Legendary Hilltop Kicks Off The 2015 Season And Debuts New Class

Matt Chalfant

The Legendary Hilltop Speedway in Marietta Ohio, took the green flag on their 2015 racing season in a big way on Saturday April 4th with the running of the 2nd annual “Frostbuster 30’s”. Following heavy rains that would eventually lead to a flooded infield on Thursday and into Friday afternoon, the staff at the Legendary Hilltop Speedway made the decision to postpone the action and run the special event on Saturday night. The Saturday night special event for “The Top” was highlighted by great racing action throughout all classes in attendance, featuring the very popular 30 lap features for AMRA Late Models, Modifieds and the debut of the ARMA sanctioned Sport Mods class, all in front of a record crowd since the track opened in 1963!

The AMRA Late Model’s fast time qualifier was Zanesville Ohio’s Devan Moran who won multiple races at Legendary Hilltop in 2014. Moran would continue his strong showing later in the evening as he would go on to pick up the victory in his heat race over Winchester Ohio’s Nick Latham. The second Late Model heat would feature another fast paced battle as Derek Doll would pull away from the field to capture the heat race win over Tyler Carpenter and Sonny Conley who would have an intense battle for 2nd place throughout the heat. The last heat race was captured by Kyle Thomas who outran veteran Ed Shuman and the rest of his heat field on his way to secure a 3rd place starting spot in the $2,000 to win feature race.

The AMRA Late Model “Frostbuster 30” lived up to the anticipation as the race would showcase an action packed shootout on the ¼ mile track. Pole setter Devin Moran would take the early lead and hold the spot throughout the early and middle stages of the race. Derek Doll would follow in Moran’s footsteps throughout the early portion of the race and challenge for the lead on multiple occasions until a big moment of the race occurred when leader Moran spun following contact with a lap car. Moran who would retake his spot, would pull away on the restart as Doll would relinquish second place to Nick Latham. Once in second, Latham would chase down Moran and as the race reached its final stages, Moran and Latham would exchange the lead 4 times in the final 2 laps and following Moran’s turn 4 slide job on the final lap, in which Latham would cross under and drag race to the finish line to capture the win. The feature was a competitive race throughout as the top 8 cars in the field would finish within 6 seconds of the leader.

The AMRA Modified’s portion of the night began with KC Burdette capturing the fast time for the Modifieds, putting him on the pole of the first heat in which he would win over veteran Robbie Evans. Heat number two would see young Tyler Evans capture a front row starting spot in the feature as Evans would outrun Tanner Wilson. The third and final heat race for the modifieds was a very exciting one as 2014 Legendary Hilltop track champ Kenny Johnson and Rick Venham would battle for the top spot until Venham outdueled Johnson down the stretch of heat race number 3.

AMRA Modified’s Frostbuster 30 feature race would see KC Burdette jump to an early lead before the caution would fly as Tanner Wilson would come to a stop due to contact from a 3 wide battle for position. Following the caution Burdette would continue his dominance of the race, which would see battles throughout the field such as Kenny Johnson’s run from mid pack, as he would battle his way past the Evan’s racing team of Tyler and Robbie until the final stages of the race which would see a late race restart following a multicar pileup. Despite Johnson’s efforts on the restart, Burdette would pull away from the field but the action was not over as Tanner Wilson, who drove from the tail, would pass both Tyler and Robbie Evans and secure the 3rd position as KC Burdette would pick up the Frostbuster title.

For the first time ever, the AMRA sanctioned Sport Mods would race at the Legendary Hilltop Speedway. Featuring a field of 11 cars for their inaugural event, young Cole Perine would capture the first heat race after a battle with Gary Gould distancing themselves from the rest of the field. The second heat race would see Charlie Martin earn the win and a front row starting spot over Jammi Gillian and Tj Roush.

The AMRA Sport Mod’s first feature race would be a dandy as Cole Perine would lead the field to their first ever AMRA sanctioned green flag. Perine would keep the lead briefly as many drivers including Charlie Martin and Gary Gould would exchange the lead throughout the 15 lap race. Following a late race restart, Booger Garnes who started on the tail of the field, would pace the field into the final stages of the race, just as Cole Perine moved past Charlie Martin for second and set his sights on Garnes and the top spot. Perine would catch the leader on the last lap, and in turn 3 make a move for the win which would lead to a caution involving Garnes and leave his (Perine) car unable to continue. On the 1 lap restart shootout, Garnes would defend the top spot and capture a very exciting and well-earned first feature victory in the AMRA Sport Mods.

Legendary Hilltop’s “6 and Under” class feature race, would see a multiple feature winner from 2014 Dennis Adkins, continue his winning ways as he would win over Denzil Barker Jr and veteran of the sport Jeff Rankin. In the street stock class, Chad Dotson would prevail over CJ Dotson in the return of the street stock class to Legendary Hilltop for the 2014 season!

Legendary Hilltop Speedway will be back in action on their regularly scheduled Friday night April 10th with a regular night of racing at the legendary track on route 7 between Belpre and Marietta.