Hagerstown Speedway
April 5, 2014
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ECKERT HOLDS OFF SATTERLEE FOR SEASON WIN NUMBER TWO

by Bob Vores
HAGERSTOWN, MD. (April 5) – Recording the opening day victory, Rick Eckert made his second start Saturday evening in the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Late Models at Hagerstown Speedway/Dirt Capitol LLC, and made it win number two for the season and a career 24th at the Maryland facility.  

The York, PA veteran worked hard to clear Rance Garlock earlier in the 25-lap feature and then battled with Gregg Satterlee to beat him to the checkered by a mere .170 second following an exciting final lap when the pair made contact off the second turn.

“I didn’t know he was out there, “Eckert said. “I knew he was close; my guy didn’t tell me if he was up or down or behind me. I came off there (turn two) and was going to drift to the wall and when I got out there, I got into him. I wiggled badly all the way down the back straightaway. I had three hands on the wheel trying to keep ahold of it. Then he drove around me into three. I tried to just be patient and then beat him up off four. You always want to win and winning on the last lap is more fun.”

From the heads up draw, Kyle Lear of Severna Park, MD led the Malloy Ford of Winchester, VA Late Model Sportsman 20-lap feature all the way from the outside pole to record his 10th career Hagerstown win and first since July 2010. The K.Lynn Management Pure Stocks and Mason Dixon Auto Auction Hobby Stocks both had first time winners with Winchester, VA’s David Kaiser posting the non-stop Pure Stock win by more than six seconds over two time winner Mike Corbin while Jamie Mills of Big Pool, MD. came from ninth in another non-stop feature to take the Hobby Stock lead from Gary Proctor with two laps to go and beat two time winner Kenny Thomas and Proctor with the trio separated by less than a half second. 

The Late Models headed to the green flag in a seven car inversion with Rance Garlock and Ronnie DeHaven Jr on the front row as Garlock pulled to the front while fifth starting Eckert slipped to the inside and quickly moved past DeHaven and Roy Deese Jr. into the runner up spot.

Eckert tossed his first challenge at Garlock on the fourth lap as they came to the line side by side the next circuit.

The caution was displayed on the seventh lap as Eckert again tried to take over with Garlock holding on while Satterlee moved past Deese for third following the restart. Eckert kept hounding Garlock until staying under him to head to the line to lead lap ten. 

Matt Cosner’s racer erupted into a fireball lighting up the third turn on the 12th lap to bring out another yellow as Eckert took off on the restart with Satterlee in pursuit and trailing by five lengths. Eckert caught the rear of the field with four laps to go as Satterlee closed and went to head around the outside of turn two on the final lap when the contact was made with Eckert. He gathered it in and made the final turn effort to pull off the win but Eckert managed to get in and power off the low side of turn four to edge Satterlee at the finish. Garlock, Deese and Marvin Winters trailed the leaders by just over six seconds. 

“Rance was really good,” Eckert said. “He could get into the corner way better than I could and he could actually turn good. I was worried about him there. I could get up there beside him but I needed to open up an exit and he was always there. I saw him push down here one time into turn one and then when he did it down in three. When I saw him do it, I just tried to jump in there hard and get across in front of him.”

Dylan Yoder was up four positions to finish sixth with Brian Tavenner, Gary Stuhler, Dan Stone and Jamie Lathroum completed the top ten. Heats went to Tavenner, Winters, Eckert and Satterlee with Jerry Bard winning the consolation. Dominic Defino was the Sharrett Collision Hard Charger.

Kyle Lear powered to the front of the Late Model Sportsman feature with pole sitter Paul Cursey settling in behind him. Mike Walls took away the runner up spot on the fourth lap with Wes Alleman and Bobby Beard setting into the next positions the following circuit.

Lear was well in command as he held Walls at a distance until a tenth lap caution and used the high side of the double file restart to power away again and move into rear traffic with two laps to go.

Walls trailed by more than two seconds with Bard taking third following the halfway restart and holding until the checkered. Previous week’s winner Justin Weaver came to the line fourth after starting 11th with Kyle Lee coming from 14th to finish fifth.

Cursey, Lear and Walls were the heat winners. Jeff King finished eighth after starting 20th and was the Remsburg Paving of Middletown, MD. Hard Charger.

From third, David Kaiser drove past Wayne Hawbaker to take over the Pure Stock feature on the second lap while two time winner Mike Corbin was coming from eighth and moved into second on the fifth lap when Kaiser had more than a three second lead. Kaiser continued to stretch his lead ever lap until finishing more than six seconds ahead of Corbin. Corbin was the A Bargain Towing Hard Charger

Joe Rogers lead the Hobby Stocks while Gary Proctor took second from Brian Neff on the fourth lap. Proctor took the lead on the sixth lap while Mills advancing into second and began to make several challenges as Proctor wasn’t giving up easily. Mills finally took over on the 13th lap while Kenny Thomas had closed on the leaders and made his presence known on the final lap. He got past Proctor for second but had to settle for that.

Mills was the Hagerstown KIA Hard Charger. He also benefited from the weekly regular race Lucky Draw of promoter Ernie Davis when he could choose from envelopes paying $0, $125 or $250. Mills luckily drew the $250.

The latest news, results, photos, schedule or rule changes can found be on the speedway’s website: www.hagerstownspeedway.com.  Also check the website for any changes in weather conditions that may delay or cancel the program or contact the speedway office at 301-582-0640.

HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY/DIRT CAPITOL LLC RESULTS

Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Late Models, 25 Laps: 1. Rick Eckert, 2. Gregg Satterlee, 3. Rance Garlock, 4. Roy Deese Jr., 5. Marvin Winters, 6. Dylan Yoder, 7. Brian Tavenner, 8. Gary Stuhler, 9. Dan Stone, 10. Jamie Lathroum, 11. D.J. Myers, 12. Ronnie DeHaven Jr., 13. Bo Feathers, 14. C.S. Fitzgerald, 15. Allen Brannon, 16. Trevor Feathers, 17. Dominic Defino (Sharrett Collision Center Hard Charger) , 18. Jerry Bard, 19. Lindsay Barton, 20. Luke Hoffner, 21. Wayne Johnson, 22. Matt Cosner, 23. Gene Knaub, 24. Mike Altobelli Jr., DNQ-Alan Sagi, Ryan Hackett, Nick Dickson, Devin Friese, Jim McBee, Pancho Lawler

Malloy Ford of Winchester, VA Late Model Sportsman, 20 Laps: 1.Kyle Lear, 2.Mike Walls, 3.Justin Weaver, 4.Weston Alleman, 5.Kyle Lee, 6. Paul Cursey, 7.Chaz Walls, 8.Jeff King (Remsburg Paving of Middletown,MD Hard Charger) 9.Donnie Farlling, 10.Tyler Horst, 11.Frankie Plessinger, 12.Billy Farmer, 13.Eddie Cornett, 14.John Moser, 15.Steve Lowery, 16.Pat McNeal, 17.Scott Cline, 18.Matt Eckman, 19.Chris Fletcher, 20.Andy Fries, 21.Terry Flaherty, 22.Chad Myers, 23.Rick Singleton
DNS-Elwood Sord, Taylor Farlling, Ray Ciccarelli

K. Lynn Management LLC Pure Stocks, 15 Laps: 1.David Kaiser, 2.Mike Corbin (A Bargain Towing Hard Charger), 3.Dickie Tharp, 4.Wayne Hawbaker, 5.Mike Kratovil, 6.Nick Dibella, 7.Taylor Farlling, 8.Kenny Dillon

Mason Dixon Auto Auction Hobby Stocks, 15 Laps: 1.Jamie Mills (Hagerstown Kia Hard Charger), 2.Kenny Thomas, 3.Gary Proctor, 4.Joe Rodgers, 5.Brian Neff, 6.Tom Caravello, 7.Curtis Guyer, 8..Dylan Welsh, 9.William Crook, 10.Justin Hansberger