Mother Nature smiled upon Hickory Speedway this weekend. Everybody who came to the track brought reports of rain in their areas, but only a few drops fell on the Speedway. Gary Johns picked up his first win in the Stocks. Shawn Watkins won his first of the season in the 305 Sprints, as did Shawn Domhoff in the SMODA modified division and Jason Dolick in the Micros.
The Stock feature was
up first with Bob McConnell and Shaun Hooks on the front row.
McConnell took the initial lead, but Hooks lead from laps two
through six. In the mean time, Gary Johns had moved up from fifth
to second. He took over the lead on lap seven and held on until
the checkered flag, posting his first win. Gary Norman tried
to challenge on lap eight, but would have to settle for a second
place finish for the evening. Gary Miller made it a "Gary
Trio" in the top three. Terry Kroner finished fourth with
Rusty Moore in tow. Norman and Moore won the heat races.
Jeff Kasbee and Paul Long paced the 305 field. Long jumped into
the early lead with Goob Schuller challenging by lap two. The
battle between Schuller, Long and eventually Chris Matthews would
come to an end on lap seven when all three cars were involved
in a turn four tangle. Before another lap was in, the red flag
flew for Bubba Kapuchuck who nearly flipped his car off the track,
also in turn four. He injured his elbow in the incident, but
walked away from the wreck. That left Shawn Watkins the leader
with Maria Mayerchak second and Kasbee third. That's the way
they would come across the line at the finish as well. Matthews
posted the heat win.
The SMODA feature came trackside with Scott Jones and Dale Fuller
sharing the front row. Mike Anderson took the lead on lap one
from starting fourth. He held on until lap seven when Russ Dunn
took over after a restart. Dunn held the top spot for the next
seven laps, but Shawn Domhoff took over on lap fifteen and took
home the checkered flag. Dunn finished second. Jeff Covelli
worked his way from eight to finish third, followed by Joe Hopkinson
and Herm Myers. Heats wins went to Jones and Dunn.
Bryan Shimek and Tim Graham brought the Micro feature to the green flag. Shimek took the lead from the start, and it looked like he might nab his second win of the season until he fell off the pace at lap eight. Shimek had retained the lead through two cautions and a red flag, which flew for Nick Leech after he flipped his car coming out of turn four. He was uninjured. On the race's final restart, Shimek relinquished the lead to Jason Dolick who held on for his first Hickory win of the season. J.J. Kapuchuck was a strong second, followed by Brandon Casper. Chris Best charged his way up from starting eleventh to finish fourth with Nate Stein rounding out the top five. Shimek and Graham won the heat races.
STOCK CARS: 1. Gary Johns 2. Gary Norman 3. Gary Miller 4. Terry Kroner 5. Rusty Moore 6. Chuck Taylor 7. Jimmy Hooks 8. Shaun Hooks 9. Matt Rubright 10. Bob McConnell
305 SPRINTS: 1. Shawn Watkins 2. Maria Mayerchak 3. Jeff Kasbee 4. Paul Kapuchuck 5. Nathan Hines 6. Paul Long 7. Goob Schuller 8. Chris Matthews DNS: Arnie Kent
SMODA MODIFIEDS: 1. Shawn Domhoff 2. Russ Dunn 3. Jeff Covelli 4. Joe Hopkinson 5. Herm Myers 6. Dale Fuller 7. Chuck List 8. Ron Jaeger 9. John Strickler 10. Dave Strickler
MICRO SPRINTS: 1. Jason Dolick 2. J.J. Kapuchuck
3. Brandon Casper 4. Chris Best 5. Nate Stein 6. Tim Robertson
7. Pete Landram 8. Russ Kost 9. Eric Williams 10. Bryan Shimek