By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Mother Nature was denied the win on Saturday night as Austin Hubbard made the tow from Delaware to Hagerstown Speedway pay off by taking the win in the 25 Lap Super Late Model feature event.

Overnight and early morning rains threatened to put a damper on racing activity that saw most tracks in the region cancel. The decision to race was good as the track once again produced some excellent racing throughout the entire night.

Hubbard started sixth and quickly made his charge to the front. Following a quick caution for Scott Palmer, Hubbard powered by Andy Fries on the restart and proceeded to pull away from the field.

Hubbard used the heavy cushion for most of the race on a track that yielded some three-wide racing for much of the distance. While Hubbard was leading, Andy Anderson and Kyle Lee waged a battled for second place, and began to run Hubbard down as he encountered lapped traffic.

Anderson closed the gap with a couple of laps to go, but didn’t quite have the speed or laps he needed to take away the win. It was Hubbard’s first career SLM win at Hagerstown.

Anderson was closely followed by Lee at the finish, while Gary Stuhler and D.J. Myers completed the top five.

Sean Dawson picked up his first Pure Stock win of the 2017 season. Dawson led from start to finish while holding off the challenges of Keith Koontz, until Koontz blew a tire with just three laps to go. Dawson fended off Scotty Nelson the remainder of the way to score the victory.

Nelson was followed by fellow top five finishers Dwayne Snyder in a career best run, Jamie Zentmyer, and Brandon Churchey in his season debut.

Allen Brannon took the lead from the start of the Crate Late Model feature, withstood several caution flags and the challenges of Kyle Lee, whom was pulling double-duty behind the wheel of the Nichols No.75.

Brannon was too strong for Lee and the competition as he went to record his first CLM win of the season at Hagerstown.

Lee finished second, while Mike Franklin, eleventh-place starter Transton Stoner, and Tim Fedder rounded out the top five.

Kyle Lear continued to flex his muscle in the Late Model Sportsman division, picking up his 3^rd win of the season. He started fourth on the grid and only needed one lap to pass Rance Garlock for the lead. From that point on, Lear never looked back.

Lear was followed by last week’s winner and seventeenth-place starter Shaun Jones, Garlock, Eric Irvin, and Paul Cursey at the finish.

Jamie Mills wired the Hobby Stock competition from green to checkered flag to take his first win of the season.  Last week’s winner Dylan Rutherford was second, followed by a season best finish for Willie Ling in third, while Davey Gross, Jr., and John Catlett rounded out the top five.

We thank all of the racers and fans for their support on a day that didn’t look very promising for racing in the morning and early afternoon. Big thanks also goes out to the speedway track prep crew for a magnificent job on the task performed because of the weather.

Next week, racing takes off at the Hagerstown Speedway for the annual Bonanza Extravagana. Racing returns on May 20 with our regular classes on Student Night/Armed Forces Appreciation Night, and a 4 Cylinder Demolition Derby.

Feature Results

Super Late Models – 1. Austin Hubbard, 2. Andy Anderson, 3. Kyle Lee, 4. Gary Stuhler, 5. D.J. Myers, 6. Kyle Hardy, 7. Trever Feathers, 8. Marvin Winters, 9. Brian Booze, 10. Glenn Elliott, 11. Reese Masiello, 12. Rodney Walls, 13. Brad Omps, 14. Chad Myers, 15. Jason Miller, 16. Roy Deese, Jr., 17. Kirk Baker, 18. Andy Fries, 19. Scott Palmer, 20. Tommy Armel , DNS- Jonathan DeHaven

Late Model Sportsman – 1. Kyle Lear, 2. Shaun Jones, 3. Rance Garlock, 4. Eric Irvin, 5. Paul Cursey, Jr., 6. Robbie Black, 7. Alan Sagi, 8. Bobby Beard, 9. Ryan Walls, 10. Michael Walls, 11. Derick Quade, 12. Matt Murphy, 13. Dale Murphy, 14. Kenneth Yoder, 15. Justin Jesmer, 16. John Rowland, 17. Ronnie Bottenfield, 18. Dillan Stake, 19. Frankie Gordon, 20. Joe Westerman, Jr., DNS- Kurt Zimmerman

Crate Late Models- 1. Allen Brannon, 2. Kyle Lee, 3. Mike Franklin, 4. Transtan Stoner, 5. Tim Fedder, 6. Joe Moyer, 7. Richard Hawkins, 8. Levi Crowl, 9. Scott Sweeney, 10. Harry Shipe III, 11. Dave Friedrich, 12. Steve Lowery, 13. Jennae Piper, 14. Jake Piper, 15. Dillan Stake, 16. Lindsey Barton, 17. Bryan Benton, DNS- Timmy Booth

Pure Stocks – 1. Sean Dawson, 2. Scotty Nelson, 3. Dwayne Snyder, 4. Jamie Zentmyer, 5. Brandon Churchey, 6. Wayne Hawbaker, 7. Shane Wilt, 8. Nick DiBella, 9. Brian Swiger, 10. Frank DiBella, 11. William Crook, 12. Keith Koontz, DNS- Craig Parrill

Hobby Stocks – 1. Jamie Mills, 2. Dylan Rutherford, 3. Willie Ling, 4. Davey Gross, Jr., 5. John Catlett, 6. Bryan Neff, 7. Dustin Proctor, 8. Ralph Hansberger, 9. Matt Wampler, 10. James Speelman, 11. Rodney Miner

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Gary Stuhler came from ninth place in an awesome performance to win the second leg of the Hagerstown/Bedford Challenge at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night. It was the 3^rd Super Late Model win of the season, and his record-extending 138^th career win at the Hub City Oval.

As he has done all season, Stuhler found the low groove to be the fastest way around in his Glenn Elliott-owned No. 55.

D.J. Myers led from the start, battling Tyler Hershey in the early stages before settling into the top spot. Meanwhile, Stuhler was making his charge to the front, and was in second place before a caution came out with ten laps remaining.

Myers and Stuhler raced side-by-side, and swapped the lead several times before Stuhler took the top spot with two laps to go. Myers valiantly tried to get the win, but fell a little more than a car length short.

Andy Anderson had a strong run to finish third, while Kyle Lee finished fourth, and Matt Cosner was fifth at the checkered flag.

The victor in the 20 lap Late Model Sportsman portion of the Hagerstown/Bedford Challenge went home with Shaun Jones in his first appearance of the 2017 season. Jones, in his No. 32j, took over the lead from “The Captain” Ralph Morgan after a Lap 6 restart, when Morgan chose the top line. Jones went low off of turn two for the lead, and pulled away to pick up the checkered flag.

Morgan held on to second, followed by two-time winner Kyle Lear, Michael Walls, and Eric Irvin.

2012 Pure Stock track champion Tony Catlett found his way back to victory lane in his No. 6c Ford after a lengthy absence from the speedway. Catlett fended off the challenges of Keith Koontz throughout the 15 lap feature to win by half a car length.

The tandem was closely followed by Sean Dawson in third, while Wayne Hawbaker and Dwayne Snyder completed the top five.

In their first appearance of the 2017 season, the Mid Atlantic Modifieds brought their largest field of the season to Hagerstown with 24 E-Mods in the pit area for their 15 lap contest.

Mike Potosky quickly drove around veteran driver Jim Bernheisel for the lead, and held off a late race charge from Chris Arnold to score the win.  Bernheisel was third, Carl McKinney finished fourth, while Rick Hulson finished fifth.

Rounding out the night in the Hobby Stock division saw Dylan Rutherford hold off Davey Gross, Jr. to score his first triumph of the season. Jamie Mills, Dustin Proctor, and Jeff Dillon rounded out the top five.

Coming up on May 5 will be a regular show plus Crate Late Models. Gates open at 5pm, and racing begins at 7pm. Admission is $15 for the grandstands, kids 12 and under are free, and $30 for the pits.

Feature Results

Super Late Models –  1. Gary Stuhler, 2. D.J. Myers,  3. Andy Anderson, 4. Kyle Lee, 5. Matt Cosner, 6. Roy Deese, Jr., 7. Tyler Hershey, 8. Marvin Winters, 9. Andy Fries, 10. Bryan Bernheisel, 11. Scott Palmer, 12. Brian Tavenner, 13. Reese Masiello, 14. Kirk Baker,  15. Rodney Walls,  16. Alan Sagi

Late Model Sportsman- 1. Shaun Jones, 2. Ralph Morgan, 3. Kyle Lear, 4. Michael Walls, 5. Eric Irvin, 6. Paul Cursey, Jr., 7. Robbie Black, 8. Bruce Kane, 9. Alan Sagi, 10. Devin Frey, 11. Brad McGinnis, 12. James Lichliter, 13. Chris Ebersole, 14. Dale Murphy, 15. Dave Friedrich, 16. John Rowland, 17. Kenneth Yoder, 18. Justin Jesmer, 19. Elwood Sord, 20. Joe Westerman, Jr., 21. Bobby Beard, 22. Eric Hohol, 23. Cody Kershner, 24. Eddie Cornett, 25. Ronnie Bottenfield, 26. Derick Quade, DNS- Cam Zeigler

Pure Stocks – 1. Tony Catlett, 2. Keith Koontz, 3. Sean Dawson, 4. Wayne Hawbaker, 5. Dwayne Snyder, 6. Joshua Bloom, 7. Ed Pope, 8. William Crook, 9. Frank DiBella, 10. Nick DiBella, 11. Shane Wilt, 12. Jeremy Mills, 13. Brian Swiger, DNS- Craig Parrill, Jamie Zentmeyer, Randy Wible

Hobby Stocks – 1. Dylan Rutherford, 2. Davey Gross, Jr., 3. Jamie Mills, 4. Dustin Proctor, 5. Jeff Dillon, 6. Ralph Hansberger, 7. James Speelman, 8. Matt Wampler, 9. Willie Ling, 10. Danny Holmes, 11. Bryan Neff, 12. Rodney Miner

Mid Atlantic Modifieds- 1. Mike Potosky, 2. Chris Arnold, 3. Jim Berneheisel, 4. Carl McKinney, 5. Rick Hulson, 6. Chris Fletcher, 7. Brad Kling, 8. Mike Reynolds, 9. Mark Jones, 10. Ray Kable, 11. Justin Cullum, 12. Hunter Nester, 13. Josh Roberson, 14. Bryan Green, 15. James Sparks, 16. Tim Schulte, 17. Keith Reed, 18. Haley Kaiser, 19. Alyssa Rowe, 20. Ray Ciccarelli, 21. Rich Goodman, 22. Josh Hughes  DNS-Quintin Hankla, Jimmy Jesmer

About Hagerstown Speedway-Hagerstown Speedway is located 6 miles west of Hagerstown, Maryland off of U.S. Route 40. The track is easily accessible from Interstates 70 and 81. The track owner is Frank Plessinger. The speedway promoter is Doug Timmons and the general manager is Lisa Plessinger. Track information and updates can be found online at www.hagerstownspeedway.com, and on our official Facebook and Twitter pages. For more information, e-mail info@hagerstownspeedway.com or call the speedway office at (301)-582-0640.

Marketing partners of Hagerstown Speedway include: Hamilton Nissan, Hafer’s Gunsmithing, Bullrider Race Cars, Thomas All Things Automotive, D&D Auto Recycling, RockAuto.com, and FirstEnergy Corporation.