7/2/08
Hagerstown Speedway
Hagerstown, MD
Pennsylvania Speedweek Round #2
30 cars
Fred Rahmer (18th car out) set quick time on a lightning fast surface at 15.268 seconds. Brian Leppo (13th car out) was second quick, followed by Brian Leppo (13th), Todd Shaffer (6th), Brian Paulus (11th), Cody Darrah (22nd), Lance Dewease (10th), Mark Smith (17th), Jeff Shepard (30th), Michael Carber (12th) and Mike Wagner (26th). Jeff Busby had problems in hot laps and had a push truck run over his left rear. He took a lap at the end. Keith Kauffman replaced a rear end after hot laps. Joey Hershey failed to get a time in.
Heat one (started): 1. Chad Layton 25 (1) 2. Greg Hodnett 22 (2) 3. M. Smith 7m (4) 4. Wagner 55 (3) 5. Rahmer 51 (6) 6. Paulus 28 (5) / 7. Craig Keel 9 (7) 8. Cale Grubb 19M (8) 9. Randy Baughman 3B (10) 10. Richie Fitz 1F (9)
The heavy track yielded a 10-lap record to Layton at a blistering 2:37. Rahmer and Paulus provided the best racing in a tussle for fifth.
Heat two (started): 1. Stevie Smith 19 (1) 2. Keith Kauffman 7 (2) 3. Shepard 1 (4) 4. Alan Cole 35 (3) 5. Leppo 71 (6) 6. Darrah 89 (5) / 7. Jeff Busby 47J (9) 8. Aaron Ott 25o (8) 9. Mark Zimmerman 55z (10) 10. Bob Bennett 3 (7)
S. Smith left the rest behind. Busby spun on lap three bringing out a caution, and Bennett exited on lap five. Kauffman and Shepard battled for second.
Heat three (started): 1. Doug Esh 30 (3) 2. Niki Young 10N (2) 3. Shaffer 88 (6) 4. Carber 22z (4) 5. TJ Winegardner Jr. 11T (1) 6. Dewease 30c (5) / 7. Kramer Williamson 73 (7) 8. Bob Howard 49 (9) 9. Michael Heckman 8H (8) DNS - Joey Hershey 44
Esh dusted the field after being awarded a front row starting spot when Winegardner Jr. and Young were sent back for a pair of false starts. Battles between Young and Carber, Carber and Shaffer and Shaffer and Winegardner Jr. provided the best heat racing of the night.
B main (started): 1. Keel (1) 2. Ott (5) 3. Bennett (2) 4. Williamson (3) 5. Howard (9) 6. Heckman (4) / 7. Busby (6) 8. Baughman (6) 9. Hershey (8) 10. Zimmerman (11) 11. Fitz (7) DNS - Grubb
Fitz hit the wall in turn four before a lap could be completed and retired. Keel led the 10-lap distance, but had constant pressure from Ott, who will be a junior in high school this fall. The pair separated themselves from the field. Busby provided late pressure for the final transfer spot, but fell short.
A main (started): 1. Shepard (1) 2. Rahmer (8) 3. Shaffer (6) 4. M. Smith (2) 5. Leppo (7) 6. Layton (16) 7. Dewease (3) 8. Darrah (4) 9. Paulus (5) 10. S. Smith (17) 11. Wagner (10) 12. Winegardner Jr. (18) 13. Kauffman (14) 14. Cole (11) 15. Ott (21) 16. Young (15) 17. Hodnett (13) 18. Carber (9) 19. Heckman (24) 20. Bennett (20) 21. Keel (19) 22. Howard (23) 23. Williamson (22) 24. Esh (12)
M. Smith grabbed the early lead in the 30-lapper, while Rahmer ascended to third by lap two. Esh turned over on lap four, collecting Kauffman, who had to change a right rear tire. On the restart, M. Smith led Shepard, Rahmer, Dewease and Shaffer. Layton had surged from 16th to 8th. Shepard and Rahmer blitzed by M. Smith when the green fell in turn four. One lap later, Williamson stopped and retired bringing about the last slowdown. Shepard led Rahmer, M. Smith, Shaffer and Layton from 16th back to green flag racing. Laps six through eight were crazy. Shepard and Rahmer exchanged the lead several times with slide jobs before Rahmer finally took control. Rahmer led the pack for most of the race. Shaffer took third from M. Smith on lap 18. On lap 20, Shepard dove under Rahmer for the point and was able to hold him off the rest of way. The Zemco #1 was smoking the last few laps, and the win was Shepard's first ever at Hagerstown and worth $5000. Layton was the hard-charger moving up ten spots.