Eckert cruises to Late Model triumph in Grand Opening at Hagerstown

by Bob Vores
HAGERSTOWN, MD. (March 15) – Score the Grand Opening late model event at Hagerstown Speedway/Dirt Capitol LLC to Rick Eckert. The York, PA veteran made it look easy Saturday evening when he seized the lead from Kenny Moreland on an opening lap restart and led the final 24 laps for the $2,500 prize and his 22th career win at Hagerstown.

“The race track was really nice,” Eckert said. “There was a top and a bottom and the middle was just as good. There really wasn’t a dominant way. I thought the bottom was going to be better. Once I had to get out there and start on the outside I could carry my speed through one and I thought I’d stay up there. The guy inside either runs over you or has to check up and not run over you and Kenny is a good racer. I didn’t figure there was a problem taking the outside of him. I got a good start both times out there.”

After one loss to weather, co-promoters Ernie Davis and Rick Jones of Dirt Capitol LLC had the best day of the week to get their first event in the books as other winners included Jonathan DeHaven of Winchester, VA, in the late model sportsman, Mike Corbin, also of Winchester, in the K.Lynn Management LLC pure stocks, Greencastle, PA’s Kenny Thomas in the Mason Dixon Auto Auction hobby stocks and Ft. Loudon, PA’s Ryan Laye in the Cochran Auctioneer’s four cylinders.

With a four car invert, Moreland and Jason Covert started from the front row with a first turn incident occurring with third starting J.T. Spence making oncoming traffic scatter with Dominic Defino getting the worst of the deal. On the restart, Eckert moved to third and quickly slipped into the runner up spot behind Moreland on the opening lap.

When Nathan Durboraw rolled to a stop on the restart, Eckert was on the outside for the next restart and quickly overpowered Moreland and took command. He was nearly five seconds ahead and closing on the rear of the field when Matt Parks came to a top on lap eight.

Eckert chose the outside lane for the double file restart and took off while Covert passed Moreland the next lap followed by Dan Stone who moved into third two laps later.

Eckert continued to hold the best hand and started moving through rear traffic on the 18th lap. Although Covert was closing, Eckert showed the way to the finish and won by 1.364 seconds over Covert and Stone.

“The motor missed the whole heat race I thought it was something I did,” Eckert said. ”Paul said ‘I’ll tell you what, go out there and gas it up and if it seems okay run it, if it don’t pull in.’ I gassed up on that start and it went smooth and fine.”

Moreland was fourth followed by defending late model champion, Kenny Pettyjohn. Trevor Feathers was sixth with Mason Zeigler, Brian Tavenner from 18th, C.S. Fitzgerald and 21st starting Dylan Yoder from 21st to complete the top ten. Heats were won by Pancho Lawler, Spence, Covert with Marvin Winters winning the B main.

DeHaven started on the outside pole of the late model sportsman feature alongside Mike Walls as DeHaven was in front with the cautions waving, one of which was for Walls called for a jump and sent to the rear. Various incidents occurred and the race was stuck on lap four until things finally got under way. DeHaven had Kyle Lear closing the gap until the caution came out on the white flag lap when Lear ducked inside in turn one and moved into the lead but DeHaven was caught behind a rear car and made contact resulting in a spin of the rear marker. DeHaven restarted in front and powered to the one lap shootout by .471 second to score his first ever Hagerstown victory over Lear, with defending champion Justin Weaver in third. Paul Cursey and Rodney Walls were next. Heats went to M. Walls, DeHaven and Lear.

In the caution free pure stock feature, David Kaiser took the lead while eighth starting Corbin moved to second by lap two and made his winning pass to come out on top of lap six. Corbin began to edge way from Kaiser until holding a more than two second advantage at the checkered. Mike Franklin came from ninth to end third over Steve Kent and Tony Catlett.

The hobby stock feature also went all the way under green with Kenny Thomas taking off from the pole and continuing to build a commanding lead until holding a nearly seven second advantage over Joe Rodgers at the checkered.

Bill Kessler was the early leader of the four cylinder feature until Kevin Thomas went by to lead the third lap as Laye was quickly closing on him until Thomas slipped just once and Laye drove on by on the sixth lap. Laye continued on to take the checkered over Thomas by 12 lengths.

Children 11 and under should be signed for the Kids Club as there are a number of Club events upcoming on the schedule. Sign up on line at kids@hagerstownspeedway.com

Two bicycles were given away compliments of Davis and Jones with others to be given away during other Kids Club events.

Follow the speedway on Twitter and Facebook at Dirt Capitol LLC. The latest news, results, photos, schedule or rule changes can found be 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: 25 Laps, 33 Entries, (Lap Leaders – Kenny Moreland 1, Rick Eckert 2-25): 1.Rick Eckert, 2.Jason Covert, 3.Dan Stone, 4.KennyMoreland, 5.Kenny Pettyjohn, 6.Trevor Feathers, 7.Mason Zeigler, 8.Brian Tavenner, 9.C.S. Fitzgerald, 10.Dylan Yoder, 11.Nick Dickson, 12.Mike Lupfer, 13.Arthur Walker, 14.Jamie Lathroum, 15.Matt Parks, 16.Chad Hollenbeck, 17.Jason Miller, 18.Mike Altobelli Jr., 19.Ross Robinson, 20.J.T. Spence, 21.Nathan Durboraw, 23.MarvinWinters, 24. Dominic Defino

LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN, 20 Laps, 21 Entries, (Lap Leaders – Jonathan DeHaven): 1.Jonathan DeHaven, 2.Lyle Lear, 3.Justin Weaver, 4.Paul Cursey, 5.Rodney Walls, 6.Mike Walls, 7.Scott Palmer, 8.Andy Fries, 9.Chad Myers, 10.Kyle Lee, 11.Terry Flaherty, 12.Tyler Horst, 13.Jeanne Piper, 14.Sam Gallagher, 15.Rick Singleton, 16.Jeff King, 17.Eddie Cornett, 18.Devin Frye, 19.Chris Fletcher, 20.Elwood Sord, 21.Keith Walls

K.LYNN MANAGEMENT LLC PURE STOCKS, 15 Laps, 12 Entries, (Lap Leaders David Kaiser 1-5, Mike Corbin 6-15): 1.Mike Corbin, 2.David Kaiser, 3.Mike Franklin, 4.Steve Kent, 5.Tony Catlett, 6.Wes Branner, 7.Michael Carter, 8.Ryan Beckett, 9.Wayne Hawbaker, 10.R.T. Troutman, 11.Mike Kratovil, 12. #24 DNF

MASON DIXON AUTO SALES HOBBY STOCKS, 15 Laps, 8 Entries, (Lap Leader – Kenny Thomas 1-15) 1.Kenny Thomas, 2.Joe Rodgers, 3.Brian Neff, 4.Tom Caravello, 5.Gary Proctor, 6.William Crook

COCHRAN AUCTIONEERS FOUR CYLINDERS, 15 Laps, 5 Entries, (Lap Leaders – Bill Kessler 1-3, Kevin Thomas 4-5, Ryan Laye 6-15): 1.Ryan Laye, 2.Kevin Thomas, 3.Bill Kessler, 4.Michael Warrenfeltz, 5.Randy Jones