STRONGSTOWN, PA (September 17, 2021): Dog Hollow Speedway concluded its regular season of racing Friday with a Late Model triple header, and nobody was happier than the traveler from Linden, VA, Kyle Hardy. Hardy romped to a $3,000 win, as he closes in on his thirtieth victory of the year. Although his triumphs have cut across the Super Late Model, Crate Late Model, and Limited Late Model genres, he only raced with the Supers this night, so he did leave something on the table for the other racers.

Benefiting from Hardy’s singular focus on the Tom Smith Memorial for the United Late Model Series were Michael Duritsky in the RUSH (Crate) Late Models and Shawn Shoemaker in the 358 Steel Block Late Models. Other winners were Brad Benton in the Pure Stocks and Dylan Young in the Mini Stocks.

“We really enjoy coming here, it’s one of my favorite tracks,” Hardy said enthusiastically. His last Super Late Model win at Dog Hollow came on June 29, 2019.

Dan Angelicchio and Hardy brought the ULMS racers to the initial green flag. Alex Ferree and Dylan Yoder were in the second row, with Michael Lake and Jason Miller right behind. Chad McClellan was paired up with Ryan Montgomery in row four. Clinton Hersh, who did double duty this night, had former Big Block Modified pilot Del Rougeux on his right for row five. John Weaver and Deshawn Gingerich made up row six.

Angelicchio and Hardy were battling for the lead on the opening lap, but the caution came out early, and often, to interrupt the flow of the event. While the racers were getting realigned for the second attempt at green, Ferree fell off the pace. He retired with a broken drive line and ultimately received the hard luck award for the night.

On the second try, Angelicchio switched his line and went to the top entering turn one, while Michael Lake dove to the bottom. But they left a gap just wide enough for Hardy to slip through. Hardy did not have much room to spare, but he did make the pass cleanly in the second corner to assume control.

While Hardy was able to maintain his advantage throughout, Angelicchio was never far away. He pressured the northern VA pilot at both ends of the track while keeping McClellan and Lake at bay. McClellan held third for most of the contest, but he and Lake got shuffled back on a restart with twenty-one laps complete. Taking advantage were Miller and Montgomery.

Miller began to close on Angelicchio with five to go and the fans were starting to wonder if the southern drivers were going to finish one-two. But Angelicchio carried the colors to the finish.

After Hardy, Angelicchio, and Miller came Montgomery. McClellan rallied to regain fifth. Lake, Yoder, Weaver, Derek Rogers, and Brian Bernheisel completed the top ten. Rogers was the hard charger, advancing twelve positions over the thirty laps. Weaver also received an award for being the highest finishing track regular.

The trio of heat races went to Angelicchio, Miller, and Lake. There was no B Main. Angelicchio was the fastest driver in the scramble to get the pole position.

In the RUSH Late Models, Chuck Bowie and Corey Neal occupied the front row, with Levi Crowl and Mike Laughard in the second. Mike Duritsky and his nemesis, Joe Martin, were in row three. Joe Moyer and Ramond Dellape had row four.

On the opening lap, Duritsky got into some water that had accumulated on the bottom of turn three and he slid up into Crowl, who spun. Duritsky’s car was damaged significantly, but he was able to keep moving and retained his position for the restart.

“I knew it was bad,” Duritsky said of the damage he sustained. The flapping body panel eventually damaged a support, which began to rub his tire. Diritsky could smell the rubber, but he soldiered on to get the win.

Laughard and Duritsky battled for the lead when the race got going again, but a caution negated Duritsky’s pass coming off turn four. Bowie got a better start on the third attempt, but Duritsky and Laughard were challenging.

Duritsky finally got control, followed by Laughard, Martin, Joe Moyer, and Bowie. A restart shuffled the racers in the top ten and the ensuing chaos produced a wreck between turns three and four that further jumbled the running order.

While Duritsky continued to lead, Martin began to flex some muscle. He reached second and then chased down the leader at the halfway mark. Martin grabbed the lead and began to pull away from Duritsky, who was getting the tire rub.

A caution was required with four laps to go when Rob Coffaro made a sudden left turn from the high side to enter the infield at the start/finish line. That caused the other racers to take evasive maneuvers, which were successful for the most part.

It took several more attempts to get the final laps in the books. Martin rolled into turn one on the high side each time, and Duritsky was coming hard on the bottom. Duritsky made the final lunge with just a lap or two to go, and he picked up the win.

Trailing Duritsky and Martin atthe checkers were Moyer, Bowie, and Crowl. Jamey Swank, Benjamin Scott, Mark Rend, Tim Snare, and Dellape completed the top ten.

Martin and Diritsky split the preliminaries. There was no B Main.

The 358 Steel Block Late Models turned out to be the most entertaining feature of the night. Paul Ivory and Shawn Shoemaker had the front row, with Chris Hackett and Clinton Hersh in the second. Robbie Black and Mike Blazer were in the third, followed by Devin Weyandt and Bryan Benton.

Ivory led early, while Shoemaker and Hackett went back and forth for second for most of the race. Ivory bobbled in turn four, and that opened the door for Shoemaker to get under him for the lead on lap sixteen.

Shoemaker had the point for the final restarts, and he was able to complete the remaining laps without challenge. Greg Moore advanced to second in the disjointed stretch run, followed by Hackett. Kyle Lear turned in a strong performance, coming from last on the starting grid to get the fourth spot. Hersh was fifth.

Benton, Rob Marhefka, Austin Stover, Ivory, and Eric Lucas completed the top ten.

Shoemaker and Ivory topped the heat races. There was no B Main.

Brad Benton held off Ron Banton in the Pure Stocks, with Dennis Collins, Tim Laughard, and Jeremy Zufall making top five runs.
Dylan Young triumphed over Michael Phillipson, Cody Young, Ashton Daughenbaugh, and Noah Swank in the Mini Stock feature, which got started with a bang when John Diehl flew off the back stretch and flipped violently. He was unhurt.

Dog Hollow Speedway will have a final race coming in October. The Mini Stocks will race for an enhanced purse and there will be an enduro to close out the racing action.

ULMS Late Models: Kyle Hardy, Dan Angelicchio, Jason Miller, Ryan Montgomery, Chad McClellan, Michael Lake, Dylan Yoder, John Weaver, Derek Rogers, Bryan Bernheisel, Clinton Hersh, Denny Fenton, Del Rougeux, Deshawn Gingerich, Josh Whetstone, Dylan Fenton, Andrew Wylie, Alex Ferree, Chad Homan, Ryan Christoff (DNS), Dave Blazavich (DNS).

RUSH Late Models: Michael Duritsky, Joe Martin, Joe Moyer, Chuck Bowie, Levi Crowl, Jamey Swank, Benjamin Scott, Mark Rend, Tim Snare, Raymond Dallape, Mike Laughard, Kyle Smith, Jr., Rob Coffaro, Jason Mullen, Corey Neal.

358 Steel Block Late Models: Shawn Shoemaker, Greg Moore, Chris Hackett, Kyle Lear, Clinton Hersh, Bryan Benton, Rob Marhefka, Austin Stover, Paul Ivory, Eric Lucas, Bernie Whiteford, LaVerne Ward, Devin Weyandt, Marvin Williams, Robbie Black, Mike Horne, Mike Blazer (DNS).

Pure Stocks: Brad Benton, Ron Benton, Dennis Collins, Tim Laughard, Jeremy Zufall, Bob Torquato, Mike Ball, Rich Anderson, Thomas Argent, Mike Benton.

Mini Stocks: Dylan Young, Michael Phillipson, Cody Young, Ashton Daughenbaugh, Noah Swank, Dustin Gibbons, Kala Varner, Cruz Daughenbaugh, Jamie Noel, Timothy Baker, Michael Sinclair, Adam Pletcher, Adam Ellis, Quinten Beeman, Michael Boring, Anthony Varner, John Diehl, Brayden Seippel (DNS).