KYLE HARDY POSTS DIRT CAPITOL’S GRAND OPENING $3,000 LATE MODEL SPECIAL
KYLE HARDY POSTS DIRT CAPITOL’S GRAND OPENING $3,000 LATE MODEL SPECIAL
HAGERSTOWN, MD. – Following a one week delay due to inferior weather conditions, Hagerstown Speedway/Dirt Capitol LLC was off and running with the Opening Day Special as was Kyle Hardy who grabbed the lead from Jamie Lathroum following a second lap restart and went on to score the 30-lap Late Model feature worth $3,000. The win didn’t come without controversy as contact was made with Walker Arthur on the final lap who did return the bump following the feature and was scored last.
“I don’t really like running people over, but I got down there on the bottom and it was super slippery,” Hardy said. “I got my front into the inside wall and I got into him pretty hard. It’s racing. He’d probably do it back to me. It was a little chilly but other than that I had fun today.”
Other winners on the season’s only scheduled Sunday program included Paul Cursey in the Late Model Sportsman, Mike Corbin in the Pure Stocks, Dylan Rutherford in the Hobby Stocks and Haley Kaiser in the Rookie Cars.
A youngster from the stands spun the inversion wheel and the pointer stopped on two as heat winners Lathroum and Dan Stone occupied the front row with Lathroum getting the jump over the polesetter as sixth starter Hardy moved into the runner up on the second lap when another caution reset the field.
Hardy came out on top of a restart shuffle with Lathroum and Arthur and began to pull away from Arthur while Lathroum and Roy Deese Jr. were left to battle for third. By the halfway mark, Hardy was two seconds ahead and had closed on the rear of the field.
Arthur closed as Hardy got held up for a couple laps before escaping and moving on to other rear cars. Hardy was into more traffic when he got shuffled out of the groove and Arthur got past to lead the 29th lap. Hardy stayed on the throttle the final circuit and stuck it low entering the third turn when contact was made and he exited the fourth with the lead. Following the post-race contact, Lathroum was credited with the runner up spot over Deese with Jason Covert and Matt Parks completing the top five. Heats for the 23 entries were won by Lathroum, Stone and Joe Leavell.
The Late Model Sportsman also began with a two car inversion with Cursey on the pole and Travis Stickley alongside as Cursey grabbed the lead over third starting Justin Weaver who retired after only one lap when the caution was displayed for another incident. Cursey took command on the restart as Kyle Lee took the runner up spot as Chad Myers moved in to challenge. Myers took the runner up spot on the 14th lap with a 17th lap yellow wiping away Cursey’s lead.
Cursey pulled away on the restart and continued to maintain nearly a second lead to the finish over Myers with Walker Arthur, Lee and Jake Jones next to the line.
“I’ve had really good fortune running in the first race each year so tried to work all winter hard, tried to get it right and come out here and do well,” Cursey said. “This is my 30th year of racing and this was my 63rd feature win.”
Brian Walls and Chris Ebersole were to occupy the front row for the Pure Stock feature but Ebersole had mechanical issues and allowed Michelle Walls to advance to the outside pole as B.Walls took the lead with Sean Dawson into the runner up spot on the second lap until being unseated by Mike Corbin at halfway. Corbin began to close and charged past a slowing Walls to take the lead on the 13th lap as Walls coasted to a stop. Corbin went on to win by three lengths over Mike Franklin, Dawson, Bob Egley and M. Walls.
Tom Caravello led the Hobby Stocks from the outside pole over Jamie Mills while Dylan Rutherford moved into third on the opening lap. Rutherford got past Mills on the sixth lap and set sights on the lead. Following a ninth lap yellow, he got past Caravello while Mills took second but trailed by nearly 2 ½ seconds at the checkered. Caravello, William Crook and Marshall McMullen were next.
Haley Kaiser grabbed the Rookie Car lead on the second lap and led Tom Paddock when a fourth lap erased her lead. Kaiser took off but Paddock began to close in but trailed by two lengths at the flag stand.
Follow the speedway on Twitter and Facebook at Dirt Capitol LLC and also check out Ernie D’s Turn 5 on Facebook with information about events, driver’s interviews, race status and more. The latest news, results, photos, schedule or rule changes will also be found on the speedway’s website: www.hagerstownspeedway.com. Also check the website for any changes in weather conditions that may delay or cancel the program or contact the speedway office at 301-582-0640.
HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY/DIRT CAPITOL LLC RESULTS
Late Models: 30 Laps, 23 Entries, 1.Kyle Hardy, 2.Jamie Lathroum, 3.Roy Deese Jr., 4.Jason Covert, 5.Matt Parks, 6.Ross Robinson, 7.Jason Miller, 8.Brian Tavenner, 9.Andy Haus, 10.Joe Leavell, 11.Dominic Defino, 12.Kerry King Sr., 13.Mike Lupfer, 14.Dan Stone, 15.Colby Frye, 16.Marvin Winters, 17.C.S. Fitzgerald, 18.Andy Anderson, 19.Glenn Elliott, 20.Walker Arthur, DNS – Kenny Moreland, Trever Feathers, Kyle Lear
Late Model Sportsman: 25 Laps, 20 Entries: 1.Paul Cursey, 2.Chad Myers, 3.Walker Arthur, 4.Kyle Lee, 5.Jake Jones, 6.Travis Stickley, 7.Rodney Walls, 8.Chaz Walls, 9.Kenneth Yoder, 10.James Lichliter, 11.Brayden Anderson, 12.Garrett Walls, 13.Jimmy Richards, 14.Josh Berrier, 15.Sam Gallagher, 16.Justin Weaver, 17.Jonathan DeHaven, 18.Keith Walls, 19.Scott Palmer, 20.Jimmy Jesmer Jr.
Pure Stocks: 20 Laps, 11 Entries: 1.Mike Corbin, 2.Mike Franklin, 3.Sean Dawson, 4.Bob Egley, 5.Michelle Walls, 6.Ryan Smith, 7.Brian Walls, 8.R.T.Troutman, 9.Dickie Tharp, 10.Chris Ebersole, 11.Chuck Bowie
Hobby Stocks: 15 Laps, Entries: 1.Dylan Rutherford, 2.Jamie Mills, 3.Tom Caravello, 4.Williams Crook, 5.Marshal McMullen, 6.Dwayne Snyder, 7.Ralph Hansberger, 8.Kenny Thomas, 9.Joe Rodgers
Rookie Cars: 10 Laps, 8 Entries: 1.Haley Kaiser, 2.Tom Paddock, 3.Dan Lawery, 4.Terry Leach, 5.Josh Wilkins, 6.Larry Lamb, 7.Aaron Wise, 8.Danielle Alford
Image Courtesy: Jason Walls /WRT Speedwerx
