Bedford Beats The Rain; Hersh Beats The Field

With rain all around the area, including a short rain delay at the track, Bedford completed another program Friday.  Among the happiest racers were Clinton Hersh and Darian Ritchey who each took their first ever Bedford wins in Limited and Pure Stock events.

.   In other  action, Brian Weyant Jr scored the Semi Late win,  Mike Altobelli took the EMod win and Javid Fairall  grabbed the 4 Cylinder finale.

Clinton Hersh, who has spent  time  in both Limited  and Late Model action at the track brought his Limited for the show and aced the field.  He grabbed the lead at the start and ran off from the field over the first few laps.    Although slowed by a few early cautions he zoomed away from the field on each restart. 

But by about lap 12, chasers Kyle Lear and Kyle Hardy, who had come from 11th were noticeably closing the distance.  By lap 15, it was a threesome at the front but things changed in a hurry.

When the gang encountered lapped traffic in turn 4, Hersh got through but Lear and Hardy did not, resulting in a wild crash on the front stretch which collected 5 cars.

After the cleanup, Hersh outran new second place runner Shawn Shoemaker to capture his first ever Bedford win.   Shoemaker took second at the line ahead of Matt Parks who had started 10th in the event, Mike Walls and Barry Miller, who had started behind Parks.  Lear and Shoemaker won the heats.

Limited action started early as the first lap of the first heat featured a wild 6 car crash which saw Randy Burkholder flip through turn one.  Burkholder, Matt Williamson and Devin Weyandt were unable to start the feature.

Weyandts occupied the first three starting spots in the Semi Late event and it was Brian Jr who led at the start.  He pulled out to an early lead over a pesky Rick Potter and Nick Bechtel.

Mayhem broke loose on lap 5 as seven cars piled up coming off turn four, wiping out the middle of the field.

On the restart, Weyandt found himself still holding off Potter but Nick Bechtel had joined in the chase.  He got by Potter on lap nine and gave Weyandt fits but Weyandt held on for the win.  Bechtel finished second ahead of Potter Kyle Deneen and Kyle Weyandt.  Erik Weyandt and Potter won the heats.

Mike Altobelli got the jump on Donnie Farlling to lead from the start in the EMod event.  He pulled out to a safe lead early ahead of the 58 team of Farlling and guest driver Drake Troutman.

But late in the event Altobelli’s car began to show smoke and the 58s began to noticeably close. But Altobelli hung on for the win ahead of Troutman, Farlling, Spike Moore and Brandon Hoover  Altobelli and Troutman won the heats..

Kyle Beckett was the early Pure Stock leader but he drew a crowd at the front. First Charlie Clise took up the chase then Darian Ritchey joined in but eventually the top five ran in a mob.

Ritchey got by Clise for second on lap 8 as the tension in the gang mounted.    Coming off turn 4 on lap 12 the whole group crashed together and Beckett took a wild ride wrestling for control as others were caught up in the action.

In the mayhem,  Ritchey emerged as the new leader and Derek Hinish  weaved his way through to take second as the crashing continued.  Ritchey then held off Dalton Weyant who got by Hinish on the last lap to take second for the win.  Hinish, Charlie Clise and Beckett completed the top 5   Dalton Weyant and Clise won the heats.

Recently unretired Tom Brady showed his pre retirement form as he led the 4 Cylinder event from the start.    But visitor James Fairall closed in the late stages and grabbed the lead on the last lap to score the win.   Shawn Smith and Javid Fairall  also got by Brady on the last lap.  Brady and Josh Corbin completed the top 5.    Smith and Fairall won the heats.

As the 4 Cylinder winner pulled up on the stage,  rain, which had threatened all evening began to fall.

LIMITED LATE MODELS 20 LAPS   Clinton Hersh,  Shawn Shoemaker,  Matt Parks,  Mike Walls,  Barry Miller,  Ryan Sager,  DJ Myers,  Tim Snare,  Spike Moore,  Ray Ciccorelli,  Matt Murphy,  Kyle Lear,  Kyle Hardy,  Adam Sanders,  Eric Cronise,  Brian Lowery,   DNS  Randy Burkholder,  Matt Williamson,  Devin Weyandt

EMOD 20 LAPS  Mike Altobelli,  Drake Troutman,  Donnie Farlling,  Spike Moore,  Brandon Hoover,  Ridge Bookwalter,  Scott Heath,  Ryan Dolan,  John Whitfield,  David Green,  Amber Mills,  Bill Vanmeter,  Harry Hendershot.,

SEMI LATE 15 LAPS   Brian Weyandt,  Nick Bechtel,  Rick Potter,  Kyle Deneen,  Kyle Weyandt,  Dave Brown,  Travis Calhoun,  Erik Weyandt,  Cody Jarvie,  Dillon Isenberg,  Garrett Keifer  Bailey Johnson, Isiah Miller,   Greg Hainsey,  Jason Geeseman,  Bob Jay,

PURE STOCK 15 LAP   Darian Ritchey,  Dalton   Weyant,   Derick Hinish,  Charlie Clise,  Kyle Beckett,  Denver Dishong,  Chubby Childers  David Heining,  Barry Clark,  Madison Miller,  Jay Talley,  Franklin Foor,  Dominic Weyandt,   Braydale Bauman,  Mark Shope,  Brock Bunn,    DNS  Brandon Proudfoot,  Brad Bookwalter

4 CYLINDER  12 LAP  James Fairall,  Shawn Smith,  Javid Fairall,  Tom Brady,  Josh Corbin,  Colin Welsh,  Todd Price,  Cody Hetrick,  Chris Graybill,   David Moore,  Matt Kauffman,  Matt Jones,  Collin Martin,  John Diehl, DNS   Raymond Goss,     Neveah Helsel.

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