Greg Hodnett rallied late to snag the big Morrall Memorial Sprint car show Sunday night at the Bedford Speedway. The show, a make up event after an early season rainout, was the only sprint car show at Bedford this year. In other action, Rance Garlock enjoyed Christmas in August with the Limited victory and Mike Lauffer took the 4 Cylinder night cap.
Mike Wagner was the pole sitter and early leader in the sprint car 30 lapper. He ran off and basically hid from the field through the first 12 green flag laps. Greg Hodnett ran to second ahead of Darryn Pittman but that pair never closed on the fleet Wagner.
A quick yellow for Brandon Spithaler on lap 12 closed the field but again Wagner ran off on the restart. Zipping through lapped traffic, Hodnett was beginning to close when Lance Dewease shredded a tire on lap 28 setting up a two lap shootout.
On that restart Hodnett was on the button, sweeping by Wagner in turn one and snagging the lead. Hodnett then led the field to the checkered flag. Wagner was second, followed by Pittman, Logan Shugart, Danny Holtgraver, Dan Dietrich, Keith Kauffman and Cliff Brian. Kauffman and Holtgraver won the heats.
Craig Perigo was the pole sitter and early Limited Late Model leader. Ron Bottenfield ran second but Tim Smith closed fast as the laps wore down. With the three at the front, Rance Garlock was fourth on the fateful lap 11, but that was the place to be.
On that lap, Garlock was just far enough behind to react when Perigo got sideways and collected both Bottenfield and Smith in a wild turn four crash. On the restart, Garlock held sway to record his second Bedford win of the season. Donnie Farlling ran second, ahead of Travis Calhoun, Perigo, who rallied from the rear and Scott Daniels. Smith and Perigo won the heats
Cale Martin was the early 4 Cylinder leader but it got wild up front fast. Dave Lamber came from 6th and Mike Lauffer arrived from eighth and made it a wild three way battle at the front. Martin and Lauffer traded the lead repeatedly with Lambert jumping in for 5 laps until Lauffer shot by for good. Martin and Lambert battled to the finish with Martin holding second. Lambert settled for third ahead of Tyler Beckett and Steve Frederick. Beckett and Lauffer won the heats.
SPRINT CAR 30 LAP 1 Greg Hodnett, 2 Mike Wagner, 3 Darryn Pittman, 4 Logan Schugart, 5 Danny Holtgaver, 6 Dan Dietrich, 7 Keith Kauffman, 8 Cliff Brian, 9 Logan Wagner, 10 Ralph Spithaler, 11 Lance Dewease, 12 Ryan Lynn, 13 Brandon Spithaler
LIMITED 20 LAP 1 Rance Garlock, 2 Donnie Farlling, 3 Travis Calhoun, 4 Craig Perigo, 5 Scott Daniels, 6 Eric Irvin, 7 Ron Bottenfield, 8 Chris Wilson, 9 Mike Altobelli Jr, 10 Tim Smith, 11 Josh Berrier, 12 Robby Black, 13 Nathan Lasalle.
4 CYLINDER 12 LAP 1 Mike Lauffer, 2 Cale Martin, 3 Dave Lambert, 4 Tyler Beckett, 5 Steve Frederick, 6 EJ Johnson, 7 Matt Diehl, 8 Phil Best, 9 Ron Valentine, 10 Kyle Beckett, 11 Ed Plummer, 12 John Diehl.