4/7/2012
Hagerstown Speedway
SATTERLEE GETS FIRST HAGERSTOWN TRIUMPH IN SEASON OPENER
Gregg Satterlee and Josh Richards battled to the end in Hagerstown Speedway’s Buchanan Auto Stores Late Model Championship Series opener on Saturday night but it was Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa. who came away with his career first Hagerstown victory.
Richards pestered Satterlee lap after lap following a lap 13 restart that came out just after he had taken the lead past the flag stand but was set back to second with the lap not completed. Richards had a head of steam and drove under Satterlee into turn three with two to go but Satterlee cut short and dove back under to regain the spot and head to the white flag. As Richards regained his momentum, Satterlee was gone and stretched his lead to eight lengths around the final circuit.
“I knew Josh, Covert and those guys would be good, “ Satterlee said. “We were a little worried on that first caution there. Josh just got around me. We got caught up in lapped traffic so I tried to pick up the pace a little bit. The lapped cars, I timed them right and didn’t catch up to them at the end.”
It was Egg Night at the speedway and besides the $2,000 victory, Richards picked up an extra $100 for completing the 25 laps without breaking an egg in the dozen tied to the rear of his racer as did the other three winners.
The Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic late model sportsman also had an exciting last few laps when St. Thomas, Pa.’s Wayne Walls Jr. was leading and being passed by Pete Weaver when the caution came out with one to go and contact was made in turn three. Walls didn’t stop and regained his spot at the front of the field for the restart and then held off Justin Weaver by a half car length for his career 46th triumph. It was his first win since June 15, 2009.
“I think Pete had me,” Walls said. “They threw the yellow and he left off. I was coming in real hard and was on the brakes and we still made contact. I hate to win like that. It’s been a long time coming. I’d like to dedicate this race to mom and dad. This is the first one I’ve won since they died. I ‘m really tickled.”
In the Ernie D’s pure stocks, it was Hagerstown’s Brian Miller also in a close .75 second victory over Kevin Boyer while Greencastle, Pa.’s Kenny Thomas made it two in a row in the D & D Auto Recycling hobby stocks as he finally got past Gary Proctor with two and won by three lengths.
Satterlee started on the pole with Nick Dickson alongside following the pill draw for the top three from qualifying heats as they drove the opening lap in that order with Gary Stuhler ending up turned around out of turn one to regroup the field.
Richards was seventh for the restart but with no one on top, he made use of it and charged all the way to third by completion of the second lap only to be passed by Brian Booze until he retook the spot on lap five to concentrate on running down Dickson while Satterlee was out front by 1.44 seconds.
Satterlee caught rear traffic on the tenth lap as Richards got past Dickson two laps later and had Satterlee in his sights. He had just charged past on the 13th only to have the yellow displayed for a spun car in the first turn.
Following the restart, Satterlee changed his game and was on the offense as Richards was trying everything to make the pass but Satterlee continued steady as the laps wound down with Richards going for broke with two to go. It was an exciting move when Richards shot past only to have Satterlee on the gas and coming out low to retake his lead for the final round.
“Josh ran me clean and it was a good race,” Satterlee said. “It was a good pill draw on the pole, but we had a really good car tonight. “
Dickson held to third while Jamie Lathroum came across fourth with heavy smoke showing from his racer which earned him the Nininger Tire and Auto Hard Luck award. Jason Covert ended fifth with Booze, Roy Deese Jr., from 14th, Alan Sagi, the Nininger Hard Charger from 16th, Rusty Sites and Steve Long. completing the top ten. Heat winners were Booze, Long and Duane Harbaugh.
Jake Jones and Scott Palmer sat on the front row for the late model sportsman start as fifth starter Walls drove past Palmer following an opening lap restart and began to challenge Jones until getting past him on the seventh lap. Previous week’s winner Pete Weaver came from 12th and into fourth on lap 11 while his son Justin then became a player after starting 13th. The younger Weaver charged past Palmer and his dad and then passed Jones following a lap 14 restart. He was ready to work on Walls until his dad charged by and had just passed Walls before the 19th lap caution was displayed as the front runners were headed into turn three.
When Walls didn’t stop, he retook his spot and held the younger Weaver to the runner up spot with Jones, Andy Fries and Palmer completing the top five. Heats went to Fries, Palmer and Jones while eighth finisher Dave Leidy was the Liberty Auto and Tire hard charger.
Brian Miller took the lead on the start of the caution free pure stock feature over Eddie McClellan while Kevin Boyer was picking his way from seventh and challenging McClellan for five laps before cleaning him and beginning to close the gap on Miller who had a second plus lead. Boyer continued to close the gap but eventually ran out of time and settled for second. McClellan ended third with Steve Lowery and Dave Stouffer finishing. Stouffer and Wayne Hawbaker were heat winners. Boyer was the Ecton and Son Service and Repair hard charger.
From the outside pole of the hobby stocks, Gary Proctor pulled to the front over Dave Shatto while Thomas moved into third as Proctor had a 3.6 second lead erased by a fourth lap yellow. Thomas took second and pulled alongside Proctor several times until finally getting under on the 13th lap when Proctor slid higher off the second turn to open the door with Thomas taking advantage of the situation. Proctor, Matt Smith, Nathaniel Younker and Lane Hessong were next.
HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY RESULTS
Buchanan Auto Stores Late Model Championship Series, 25 Laps, 31 Entries, Lap Leaders Gregg Satterlee 1-25) 1.Gregg Satterlee, 2.Josh Richards, 3.Nick Dickson, 4.Jamie Lathroum (Nininger Tire and Auto Center Hard Luck), 5.Jason Covert, 6.Brian Booze, 7.Roy Deese Jr., 8.Alan Sagi (Nininger Tire and Auto Center Hard Charger), 9.Ructy Sites, 10.Steve Long, 11.Gary Stuhler, 12.Kyle Lear, 13.Jerry Bard, 14.Tyler Hershey, 15.Frankie Plessinger, 16.Glenn Elliott, 17.Ashley Barrett, 18.Ron Delano Jr., 19.Al Cheney, 20.Pancho Lawler, 21.Matt Murphy, 22.Al Shawver Jr., 23.Larry Baker, 24.Duane Harbaugh DSQ – Denton Boyer, DNS – Tim Murphy, Ernie Millon, Lindsay Barton, Steve Axtell, Tom Decker III
Hoosier Tire-Mid Atlantic Late Model Sportsman, 20 Laps, 31 entries (Lap Leaders Jake Jones 1-6, Wayne Walls Jr. 7-20) 1.Wayne Walls Jr., 2.Justin Weaver, 3.Jake Jones, 4.Andy Fries, 5.Terry Flaherty, 6.Scott Palmer, 7.Sam Schaeffer, 8.Dave Leidy (Liberty Auto and Tire Hard Charger), 9.Larry Baer, 10.Tyler Horst, 11.Cody Lear, 12.Cory Houck, 13.Courney Shreiner, 14.Rodney Walls, 15.Chad Myers, 16.Will Rowe, 17.Paul Cursey, 18.Pete Weaver, 19.Nick Pappas, 20.Donnie Farlling, 21.Marvin Winters, 22.Ralph Morgan Jr., 23.Ronnie Dennis, 24.Barry Lear Sr., DNQ – Keith Walls, Devin Frey, Kevin Palmer, Elwood Sord, Jeff King Jr. DNS – Mike Walls, Chaz Walls
Ernie D’s Pure Stocks, 15 Laps, 16 entries, (Lap Leaders – Brian Miller 1-15) 1.Brian Miller, 2.Kevin Boyer (Ecton and Son Service and Repair Hard Charger), 3.Eddie McClellan, 4.Steve Lowery, 5.Dave Stouffer, 6.Wayne Hawbaker, 7.Tony Catlett, 8. Danny Beavers, 9.Kevin Koontz, 10.Charlie Pensinger,11.Chris Ebersole, 12.Craig Kline, 13.Dustin Proctor, 14.Rick Stouffer, 15.Kenny Dillon, DNS - Keith Koontz
D&D Auto Recycling Hobby Stocks - 15 laps, 10 entries, (Lap Leaders – (Gary Proctor 1-13, Kenny Thomas 14-15) 1.Kenny Thomas, 2.Gary Proctor, 3.Matt Smith, 4.Nathaniel Younker, 5.Lane Hessong, 6.William Crook, 7.Dave Shatto, 8.Gary Breeden, 9.Dick Dibella, DNS–Tom Caravello
Article Credit: Bob Vores
Submitted By: Josh Fries