5.15.21 Sharon Speedway Results
By Mike Leone
May 15, 2021
(Hartford, OH)…After the first cancellation of 2021 last week, Sharon Speedway returned to action on Saturday night for race three of the 92nd anniversary season. The first “Super Series” event of the year saw George Hobaugh-Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Cars, Curt J. Bish-Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stocks, Garrett Krummert-HTMA/Precise Racing Products RUSH Sportsman Modifieds, and Will Thomas III-Whelen Econo Mods pick up victories on Krill Recycling and Mark Thomas Ford Night. A big field of 102 race cars filled the pits for the four-division show.
Back on July 7, 2018, George Hobaugh finished runner-up to Dave Blaney in the All Star Circuit of Champions “Lou Blaney Memorial” at Sharon. Then at the very next Sprint Car event at Sharon on August 4, Hobaugh was victorious for the very first time in his “410” career. Since then, it’s been up and down for Hobaugh, who has bounced around running full-time with the All Stars, central Pennsylvania, and regional events failing to return to victory lane.
On Saturday night, Hobaugh took the lead on lap two from 2009 and 2010 track champion, Jack Sodeman, Jr., and never looked back dominating the 30-lap Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Car feature. The $3,000 victory ended nearly a three-year winless drought for the 38-year-old Chicora, Pa. driver of the Krill Recycling/Laskowski Plumbing/Over the Top Truck Wash/Hobaugh`s Auto Parts-sponsored #40. Hobaugh’s margin of victory was 1.932 seconds over sixth starting A.J. Flick, who backed up his Friday night runner-up finish at Lernerville Speedway with another P2.
Sye Lynch raced from 10th to third. Darren Pifer’s fourth place was a career best “410” finish. Carl Bowser was fifth. Brandon Spithaler was the hard charger going 15th to sixth. Sodeman dropped to seventh. The father-son of Brent and Brandon Matus were eighth and ninth respectively. Leyton Wagner completed the top 10. Bob Felmlee set fast time overall against the 30-car field in qualifying with a lap of 14.714. Sodeman, Flick, and Kekich won the heat races, while Lernerville winner, Jason Shultz, went 10th to first in the last chance B main.
2009 track champion Curt J. Bish is now two-for-two in 2021 once again out-dueling Chris McGuire and holding off standout Chris Schneider for the 20-lap Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stock win. With 27 cars on hand, drivers raced for the highest purse structure with Bish once again earning $700 for his sixth career win.
The 37-year-old Oil City, Pa. driver of Bob Tarr’s Pioneer Electric/Double E Landscaping & Fencing/RK Virgile Scrap Metals/CMFS/HD Power Clean-sponsored #29 started back in ninth, but worked his way forward and rolled around McGuire on the lap 17 restart and took the win by a margin of 0.666 of a second over Schneider in his season debut.
Chase Lambert improved on his career best Sharon finish of fifth on opener night with a third after starting 11th. Hunter Exley was fourth. McGuire dropped to fifth after leading the first 16 laps. Jamie Scharba was the hard charger going 23rd to eighth. Heat wins went to Bobby Whitling, Randy Wyant, and Steve D’Apolito.
Defending Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Sportsman Modified Weekly Series Champion, Chas Wolbert, had started the 2021 season off red hot winning opening night events at Tyler County, Sharon, and most recently Raceway 7 on Friday night. Wolbert’s bid for four straight wins ended on Saturday night as Garrett Krummert laid down a beating in the 20-lap HTMA/Precise Racing Products feature winning by 9.061 seconds.
Krummert, the 33-year-old who now calls West Middlesex, Pa. home, started seventh and raced past Rob Kristyak in turn two on lap five. Once in front, Krummert went unchallenged in the MD Landscaping/Jerry Schaffer Racing/Turn 4 Toilets-sponsored #10s. It was Krummert’s seventh career RUSH Sportsman Modified win to go along with a Big-Block Modified victory at Sharon.
While Krummert extended his lead, the battle was on for second between Kristyak and Wolbert through lapped traffic. Wolbert, who started sixth, passed Kristyak for the spot on lap 11. The two continued to go at it for the rest of the duration. In fact, the two banged wheels on the final lap with both spinning in turns three and four, but both kept going as Wolbert crossed the line in second ahead of Kristyak. Pole-sitter Jacob Wolfe dropped to fourth at the finish in his 2021 debut. Justin Shea advanced from eighth to fifth. Completing the top 10 were Kole Holden, Ben Easler, Tony Tatgenhorst, Brandon Ritchey, and Kyle Martell. Heat winners over the 22-car field were Greg Porter, Shea, and Krummert.
On opening night it was 12-time RUSH Late Model winner, Dennis Lunger, Jr., winning his career first in the Econo Mods. On Saturday night in week two it was 15-time RUSH Late Model winner Will Thomas III capturing his career first in the division. Thomas, who is also running Super Late Models and RUSH Late Models in 2021, captured his first win of the year by taking the lead on lap six in the 20-lap Whelen feature.
Thomas, 45 of Sharpsville, Pa., drove his Hallman Originals/Colonial Metal Products/Colonial Slitting Industries/Motorstate Distributing/955 Automotive-sponsored #9 to the win by a comfortable margin of 2.179 seconds. Thomas’ overtook Nate Young on a restart on lap seven, which propelled him to his 20th overall win at Sharon as he also has four UMP Modified victories.
Young and Double battled hard for second with Double nailing down the spot. On opening night, Double went 18th to second and on Saturday night ninth to second. Ty Rhoades, who started 21st, got by Young late to finish third and earned the hard charger. Young slipped back to fourth after leading the first six laps. Kyle Layton was fifth. Heat winners over the 23-car field were Andy Buckley, Young, and Thomas.
Coming up next Saturday (May 22) will be the return of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Cars for the first time since 2007 and will be joined by the Terry Bowser Excavating RUSH Sprint Cars in their first appearance of the season. Reserve ($39) and advance general admission tickets ($35) are on sale through the WoO at https://mpv.tickets.com/?orgid=52711&agency=WRG_SNG_MPV&pid=8894471#/event/8894471
Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Cars (30 laps, $3,000 to-win): 1. 40-George Hobaugh [2][$3000]; 2. 2-A.J. Flick [6]; 3. 42-Sye Lynch [10]; 4. 23-Darren Pifer [4]; 5. 11-Carl Bowser [13]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler [15]; 7. 23JR-Jack Sodeman, Jr [1]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [17]; 9. 13-Brandon Matus [12]; 10. 38-Leyton Wagner [16]; 11. 35W-Jeremy Weaver [14]; 12. 11J-David Kalb, Jr [20]; 13. 12J-Jonathan Jones [22]; 14. 19-Joe Kubiniec [23]; 15. 4W-Eric L. Williams [24]; 16. 6-Bob Felmlee [3]; 17. 08-Dan Kuriger [9]; 18. 5K-Adam Kekich [5]; 19. 7K-Dan Shetler [7]; 20. 20B-Cody Bova [8]; 21. 35-Jason Shultz [19]; 22. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau [11]; 23. 16-Gerard McIntyre [18]; 24. 76-Davey Jones [21]. DNQ: 13B-Steve Bright, 99-Cameron Nastasi, 901-Bob Lime, 66-Ken Rossey, 29-Michael Bauer, 55-Matt Sherlock
Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stocks (20 laps, $700 to-win): 1. 29-Curtis J. Bish [9]; 2. 55-Chris Schneider [8]; 3. 22-Chase Lambert [11]; 4. 23HJR-Hunter Exley [14]; 5. 63-Chris McGuire [1]; 6. 00-Larry Kugel [10]; 7. 3-Paul Davis [7]; 8. 11s-Jamie Scharba [23]; 9. 7-Coleton Longwell [3]; 10. *15-Darr Diegelman [13]; 11. 67J-Jamie Duncan [20]; 12. 22B-Jesse Brock [22]; 13. 97-Tony Spaghetti [16]; 14. 6-Jamie Maxwell [26]; 15. 12B-Blake Scharba [27]; 16. 11T-Randy Wyant [5]; 17. 13J-Jordan Perkins [2]; 18. 44-Rusty Wheeler [17]; 19. 8D-Jonathan Davis [12]; 20. 24-Tyler Wyant [15]; 21. 7W-Bobby Whitling [6]; 22. 30’2-Tom Cantola [21]; 23. 12J-Joe Johnson [19] DNS: 84-Steve D’Apolito, 1R-Alan Dellinger, 21-Troy DeZarn, 25K-Mike Kerr.
HTMA/Precise Racing Products RUSH Sportsman Modifieds (20 laps): 1. 10s-Garrett Krummert [7]; 2. C3-Chas Wolbert [6]; 3. 00-Rob Kristyak [2]; 4. 7-Jacob Wolfe [1]; 5. 14s-Justin Shea [8]; 6. 2-Kole Holden [4]; 7. 02-Ben Easler [5]; 8. 63T-Tony Tatgenhorst [11]; 9. 1R-Brandon Ritchey [10]; 10. 8-Kyle Martell [3]; 11. JD57-Jordan Ehrenberg [12]; 12. 25-Greg Porter [9]; 13. 12-J.C. Boyer [18]; 14. 28J-Jacob Jordan [13]; 15. 29-Cole Edwards [16]; 16. 30-Brandon Albert [20]; 17. 16C-Amelia Clay [15]; 18. 571-Josh Ehrenberg [14]; 19. 333G-Dalton Gabriel [22]; 20. 16-Gary Haupt [21]; 21. 70B-Stephen Burns, Jr [19]. DNS: 119-Joe Gibson.
Whelen Econo Mods (20 laps): 1. 9-Will Thomas [3]; 2. 83-Jeremy Double [9]; 3. 28-Ty Rhoades [21]; 4. 42-Nate Young [2]; 5. 99L-Kyle Layton [6]; 6. 965-Andy Buckley [1]; 7. 4-George Vestal [18]; 8. 21-Jarrett Young [5]; 9. 19-Butch Lambert [8]; 10. 75-Travis Creech [23]; 11. 1-Vincent DePizzo [15]; 12. 262-Dale Reiser [20]; 13. 47s-Gary Sullivan [19]; 14. 17-Jason Gracey [7]; 15. 89-Junior Mechling [10]; 16. 12K-Kasey Lam [14]; 17. 13-Jordan Simmons [11]; 18. 35-Rick Wilson [17]; 19. 22-Stone Lapcevich [13]; 20. 98-Keith Felicetty [16]; 21. 2-Scott Burk, Jr [4]; 22. 23-Gary Olson [12]; DNS. 12P-Troy Pinch
Sharon Speedway is owned by the Blaney, Weller, and Kirila Families and is a 3/8-mile dirt track located on Custer-Orangeville Road in Hartford, Ohio near the intersection of Routes 7 & 305. For more information, check out the website at www.sharonspeedway.com or call 330-772-5481. Become a fan of Sharon Speedway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonspeedway and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sharonspdwy.