Travis Calhoun and Nick Hoffman were the big winners in the first night of the Troutman Tribute at Bedford Friday night. Calhoun’s Semi Late win was worth $1000 while Hoffman picked up $12,500 for his EMod win.
The Semi Late event started with a bang as a huge pile up on the backstretch marred the first lap. On the restart, Bill Replogle brought the Semi Late field to the green with Calhoun in hot pursuit. The front pair drew a crowd as Bob Jay joined in along with a fast closing Nick Bechtel. Jay threatened for the lead but his Ford died in a cloud of smoke on lap nine
Bechtel moved into second and took up the challenge as the three ran in a knot for several laps. Close racing caused the three to tangle and Bechtel spun on lap 14. On the restart, Calhoun made the move on Replogle and took over. Spike Moore, who joined the crowd late, got by Replogle a lap later and chased Calhoun to the finish. Replogle salvaged third while Dave Brown and Mike Desch completed the top 5. Desch came from 16th in the field.
The antsy EMod field saw several restarts and cautions in the first two laps. Pole sitter Nick Hoffman led the field through the slowdowns, and when the field settled down he ran away. Lap after lap, as the event went all green after lap 3, Hoffman social distanced himself from Adam Stricker, Dave Stremme and Dave Hess.
Easily dancing through heavy lapped traffic, Hoffman lapped all the way up to tenth place running Eddie Carrier in the 39 lap event in romping to the big win. Stricker led Stremme, Hess and Austin Holcomb across the line.
KC Burdette, Holcomb, Stricker, Drake Troutman, Mike Altobelli and Jesse Wisecarver won the heats for the 67 EMods in attendance. Hoffman won the dash for the 6 fastest timers.Carl McKinney and Steve Axtel won the twin B mains.
A special event for the non qualifiers completed the evening and Mitch Thomas was the winner.
SEMI LATE 20 LAPS 1 Travis Calhoun, Spike Moore, Bill Replogle, Dave Brown, Mike Desch, Tony Catlett, Bill Pluta, Brian Weyandt Jr, Greg Hainsey, Josh Bumberger, Laura Chamberlain, Jarrod Brown, Jeremy Fama, Chris Wolfe, Dennis Collins, Josh Gustaf, Robert Williamson, Nick Bechtel, Bob Jay, John Miller, Kyle Weyandt, DNS Cale Martin, Shawn Shoemaker Willy Ling
EMOD 39 LAP 1 Nick Hoffman, Adam Stricker, David Stremme, Dave Hess, Austin Holcomb, Kyle Strickler, Jesse Wisecarver, Mike Altobelli, Drake Troutman, Eddie Carrier, Jonathan Taylor, Garrett Stewart, KC Burdette, Nate Young, George Dixon, Seth Daniels, Phil Jeffries, Steve Axtell, Jarrod Spalding, Nathan Looney, Colton Shaw Nolan Dalton, David Green, Carl McKinney, Joel Watson, Ryan Ayers,
EMOD NQ 15 LAP 1 Mitch Thomas, Ty Rhodes, Troy Loomis, Rick Hulson, Cody Oliver, Jerry Foster, Todd Neiderer, Evan Taylor, Dennis Perigo, Brandon Householder, Jeff Sollinger, Alyssa Rowe, Ray Kable III, Travis Creech, Dacron Powell, Blaine Sellers, Justin Milburn, Tommy Hughes, Michael Wilheim. Brent Rhebergen, TJ Dehaven, DNS.. Mike Potosky, Jacob Marker, Brd Kling