“Kenny Moreland Wins Steel Block Clash Series Feature”
“Justin Cunningham Wins His Second Straight Legend Feature”
By Brent Hottle
Winchester(VA)-It was another scorching hot summer day at the races. This week the Steel
Block Clash series would come to town. We would also see the Rush crate late model, SCDRA,
and legend divisions compete on this evening. Once warmups were complete we would see
traditional time trials for the Steel Block Clash Series. Kenny Moreland would top the field and
set fast time for the night earning him the pole starting position in the first of three heat races.
Once the heat race action was complete for all divisions we would take a moment to pause for
our weekly invocation and playing of our National Anthem.
The legend car division would be the first to compete for their feature. After picking up his first
win in the division during the legends last visit, Justin Cunningham would keep his momentum
going by winning his heat race earning him a front row starting position for the feature.
Cunningham would get a great start and lead the field at the completion of lap one. Steven
Wurtzer and Jorjie Sweger would follow in second and third place. This feature would go fifteen
laps caution free. The excitement from the top two running cars was something to see as
Cunningham charged hard lap after lap trying not to make a mistake. Wurtzer would tap the rear
bumper of Cunningham occasionally, he would also search high and low at times, as he
attempted to find the momentum needed to take the lead. As the duo raced hard around the
speedway, they would slowly pull away from the rest of the field. Justin Cunningham would drive
fifteen flawless laps and win his second straight legend feature. Steven Wurtzer and Jorgie
Sweger would round out the top three.
Next it was the Steel Block Clash Series turn to pull out onto the speedway. With the speed
already shown from Moreland all eyes would be on the number twenty-four machine to see if he
could complete the sweep for the night. Moreland would get a great start and lead the field into
turn one. Moreland, Derick Quade, and Kyle Lear would be the first three to complete lap one.
Just as Moreland would begin to extend his lead over Quade the field would slow on lap two for
a four car pile up at the bottom of turns one and two. Sam Archer would spin in turn two after
the restart, resulting in another caution. As the field went back green we would see Moreland
still lead over Quade, however Kyle Hardy had now moved into third. By lap five Moreland
would begin to stretch a lead over Quade, who was also pulling away from Hardy. Polesitter
Kyle Lear would slow on the back stretch, bringing out the caution flag. Once the field went back
green, there would be no change in the top three. The field would slow again on lap eleven, as
Gerald Davis would make contact with Jonathan DeHaven resulting in both drivers going for a
spin. On the next restart Tyler Bare would make the move around Hardy for third and set his
sights on the top two. Debris would be dropped in turn four, bringing out another caution flag.
During this part of the race some confusion happened for the fans. Mistakes happen and
unfortunately a car was sideways on the speedway and a call was made to look for it via the
speedway communications. We had a corner official display a yellow flag as the main flagman
did not. This confusion made Moreland let out of the throttle, thinking there was a caution. This
would cause him to lose some positions. The speedway took full blame and determined it was
best to reset the laps to when the incident happened and also line the field back up to the
running order before the confusion. Upon the next restart Moreland would continue to lead as
Bare would now move around Quade for the second position. Kenny Moreland would go on to
win the thirty lap main event. Tyler Bare and Derick Quade would round out the top three.
Next onto the speedway surface would be the Rush crate late model division. Davin Kaiser and
Kyle Hardy would make up the front row. Both drivers would charge side by side into turn one.
Kaiser would slide up taking Hardy with him up the banking. The duo would lose several
positions, however Zach Hurley would spin in turn two bringing out the caution flag resulting in a
complete restart of the event. The next restart would go smoother for Kaiser and Hardy. Hardy
would lead lap one as Kaiser would defend off Isaiah Gochenour for the second position. The
field would quickly slow once again as Richard Hawkins and Jeremiah Marshall would spin in
turn four. Hardy would lead lap three as now Gochenour had moved into second bringing Shaun
Wetzel with him to third. Hardy would lead the field through two more separate cautions for a
spinning Hurley. The field would go green again on lap six. The top three wouldn’t change until
lap nine, when Wetzel would slide high in turn two dropping him back to a few positions. Travis
Campbell would capitalize and take over the third position. The field would go green the rest of
the way with Hardy out front. Hardy appeared to slow his lap times down in the closing laps.
This would almost cause him to lose the race as Gochenour would catch up to his back bumper
on the final lap. Kyle Hardy would hold the lead and win the event. Isaiah Gochenour and Tyler
Campbell would round out the top three.
The final division for the night would be the SCDRA. Larry Lamb would lead lap one over Allen
Griffith and Stephen Suite. The red flag would come out on lap three, as Dale Kirby would take a
hard hit in turn three resulting in his car flipping. Thankfully Dale got out of the car and was ok.
On the restart Griffith would take the lead, followed by his teammate Shawn Payne. Contact
between Payne and Justin Bottorf on lap six, would result in Bottorf’s car climbing the outside
wall and going up and over once before landing on its wheels. Bottorf would climb from his car
on his own and was ok. Griffith would continue to lead after the restart. Lamb, Suite and now
Lonnie Hobday would all battle for the second, third and fourth place positions. Hobday would
take over the second position on lap eleven and set his sights on the leader. Hobday would take
the lead on lap thirteen and never look back. Lonnie Hobday would win the fifteen lap event.
Allen Griffith and Stephen Suite would round out the top three.
We want to thank all of the drivers, crews, fans, and officials for braving the heat and coming to
the event. Without everyone's support, these events wouldn’t be possible. We look forward to
seeing everyone back at the speedway this coming Saturday as the pure stock and hobby stock
divisions return to the speedway.
Legend Results
Justin Cunningham, Stephen Wurtzer, Jorgie Sweger, Tyler Rampmeyer, Ben Goldsmith, Brian
Rampmeyer, Steve Seibert Jr, Dustin Wiles, Jeremy Hahn, Ernie Shirley, Micahel
Goldsmith,(DNF Dan Harrison)
Steel Block Clash Series Results
Kenny Moreland, Tyler Bare, Derrick Quade, Kyle Hardy, Mike Franklin, Michael Carter, Austin
Stover, Bubby Tharp Jr, Jonathan DeHaven, Justin Dillman, Brad Omps, Wesley Bonebrake,
Ray Ciccarelli, Gerald Davis, Calvin Michael, Daniel Garrett, Gunnar Walls, Sam Archer (DNF
Jonathan Raley, Kyle Lear, Matt Glanden, Dalton Dillman)
Rush Crate Late Model Results
Kyle Hardy,Isaiah Gochenour, Travis Campbell, Davin Kaiser, Shaun Wetzel, Gregory Carrico,
Branson Woodward, Steven Payne, Tyler Hoy, Dylan High, Jeremiah Marshall, Codey Breeden,
Richard Hawkins, Steven Powell, Jim Pownall, DNF Zach Hurley)
SCDRA Results
Lonnie Hobday, Allen Griffith, Stephen Suite, Brody Tolstyka, Larry Lamb, Brandon Tessitore, Eli
Dodge, (DNF Lucas Dunham, Brian Skelly, Justin Bottorf, Dale Kirby, Jason Kline, Shawn
Payne,(DNS Cody Bottorf, Tyler Kline)