4/19/2014
Hagerstown Speedway
SIX YEAR DROUGHT ENDS FOR D.J.MYERS AT HAGERSTOWN
by Bob Vores
HAGERSTOWN, MD. – It’s been a long time coming for Greencastle’s D. J. Myers but Saturday evening, the 18 year veteran finally ended a drought dating to June 2008 and scored his 15th career Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Late Model triumph at Hagerstown Speedway/Dirt Capitol LLC. Myers began from the outside pole in the five car inversion and held off challenges of eight time champion Roy Deese Jr. to win by .517 second in a one lap shootout.
“This is awesome,” Myers said. “It’s been a long time overdue at this speedway. The last few years we’ve struggled a little bit with this car at this speedway, but faring pretty good elsewhere. The starting spot helped but I’ll take it any way I can get it with the competition that was here tonight.”
Deese was tossing challenges at Myers over the last five laps when it came down to the white flag and Matt Cochran rolled to a stop on the backstretch to necessitate a one lap dash to the checkered.
Myers continued, “I was talking to myself when the lady said (on the radio) it was a single file restart and I said’ Woohoo!”
Repeating wins from the previous week included Winchester, Va’s Mike Corbin who scored his fourth win in the K.Lynn Management Pure Stock feature by a 7.4 second margin and Gary Proctor from Big Pool, Md, who drove to his second of the season in the Mason Dixon Auto Auction Hobby Stocks. Ft. Loudon’s Ryan Laye ran side by side with previous week’s winner Kevin Thomas for ten laps to win the first of two Dirt Capitol races as part of the Triangle Mania Series (With Path Valley and Roaring Knob) for the Cochran Auctioneers Four Cylinders.
The Late Models rolled off with a five car inversion as Jamie Lathroum brought out the yellow on the opening lap when he ended facing the wrong way in turn three. Myers powered to the lead over Deese who started from the pole and third starter Brian Tavenner.
It was full speed ahead until the ninth lap when Davey Johnson stopped in turn four but when the field went back to green, previous week’s winner, Dylan Yoder was up on the wheel. He powered past Trever Feathers on the double file restart and into third.
Myers, Deese and Yoder, separated by a length from each other, pulled away from Tavenner who moved past Feathers into fourth on the 14th lap.
Deese began to close the gap even more and on the 20th, began ducking to the inside of Myers every lap until the white flag caution regrouped the field but Myers wasn’t about to let this one slip away. He was steadfast around the final half mile to grab the checkered over Deese who ended second for the second consecutive week.
“Our car was working well,” Myers said. “We made the right tire choice. I can’t thank my boys enough. They stick with me thick and thin. I’ve been very fortunate in my racing career. I’ve raced 18 years and been lucky enough to win a feature race every year but last year was the first time we raced all summer and didn’t win one. They never put their heads down. We worked on the car all winter long and came out this year sort of in a slump. Tonight we tried something off the wall and it worked really well.”
Tavenner got past Yoder on the restart as Rick Eckert quickly powered from fifth into third while Yoder battled back around Tavenner to finish fourth. Marvin Winters was sixth after starting 11th with Feathers, C.S.Fitzgerald, Steve Axtell and Jerry Bard completing the top ten. Axtell, Eckert and Feathers were the heat winners.
It was another dominating run for Mike Corbin who began third in the three car inverted Pure Stock start. He powered past Frank Dibella and never looked back following a fifth lap red flag to continue stretching his lead to more than a straightaway at the checkered. Dibella, Wayne Hawbaker, Mike Kratovil and Nick Dibella completed the top five.
Tom Caravello took charge of the Hobby Stock lead over Jamie Mills and was holding on while Dylan Welsh, Kenny Thomas and Gary Proctor battled behind them. Mills spun on lap 11 when trying to take the lead while Proctor took over on the restart with Thomas taking second and ending one length behind. Welsh, Brian Neff and Mills were next to the checkered.
Kevin Thomas began on the pole of the Four Cylinder Mania event and led Matt Williamson while sixth starting Ryan Laye battled with Gary Newell for third. Following a sixth lap restart, Laye quickly grabbed the runner up spot and catching Thomas four laps later, began pestering him. The two pulled away from Frankie Gordon and Newell to race side by side until the finish, exchanging the lead five times at the checkered alone with lead changes on the stretches. Laye led the last three laps and won by .096 second.
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.D.J. Myers, 2.Roy Deese Jr., 3.Rick Eckert, 4.Dylan Yoder, 5.Brian Tavenner, 6.Marvin Winters, 7.Trevor Feathers, 8.C.S. Fitzgerald, 9.Steve Axtell Jr., 10.Jerry Bard, 11.Devin Friese, 12.Austin Hubbard, 13.Lindsay Barton, 14.Luke Hoffner. 15.Glenn Elliott, 16.Wayne Johnson, 17.Matt Cochran, 18.Davey Johnson, 19.Andy Anderson, 20.Gary Stuhler, 21.Jamie Lathroum.
K. Lynn Management LLC Pure Stocks, 15 Laps: 1.Mike Corbin, 2.Frank Dibella, 3.Wayne Hawbaker, 4.Mike Kratovil, 5.Nick Dibella, 6.Jeremy Mills, 7.Billy Ecton Jr., 8.Tony Catlett, 9.Danny Farlling, 10.Rick Stouffer- DNS – Dickie Tharp, J.C. Butts, Jason Leibowitz
Mason Dixon Auto Auction Hobby Stocks, 15 Laps: 1.Gary Proctor, 2.Kenny Thomas, 3.Dylan Welsh, 4.Brian Neff, 5.Jamie Mills, 6.Tom Caravello, 7.William Crook. 8.Gary Cekovich, 9.Joe Rodgers, 10.Rodney Miner, 11.James Jones, 12.Justin Hansberger
Cochran Auctioneers Four Cylinders Triangle Mania, 20 Laps: 1.Ryan Laye, 2.Kevin Thomas, 3.Gary Newell, 4.Frankie Gordon, 5.Michael Warrenfeltz, 6.Matt Williamson, 7.Bill Kessler, DNS - Randy Jones
Article Credit: Bob Vores
Submitted By: Josh Fries