OCTOBERFEST 350 RESULTS

Octoberfest Repeats to Hearn, Stuhler & McCreadie, First To Darrah



Hagerstown, Md.: Following Saturday’s qualifying, Sunday arrived as another sunny seasonable fall day at Hagerstown Speedway to finalize the last race weekend of the season with the 23rd Annual Octoberfest 350.

Vernon, N.J’s Brett Hearn opened the afternoon with a flag to flag victory to defend his consecutive big block modified victories and become a six time and overall seven time winner including two small block wins. It was Hearn’s career 27th win at Hagerstown.

Inaugural event winner in 1988, Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa. began from the 18th position in the late model 100 lapper and led the final five circuits to post that victory to make him a five time overall winner including the 1996, 1999 and 2003 events. The triumph was the overall leading feature winners career 128th.

Cody Darrah of Red Lion, Pa., making his first appearance in a 410 sprint car after being sidelined due to serious injuries from a traffic accident at Daytona in February, didn’t miss a beat after leading the first 22 circuits and retaking the lead on lap 42 to post his career first Hagerstown and Octoberfest victory.

In the small block modified feature, Tim McCreadie of Avon, NY led flag to flag to become the only winner to capture back to back wins.

Starting on the outside, Hearn pulled to the front over pole sitter Matt Sheppard and Billy Decker as cautions on the opening three laps and lap five slowed the pace. Rich Laubach moved into second on lap 11 after starting tenth but Hearn never allowed him to get close while eighth starter, McCreadie took the third spot on the 25th and began to challenge Laubach the last ten circuits leading to the halfway fuel stop.

Decker retook third following the halfway mark as Hearn stretched his advantage over Laubach while Decker took over the runner up spot on lap 81, Hearn was more than four seconds ahead by a lap 91 caution. After the green, Hearn remained steadfast and took it all the way to the checkered with a 1.38 second win over Decker.

“That’s unbelievable,” Hearn said. “Sometimes you’re really lucky. That torque arm broke about the 10th lap. I can’t believe it stayed together. The track was definitely multiple lanes which is unusual for this event. This Octoberfest, it’s been so good to me. I love this place.”

Laubach held to the third position over Larry Wight who restarted on the rear following the opening lap spin. McCreadie ended in the fifth position. H.J. Bunting(15th) was sixth followed by Kenny Brightbill (11th), Ryan Godown(19th), Darwin Green and Richie Pratt Jr. to complete the top ten.

For the 27 big block modifieds, 2004 winner Sheppard, Hearn and Decker scored heat wins with the consolation going to Godown.

Josh Richards sped around the outside of polesitter Dylan Yoder in the opening turns to lead the late model field while McCreadie quickly took second before the first lap scoring. Richards easily distanced McCreadie by more than two seconds by lap five and entered the rear of the field by lap 12. Seventh starter Jason Covert took third from Yoder on the 17th circuit but four laps later, Stuhler arrived from 18th to pass Covert while McCreadie was more than four seconds ahead. Richards held the upper hand into the fuel stop with only a .44 second advantage over McCreadie at the halfway mark.

Just after the halfway restart, Richards suddenly slowed and pitted with and engine problems as McCreadie and Stuhler pulled away from Covert and Dan Stone.

Stuhler didn’t allow McCreadie any room for error with a lap 81 caution regrouping the field. Billy Decker who originally started fourth and dropped to 12th by halfway was on the move around the outside and advanced to pick off Covert on lap 36 while 2.35 seconds behind Stuhler. Decker began to close the gap while Stuhler’s assault on McCreadie became more intense until he found the opportunity to charge around and take the lead on lap 46. He pulled ahead 1.38 seconds at the checkered. Decker trailed McCreadie by two seconds with Covert and 12th starting Dan Stone completing the top five. Vic Coffey, from 23rd was sixth with Marvin Winters, Russ King, (25th), Yoder and Frankie Plessinger (14th) next.

“Everything worked our way,” Stuhler said. “I think if Josh had stayed in there, he definitely would have won the race. Timmy is a class act to race with and it was a lot of fun. I don’t think either one of us would have had anything for Josh if he would have stayed in there. Whatever happened to him, we’ll take it. Sometimes you get those things. It’s a good way to end the year.”

In the 32 late model entries, Yoder, Richards, McCreadie and Decker won heats while Larry Wight took the consolation event

Darrah beat pole sitter Greg Hodnett on the start while Lance Dewease also got past for second off the second turn as Darrah entered rear traffic by the seventh lap. Following a 12th lap yellow, eighth starter Fred Rahmer went three wide to grab the runner up spot before the yellow was displayed two laps later. Dewease retook the second spot from Rahmer while Donnie Krietz Jr. moved past Dewease on the 17th. By the 22nd circuit, Dewease was back to second and took the lead just prior to the yellow coming out the next lap when the fuel stop was made two laps early. .

Dewease showed Darrah the way while Rahmer trailed a distance back during the second half as the race remained under green and they were working rear traffic. Dewease slowed for traffic in turn three while Darrah had cleared three other back markers and quickly closed the gap and squeezed past to exit the fourth turn with the lead before the yellow was displayed. The caution flag again waved on laps 44, 46 and 49 but Darrah pulled away each time and on the final lap, won by .88 seconds over Dewease and Rahmer. Hodnett ended fourth over Kreitz. Sixth was Daryn Pittman with Mark Smith, Justin Henderson (15th), Tim Glatfelter (17th) and Chad Layton next.

“This is hard to say without being emotional,” Darrah said.” It s been a long year. I’ve thought about being able to get back out in a sprint car, let alone on the front stretch. I have to thank Kasey Kahne being behind me the whole time. To be able to jump in one of Kasey’s cars and win here means something. I’ve been coming here and watching races since I was little. This is the most exciting day race I’ve ever been a part of. To win against Lance and watching him all year..it was intimidating to sit back and see those guys run. It’s so awesome to be out here and getting 10 grand.”

McCreadie took off from the pole in the small block feature over Matt Sheppard and Billy Decker and soon had more than a two second lead over Sheppard and into rear traffic by lap 11. Seventh starter Brett Hearn advanced to take second from Sheppard on lap 15. Following three attempts to get lap 23 in the books, McCreadie continued to lead Hearn by ten lengths until cautions on laps 39 and 40 when Sheppard retired.

In the second half, McCreadie easily distanced Hearn by more than four seconds until traffic and a caution on lap 65 reset the field. Hearn began to close the gap with 15 circuits remaining as McCreadie got tied up with lapped traffic but then escaped until a final yellow came out on lap 93. Over the final seven laps, he pulled away 2.53 seconds to get the checkered over Hearn with Godown, Jimmy Horton and 17th starter Wade Hendrickson next. Rick Laubach, J. R. Heffner(21st), Willie Decker, Richie Pratt Jr (24th) and Shawn Reimer (18th) completed the top ten.

“Nobody knew what to do. We didn’t know if the track was going to rubber during that sprint race,” McCreadie said. “This small block car was really good. I don’t think it was me. I think about anybody could drive it and put it up front. It’s such a joy to drive for this 4* team. The yellows came up perfect for us.”

McCreadie, Sheppard, Meme Desantis and Decker were heat winners for the 33 entries while J. R. Heffner jumped from his big block after qualifying and then was the consolation winner

The next event on the Speedway schedule will be the Annual Award Banquet scheduled for Saturday December 4th where Frankie Plessinger will receive the accolades for his career first late model title while Kyle Lear has the honors for the late model sportsman division and Mike Warrenfeltz in the pure stocks.





HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY RESULTS

23rd ANNUAL OCTOBERFEST 350

BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS: 1.Brett Hearn, 2.Billy Decker, 3.Rick Laubach, 4.Larry Wight, 5.Tim McCreadie, 6.J. J. Bunting, 7.Kenny Brightbill, 8.Ryan Godown, 9.Darwin Green, 10.Richie Pratt Jr., 11.Billy Pauch, 12.Jimmy Horton Jr., 13.Kevin Hirthler, 14.Jimmy Horton, 15.Chic Cossaboone, 16.Brett Ballard, 17.Butch Tittle, 18.Brain Kressley, 19.Ryan Watt, 20.Roger Crysler, 21.Ronald Roberts Jr. 22.Matt Sheppard, 23.J. R. Heffner, 24.Wade Hendrickson, 25.Skip Moore, DNS – Rusty Smith



LATE MODELS: 1.Gary Stuhler, 2.Tim McCreadie, 3.Billy Decker, 4.Jason Covert, 5.Dan Stone, 6.Vic Coffey, 7.Marvin Winters, 8.Russ King, 9.Dylan Yoder, 10.Franke Plessinger, 11.Tim Wilson, 12.Wes Bonebrake, 13.Jonathan DeHaven, 14.Chad Hollenback, 15.Danny Kienitz, 16.Keith Jackson, 17.Kenny Pettyjohn, 18.Tom Decker, 19.Larry Wight, 20.Rick Eckert, 21.Josh Richards, 22.Jim Yoder, 23.Scot LeBarron, 24.Doug Eck, 25.Alan Sagi, 26.Jeremy Miller DNQ – Chuck Shultz, Chris Schneider, Mike Mort, Jim OHara, DNS – Ronnie DeHaven Jr., Lindsay Barton



SPRINTS: 1.Cody Darrah, 2.Lance Dewease, 3.Fred Rahmer, 4.Greg Hodnett, 5.Donnie Kreitz Jr., 6.Daryn Pittman, 7.Mark Smith, 8.Justin Henderson, 9.Tim Glatfelter, 10.Chad Layton, 11.Troy Fraker, 12.Daryl Stimeling, 13.Scott Lutz, 14.Robbie Stillwagon, 15.Stan Campbell, 16.Brian Ehrenzeller, 17.Cole Duncan, 18.J. R. Berry, 19.Lucas Wolfe, 20.Mar Ide, 21.Vern Wasson, 22.George Superick, 23.Keith Kaufman, 24.Curt Michaels, 25.Jay Reichard, 26.Bill Jones Jr. DNQ-Tim Higgens, DNS - Aaron Ott, Chuck Brion



SMALL BLOCK MODIFIEDS: 1.Tim McCreadie, 2.Brett Hearn, 3.Ryan Godown, 4.Jimmy Horton, 5.Wade Hendrickson, 6.Rick Laubach, 7.J. R. Heffner, 8.Willie Decker, 9.Richie Pratt Jr., 10.Shawn Reimer, 11.Frank Cozze, 12.Kevin Albert, 13.Darwin Green, 14.Gary Wagner, 15.Chic Cossaboone, 16.Brett Kressley, 17.Dave Dubois, 18.Matt Sheppard, 19.Frank Cozze Jr. 20.H. J. Bunting, 21.Jack Harnett, 22.Meme Desantis, 23.Billy Decker, 24.Kevin Hirthler, 25.Larry Wight, 26.Bryan Brown DNQ – Mark Frankhouser, Colt Harris, Roger Crysler, Derek Berkley, Brad Brightbill, DNS – Rick Ryder, Tom Miller