"Lear Scores Coveted Larry Hills Memorial Saturday at Potomac Speedway"
"Jason Covert, Chuck Bowie Collect Track Titles"
By Doug Watson
Budds Creek, MD- Kyle Lear took top honors in last Saturday nights 35-lap "Larry Hills Memorial" Late Model special at Potomac Speedway. The win for Lear, worth $3000, was his 2nd win of the season and the 3rd of his career behind the wheel of his familiar Rocket XR-1 no.151.
Kyle Lear and Amanda Whaley brought the field to green with Whaley gaining the race lead as the field roared off turn two. Whaley's lead would be short lived as Lear wrestled the top spot on the second circuit and set sail. As Lear lead, 5th starting Jason Covert arrived in second on the 21st lap and would chase Lear for the remaining laps but would not get close enough to mount a serious challenge as Lear drove off to the crowd pleasing win. "It's an honor to win this race for Larry Hills." Lear stated in victory lane. "He and his family are a big part of racing down here and I hope we put on a good show tonight." Superior track conditions aided in Lear's winning drive. "This track was awesome tonight." Said Lear. "You could race top, bottom or middle and thanks to everyone who helps with this car, I couldn't do it without them." With his second place finish Jason Covert nailed down his second straight and fourth career Potomac championship. "These people behind me deserve all the credit." Covert stated. "Everybody on this team busts their guts out for me and I'm happy to get them another championship." Austin Hubbard, Dale Hollidge and Ross Robinson would complete the top-five. Heats for the 21 entries went to Whaley, Covert and Robinson.
Matt Hill became the 6th different winner of the season with his 1st feature win of 2018 in the companion 20-lap RUSH Crate Late Model main. Amanda Whaley burst into the race lead and would pace the field until Matt Hill blew in and took the top spot on the 5th lap. From that point on it would be a race for second as Hill would easily take his 4th career Potomac Crate win aboard his Longhorn no.84. "It's always nice to come here and win." A jubilant Matt Hill stated post race. "I rolled the top going into one on Amanda to get the lead and this thing stuck and after that this car was just came to life." Jamie Sutphin, Amanda Whaley, Dale Hollidge and Ben Bowie trailed at the finish. Heats for the 19 cars entered went to Whaley and Bowie. With his 8th place finish Chuck Bowie was crowned the 2018 division champion. "It's been a stressful week leading up to this and I'm glad it's finally over." Quipped Bowie. "I just want to thank my car owner Shawn Corbin, all the sponsors, and especially my wife Rosie who's been there with me every step of the way."
In support class action, Jeremy Pilkerton drove to his 7th win of the season in the 16-lap Street Stock feature, Buddy Dunagan took his first win of the season in the 15-lap Hobby Stock event, Jeff Block rolled to his 3rd win of the season in the 15-lap Strictly Stock feature with John Hardesty claiming his 4th class championship and Chris "Tippy"Martinez drove to his first ever Potomac feature win in the 15-lap U-Car main.
Late Model feature finish
1. Kyle Lear 2. Jason Covert 3. Austin Hubbard 4. Dale Hollidge 5. Ross Robinson 6. DarylHills 7.Amanda Whaley 8. Allen Brannon 9. Scott Merryman 10. Brent Bordeaux 11. JT McGlanigan 12. Tyler Horst 13. David Dill 14. Jamie Lathroum 15.Brandon Long 16. Ray Kable Jr. 17. Rob Schirmer 18. Billy Tucker 19. Andy Anderson 20. Tyler Emory 21. Jonny Oliver
RUSH Crate Late Model feature finish
1. Matt Hill 2. Jamie Sutphin 3. Amanda Whaley 4. Dale Hollidge 5. Ben Bowie 6. Darren Alvey 7. Zac Weller 8. Chuck Bowie 9. Derek Magee 10. Devin Brannon 11. Darin Henderson 12. Ronnie Martin Jr. 13. Austin Bussler 14. Shawn Wetzel 15. Tyler Hoy 16. Megan Mann 17. Harry Shipe III 18. Donny Tepper 19.Timmy Booth
Street Stock feature finish
1. Jeremy Pilkerton 2. Sam Archer 3. Kyle Nelson 4.Ed Pope Jr. 5. Mike Raleigh 6. Bobby Miexsall 7. Paul Jones 8. Craig Tankersley 9. John Ballou 10. Troy Kassiris 11. Buddy Dunagan DNS-Craig Parrill, Marty Hanbury
Hobby Stock feature finish
1. Buddy Dunagan 2. Stevie Gingery 3. Greg Morgan 4. Matt Randall 5. Hilton Pickeral 6. Billy Crouse 7. Kyle Nelson 8.Tommy Randall 9. Ray Bucci 10. Joe Lehnen 11. Jonathan Knott 12. Derick Quade Jr. 13. Colin Long 14. Chris Clark
U-Car feature finish
1. Chris "Tippy" Martinez 2. Jerry Barker 3. James Hissom 4. Jeff Wilkins 5. Larry Lamb 6. Billy Smith 7. Stephen Suite 8. Ryan Quade 9. Tim Steele 10. Dominic King 11. Joey Suite 12. Larry Adleman
Strictly Stock feature finish
1. Jeff Block 2. Nabil Guffey 3. John Hardesty 4. Johnny Hardesty 5. Scott Shelton 6. Ed Pope Sr. 7. Greg Mattingly
