MILLER AND HEARN START OFF 2005 SEASON AT HAGERSTOWN WITH WINS
After three weekends of cold and inclement weather, the Hagerstown Speedway finally opened the 2005 season with Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, PA leading all the way in the 30-lap late model feature and Brett Hearn of Sussex, NJ notching his third straight opening day win in the 30-lap small block modified main event. Both Miller and Hearn earned $2,000 for their efforts and a guaranteed starting spot in the Octoberfest 350 the end of October.
Starting on the outside of the front row, Miller got the jump on polesitter Gary Stuhler at the drop of the green. Stuhler, looking for his record breaking 115th career win, dropped to fourth as Frankie Plessinger and Devin Friese moved into second and third behind Miller. On the second lap, sixth starting Rick Eckert worked his way into third right before the caution was waved on lap three when Plessinger lost his driveshaft on the backstretch. Miller led the field on the restart as Bo Feather began to pressure Stuhler for third. Feathers went to the outside to take third from Stuhler on lap 14 as Eckert tried to track down Miller. Three cautions during the last 10 laps put Eckert on the leader's bumper for the restarts, but Miller had no trouble holding off the challenge as he picked up the win.
"We kind of had a preferred starting spot today, that's where you want to be," said Miller, Hagerstown's leading feature winner in 2005 with four. "We were just fortunate to stay up there."
"You want to get the race over when you are a driver," added Miller about the restarts at the end. "You don't want to see the caution come out with one to go."
Eckert settled for second with Feathers, Allen Brannon and Joe Leavell finishing out the top five. Andy Anderson, Stuhler, Alan Sagi, Friese and Ronnie Dehaven completed the top ten. Heat winners for the 32 cars were Friese, Plessinger and Miller. Dan Stone won the consolation.
Brett Hearn started third in the small block modified feature as H.J. Bunting III grabbed the lead from the pole. Hearn went to work right away on Alan Johnson for second. On the third lap, Hearn took his car to the outside of Johnson as the two cars entered the first turn with Hearn taking over second as he exited the second turn. On lap five, Hearn closed in on Bunting and a lap later, Hearn once again found the outside groove to his liking grabbing the lead coming off the second turn. Once in front, Hearn started to pull away from the field and was in lapped traffic by the 11th lap. On lap 14, Johnson passed Bunting for second and started looking for Hearn. Johnson was able to close the gap as Hearn entered lapped traffic on lap 21, but Hearn was able to open the gap when he cleared the slower cars to win by 15 car lengths.
"I think we have this place wired in the daytime,"said Hearn who has now won four of the last five modified openers. "We know what tires to pick and everything went good. We saw more night time conditions here early in the day when it was cloudy, but once it got sunny, it changed to daytime track conditions. We are looking forward to being back here next Saturday for the DIRT race, hopefully the weather will be on side."
Johnson settled for second with Bunting and Mike Iles next across the line. Kenny Brightbill came from 15th to round out the top five. Mike Colsten was next with Billy Van Pelt coming from 25th and scratch position for seventh. Dylan Dewert, 17th starting Paul Kinney and Ryan Watt finished out the top ten. Heat winners for the 25 cars were Johnson, Hearn and Kevin Hirthler.
Next Saturday, it will be the 2005 Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series opener. The modifieds will be in action with a 100-lap feature paying $6,000 to the winner. Joining the DIRT modifieds will be the late models. Gates open at 4 P.M. with racing at 6 P.M.
RESULTS: 30-LAP LATE MODEL FEATURE: (Lap Leaders - Miller 1-30)
1. Jeremy Miller; 2. Rick Eckert; 3. Bo Feathers; 4. Allen Brannon; 5. Joe Leavell; 6. Andy Anderson; 7. Gary Stuhler; 8. Alan Sagi; 9. Devin Friese; 10. Ronnie Dehaven; 11. Paul Crowl; 12. Scott Palmer; 13. Matt Hubbard; 14. Tim Murphy; 15. Tim Wilson; 16. DJ Troutman; 17. Dan Stone; 18. Jason Covert; 19. Rodney Sweitzer; 20. Randy Stoudt; 21. Scott Lupfer; 22. Al Shawver Jr.; 23. Roy Deese Jr.; 24. Frankie Plessinger. DNQ: Kerry Kling; Terry Flaherty; Ray Davis Jr.; Brent Smith; Mike Mort. DNS: Billy Wampler; Donnie Farling; Mike Lupfer.
30-LAP SMALL BLOCK MODIFIED FEATURE: (Lap Leaders - Bunting, 1-6; Hearn 7-30)
1. Brett Hearn; 2. Alan Johnson; 3. H.J. Bunting III; 4. Mike Iles; 5. Kenny Brightbill; 6. Mile Colsten; 7. Billy VanPelt; 8. Dylan Dewert; 9. Paul Kinney; 10. Ryan Watt; 11. Kyle Jacobs; 12. Mark Frankhouser; 13. Lyle Sherwood; 14. Dave Dubois; 15. Jason Hamilton; 16. John Willman; 17. Sean Merkel; 18. Scott Smith; 19. Bryan Terwillinger; 20. Tom Lurtis; 21. Ron Cartwright, Jr.; 22. Kevin Hirthler; 23. A.J. Romano; 24. Doug Hoffman. DNS: Willy Decker.