“Father And Son Duo Allen And Devin Brannon Win Pure Stock And Crate Late Model Features”
“Kyle Hardy Picks Up His 150th Career Win By Winning Limited Late Model Feature”
By Brent Hottle
Winchester(VA)-With the welcoming of warmer weather in the Shenandoah Valley, it would become a wonderful evening/night for some dirt track racing. We would see both the Limited and Rush Crate Late Models in attendance. We would also welcome the pure and hobby stock divisions. We would go to an old school format for the hobby stock division by holding “twin” features for them on this night.
Once the hot laps and heat races were completed for all divisions. We would move to our weekly Invocation and playing of our National Anthem. It would now be time for some feature racing action!
First up for the night would be twin race number one for the hobby stock division. Front row starters Justin Hottle and Sam Hoffman would charge door to door into turn one. Hottle would keep a nose ahead of a three wide battle out of turn two between himself, Hoffman, and Jason Wilkins. Hoffman would lead lap one by a nose over Hottle and Wilkins. There would be no change in the top two by the second lap, however, Billy Sonner Jr had now moved around Wilkins for the third position. Hottle would look to the low side of Hoffman for the lead as they completed the fourth lap. Hoffman would slide high coming out of turn two, allowing Hottle to take the lead and Sonner move into the second position. Upon the completion of the fifth lap Hoffman would spin in turn two while running third. After the restart, Hottle would continue to lead over Sonner and now third place running Wilkins. Sonner would begin looking to the low side of Hottle in an attempt to find the momentum needed to challenge Hottle for the lead by the end of the eighth lap. By the end of the ninth lap Hottle would lead by a nose over a hard challenging Sonner. The pair would race door to door for the final lap of the first of the twin ten lap features. We would watch Hottle and Sonner, Ford vs Chevy drag race out of turn four to the checkered flag. Justin Hottle would take the win, as Billy Sonner Jr and Jason Wilkins rounded out the top three. During the post race interview Hottle would be shown envelopes with random redraw orders hidden inside. This would determine the starting order for the second twin feature. Hottle would pull the number ten resulting in a complete reorder of the top ten finishers from this feature event. Hottle would have to come from the tenth starting position in his attempt to try and win the second feature later in the program.
Next, we would see the limited late model division pull onto the speedway. Polesitter Kyle Hardy would lead lap one over Austin Stover and James Lichliter. Gregory Carrico and Brad Omps would both spin in turn two on the second lap to bring out the first caution of the event. Hardy would continue to lead after the restart, as Lichliter would now move ahead of Stover for the second position. Hardy would begin to pull away from the field and pull out to a seven car lead by lap seven. It would be quickly erased as Bubby Tharp Jr would slow to a stop at the top of
turn two and bring out the caution. Hardy would continue to show his strength as the field went back to green and he once again started to pull away from his competitors. Keith Walls would come to a stop at the top of turn four on the fifteenth lap and bring out the final caution of the event. Kyle Hardy would go on to win the event by a three-quarter of a straight away lead over James Lichliter. Austin Stover would take the final podium spot by finishing third. This would mark Kyle Hardy’s 150th career feature win.
The Rush crate late models would be the next division to do battle. Outside polesitter Devin Brannon would lead lap one over Kristopher Hutton and side by side battling Tyler Hoy and Jeremiah Marshall. Brannon would pull out to a four car lead over Hutton, who had around the same lead over Marshall by the end of lap two. Kevin Powell would spin on the back straight away and bring out the first caution of the event. The field would go back green and complete one more lap before Powell would unfortunately spin again, only this time in turn three to bring the caution back out. There would be no change in the top three during the second half of the twenty lap event. Two more cautions and restarts during this half couldn’t slow Brannon down. Devin Brannon would go on to take the win in his first appearance of the year at “The Action Track”. Kristopher Hutton and Jeremiah Marshall would round out the top three.
Next, we would see the pure stock division make their way onto the speedway. Pole sitter Allen Brannon would lead lap one over Ricky Edmonds and Chris Sumption. Brannon would begin to slowly pull away from the field as Edmonds was finding himself defending challenges from Sumption for the second position. Trent Holmes would spin at the exit of turn four on the fourth lap and bring out the caution. Multiple cars would spin in turn three after the field went back green, resulting in a complete restart. Brannon would continue to lead the field as now Tony Johnson would move into the third position and begin to challenge Edmonds for the second position. Johnson would move ahead of Edmonds and take the second position by the end of lap seven. Andy Adkins would hit the outside wall hard coming out of turn two and bring out the caution on lap eight. There would be no change in the top three running order for the next few laps. The field would slow once again as the caution waved for a spinning Brady Holmes in turn four. Allen Brannon would go on to win the fifteen lap feature event. Tony Johnson and Ricky Edmonds would round out the top three.
It would now be time for the second of the twin ten lap features for the hobby stock division. Like the first feature event Sam Hoffman would roll off from the outside pole and lead lap one. Jason Wilkins and Richie Gibson III would follow in the second and third positions. Hoffman would hold the lead on the second lap over Wilkins and now a third place running Justin Hottle. Billy Sonner Jr would challenge Hottle for the third position on the fourth lap and take the position away from Hottle on the fifth lap. Hoffman would slowly pull away from the field as he pulled ahead of Wilkins by six car lengths. Sam Hoffman would win the caution free event. Jason Wilkins and Billy Sonner Jr would round out the top three.
We want to thank everyone who came out and supported this event. We look forward to seeing everyone back next week when the 305 sprint cars make their first visit of the season.
Hobby Stock Twin Feature One Results
Justin Hottle, Billy Sonner Jr, Jason Wilkins, Chris Sumption, Aaron Drummond, Tony Catlett, Sam Hoffman, Richie Gibson III (DNS Randy Linaburg, Scott Corbin)
Hobby Stock Twin Feature Two Results
Sam Hoffman, Jason Wilkins, Billy Sonner Jr, Justin Hottle, Chris Sumption, Tony Catlett, Richie Gibson III, (DNF Scott Corbin)(DNS Aaron Drummond, Randy Linaburg)
Limited Late Model Results
Kyle Hardy, James Lichliter, Austin Stover, Michael Carter, Gregory Carrico, Mike Franklin, Brad Omps, Tommy Whitt, Franklin Caricofe (DNF Keith Walls, Bubby Tharp Jr, Tom Chaffins)(DNS Gerald Davis, Andrew Fertig)
Rush Crate Late Model Results
Devin Brannon, Kristopher Hutton, Jeremiah Marshall, Davin Kaiser, Tyler Hoy, Isaiah Gochenour, Cody Williams, Richard Hawkins, Steven Powell, Roy Deese Jr, Craig Parrill, Billy Beachler, Travis Campbell, Branson Woodward, Charles Smith, Brayden Armel (DNF Jim Pownall, Tyler Horst, Brayden Carter, Kevin Powell, Marty Pownall, Dylan High)(DNS Scooter Tippett)
Pure Stock Results
Allen Brannon, Tony Johnson, Ricky Edmonds, Walter Crouch, Chris Sumption, Brady Holmes (DNF Andy Adkins, Gary Frye, Jerry Jenkins Jr, Trent Homes)