Weaver Bags MDSS Win and Hagerstown LMS Championship
By Brett Rose
HAGERSTOWN, MD – Justin Weaver bagged the $1,000 win with his No.2j in the Mason Dixon Shootout Series event at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night. The 26th career win for the Williamsport, Maryland racer also netted him his third Late Model Sportsman track championship at the Hub City oval.
Weaver came into the evening trailing point leader James Lichliter by 15 points, and proved to be a man on a mission after a dominant heat race win. With the inversion draw, Weaver started sixth on the grid of the 25 lap feature event.
Lichliter struggled throughout the evening and had a tough road ahead of him starting midpack. Lichliter encountered troubles early during the feature ending his night after contact with another racer, and a collision with Curtis Dunn at the pit entrance along the backstretch.
Michael Walls set the tone leading in the early stages of the race before Donnie Farlling took control of the top spot. Farlling had the command up high past the halfway point and battled side by side with Weaver until Weaver drove past on the bottom. Once out front, Weaver began to pull away over the final five laps towards the checkered flag.
“This thing was just flawless tonight”, said Weaver. “I mean, I kind of searched around there in the middle of the race. I knew we had a good car, but I wasn’t going to be able to pass those guys unless I moved somewhere else…..I searched around the bottom and found a good lane and stuck with it and it worked out.”
Farlling held on to second, Barry Miller was third, followed by Shaun Jones and Daulton Bigler to complete the top five.
Heat wins for the 31 entries went to Farlling, Weaver, Jones, and Eric Irvin while Joe Westerman, Jr. won the B-Main.
Jamie Zentmyer won the 15 lap Pure Stock feature, but it wasn’t enough to win the track championship. Those honors went to Doug Hoffman.
Zentmyer survived a wild battle for the lead among Jamey Swank and Mike Desch that saw Swank get crossed up and make contact with Desch. As that action was happening, Zentmyer had some breathing room toward the finish to take his second win of 2018 and the tenth of his career.
Following Zentmyer was Chris Ebersole, who drove to second from 13th, Desch, Danny Atherton, and Swank.
Hoffman’s sixth place finish was good enough to win the 2018 track championship.
Biily Ecton, Jr. entered the night as the Hobby Stock point leader and left the track with the 2018 championship on the heels of picking up his first career feature win. Ecton used a daring move on the topside of turn two from fourth on the grid to take the lead in a four-wide battle for the lead on the first lap. He led all 15 laps to win the race and the championship.
Ecton was trailed by points and feature runner-up Tom Caravello, Brady Daniels, Jamie Mills, and Nick DiBella.
Wrapping up the night was Jason Stoner with the 4 Cylinder win over Mike Kershner, Ronnie Garlock III, and Larry Lamb.
Notes: With 26 career wins, Weaver moves into 7th on the all-time LMS win list.
Zentmyer announced in victory lane that he was retiring as a full-time racer. He didn’t completely rule out competing again in another car if asked to race.
Hoffman’s title makes the second straight for car owners Randy & Renae Clegg. The Super7 won the 2017 Pure Stock championship with then driver Sean Dawson. Hoffman has previous championships at Williams Grove and Path Valley Speedway.
Feature Results
Mason Dixon Shootout Series – 1. 2J-Justin Weaver, [6]; 2. 48-Donnie Farlling, [3]; 3. 88-Barry Miller, [15]; 4. 32J-Shaun Jones, [7]; 5. 24X-Daulton Bigler, [12]; 6. 87-Eric Irvin, [8]; 7. 43-Cody Kershner, [13]; 8. 99-Michael Walls, [1]; 9. 62-Devin Frey, [18]; 10. 33K-Devin Hart, [23]; 11. 08-Keith Koontz, [20]; 12. 92-Frankie Gordon, [2]; 13. 8F-Taylor Farlling, [21]; 14. 11-Joe Westerman Jr., [17]; 15. 000-Paul Cursey Jr., [22]; 16. B12-Cameron Benyou, [9]; 17. 121-Larry Neiderer, [19]; 18. 13-Brad McGinnis, [10]; 19. 77-Randy Burkholder, [11]; 20. D34-Curtis Dunn, [4]; 21. 11B-Ronnie Bottenfield, [16]; 22. 8L-James Lichliter, [14]; 23. 72D-Dale Murphy, [24]; 24. 08K-Zach Kauffman [5]
Pure Stocks – 1. 81J-Jamie Zentmyer, [5]; 2. 2+2-Chris Ebersole, [13]; 3. 59-Mike Desch, [2]; 4. 19-Danny Atherton, [6]; 5. 22-Jamey Swank, [4]; 6. S7-Doug Hoffman, [12]; 7. 3-Craig Parrill, [7]; 8. 65-Dillon Wilson, [3]; 9. 12-Mike Raleigh, [10]; 10. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [15]; 11. 3T-Dylan Rutherford, [8]; 12. 75-Marshall McMullen, [11]; 13. 36A-Sam Archer, [9]; 14. 6R-Joe Rodgers, [18]; 15. 44-Charles Rupert, [16]; 16. 54-John Catlett, [17]; 17. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [1]; DNS -Bryan Neff
Hobby Stocks – 1. 57-William Ecton Jr., [4]; 2. 03-Tom Caravello, [8]; 3. 76-Brady Daniels, [5]; 4. 0-Jamie Mills, [3]; 5. 41-Nick DiBella, [1]; 6. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [7]; 7. 19-Mike Fuller, [6]; 8. 41X-Sam Caravello, [10]; 9. 3-Harold Robinson, [12]; 10. 7K-Michael Knight, [14]; 11. 11A-James Speelman, [15]; 12. 34-Chaseton Leach, [9]; 13. 14-Gary Breeden, [2]; 14. 25-Rodney Miner, [11]; 15. 43-Jason Sarver, [13]; DNS-Andrew Stough
4 Cylinders – 1. 21-Jason Stoner,[4]; 2. 43X-Mike Kershner, [2]; 3. 18-Ronnie Garlock III, [1]; 4. 2L-Larry Lamb,[3]