70th Anniversary Race Weekend Canceled, Awards Picnic Moved to Nostalgia Day

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Official 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

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By 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

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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

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By 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

Championships Decided As Weather Forces Hagerstown Cancellation

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By Brett Rose

Remnants of Hurricane Harvey made their way through the Mid-Atlantic region over Friday night and into Saturday afternoon, forcing officials to cancel the final night of point racing at Hagerstown Speedway for 2017.

The final point race will not be rescheduled, and the championship point standings are final.
Congratulations go out to our 2017 Track Champions Kyle Lee (Super Late Model), Kyle Lear (Late Model Sportsman), Sean Dawson (Pure Stock), and Davey Gross, Jr. (Hobby Stock).

Lee won his first SLM championship in his rookie season of competing in the division. Out of 13 features, Lee won one feature, scored five Top 5, and twelve Top 10 finishes.

Lear wins his second career LMS championship with seven feature wins on the season, along with thirteen Top 5, and fifteen Top 10 finishes in fifteen starts.

Dawson wins his first PS championship on the heels of one feature win, fourteen top 5, and seventeen top 10 finishes in seventeen starts.

Gross, Jr. picked up three feature wins, fifteen top 5, and sixteen Top 10 finishes out of sixteen events toward his first career championship.

The Championship Celebration Picnic will take place at the speedway to honor our 2017 track champions on October 14.

Racing still remains at Hagerstown for 2017, with the upcoming Small Car Nationals on September 15-16, the 70th Anniversary automatic qualifier on September 30, and the 70th Anniversary Season Finale weekend on October 13-15.

 

 

  Hollidge Claims Nininger Memorial at Hagerstown

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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