JAMIE LATHROUM ENDS LATE MODEL WINLESS DROUGHT AT DIRT CAPITIOL

JAMIE LATHROUM ENDS LATE MODEL WINLESS DROUGHT AT DIRT CAPITIOL

HAGERSTOWN, MD. – Finishing second in the Grand Opening at Hagerstown Speedway/Dirt Capitol a week ago, Jamie “the Jet” Lathroum was nothing short of a Rocket in Saturday’s program, the first point events of the season.

On the track that was covered with snow earlier in the day from Winter Storm Ultima which blanketed the area all day Friday, it was sheer domination after Lathroum grabbed the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Late Model lead from Kyle Lear on a lap eight restart. Lathroum sped away to drive out of sight by Lear and got to the finish by a full ten seconds ahead. It was his first win at Hagerstown since June 21, 2013.

“I knew we had the right tires on and when I got out front it was a whole different race car,” Lathroum said. “I knew on that restart, if I could just get enough room, I knew Trevor got in a little too hard and too high. If I could just crowd Kyle a little bit; he gave me enough room and that’s all it took.”

Lathroum would rather forget last season as various chances at a win came up empty handed, but this season has started out right.

“The guys were telling me I was way out there but I didn’t know how far,” Lathroum said. “I haven’t won in so long, I didn’t want to mess it up.”

Other winners taking triumphs in the first point events were Jake Jones in the Malloy Ford Late Model Sportsman, his first ever at Hagerstown; Mike Corbin, his second straight in the K.Lynn Management Pure Stocks and Bryan Neff, his career first in the Mason Dixon Auto Auction Hobby Stocks.

A youngster from the stands spun the inversion wheel and the pointer stopped on two as heat winners Trever Feathers and Kyle Lear occupied the front row. Lear quickly took charge over Feathers with third starting Lathroum taking third ahead of previous week’s winner Kyle Hardy.

On a lap eight restart, Feathers’ attempt to go around the outside ended with a backwards spin into the second turn fence. With Lathroum looking on, he fared better on his attempt at the same move. Tucking himself close to the outside of Lear, his car grabbed hold of the second turn and he was gone and more than two seconds ahead until an 11th lap yellow for debris.

Following another restart, it was again Lathroum stretching his distance with every lap until the 25th with Lear holding onto the runner up spot over Andy Anderson. Roy Deese Jr. from tenth and Hardy were next.

Jake Jones began the Late Model Sportsman feature on the outside following a three car invert. He beat Chaz Walls on the start as seventh staring Kyle Lee powered into the runner up spot following a first lap restart.

Following a lap eight restart, Jones led on the green while 14th starter Scott Palmer who restarted sixth, made his own road around the front runners and dropped into the second spot. Behind him, Bobby Beard dropped Lee to fourth into a battle with J.R. Rodriguez and Justin Weaver who battled three wide on the 12th lap with Weaver crowded to the outside and up into the fence. Lee came back to retake the third spot from Beard with five to go.

In the meantime, Jones was still holding Palmer to the second spot and posted his first win by .59 seconds over Palmer with Lee, Beard and Sam Gallagher next in line.

”About the last five laps, I was struggling pretty bad,” Jones said.” The left rear gave up on us; we went soft. That pretty much helped and why we got such good starts. We’ve had all kinds of wins lost due to failures, just different things. I was hoping it’d stay together and it did. This is a brand new Lazer we got from BRC and Jim Bernheisel last August. Last week and this week are the first laps we’ve had on the car.”

Chris Ebersole grabbed the Pure Stock lead over previous week’s winner Mike Corbin and led the first seven laps until Corbin saw an opportunity and took the top spot. He continued to lead as Ebersole stalked him until pulling pitside during a 12th lap caution with an overheating problem. Corbin went on to claim the win over Jamie Zentmyer with Dickie Tharp taking third over Michelle Walls and Keith Koontz.

Ralph Hansberger passed Jamie Mills to lead lap two in the Hobby Stocks as Bryan Neff moved into the runner up spot on lap four. After some close racing, Neff took the lead through part of lap 11 but Hansberger battled back as Neff retook the position on the 12th circuit. Hansberger then led at the white flag but went high as Neff and Kenny Thomas got past and they raced to the line with Neff taking the win by a mere .010 second. Marshall McMullen, Mills and William Crook were next.

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

Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Late Models: 25 Laps, 20 Entries, 1.Jamie Lathroum, 2.Kyle Lear, 3.Andy Anderson, 4.Roy Deese Jr., 5.Kyle Hardy, 6.C.S. Fitzgerald, 7.Jerry Bard, 8.Brian Tavenner, 9.Jason Covert, 10.Marvin Winters, 11.Barry Miller, 12.Andy Fries, 13.Coleby Frye, 14.Nick Dickson, 15.Andy Haus, 16.Dylan Yoder, 17.Glenn Elliott, 18.Matt Parks, 19.Trever Feathers, DNS-Gary Stuhler

Malloy Ford Late Model Sportsman: 20 Laps, 22 Entries: 1.Jakes Jones, 2.Scott Palmer, 3.Kyle Lee, 4.Bobby Beard, 5.Sam Gallagher, 6.Cody Lear, 7.James Lichliter, 8.Jeff King, 9.Chad Myers, 10.Larry Neiderer, 11.J.R. Rodriguez, 12.Paul Cursey, 13.Chaz Walls, 14.Kenneth Yoder, 15.Ryan Walls, 16.Josh Berrier, 17.Garrett Walls, 18.Brayden Anderson, 19.Elwood Sord, 20.Justin Weaver, 21.Rodney Walls, DNS-Tyler Horst

K.Lynn Management Pure Stocks: 15 Laps, 14 Entries: 1.Mike Corbin, 2.Jamie Zentmyer, 3.Dickie Tharp, 4.Michelle Walls, 5.Keith Koontz, 6.Sean Dawson, 7.Ryan Smith, 8.Wayne Hawbaker, 9.Nick Dibella, 10.Jeremy Mills, 11.Chris Ebersole, 12.Mike Grady, 13.Kyle Martin, 14.44X-No Name

Mason Dixon Auto Auction Hobby Stocks: 15 Laps, 11 Entries: 1.Bryan Neff, 2.Kenny Thomas, 3.Marshal McMullen, 4.Jamie Mills, 5.William Crook, 6.Ralph Hansberger, 7.Dwayne Snyder, 8.Gary Proctor, 9.Joe Rodgers, 10.Dustin Proctor, DNS-Tom Caravello

Photo Courtesy: Jason Walls/WRT Speedwerx