Harris wires the Bridge for Virginia Sprint Series win

By Jim Haines  NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. (April 17) – The first dirt race of the year for the Virginia Sprint Series was an exciting one as defending champion Mike Leraas made his way to the front and fought off race-long chal­lengers and a failure at the last lap but held on for the Saturday win at Natural Bridge Speedway.  Matt Mullins and Chris Ware paced  the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field to green. Ware was out first with Leraas, Bill Rice and Jerald Harris giving chase. Leraas got by, leaving Rice and Harris to fight with Ware for second. Ware got high in turn two with Harris getting by Rice to go after Leraas and Rice in a solid third.  A quick spinner tightened up the field after they had caught the back of the field. Leraas was off again and Harris was right on him with Rice staying tough in third.  The top two went after it lap after lap until coming down for the white flag Leraas started to smoke badly. But even with [Read More]

By Jim Haines  HAGERSTOWN, Md. (May 24-25) – Scott Ellerman used his outside front row starting spot to the best possible outcome Saturday night, staying smooth and never letting challengers move him off his line to the finish of the East Coast Nationals main event at Hagerstown Speedway. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car checkers were good for $1,000. Ellerman, who admitted to not having much luck at the draw, had run third in the final heat and was left with the number two pill and outside pole start. “This win means a lot,” said Ellerman, who beat fellow Pennsylvania Sprint Series regular Ken Duke to the finish by maybe a car length. “We’ve had motor trouble and we’ve had car trouble. It’s been real frustrating. We definitely got our confidence back.”  Christian Rumsey, Steven Kenawell and Jonathan Jones rounded out the top five in the holiday weekend special, co-sanctioned by PASS, the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series and the Virginia Sprint Series.  Jacob Gomola and Ellerman paced the field to green, with Ellerman grabbing the lead [Read More]

By Jim Haines HAGERSTOWN, Md. (Aug. 5, 2023) – Hometown driver Dylan Shatzer streaked to heat and feature wins in the Saturday night IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car show at Hagerstown Speedway. Twenty-four cars took to the Hub City oval in the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series and Virginia Sprint Series co-sanctioned event. Shatzer and Ryan Lynn paced the field to green with Shatzer low and Lynn high, but before the field could even settle down, Lynn coasted to a stop with mechanical issues. On the restart, Shatzer took off with Reed Thompson and Stevie Kenawell close behind. Shatzer was trying to run away as Thompson and Kenawell were keeping in touch, but even as traffic came in to play the track was wide with many groves it wouldn’t hold up Shatzer. It all went wrong for Kenawell as he slid to a stop with a few laps to go, giving Thompson one more shot at the win. On the green, Shatzer took off clean and Thompson stayed close, but not close enough to mount a charge [Read More]