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BARRETT ENDS HIS DOUBTS BY BAGGING FIRST LATE MODEL TRIUMPH, DILLON CAPTURES FOURTH PURE STOCK CORNETT TRIBUTE

Ashley Barrett cast aside his earlier season doubts about advancing into the late model division by capturing his career first late model triumph Saturday night at Hagerstown Speedway. Barrett, of Shippensburg, PA, led all the way from the outside pole and held off Gary Stuhler by .81 seconds at the checkered.
From sixth and taking the lead on lap seven, Hanover’s Kenny Dillon satisfied his season for a second time and a career 24th, but fourth career score in the 16th Annual Cornett Tribute for the Ernie D’s pure stocks. He previously won the event in 2000, 03 and 08.

Starting seventh, Newville’s Donnie Farlling was also a newcomer to victory lane after he grabbed the lead with eight circuits remaining in the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic late model sportsman feature and pulled ahead to win by 2.38 seconds over Ronnie Dennis.

Krazy Kenny Thomas of Keedysville, MD edged Kenny Thomas off the final turn and at the line by less than a bumper’s length to score his third consecutive hobby stock feature. A protest was lodged following the win and an early morning teardown resulted in the engine components found legal.

“Most of this season, I’ve asked myself ‘What am I doing here?'”, Barrett said. “We get here and it just doesn’t seem like we can get one thing to go right. We’ve had a few good runs, mostly at the beginning of the season. Things would break or I’d wreck the car. I still knew how to drive, but I really have to thank Ben Foor. He showed up and showed us some things we’ve been struggling with set ups. This car was unreal, a completely different car than what we’ve had in previous weeks. It was like a cake walk out there. It was ridiculous how good that car was.”

Barrett took command while Rusty Sites and Stuhler battled for second as Tyler Hershey quickly joined them within two laps. Stuhler secured the runner up spot on lap seven while Hershey was past Sites two laps later.

Barrett continued to hold his own around the top side with Stuhler not allowing him to even slip once and through two cautions before Hershey’s car came to a stop on the 19th lap.

A final caution on lap 23 was for Roy Deese whose right rear went flat while up to the fourth spot but Barrett was up for the green white checkered finish which came .81 seconds over Stuhler, Kyle Lear (12th), Jim Bernheisel (9th) and Sites.

“Once we got about two laps in, I knew what kind of car I had under me. I didn’t really care who was behind me,” Barrett said. “When the track is that fast on the top and your car is good, no one is going by you if you can run the top hard. You don’t have to worry about it. When I saw Gary Stuhler was behind me and he was my favorite when I was a kid, I said ’I have to beat him”.

Duane Harbaugh was sixth with Alan Sagi, Brian Booze (18th), Bryan Bernheisel (19th) and Al Shawver Jr.(15th) completing the top ten. Heats went to Hershey, Barrett and Sites with B. Bernheisel taking the consy.

“I just said to dad, this is my first time since 1994 (in a street stock) that I’ve been in victory lane down here. That’s a long time,” Farlling said. “I kept saying tonight, ‘My wife wasn’t able to make it again. I’m going to win.’ One of these times I’m going to have to win with her here.”

Richard Walls led from the pole while Paul Cursey moved in to challenge him as did Glenn Elliott as Cursey took over on lap five with Elliott then taking the lead on the seventh circuit.

Elliott was out front two seconds over Cursey and Farlling when a yellow erased his lead and on the restart, Farlling blew by both and slowly stretched his lead until the finish and 2.38 seconds ahead of Ronnie Dennis who seized second from Cursey with five to go.

“On that restart, that was my only choice,” Farlling said of his winning pass. “Both (Elliott and Cursey) ran the same line I was running. I was thinking, ’This is my shot right here. If I’m going to do it, do it right now, go to the bottom and try’ and it came out like a rocket.”

Cursey, Elliott and Chaz Walls (14th) were next. R. Walls, Pete Weaver and Rodney Walls were heat winners.

“I like the track like this. This just worked out perfect for me,” Dillon said after his fourth Cornett victory. “This is my one of my favorite races of the year, in fact I try to win it every year. I put so much emphasis on this race. I started racing when Jim Cornett was still working on cars. He definitely had a lot of ideas. He was a great guy. He loved the sport of auto racing more than anybody I’ve ever met. He was a great help to me when I was first starting out and I try to win this race so hard every year. I’m happy to be standing here again.”

Kevin Koontz led from the outside pole and was being challenged by Bill Ecton Jr., Keith Koontz, Steve Lowery and Ecton Sr. while Dillon was trying to get through that traffic.

By the sixth lap, Dillon was into third and following a restart, charged into the lead as tenth starter Tony Catlett had advanced and moved into the runner up spot on lap nine. Catlett tried his best following a 13th lap restart but Dillon stretched his lead to more than six lengths and continued to hold it until the finish.

Third went to Eddie McClellan (12th) with Dave Stouffer Jr. and Drew Fitzsimmons following. Heat winners were Lowery, Bill Ecton Jr. and Sr.

Kenny Thomas led from the pole over Mark Vegh while Krazy Kenny Thomas advanced past Gary Proctor on lap eight into third and ran Vegh down to pass him with three laps left. In the final turns, KK Thomas charged around the outside and the pair raced to the finish line with KK Thomas having the advantage by less than a bumper length for his third consecutive hobby stock score.

“In those last turns, he gave me the top and I took it,” KK Thomas said. “It all worked out, three in a row is incredible.”

Racing resumes Saturday, August 20th with the 31st Annual Ernie D’s Shorty Bowers-Bull Durham Championship, $2,500 to win for Late Models, along with the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Late Model Sportsman and Ernie D’s Pure Stocks.

Hagerstown Speedway Results

Late Models, 25 laps, 26 entries, (Lap Leaders – Ashley Barrett 1-25): 1.Ashley Barrett, 2.Gary Stuhler, 3.Kyle Lear, 4.Jim Bernheisel, 5.Rusty Sites, 6.Duane Harbaugh, 7.Alan Sagi, 8.Brian Booze, 9.Bryan Bernheisel, 10.Al Shawver Jr., 11.Jerry Bard, 12.Roy Deese Jr., 13.Lindsay Barton, 14.Chad Davis, 15.Brent Smith, 16.Frankie Plessinger, 17.Tyler Hershey, 18.Matt Murphy, 19.Marvin Winters, 20.Tim Murphy, 21.Darryl Hills, 22.Charlie Hageage, 23.Denny Bonebrake, DNS – Gene Knaub, Mike Walls, Steve Axtell Jr.

Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Late Model Sportsman, 20 Laps, 23 entries (Lap Leaders – Richard Walls 1-4, Paul Cursey 5-6, Glenn Elliott 7-12, Donnie Farlling 13-20 ): 1.Donnie Farlling, 2.Ronnie Dennis, 3.Paul Cursey, 4.Glenn Elliott, 5.Chaz Walls, 6.Mike Walls, 7.Richard Walls, 8.Pete Weaver, 9.Chad Myers, 10.Travis Beaver, 11.Terry Flaherty (St. Thomas Towing/Checkered Flag Lube Hard Charger), 12.Will Rowe, 13.Corey Weaver, 14.Cody Lear, 15.Wayne Walls Jr., 16.Tyler Horst, 17.Scott Palmer, 18.Courtney Shreiner, 19.Matt Sponaugle, 20.Elwood Sord, 21.Rodney Walls, 22.Robby Beall, DNS – Justin Weaver

16th Annual Cornett Tribute for Ernie D’s Pure Stocks, - 20 laps, 19 entries, (Lap Leaders - Kevin Koontz 1-6, Kenny Dillon 7-20): 1.Kenny Dillon, 2.Tony Catlett, 3.Eddie McClellan (Turner Bowling Centers Hard Charger) 4.Dave Stouffer Jr., 5.Drew Fitzsimmons, 6.Steve Lowery, 7.Wayne Hawbaker, 8.Bill Ecton Jr, 9.Keith Koontz, 10.Frank Dibella, 11.Lin Sutphin, 12.Mike Kratovil, 13.Kenny Day, 14.Bill Ecton Sr. 15.Brian Cornett, 16.Darrin Younker, 17.Kevin Koontz, 18.Rick Stouffer, 19.Charlie Shearer

Hobby Stock Cruisers –15 Laps, 17 Entries, (Lap Leaders - Kenny Thomas 1-14, Krazy Kenny Thomas 15): 1.Krazy Kenny Thomas, 2.Kenny Thomas, 3.Mark Vegh, 4.Gary Proctor, 5.Joe Rogers, 6.Matt Smith, 7.Brian Neff, 8.William Crook, 9.Danny Holmes, 10.Nathanial Younker, 11.Larry Hurley, 12.Nick Dibella, 13.Lane Hissong, 14.Dave Shatto, 15.Rodney Minor, 16.Tom Caravello, DNS – George Rodgers

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