Williams Grove Speedway
Hubbard outruns Eckert, wins at Williams Grove
Hubbard takes the checkers. (pbase.com/cyberslash)
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (June 7) — Miniseries points leader Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., drove by veteran Rick Eckert of York, Pa., Tuesday at Williams Grove Speedway to grab a 40-lap victory in the fourth round of the seven-race Appalachian Mountain Speedweek presented by CenturyLink. | Slideshow
Hubbard, who entered the race with a 62-point lead, set quick time, won his heat race and then collected $5,000 for the feature victory, his first-ever on the 3-year-old miniseries.
“This is like a perfect night," the 19-year-old Hubbard said. "The car was awesome all night."
After overtaking Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa., on the second lap, the third-starting Hubbard worked on Eckert for the next 14 laps before finally pulling off an inside pass as the pair exited the fourth corner with 16 laps down.
Hubbard raced clean and easy to the victory over the final half of the race, feathering his car’s throttle around the half-mile oval.
A three-car race for third dominated race action during the final 20 laps as Duane Harbaugh, Gary Stuhler and Dylan Yoder dueled for the spot lap after lap until Yoder finally sealed the position with five laps to go. Stuhler quickly followed him through and the pair then raced door to door over the final laps.
A caution flag with one to go threatened to mix up the battle at the front but not so in the end as the top five ended up Hubbard over Eckert, Yoder, Stuhler and Jason Covert.
Notes: Hubbard's Beitler Enterprises team fields a Rocket Chassis with a Cornett powerplant and sponsorship from Reliable Painting, Salisbury Door & Hardware and Trinity Transport. ... Pat Cannon won the night's feature race for 358 sprints. ... The Late Model miniseries heads to Lincoln (Pa.) Speedway on Wednesday for the fourth annual Charlie Grinestaff Memorial, a $7,000-to-win event. ... Limited Late Models are also on the card at Lincoln.
Appalachian Mountain Speedweek @ Williams Grove: (1) Austin Hubbard, (2) Rick Eckert, (3) Dylan Yoder, (4) Gary Stuhler, (5) Jason Covert, (6) Gene Knaub, (7) Duane Harbaugh, (8), Kenny Pettyjohn, (9) Vic Coffey, (10) Coleby Frye, (11) Jamie Lathroum, (12) Jeremy Miller, (13) Jimmy Mars, (14) D.J. Myers, (15) Jim Bernheisel, (16) Kenny Trevitz, (17) Jerry Bard, (18) Dan Stone, (19) Gregg Satterlee, (20) Mike Lupfer, (21) Kyle Lear, (22) Jim Yoder, (23) Steve Campbell, (24) Nick Dickson. Fast qualifier (among 49 cars): Hubbard, 20.602 seconds. Heat race winners: Miller, Coffey, Harbaugh, Hubbard. Consolation winners: Dickson, Mars.
