Potomac Speedway
August 24, 2012
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Ritter up to the Challenge, Scores Career-First at Potomac
Quade Convincing in Third Street Stock Score

by Doug Watson
Budds Creek, MD- White Post Va.’s Brad Ritter made his first Potomac start of the season a good one, as he was victorious for the first-time in his career, in last Friday nights 25-lap Potomac/Winchester limited late model challenge event. The win for Ritter, the current Winchester (VA) speedway LLM points leader and five-time feature winner, earned $1000 for his victory in a car owned by Leo Nichols.

Three-time track champion Tommy Wagner Jr. and Ryan Hackett paced the field to the initial green flag of the event. Wagner , looking to end a season of misery, blasted into the race lead as the mob rocketed off turn-two. Hackett and third-staring Brad Ritter tucked into second and third as Wagner continued to lead the event. Hackett ran second until the 16th lap when his mount pulled up lame forcing him to pit. Ritter then inherited second and set his sights on Wagner. Unfortunately, Wagner’s undoing came on lap-21 as he spun in turn-four, handing the lead to Ritter. As Ritter lead, Kyle Lear was on the move. An early race spin forced Lear to the rear of the field, however, he would work his way to second by the 22nd-lap. A lap-24 caution set the stage for another epic Potomac finish. As the duo was coming off turn-four for the checkered flag, Lear got a great run on Ritter to the inside, but Ritter was not to be denied as he took the win by about two-feet as they crossed the start/ finish line.

“This sure will make the three-hour tow back to Virginia pretty nice.” Ritter stated in his post-race interview. “We’ve been wanting to come here all season and it really feels good to win in our first time here, especially with all the good cars that were here tonight.” Kyle Lear’s late race rush had the Potomac fans on their feet. “I really didn’t expect Kyle to run it in there as deep as he did.” Said Ritter. “He gave me a pretty good shot in the left front wheel , but we were both racing for the win, I just hope it was a good show for the fans.” Defending track champion Ben Bowie rallied to third after pitting mid-way through the event, fifteen-year-old Jacob Burdette came from 13th to finish fourth and 16th starting Dave Adams rounded out the top-five. Heats for the 20-cars on hand went to Wagner and Hackett.

Stephen Quade collected his third feature win of the season in the 16-lap street stock feature. Quade, who started fourth, took the lead on the third-lap and would never look back as he drove off to the convincing win. “This car likes the slick.” Quade stated. “I have to thank my dad and the crew, this car was perfect tonight.” Point leader Kurt Zimmerman came home second, Kyle Nelson was third, Scott Wilson fourth and Darren Alvey filled the front-five. Heats went to Zimmerman and Mike Franklin.

Rusty Alton and Jonathon Raley split the two 15-lap hobby stock features. Alton was triumphant for the first time this season in the make-up event taking the win over Jonathon Raley. John Burch was third, Jerry Deason fourth and James Sutphin fifth. In the regular main, Jonathon Raley rolled to his second win of the season in convincing fashion. Jimmy Randall was second, Sam Archer third, John Burch fourth and Rusty Alton was fifth. Brian Adkins was the heat race winner.

Mike Reynolds and Brian Dobie were winners of the twin modified features. Dobie, the current points leader, scored his first win of the season over Rich Marks, with James Sparks third and Mike Reynolds fourth. In the second feature, Mike Reynolds collected win number two on the season with Craig Ramich finishing second. Brian Dobie, James Sparks and Rich Marks finished third through fifth.

The u-cars also ran two features with Race Alton and Defending track champion Justin Bottorf scoring wins. Alton’s win came over Justin Bottorf with David Coates third, point leader Kevin Pollard and Brandon Coates rounding out the top-five. Bottorf was the winner of the second feature, his first of the season. Kevin Pollard was second, David Coates third, Brandon Coates fourth and Billy Hill rounding out the top-five.

Limited Late Model feature finish
1. Brad Ritter 2. Kyle Lear 3. Ben Bowie 4. Jacob Burdette 5. Dave Adams 6. Kris Holliday 7. Kevin Deremer 8. Billy Tucker 9. Frankie Latham 10. Tyler Emory 11. Jonathon DeHaven 12. Tommy Wagner Jr. 13. James Lichliter 14. Pat Wood 15. Ryan Hackett 16. Mitch Miller 17. Andy Anderson 18. David Puckett 19. Jimmy Richards 20. Tanner Kerr

Street stock feature finis
1. Stephen Quade 2. Kurt Zimmerman 3. Kyle Nelson 4. Scott Wilson 5. Darren Alvey 6. Barry Williams 7. Mike Raleigh 8. Mark Garner 9. Dale Reamy 10. Johnny Oliver 11. Will Quinlan 12. Marty Hanbury 13. Mike Franklin (DQ)

Hobby stock (make-up)
1. Rusty Alton 2. Jonathon Raley 3. John Burch 4. Jerry Deason 5. James Sutphin 6. Jimmy Randall 7. Brittany Wenk 8. Don Breach 9. Will Nelson 10. Sam Archer

Hobby Stock (regular)
1. Jonathon Raley 2. Jimmy Randall 3. Sam Archer 4. John Burch 5. Rusty Alton 6. Brian Adkins 7. Will Nelson 8. Don Breach 9. Brittany Wenk 10. Jerry Deason 11. James Sutphin (DQ)

Modified (make-up)
1. Brian Dobie 2. Rich Marks 3. James Sparks 4. Mike Reynolds

Modified (regular)
1. Mike Reynolds 2. Craig Ramich 3. Brian Dobie 4. James Sparks 5. Rich Marks

U-car (make-up)
1. Race Alton 2. Justin Bottorf 3. David Coates 4. Kevin Pollard 5. Brandon Coates 6. Ryan Clement 7. Billy Hill 8. Tom Paddock

U-car (regular)
1. Justin Bottorf 2. Kevin Pollard 3. David Coates 4. Brandon Coates 5. Billy Hill 6. Race Alton 7. Samantha Raley 8. Tom Paddock 9. Ryan Clement