgan Jr., 6. 37-Paul Cursey Jr., 7. 92-Frankie Gordon, 8. 177-Brian Shuey, 9. 72D-Dale Murphy, 10. 62-Devin Frey, 11. D19-Dillan Stake, 12. 22-Eric Hohol, 13. 7-Kenneth Yoder, 14. 74F-Mike Franklin, 15. 115S-Shaun Miller, 16. 50-Jason Smith, 17. 16-Justin Dillman, 18. 72-Shaun Jones, 19. D34-Curtis Dunn, 20. 2-Andrew Yoder, 21. 3-Rick Lias, 22. 1S-Brandon Seibert, 23. 000-Matt Nailor (DNS) 13-Brad McGinnis
70th Anniversary Qualifier up Next
/in News /by hager
This Saturday night, September 30 is the 70th Anniversary Qualifier netting the feature winner a guaranteed starting position in the 70th Anniversary Celebration weekend coming up on October 13-14.
On this week’s card will be Super Late Models and the Mason-Dixon Shootout Series for the Late Model Sportsman.
General admission is $15, Students/Seniors/ Military $10, and pit admission is $30. Gates open at 5pm, and warmups will start at 7pm.
The Super Late Model winner locks in the chance to win $7,000, and the Late Model Sportsman winner gets a shot at $1,700 on October 14.
Click on the link for information about the 70th Anniversary Celebration that is already posted here on the website.
Also on October 14 is the Championship Celebration Picnic featuring a catered luncheon by Mission BBQ of Hagerstown. Tickets are $15, and can be reserved by calling Lisa at the speedway office. For more info, call 301-582-0640, ext. 202.
Weaver, Lee, Parrill, and Raley Lead SCN Winners at Hagerstown
/in Results /by hagerBy Brett Rose
HAGERSTOWN, MD – Justin Weaver survived two restarts and a serious challenge from 2017 Late Model Sportsman champion Kyle Lear to win the 25 lap LMS portion of the Small Car Nationals on Saturday night at Hagerstown Speedway.
Weaver led from start to finish, but Lear made things very interesting following the last restart with nine laps to go when he pulled even with the leader for a few laps. But Weaver wasn’t to be denied victory aboard his No.2j Rocket XR-1.
“Yeah, I owe a lot to the car, but we’ve traveled a lot this year and it seems the more we travel, the better I get and the better the car gets. It’s just jiving right now.” stated Weaver in his victory lane interview.
Lear finished second, followed by Marvin Winters in the Frankie Gordon No.92, Jonathan DeHaven, and fifth place finisher Cody Kershner.
2017 Super Late Model track champion Kyle Lee climbed behind the wheel of the Walter Nichols No.75 Crate Late Model for the weekend, and swept the top honors with quick time, a heat race win, and wired the field from start to finish in the 25 lap feature event.
Lee lapped all the way up to the ninth place competitor in a dominating performance to the victory. Lee was trailed by a solid run from Tanner Kerr, Mike Franklin, Cory Lawler, and Jamie Sutphin.
Craig Parrill won the 20 lap Pure Stock feature. Parrill passed Ryan Sager for the lead on the second lap, and went on the rest of the way for his tenth win of the season. 2017 track champion Sean Dawson made a valiant effort to run the leader down, but simply ran out of laps to come home in second. They were followed by Brandon Churchey, Keith Koontz, and Jeremy Tinsman.
Jonathan Raley won a wild Hobby Stock feature for his sixth win of the season. Numerous passes were made throughout the 15 lap event from second through tenth , but no one was able to pass Raley for the win. T. J. Henry was second, Mike Duck was third, while Ryan Zook and Alex Boozel finished fourth and fifth.
The 4 Cylinder Mini-Stock feature was won by Tommy Whitt. Whitt took advantage of a late race restart to get around leader Jason Stoner, and was able to hold him off for the victory. Following Whitt and Stoner was Mike Kershner, Randy Linaburg, and Jacob Whitt.
Eric Boozel passed Chris Anderson on the fifth lap to take the lead in the 15 lap U-Car feature, and drove the remainder of the race in the lead to the record the win. They were followed by Ricky Weaver, Jr., Robbie Carroll, and Kent Leonard.
Notes: Weaver and Raley also swept the weekends in their respective divisions with quick time and heat heat race wins toward their overall feature wins.
143 cars competing in six divisions signed into the pit area on Friday evening. Four divisions were time trialed, and seventeen heat races were all completed in 3 ½ hours.
SCN Feature Results
Late Model Sportsman – 1. 2J-Justin Weaver, 2. 151-Kyle Lear, 3. 92-Marvin Winters, 4. 13D-Jonathan DeHaven, 5. 43-Cody Kershner, 6. 44X-Ralph Morgan Jr., 7. 8L-James Lichliter, 8. 37-Paul Cursey Jr., 9. D19-Dillan Stake, 10. 74-Derick Quade, 11. 1MD-Jeremy Miller, 12. 48-Donnie Farlling, 13. 11S-Austin Stover, 14. 87-Eric Irvin, 15. 67-Jonathan Oliver, 16. 8F-Taylor Farlling, 17. 88H-Kris Holliday, 18. 24R-John Rowland, 19. 16-Wayne Dillman, 20. 23-Tyler Emory, 21. 3-Trae Armel, 22. 000-Matt Nailor, 23. 24X-Daulton Bigler, – DNS -5-Alan Sagi
Crate Late Models – 1. 75-Kyle Lee, 2. 41*-Tanner Kerr, 3. 74-Mike Franklin, 4. 93L-Cory Lawler, 5. 18-Jamie Sutphin, 6. 5-Levi Crowl, 7. 48-Steve Lowery, 8. 32-Lindsey Barton, 9. 11-Trevor Collins, 10. 30K-Gunner Kerr, 11. 17-Ben Bowie, 12. 44S-Scott Sweeney, 13. 17H-Richard Hawkins, 14. 66-Dave Friedrich, 15. 2-Kevin Moore, 16. 4-Scott Sweeney Jr., 17. 85-Carl Biddle, 18. 95B-Timmy Booth
Pure Stocks – 1. 3-Craig Parrill, 2. S7-Sean Dawson, 3. 05-Brandon Churchey, 4. 08-Keith Koontz, 5. 8-Jeremy Tinsman, 6. T2-Brian Walls, 7. 22*-Ryan Sager, 8. 19-Danny Atherton, 9. 2*-Boyd Brode, 10. 56-Ed Pope, 11. 89-Scotty Nelson, 12. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, 13. 4-Nick DiBella, 14. 44-Frank DiBella, 15. 3T-Bubby Tharp, 16. 36A-Sam Archer, 17. 12R-Mike Raleigh, 18. 81F-Gary Calimer Jr., 19. 59S-Ryan Smith, 20. 64-William Crook, 21. 52-Mike Walls, 22. 21K-Kory Sites, 23. 65-Dillon Wilson
Hobby Stocks – 1. 92-Jonathan Raley, 2. 57H-TJ Henry, 3. 73B-Mike Duck, 4. 28-Ryan Zook, 5. 2-Alex Boozel, 6. 117-Kevin Imes, 7. 18D-Dylan Rutherford, 8. 14-Ryan Leister, 9. 44-Shawn Shoemaker, 10. 36A-Sam Archer, 11. 27-Davey Gross Jr., 12. 8-James Givens, 13. X53-Gregory Morgan, 14. 52-Jeff Dillon, 15. 11A-James Speelman, 16. 6-Joe Rodgers, 17. 73*-Amber Mills, 18. 99-Hilton Pickeral, 19. 17JR-Walt Peters, 20. 0-Jamie Mills, 21. 54-John Catlett, 22. 36-Mike Benton, 23. 03-Bryan Neff, 24. 30-Gary Breeden
4 Cylinder Mini-Stocks – 1. 44-Tommy Whitt, 2. 21-Jason Stoner, 3. 43X-Mike Kershner, 4. 17L-Randy Linaburg, 5. 33-Jacob Whitt, 6. 03-Kevin Thomas, 7. 17W-Matt Williamson, 8. 41-Vance Williams, 9. 18-Ronnie Garlock
U-Cars – 1. 151-Eric Boozel, 2. 15-Chris Anderson, 3. 21-Ricky Weaver Jr., 4. 69-Robbie Carroll, 5. 26L-Kent Leonard, 6. 40-Noah Swank, 7. 405-Justin Williamson, 8. 12-Kyle Rohrbaugh, 9. 11S-Charles Stallman, 10. 5-Josh RInger, 11. 00-Anthony Varner, 12. 64F-Travis Semple, 13. 26-Darren Howsare, 14. 57-Steven Martin, 15. 18V-Kala Varner, 16. 7UP-Brad Beatty, 17. 0-Robert Cutshall, 18. 35-Kermit Humbertson, 19. 81-Matthew Chronister, 20. 6W-Matt Worley, 21. 75-Steve Martin, 22. 64-Rusty Garlock, 23. 13-Brent Howell, 24. 2X-Shannon Weaver