“Kyle Hardy Wins The Junior Boone Memorial”
“Kasey Weaver & Caleb Harris Win Sprint Car Features”
By Brent Hottle
Winchester(VA)-It was a warm and sunny day in the valley. This weather would make for a
wonderful evening to honor Junior Boone. Junior was a former driver and tech man. Though
gone from this earth, Junior’s wife and daughter continue to put on a wonderful event each year
to honor him. The Boone family not only adds money and prizes to the racers, but they also
make sure to surprise the kids! This year they would have a magician, balloons, and face
painting for our young fans.
Once heat was put into the sprint car engines, we would move to hotlaps. We would see timed
hotlaps for the hobby stocks and tri-state vintage dirt series. Jason Wilkins would earn the fast
time award for the hobby stocks and Johnny Oliver would earn the fast time award for the
vintage. Next, we would see traditional time trials for the super late models. Derrick Quade set
fast time with a 15.185 second lap. The top six fastest in super time trials would be
automatically locked into the feature and would run a “Climb to the Pole Dash” later on.
We would see plenty of side by side racing action in the heat races across all four divisions.
During the climb to the pole we would see Kyle Hardy race his way to the top, and earn himself
the pole starting position. Once all of the qualifying races were complete, we would pause briefly
to bring the starting field for the super late models out to the front straight away. The cars would
line up at an angle along the front straight away outside wall. The drivers would then climb from
their cars for a group picture. We would now have our weekly invocation and then Chris Armel
would sing our National Anthem live on the front straight away.
It was now time for the Junior Boone Memorial! We would now call each driver back to their cars
during driver introductions. Once all drivers were safely belted into their cars, Junior’s daughter,
Terri Boone Payne, would give the command to start their engines, while also saying “This one
is for my dad”. We would see Kyle Hardy get a great start at the drop of the green flag. Hardy
would lead lap one, followed by Derrick Quade and Gary Stuhler. Hardy would begin to pull
away from Quade by around 5 car lengths by the end of lap nine. His lead would be quickly
erased as the caution flag would come out for Craig Parrill, who had spun in turn four. There
would be no change in the top three after the restart. Hardy would once again begin to slowly
pull away from Quade, who was also slowly pulling away from Stuhler. Hardy would find himself
in lap traffic by lap twenty. This would allow Quade to begin to reel in Hardy slightly. The pair
would find themselves both in heavy lap traffic by lap twenty four and for the remainder of the
forty lap event. Hardy would quickly make his way through traffic, which would stall Quade’s
chase to the front. Hardy would pull out to a three quarter of a straight away lead and never look
back. Kyle Hardy would win the Junior Boone Memorial. Derick Quade and Gary Stuhler would
round out the top three.
We would now see the IMCA 305 RaceSaver Sprint Cars on the speedway. We would run two
features for this division. On this night 40 drivers would sign in from one of three series: the
Virginia Sprint Series, Laurel Highlands & PA Sprint Series. Drivers were told before the night's
events, if we had forty or more drivers sign in we would split the field and hold two completely
separate shows. This would guarantee that all drivers would qualify for a a-main event.
In feature number one, we would see Kasey Weaver and Ken Duke make up the front row.
Weaver would lead lap one, followed by Duke and Austin Reed. Kruz Kepner would spin in turn
three and quickly bring out the caution flag. The top three would remain the same on the
ensuing restart and through the next few laps until Jarrett Cavalet would spin in turn two and
bring out the next caution flag of the event. Weaver would continue to lead over Duke and Reed
on the restart. Weaver would begin to pull out to around a six car length lead over Duke by lap
ten. The leaders would find themselves in lap traffic by lap fifteen. This would allow Duke to pull
up to the rear bumper of Weaver with two laps to go. Kasey Weaver would go on to win feature
one. Ken Duke and Austin Reed would round out the top three.
In feature number two, we would see Dale Schweikart and Caleb Harris make up the front row.
Schweikart would lead lap one over Harris and Hunter McFadden. Schweikart would quickly pull
away from the field. He would have a five car length lead by lap two. This would quickly be
erased as Kolby Weaver would spin in turn two and bring out the first caution of the twenty lap
event. Schweikart would now jump out to a quick eight car lead after the restart and continue to
pull away from Harris. The field would once again slow for a caution, as Kolby Weaver would go
for a spin again, only this time in turn four. This couldn’t stall Schweikart’s bid for the win, as he
would quickly jump out to another eight car lead after the restart. He would have a full straight
away lead over Harris by lap eighteen. Heartbreak would ensue for Schweikart on the final lap.
John Smith would spin in turn three just ahead of the leader. Schweikart would see the spinning
Smith at the last minute and attempt to slide past him. However, Schweikart would make contact
with Smith causing him to spin also. This would setup a one lap shootout. Caleb Harris would
inherit the lead and take the feature win. Hunter McFadden and Fred Arnold would round out
the top three.
Next, we would see the hobby stock division on the speedway. Justin Hottle and Jason Wilkins
would race side by side from the front row into turn one. Kristopher Hutton would quickly go for
a spin and bring out the caution flag for a complete restart. Hottle and Wilkins would race side
by side into turn one once again. This time Gary Fry would spin and cause another complete
restart. The third try seemed to be the charm as Hottle and Wilkins would once again race into
turn one. This time they would complete the lap as Wilkins would lead over Hottle and Randy
Linaburg. Sixth place starter Billy Sonner Jr would make a charge to the front and move into the
third position by lap three. The field would once again slow on lap five as Ken Ellis would spin in
turn two. Wilkins would continue to lead after the restart as Sonner would now move around
Hottle for the second position. Sonner would now begin to look to the highside to find a way
around Wilkins. The battle would come to a stop on lap eight as Gary Fry would spin in turn four.
Sonner would get a great restart and pull alongside Wilkins as the pair raced into turn one.
Sonner would lead lap nine by about a foot over Wilkins, just before Bubba Sealock would spin
in turn two. On the restart Sonner would now lead the field over Wilkins and Chris Sumption,
who had moved around Hottle for third on the restart. Billy Sonner would go on to pick up his
fourth win of the season. Jason Wilkins and Chris Sumption would round out the top three.
The final feature of the night would be for the Tri-State Vintage Dirt Series. Chris Sumption
would jump out to the early lead and pull away from the field. Walter Crouch, who had won the
previous event and started eighth, would make his way into the second position and begin to
chase the leader down. Crouch would make a late race pass over Sumption and take the win.
Chris Sumption and Johnny Oliver would round out the top three.
We want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting this event. A big thank you to the
Boone family for all of the extra bonuses to the drivers and more! It was a wonderful night
honoring a great racer. We look forward to seeing everyone back this Saturday night at “The
Action Track”.
Junior Boone Memorial Results
Kyle Hardy, Derrick Quade, Gary Stuhler, Keith Jackson, Andy Anderson, Brad Omps, James
Lichliter, Bubby Tharp Jr, Gerald Davis, Mike Franklin, Jakob Piper, Gunnar Walls, Michael
Carter, Craig Parrill, Scott Sweeney, Sam Archer, Danny Snyder, Calvin Michale, (DNF Randy
Burkholder, Roy Deese Jr)(DNS Dalton Dillman)
IMCA Sprint Feature 1 Results
Kasey Weaver, Ken Duke, Austin Reed, Brad Mellott, Drew Young, Landon Price, Reed
Thompson, Colton Hendershot, Johnny Scarborough, Daren Bolac, Jeff WEaver, Croix Beasom,
Donnie Hendershot, Doug Dodson, Todd Lynn, Jarrett Cavalet, Kruz Kepner, Chris Humblet
(DNF Mathew Leach)(DNS Ben Miklos)
IMCA Sprint Feature 2 Results
Caleb Harris, Hunter McFadden, Fred Arnold, Ryan Lynn, Mike Melair, Branden Varner, Dylan
Shatzer, Colton Moyer, Jerald Harris, Paul Moyer, Matt Kline, Matt Mullins, Zach Rhodes, Kolby
Weaver, Chris Ware (DNF Dale Schweikart, John Smith, French Grimes)(DNS Jim Humblet,
Aaron Leach)
Hobby Stock Results
Billy Sonner Jr, Jason Wilkins, Chris Sumption, Justin Hottle, Kristopher Hutton, Cody Sumption,
Randy Linagburg, Richard Gibson, Sam Hoffman, Ken Ellis (DNF Bubba Sealock, Kemper
Clinedinst, Robert Wilson, Austin Nichols, Gary Fry)
Tri-State Vintage Dirt Series Results
Walter Crouch, Chris Sumption, Johnny Oliver, Tony Catlett, Chris Bohrer, Tom Chaffins, JT
Bowie, (DNF Andrew Fertig)(DNS Brian Lederhouse)