Before a huge fair week crowd, Robby Black scored the big Late Model win at Bedford Friday night. Long time a fixture in area Limited racing, it was Black’s first ever Bedford Late Model win. He became the 140th different winner at the track’s long history.
After the Sunday rain out of the scheduled first night of fair racing, extra divisions were added to the Friday program, making a five division extravaganza. Justin Weaver put up a furious challenge on the track and then won the Limited event in the tech line. Drake Troutman won the Emod event, Bob Jay claimed the Semi Late event and Denny Pittman closed out the evening with a Pure Stock win.
Rob Black’s Bedford season has been star crossed with broken equipment and crashes along the way. But his low point average earned him an up front start for the fair event and he made the best of it. He shot by DJ Troutman at the start and never looked back on the field.
Matt Sponaugle got by Troutman for second on lap twp and gave chase but the guys on the move were Andy Haus and Jeff Rine. By the first caution, Haus was fourth behind Troutman, and Rine was up to fifth.
Three quick cautions closed the field between lap 5 and lap 9, but Black survived each restart. Haus, Rine and Tyler Bare all made the top five but no one was able to close on Black. Rine gave the fans a thrill as he did a wild 360 spin in turn two bringing out the caution. But he never stopped on the track and track officials called it a quick and blameless caution event.
Haus and Rine both shot by Sponaugle on lap 16, and both closed definitely on Black in heavy lapped traffic over the next few laps. The three ran together at the front thrilling the fans for several laps until Black broke free of traffic and ran off over the last five laps, claiming the popular win.
Car owner and former Bedford promoter Jim Leidy, viewing the event from the stands, jumped on a Motorcycle with Rick Singleton and made a victory lap before joining Black in the jubilant Victory Lane. Haus, Rine, Sponaugle and Bare completed the top five. Wayne Johnson and Black won the heats.
Donnie Farlling was the early Limited event leader in an event which was wildly stopped on lap three. On that lap, Dale Claycomb blew up on the front stretch, igniting a huge car fire until Claycomb was able to stop the car on the back stretch. That caused a long red for track cleanup.
Farlling was able to lead Kadden Smith through several early caution events, as George Dixon, from eighth and Justin Weaver from 13th were climbing forward. Dixon took second on lap 11 and Weaver also got by Smith a lap later and they took off after Farlling. Dixon took the lead on lap 14 with Weaver in tow. Farlling got into the wall on lap 17, setting up a late race dash to the finish.
Dixon had control over the last three laps, But Weaver gave him fits, On the last lap, Weaver went way outside to effect the pass, falling just a few feet short at the line. But Dixon’s carwas found to have a deck height well out of spec and lost the event in the tech line, giving Weaver the hard fought win. Curtis Heath, Brad McGinnis, Smith and Clinton Hersh were the top five. Smith and Farlling won the heats.
Bob Jay made it look easy as he led flag to flag in the Semi Late event. Jesse Snyder ran up to second on lap two and chased Jay to the finish. Most recent winner Bill Replogle came from deep in the field to join the lead group, but his effort stalled at fifth. At the finish it was Jay, Snyder, Hainsey, Travis Calhoun and Replogle.
Jamie Kohan led the first EMod lap, but Drake Troutman got by on lap two. From that point on it was all Troutman, as the Hardinge racing team and Evan Taylor gave chase. Mike Altobelli roared from eighth to second by lap three but never posed a threat to Troutman. Taylor and Brian Duffy traded third several times before Taylor secured the spot. Kohan was fifth. Troutman and Altobelli won the heats.
The Pure Stock finale started off with a bang as Laura Chamberlain got sideways in turn two and almost the entire field balled in in the mayhem. After the long red flag delay, Denny Pittman found himself on the front row and he made the best of his good fortune. He grabbed the initial lead over the diminished field, and then held off a 5 car pack for the duration . Dalton Ritchey, Kevin Weyandt, Kyle Weyandt, Josh Frankenberry and Dakota Foor completed the top six. Pittman and Frankenberry won the heats.
LATE MODEL 25 LAPS 1 Robbie Black, Andy Haus, Jeff Rine, Matt Sponaugle, Tyler Bare, Chuck Clise, Wayne Johnson, Jayme Beck, Travis Cottle, Darrass Deneen, DJ Troutman, Nathan Lasalle, Dave Troutman, DNS Andy Fries.
LIMITEDS 20 LAPS 1 Justin Weaver, Curtis Heath, Brad McGinnis, Kadden Smith, Clinton Hersh, Brian Lowery, Dylan Lewis, Taylor Farrling, Greg Cornell, Eddie Cornett, Brad Feight, Bailey Johnson, Greg Moore, Donnie Farlling, Devin Weyandt, Ryan Seger, Travis Wilson, Nryan Benton, Ron Bottenfield, Dale Claycomb DQ George Dixon
EMOD 18 LAPS 1 Drake Troutman, Mike Altobelli J, Evan Taylor, Brian Duffy, Jamie Kohan, Andrew Swope, Joe Pluta, Justin Milburn, Amber Mills, Sam Reeder DNS Mike Meck, Alyssa Rowe
SEMI LATE 15 LAP 1 Bob Jay, Jesse Snyder, Greg Hainsey, Travis Calhoun, Bill Replogle, Kyle Weyandt, Brian Weyamdt Jr, Chris Chamberlain, Mark Patterson, Scott Sturtz, Tom Warren, Chris Wolfe, Dillon Wilson, Brad Benton, Dave Whetstone, Mike Benton, Chubby Childers,
PURE STOCK 15 LAP 1 Denny Pittman, Dalton Ritchey, Kevin Weyandt, Kyle Weyandt, Josh Frankenberry, Dakota Foor, Barry Weyandt, James Foor, DJ Donivan, Charlie Clise, Matt Shaffer, Nathan Gilliland, Laura Chamberlain, Shawn Shemaker, Erik Weyandt, Travis Group, Kyle Deneen, DNS Mason Replogle.
