Photo Courtesy of WRT Speedwerx!
Hagerstown, Md. – With Race 1 of Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek presented by Harbaugh Amusements rained out, Hagerstown Speedway became the first race of the series and Jamie “The Jet” Lathroum was cleared for takeoff.
Lathroum, of Mechanicsville, MD, started third after a random draw of the top two from the four heats. Following Rick Eckert for the first 11 circuits and being challenged by Tim McCreadie in a three car battle, he blew around the top of Eckert and completely dominated the final 29 laps. He sped by the checkered 5.416 seconds ahead of McCreadie for his second consecutive Hagerstown win and became the first repeat winner in the speedweek series opener by J & S Auto Salvage of Hancock, MD.
“They had the best car I ever drove,” Lathroum said. “I saw McCreadie up top right before that caution. I figured there was something there and didn’t want him to get by me so I moved up there and actually the car felt better. It was the best thing I ever drove.”
Roy Deese Jr. was the quickest of the 46 entries around the Maryland half mile with a time of 19.525 seconds. With numbers taped inside the hats of eight children from the stands, the top two from the four heats randomly chose one of the children to discover his starting position. Deese chose the child with the #1 in his hat while Eckert got the #2.
Eckert jumped out to a lead over Deese but Lathroum was past him by the second lap and quickly closing while sixth starting McCreadie moved into third by lap three.
The first caution was on lap five when fourth running Jeremy Miller stopped just before the third turn of lap five and in another two laps, Stevie Long rolled to a stop in turn two. On lap ten, Marvin Winters stopped in turn four.
It was a three car battle up front but Lathroum decided it was time to move on and around Eckert he went and was in charge on lap 12.
Within five laps, he was more than three seconds ahead and arrived at the rear of the field with more than six seconds to the good when the next caution waved just after McCreadie had passed Eckert.
Lathroum easily pulled away on the restart and again was in a race of his own. Stretching his lead every circuit under green and to more than five seconds ahead, he cleared his first rear car on the 37th lap and got past another with one to go to tour the final circuit and arrive at the finish by 5.416 seconds ahead of McCreadie. Dan Stone, who came from 14th and was into third the final ten laps was still advancing but ran out of time.
“My guy has his arms apart, so I figured I was out there,” Lathroum said. “I tried to not make any mistakes and keep doing what I was doing. We put about the same set up in as last week and a little bit of fine tune and we went the right way. The past couple weeks, we’ve figured out something.”
“Lathroum was definitely the class of the field,” McCreadie said. “We just weren’t fast enough. We’ll go back to the drawing board and try again tomorrow night. The track was great tonight. “
“The car kept getting better and better,” Stone said. “It’s a shame we ran so bad in the heat. It was good for the feature. It was a good solid run for us.”
Eckert and Gregg Satterlee completed the top five while Deese ended sixth. Booper Bare, aboard the Harbaugh Amusement entry, came from 19th to claim seventh with Gary Stuhler, D. J. Myers, ninth after coming from 23rd ahead of 13th starting Jason Covert to complete the top ten.
Heats winners were Stuhler, McCreadie, Winters and Miller while Darryl Hills and Jerry Bard took the two B mains. Alan Sagi started as a provisional in honor of his father, Frank Sagi, the Hagerstown announcer for 39 years.
The latest news, results, photos, schedule or rule changes can be on the speedway’s website: www.hagerstownspeedway.com. Follow the speedway on Twitter and Facebook. Also check the website for any changes in weather conditions that may delay or cancel the program or contact the speedway office at 301-582-0640.
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN LATE MODEL SPEEDWEEK Presented by Harbaugh Amusement RACE #2 By J & S Auto Salvage, 40 Laps, 46 entries (Lap Leaders – Rick Eckert 1-11, Jamie Lathroum 12-40): 1.Jamie Lathroum, 2.Tim McCreadie, 3.Dan Stone, 4.Rick Eckert, 5.Gregg Satterlee, 6.Roy Deese Jr., 7.Booper Bare, 8.Gary Stuhler, 9.D.J. Myers, 10.Jason Covert, 11.Rusty Sites, 12.Kenny Pettyjohn, 13.Scott LeBarron, 14.Colby Frye. 15. Vic Coffey, 16.Keith Jackson, 17.TommyArmel, 18.Nick Dickson, 19.Alan Sagi, 20.Jerry Bard, 21.Darryl Hills, 22.Marvin Winters, 23.Steve Long, 24.Jeremy Miller, 25.Ronnie DeHaven Jr., DNQ-Jared Miley, Kenny Moreland, Ashley Barrett, David Williams, Jared Hawkins, Brady Smith, Devin Friese, Frankie Plessinger, Rick Elliott, Tyler Hershey, Keith Barbara, Steve Axtell Jr., Justin Kann, Mason Zeigler, Kyle Lear, Pancho Lawler, Trever Feathers, Ron Delano Jr., Brian Booze, Al Cheney, Danny Mitchell