In an event dedicated to former Late model star and car builder Gary Martz, Matt Cosner dominated the Late Model event at Bedford Friday night. It was Cosner’s second Bedford win of the season and 13th of his career at the track and he pocketed over $4000. In other action, Brian Weyandt Jr took the Semi Late win while Austin Burt claimed the 4 Cylinder finale.
After a season of starting deep in the pack after poor qualifying events, Cosner nabbed a front row start in this pill draw event. He made good in his luck and blasted into the lead on the very first lap. Matt Sponaugle gave chase early until Jeff Rine slid by for second on lap 11, just before the caution flew when Shawn Jones banked off the wall in turn one.
Cosner ran off from Rine and the field before a crash involving Wayne Johnson and Chuck Clise again halted the action on lap 14. On that restart, Kyle Hardy, making a rare Bedford start in the 11 car, arrived from his ninth place starting spot and gave Rine a serious challenge.
Hardy actually shot by Rine on the outside a lap later but Rine rallied back to retake the spot on the next lap. Kyle Lee joined that battle for a few laps to make it interesting, but at the front it was all Cosner, as he romped to a 4 second advantage at the finish.
Rine scored another fine finish in second, clinching the 2022 track title in the process. Hardy fell back late to take third ahead of Lee and Bryan Bernheisel. Bernheisel and Lee won the heats.
It was a happy time in Semi Late Victory Lane as Brian Weyandt Jr scored the popular win. Martz made a lot of headlines in his driving career driving a Late Model for the Weyandt family and it was a reunion on the stage.
The Semi Late event got off to a rough start as it took three shots to get a good start. On that start, Rick Potter was the leader but he attracted a crowd at the front. As they all battled, Weyandt caught and slithered among the crowd to appear in second on lap 4. A lap later he slid by Potter for the lead. Potter held off the mob until the next caution flew on lap 8.
That caution was pivotal to the running order as for the second week in a row, the engine in Tony Catlett;s car dramatically and smokily exploded in the middle of the pack in turn 1. Many entered the smoke field but few emerged unscathed as Bill Replogle and John Miller received serious damage and retired along with Catlett.
From that point it was relatively calm as Weyandt led Potter to the finish. Jesse Snyder, Greg Hainsey and Travis Calhoun, who came from 15th starting position completed the top 5. Bob Jay and Hainsey won the heats.
After the wild earlier action, the 4 Cylinder finale was rather calm. Austin Burt grabbed the lead at the start from the pole and held off all challengers in the event which ran off 11 laps all green. On that lap. Colin Welsh, while running second, had a mechanical issue and heavily impacted the front stretch wall.
On the one lap shootout, Burt again held sway, leading Shawn Smith, Chris Graybill, Dalton Long and Jay Talley across the line. Graybill and Welsh won the heats.
LATE MODEL 30 LAPS 1 Matt Cosner, Jeff Rine, Kyle Hardy, Kyle Lee, Bryan Bernheisel, Nathan Lasalle, Chuck Clise, Jeff Miller, Alex Labbe, Tim Smith, Wayne Johnson, Spike Moore, Matt Sponaugle, Shawn Jones.
SEMI LATE 15 LAP 1 Brian Weyandt Jr, Rick Potter, Jesse Snyder, Greg Hainsey, Travis Calhoun, Nick Bechtel, Bob Jay, Bill Replogle, Cale Martin, Bradlee Means, Tony Catlett, John Miller, Kyle Weyandt, Laura Reilly, Laura Chamberlain, DNS Erik Weyandt, Jarrett Posley.
4 CYLINDER 12 LAPS 1 Austin Burt, Shawn Smith, Chris Graybill, Dalton Long, Jay Talley, Luke Hribar, Derek Long, Todd Price, Josh Borland, Kershawn Dempsey, Howard Crawford, Richard Athey, Matthew Jones, Colin Welsh, Steve Delozier, Ernie Hewitt, DNS Jeff Marlett, Jimmy Delozier, Hayden Kline
