Unlike its scheduled weekend ending with the Trick or Treat snow job of two weeks ago, the postponed Hagerstown Speedway’s 24th Annual Verizon Wireless Octoberfest ended with a more than seasonable weekend to finalize the speedway’s season on Sunday.
Topping his season at 15 overall wins, Vernon, N.J’s Brett Hearn scored the final two after opening the afternoon in a non-stop small block feature with a flag to flag domination victory where he was more than seven seconds ahead at the finish for his ninth overall Octoberfest win. Having won the last three consecutive big block events, he came back later to record a nearly eleven second triumph to give him ten overall victories in both small and big block event features.
Starting ninth, Shinnston, WV’s Josh Richards took control of the late model event on lap 15 and was nearly six seconds ahead when the checkered waved for his first ever Octoberfest victory but his overall 14th of the season.
Daryn Pittman of Owasso, Ok took advantage of his pole position to lead all the way in the sprint feature to score an Octoberfest win for the first time. It was his overall 15th triumph of the season.
Hearn got the jump from the outside pole over Larry Wight and was to the rear of the field by lap eight and began sticking lapped traffic between himself and Wight while Jimmy Horton was further back in third. Rick Laubach grabbed third from Horton on the 20th circuit
While Hearn continued to duck in and out of traffic, he had an over nine second lead at the 30 lap mark with six lapped cars separating him and Wight. Still in traffic in his advance, he got to the finish with a lead of 7.13 seconds over Wight while Laubach maintained third. Matt Sheppard came from 21st to take fourth from J. R. Heffner on the 33rd lap as the two finished in that order. Willie Decker, Ryan Godown, Dale Planck, Alan Johnson and Craig Von Dohren completed the top ten.
“That was a good car from the first lap,” Hearn said.”Sometimes when they start off that good, they don’t finish that good. The track was a lot of fun. You could run anywhere on it. I always have fun here, regardless.”
Saturday’s heat wins went to Wight, Hearn, Dalen Planck and Matt Dilorenzo with Sheppard winning the consolation after having a flat tire in his heat.
With two time event winner, Jeremy Miller on the late model pole, Ronnie DeHaven Jr. grabbed the top spot from the outside over him with Dave Zona, Kyle Lear and Rick Eckert in tow. The caution waved on the second lap as four cars were involved on a backstretch incident with Jason Miller unable to continue. The next circuit, Lear and Eckert got together heading into the first turn as Lear went around and into the first turn with Jason Covert also sliding into the incident. Both were unable to continue.
DeHaven stretched his lead over Miller following the restart and was to the rear of the field and more than four seconds ahead by the 12th lap while Richards and Eckert were into the next spots.
Back to back restarts gave Richards the opportunity to grab second and when DeHaven bobbled slightly in the fourth turn, Richards quickly sped past to lead the 15th lap. Eckert followed into the runner up spot but DeHaven battled back to retake the position four laps later.
Richards led while DeHaven trailed by just over two seconds for lap after lap while Jamie Lathroum moved into third on the 21st lap and Dylan Yoder passed Eckert for fourth the next lap. Richards was into the rear of the field again on the 34th lap and began to stretch his lead by sticking lapped cars between himself and DeHaven and enjoyed 5.81 seconds just before the yellow waved for ninth running Marvin Winters who coasted to a stop.
Richards sped the final three laps to capture the win over DeHaven, Lathroum, 20th starting Booper Bare and Yoder. Dan Stone came from 23rd for sixth with defending event winner Gary Stuhler from 17th, Kenny Pettyjohn (16th), Eckert and Alan Sagi completing the top ten.
“I have to thank Ernie, Connie and Keya Davis for letting me drive this car and Ernie for putting up the rest of the purse money for all the classes,” Richards said. “That just shows how much he loves to race and supports the fans and the track. Just to drive this care is awesome. We were a little soft on the left rear tire. We just tried to stay smooth. This was a cool way to end the season.”
Miller, DeHaven, Zona and Lear were heat winners while Stone was the consolation winner.
Larry Wight also led the big block from the pole to beat Sheppard into the first turns but Hearn was quickly past him into the runner up spot by lap two. Hearn was putting the pressure on Sheppard by the fifth lap and after a complete side by side lap, Hearn came out on top on lap nine and began lapping rear cars.
Hearn kept getting better and better as Ryan Godown moved into third on the 19th lap with a nearly six second lead erased on lap 26 with five lapped cars back to Sheppard.
In the open, Hearn drove his own pace but he wasn’t leaving off as he was over nine seconds ahead with ten to go and continued on until taking the checkered 10.91 seconds ahead of Godown who passed Sheppard in traffic on the final circuit. J.R. Heffner was sixth followed by Craig Von Dohren, Brian Weaver, Alan Johnson (17th) and Kevin Hirthler.
“When you’re racing Matt Sheppard, you don’t know what to expect, he’s as tough as they come,” Hearn said. “When he gets out front first, it’s going to be a tough pass. I saw him getting a little bit loose off the corners and we were getting better and better. I just tried to get to the front. By the end of the race, it was getting pretty hard with those lapped cars. Those last three or four laps, I was waiting for a wreck. They were racing each other really hard for the checkered. Once I knew I had enough room I just backed off that last lap and gave myself a little bit of space.”
Wight, Sheppard, Hearn and Brian Weaver were the heat winners while Brian Berger was the consolation winner.
The sprints completed their entire program on Sunday as the postponed date interfered with the final race at Susquehanna as Daryn Pittman, Danny Dietrich and Brent Marks began the afternoon by winning their heats and George Suprick taking the consolation.
Pittman beat Dietrich off the line as defending event winner Cody Darrah quickly grabbed third from his fifth starting spot. Pittman was into the rear by the seventh lap while Darrah and Rahmer got past Dietrich by the tenth lap with Rahmer passing Darrah before a 16th lap yellow.
Rahmer did a 360 degree spin following the restart but a premature yellow flag gave him his spot back as Pittman didn’t have room for a misstep with Rahmer and Dietrich close enough to strike. After Mark Smith took fourth from Darrah with five to go, rear traffic came into play in the final laps as Pittman escaped any attempt from Rahmer to take the top spot but Smith got past Dietrich on the final lap while Darrah ended fifth. Curt Michael was sixth with Marks, Greg Hodnett (14th), Robbie Stillwagon and Daryl Stimeling to complete the top ten.
“The lapped cars, some were pretty slow. It was kind of one lane and made it tough no matter what speed they were going,” Pittman said. “We were glad we were able to make the right moves. Really, about four or five to go there, I about gave it away and was able to get around a couple lapped cars that were running side by side. Our starting spot was important, but we still had to finish it, so it was a great team effort and a good way to finish our year.”
A speedway management decision was announced prior to the features to reduce the 100 laps by half for the modified and late model features with sprints going 30 while lowering the purse for only the top few positions. Ernie Davis of Ernie D’s Enterprises stepped up to pick up the additional purse which was a great gesture on his part and drew applause from the competitors in the drivers meeting.
Hagerstown’s season has concluded. The speedway would like to congratulate Roy Deese Jr. on his eighth late model championship while Pete Weaver repeated his title in the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic late model sportsman division. Drew Fitzsimmons was the Ernie D’s pure stock winner and Krazy Kenny Thomas was the champion in the inaugural season for the hobby stock cruisers.
HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY RESULTS
24th ANNUAL VERIZON WIRELESS OCTOBERFEST
SMALL BLOCK MODIFIEDS: 1.Brett Hearn, 2.Larry Wight, 3.Rick Laubach, 4.Matt Sheppard, 5.J.R. Heffner, 6.Willie Decker, 7.Ryan Godown, 8.Dalen Planck, 9.Alan Johnson, 10.Craig Von Dohren, 11.Brain Weaver, 12.Randy Chrysler, 13.Kevin Hirthler, 14.J.J. Bunting, 15.Jimmy Horton, 16.Shawn Reimert, 17.Brian Kressley, 18.Richie Pratt Jr., 19.Darwin Greene, 20.Sammy Piazza, 21.Matt Dilorenzo, 22.Butch Tittle, 23.Glenn Strunk, 24.Rusty Smith, 25.James Bobbit Jr., 26.Duane Rust, DNQ- Neil Huber, Colt Harris, Mark Frankhouser, Gary Wagner, Bryan Brown, Jamie Mills
LATE MODELS: 1.Josh Richards, 2.Ronnie DeHaven Jr., 3.Jamie Lathroum, 4.Booper Bare, 5.Dylan Yoder, 6.Dan Stone, 7.Gary Stuhler, 8.Kenny Pettyjohn, 9.Rick Eckert, 10.Alan Sagi, 11.Jerry Bard, 12.Russ King, 13.Duane Harbaugh, 14.Dave Zona, 15.Chad Hollenbeck, 16.Tom Decker, 17.Tim Wilson, 18.Corey Weaver, 19.Marvin Winters, 20.C. S. Fitzgerald, 21.Brian Booze, 22.Jeremy Miller, 23.Jim Yoder, 24.Kyle Lear, 25.Jason Covert, 26.Jason Miller, DNQ - Moe Harden, Cody Lear, Andy Haus, Ernie Millon, James O’Hara, DNS -Tom Decker III, Scott Cross, Keith Jackson
BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS: 1.Brett Hearn, 2.Ryan Godown, 3.Matt Sheppard, 4.Jamie Mills, 5.Jimmy Horton, 6.J. R. Heffner, 7.Craig Von Dohren, 8.Brian Weaver, 9.Alan Johnson, 10.Kevin Hirthler, 11.Brian Berger, 12.Domminick Buffalino, 13.Rex King Jr., 14.Butch Tittle, 15.Randy Chrysler, 16.Chris Ostrowsky, 17.Matt Delorenzo, 18.Glenn Strunk, 19.Darwin Greene, 20.Sammy Piazza, 21.Ryan Forte, 22.Rick Laubach, 23.Larry Wight, 24.Richie Pratt Jr., 25.H.J. Bunting, 26.Willie Decker, DNQ – Mark Forte Jr., Adam Roberts, Mark Frankhouser, Brett Ballard, Rusty Smith – DNS – Dale Planck
SPRINTS: 1.Daryn Pittman, 2.Fred Rahmer, 3.Mark Smith, 4.Danny Dietrich, 5.Cody Darrah, 6.Curt Michael, 7.Brent Marks, 8.Gregg Hodnett, 9.Robbie Stillwagon, 10.Daryl Stimeling, 11.Donnie Kreitz Jr., 12.Chad Layton, 13.Zach Reid, 14.Joey Hershey, 15.Jessica Anderson, 16.Troy Fraker, 17.George Suprick, 18.J.R. Berry, 19.Derek Sell, 20.Stan Campbell, 21.Clinton Ide, 22.Gerald McIntrye, 23.Vern Wasson, 24.Tob Adams, 25.Jay Reichard, DNS – Logan Schuchart, DNQ- Jac Haudenchild
- Josh Fries on Jul 28, 2024
- Article Date: 11/13/2011 by Bob Vores