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Gary Stuhler and Brett Hearn, both the leading feature winners in their respective divisions, had to wait an extra day and a chilly one at that, but both were successful in recording victories on Sunday’s Octoberfest Qualifier opening day event at Hagerstown Speedway’s for their 60th Anniversary season. Both now have guaranteed starting spots in the Octoberfest scheduled October 27-28 while Hearn’s win also gave him a position in the Syracuse Nationals, as the previous weeks February 24th opener was cancelled.
Stuhler, of Greencastle , Pa , increased his Cindy Rowe Auto Glass late model wins to 119 while also the triumph was his third in the past five seasons, having won the openers in both 2003 and 2004. Hearn, of Sussex , NJ, increased his total with the big block modified win to 22, while he has an attachment for opening day wins. He’s won the last five consecutively.
Stuhler began from seventh and worked the outside to finally reel in Ronnie DeHaven Jr. exiting the fourth turn to lead the ninth lap.
“I was searching around on the race track and some places were graying up where you needed to be, but you could pretty much run where you wanted to run,” Stuhler said. “We were off a little bit but it’s the beginning of the year. We just got off last year and didn’t get it figured out. We have to work on our shock program and try to get a little better.”
Hearn began from sixth and made a bold outside move on the backstretch to advance into second behind Brian Weaver by lap two. He attempted a pass in turn four on lap four, but had to regroup and later took the lead for good on lap 12.
“I had it rolling really good on the top and I thought I’d snooker him,” Hearn said. “I got by him and he did a slide job on me so we had to slow down there a second and rethink this a little bit. We kept working on it until we did get him.”
“We have success here in the early season stuff and we’re tuning up for the (DIRT) series when we’ll get back the end of the March. It’s good for the team and team morale to start off with a win here and get rolling.”
With a six car inverted start, the initial late model start was called when fifth starting Brent Smith looped his car in the first turn while trying to get inside Ray Kable Jr. On the restart, DeHaven powered in front of Matt Parks and Paul Crowl while Stuhler was into fourth by the third lap. Stuhler went outside of Crowl, then Parks and continued on to grasp the lead from DeHaven on lap nine.
Following a lap 12 for a piece of debris from another car, Stuhler pulled out to a two second advantage until a lap 28 caution, but easily maintained his grip on the track to score the victory by three lengths over DeHaven.
“I kind of got into a rhythm where I had a little bit of a lead on them and then that yellow came out,” Stuhler said. “I just knew I had to make two good ones there at the end.”
Parks maintained his third place finish over Crowl and Devin Friese with J. T. Spence coming from 14th to sixth. Darryl Hills ended seventh with Smith rebounding for eighth over Kable and 16th starting Jared Miley.
With another car inverted start, Weaver got ahead of Kevin Hirthler on the start, but soon had Hearn challenging him after an outside move to advance into second. Hearn sized the situation and made his move on the fourth lap, but Weaver rebuffed the effort as Hearn dropped back to regroup. He regained his composure and came back to take the point on the 12th circuit.
Once in front and following a 15th lap yellow for fourth running Mike Colsten, Hearn was not challenged as he stretched out a comfortable lead and only slowed some as he approached the rear of the field on the final circuit to win by ten lengths.
“I kept watching the computer and got to bed about midnight and thought ‘those guys must be nuts, there’s no way there’re racing tomorrow’”, Hearn said “This place is unbelievable. The Plessinger family, they get this place so perfect every time you come here. It’s amazing after a winter to have a track like this.”
Weaver was second followed by Jimmy Phelps, Richie Pratt Jr., and Rick Laubach. Sixth went to Hirthler with Frank Cozze, A.J. Romano, Jeremy Paup, from 19th, and Mark Byram to complete the top ten.
Racing continues Saturday, March 10th with late models and small block modifieds in 30- lap features. This time the small blocks will be vying for a guaranteed spot in the Octoberfest. Should weather be a factor, the race may be postponed until Sunday. Pit gates open at 10 a.m. with the grandstands at 11 a.m. Warm-ups are at 1 p.m. and racing at approximately 1:30.
Check the lights on the speedway website for any changes: www.hagerstownspeedway.com.
Hagerstown Speedway Results
Cindy Rowe Auto Glass Late Models, 30 lap Octoberfest Qualifier – 20 Entries, Heat winners, Crowl, Smith,(Lap Leaders - Ronnie DeHaven 1-8, Gary Stuhler 9-30): 1. Gary Stuhler; 2.Ronnie DeHaven; 3.Matt Parks; 4.Paul Crowl; 5.Devin Friese; 6.J.T. Spence; 7.Darryl Hills; 8.Brent Smith; 9.Ray Kable Jr.; 10.Jared Miley; 11.Tim Wilson; 12.Lewis Hudson; 13.Jamie Lathroum; 14.Tyler Hershey; 15.Mike Lupfer; 16.Mike Walls; 17.David Williams; 18.Dale Smith; DNS – Drew Koteles, Frankie Plessinger
Big Block Modifieds, 30 lap Octoberfest/Syracuse Qualifier – 20 Entries, Heat winners, Phelps, Hearn (Lap Leaders - Brian Weaver 1-11, Brett Hearn 12-30) : 1.Brett Hearn; 2.Brian Weaver; 3.Jimmy Phelps; 4.Richie Pratt Jr.; 5.Rick Laubach; 6.Kevin Hirthler; 7.Frank Cozze; 8.A.J. Romano; 9.Jeremy Paup; 10.Mark Byram; 11.Ray Swinehart; 12.Willy Decker; 13.Mike Storms; 14.John Willman; 15.Kyle Sheldon; 16.Kyle Ebersole; 17.Darwin Greene; 18.Mike Colsten; DNS – Rich Scagliotta, Tommy Scheetz |
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