“Kyle Hardy Wins 38th Lee Stultz Memorial”
“Colton Friese Wins East Coast Legends Feature”
By Brent Hottle
Winchester(VA)-It was a beautiful day for raceday, and time for the return of the super late models to The Action Track. This day would mark the 38th running of the Lee Stultz Memorial. We would also see the East Coast Legend, Hobby Stock, and Pure Stock divisions do battle on this night. Russell Erwin would start his night by setting the fastest time in time trials with a lap time of 16.143 and earning a $200 bonus compliments of Jimmy McFarland Custom Painting and Champion Auto Sales. He would also win the “Climb to the Pole” event later in the evening to earn the pole starting position in the feature event. Once the remaining qualifying races were completed, we would pause for our weekly Invocation and playing of our National Anthem. It would now be time for our main events.
The pure stock division would be the first feature of the night. Allen Brannon would lead the field into turn one and lead lap one over Walter Crouch and Jerry Jenkins Jr. Delmar Grady would go for a spin in turn three to bring out the first and only caution of the twenty lap event. After the restart we would see Brannon continue to lead as Crouch and Jenkins would now battle side by side for the second position. This would go on for several laps until Jenkins would move ahead and take over the second position by the end of lap eight. The trio would now race nose to tail around the speedway. Crouch would start looking to the high side for the momentum needed to once again challenge Jenkins. On lap sixteen Crouch would get the run needed and move into the second position. Jenkins wasn’t going to give up as he would charge to the inside of Crouch and make a challenge for the second position as they completed the eighteenth lap. This would all be happening just behind Brannon. As the trio raced out of turn four to the white flag, Crouch would gain some extra momentum on the outside and race past Brannon and take the lead. Walter Crouch would go on to win an exciting feature event. Allen Brannon and Jerry Jenkins Jr would round out the top three.
Next we would see the super late models pull onto the speedway. Before going green we would see the field line up in a four wide salute to honor a great fallen racer Lee Stultz. Polesitter Russell Erwin would lead the field into turn one and lead lap one over Kyle Hardy and Trever Feathers. Frankie Helmick would slow on the back straightaway and bring out the caution on lap three. The field would go back green for one more lap before Mark Pettyjohn would go for a spin in turn two to bring out the caution. After the restart Erwin would continue to lead over Hardy and Feathers. Erwin would begin to pull away to an eight car lead over Hardy by the halfway point in the race. The field would slow for two more cautions on lap twenty-one and then again on lap twenty-two. After this next restart Erwin would continue to lead, however Hardy would be able to stay close to his back bumper. The top two would now begin to pull away from third place running Feathers. Contact would send Brad Omps spinning at the exit of turn four and bring out the final caution on lap twenty-seven. Just as the restart before, Erwin would hold the lead with a hard charging Hardy on his rear bumper. As the leaders raced down the back
straightaway on lap thirty, we would see Hardy execute a “slide job” in turn three to move ahead of Erwin and take the lead. Hardy would go on to lead the remainder of the thirty-five lap event to take the win. Russell Erwin and Trever Feathers would round out the top three.
It would now be the East Coast Legend Series’ time to do battle on the speedway. We would see a seven car spin in turns one and two on the first attempt to start the race, resulting in a complete restart of the event. The second attempt would be a good one and we would see Jeremy Hahn lead lap one over Colton Friese and Mike Mohelski. Friese would make a charge around Hahn and take the lead as they completed the third lap. Friese would then begin to pull away from Hahn and the rest of the field. Dustin Burnisky would spin in turn four and bring out the caution on lap eight. Friese would continue to lead after the restart. Mohelski would use the restart to his advantage and move around Hahn for the second position. Friese would once again begin to pull away from the field and go on to win the twenty lap main event. Mike Mohelski and Ryan Walls would round out the top three.
Next, we would see a quick 8 lap, $500 to win, Luck of the Draw Dash for the super late models compliments of National Traffic Systems, Inc. This dash would be made up of six drivers whose names had been drawn in random during the drivers meeting earlier in the night. Jt Spence would lead all eight laps and take the win.
The final feature of the night would be for the hobby stock division. Jason Wilkins would lead lap one over Andrew Saffelle and Billy Sonner Jr. Wilkins would begin to pull away from Saffelle over the next few laps. James Stephens would come to a stop at the exit of turn two and bring out the caution on lap eight. Wilkins would continue to lead after the restart as Sonner would move ahead of Saffelle for the second position. Wilkins would once again begin to pull away from the field. Saffelle would use the outside to his advantage and move around Sonner to regain the second position by the end of the fourteenth lap. The caution would come out on lap fifteen as we would see sparks fly from under Sonner’s machine, just before he would slow and pull to the high side in turn one. Wilkins would go on to lead the remainder of the twenty lap main event and take the feature win. Andrew Saffelle and Sam Hoffman would round out the top three.
We want to thank everyone for coming out to support this weekend's events. Also a shout out to Dach Home Improvements for adding a $50 bonus to the third place finisher for the Lee Stultz Memorial. Another big thank you to David Stultz and the Stultz family along with all the other sponsors who helped make this event a success.
I also want to give a shoutout to the racing group in the turn one grandstands last night who were cheering for me! Keep up the fun, that is what this sport is all about. Having fun and escaping the reality of life momentarily. You guys sounded like you were having a great night!
We look forward to seeing everyone back at the speedway this coming Saturday night.
Lee Stultz Memorial Results
Kyle Hardy, Russell Erwin, Trever Feathers, Jt Spence, Devin Brannon, Jakob Piper, Gerald Davis, Mark Pettyjohn, Roy Deese Jr, Scott Sweeney, Calvin Michael, (DNF Brad Omps, Keith Walls, Bubby Tharp Jr, Mike Franklin, Dalton Dillman, Frankie Helmick, Jeremy Pilkerton)(DNS Dale Hollidge)
East Coast Legend Series Results
Colton Friese, Mike Mohelski, Ryan Walls, Jeremy Hahn, Camden Watkins, Shaun Abney, Hunter McElroy, Brian Rampmeyer, Scott Musselman, Logan Carbaugh, Tracy Linn, Dan Harrison, Justin Cunningham, Rick Hulson, Eric Hurst, Ben Goldsmith, Travis McClelland, Mason Tracy, Matt Grebe, Tyler Kaylor, Rick Hartwig, Ryan Walls Jr, Dustin Burnisky, Kayleigh Linn, Cameron See, Brad Kelley, Bill Funk, (DNF Zac Smith, Ben Morrow, Tyler Rampmeyer, Kirk Martin, Colby Miller)
Pure Stock Results
Walter Crouch, Allen Brannon, Jerry Jenkins Jr, Tony Johnson, Trent Holmes, Johnny Oliver, Chris Sumption, Ricky Edmonds, Brady Holmes, Rick Potter, Gary Frye, (DNF Andy Adkins, Delmar Grady)
Hobby Stock Results
Jason Wilkins, Andrew Saffelle, Sam Hoffman, Richie Gibson III, Aaron Drummond, Larry Smith Jr, Dave Rutherford, (DNF Billy Sonner Jr, James Stephens)(DNS Justin Hottle) |
