Kyle Lee Scores Bedford Win
4 min read
Holding off a furious last lap challenge, Kyle Lee scored the win in Late Model action Friday at Bedford. Driving a car owned by former Bedford promoter, Doug Timmons, he became the 151st ever Bedford Late Model winner.
While Lee held off a last lap challenge, Devin Hart successfully executed one to grab the Limited win, his first of the year. Travis Calhoun scored the Semi Late win and Barry Clark took a surprise win in Pure Stock action before Colin Welsh finished the evening with the 4 Cylinder victory.
For the third consecutive Bedford event, the pill draw line up featured track champion Jeff Rine on the pole. Rine got the jump at the start but Kyle Lee roared by to take over in turn two of lap one. Lee was clearly ahead when the caution flew a lap later when Brian Booze slammed the turn one wall.
That would be the only break in the 25 lap action and Lee shot out ahead of the field on the restart. Rine chased but seemed to lose ground every lap. Meanwhile opening day winner Matt Cosner was roaring forward from his 11 th starting position.
As the laps ticked off Rine tried a few different lines around the track and began to close on Lee, and when Lee began to enter lapped traffic, Rine closed dramatically with Drake Troutman in tow. As the pair took the white flag, Rine dove to the inside and drew even with the leader in turn one, but Lee played a lapped car perfectly and Rine’s challenge was rebuffed.
Lee’s win was the first in any Bedford division for a Timmons owned car after 32 years. Rine scored second ahead of Troutman, the third consecutive event where he started on the pole and was the bridesmaid. Matt Cosner came all the way to fourth by lap 11 but without the aid of a caution never challenged the leaders. Tim Smith took fifth. Rine and Troutman won the heats.
Like the Late Model event, the Limited event went pretty much caution free, but it was that single late race caution that made the difference. Devin Weyandt was the early leader as Matt Parks and Devin Hart trailed. Lap after lap the three ran in order with Weyandt pretty much unchallenged.
But it all changed when Brian Lowery slammed the wall on lap 19. Given new life, Hart made a desperate effort on the restart on Weyandt. The pair went side by side down the backstretch before Hart drew ahead for the dramatic win. Parks, Bryan Benton and Matt Murphy trailed. Weyandt won the heat.
Nick Bechtel was the early Semi Late leader as the front pack formed, But Bechtel brought out the caution as his car failed on lap 6, handing the lead to Travis Calhoun. Calhoun was hounded the remainder of the distance by Bill Replogle, Greg Hainsey and a fast closing John Miller but held on to score the win. Hainsey slowed dramatically on the last lap. Brian Weyandt Jr came from dead last in the field to take fourth. Bechtel and Erik Weyandt won the heats.
The Pure Stock event was clearly the most dramatic race of the night. Barry Clark took the early lead but the whole field ran in a herd. The whole mid pack mob erupted as the field completed lap two as crashing started. In the mayhem, Mason Replogle hit the wall and began a wild series of flips down the front stretch, a ride which culminated by landing on top of Charles Jones before one more flip as the car self-destructed. Replogle emerged uninjured but the car was destroyed.
After a long red flag period to clean up the massive debris field, action resumed. Kyle Deneen took the lead from Clark and held off a six car pack for the win. But in the tech line, since the engine in the 28 was not one of the sealed ones in the class, it was inspected and failed tech. That failure reinstated Clark at the top of the heap, and the whole field moved up a spot. The new order had Clark the winner followed by Derek Hinish, Dalton Weyant and Denver Dishong. Deneen and Charlie Clise won the heats,
Michael Boring led a herd of 10 4 Cylinder racers and rebuffed every challenge. Several times Colin Welsh drew alongside but Boring held on. But suddenly on lap 10, Boring slowed. Welsh and a few of the others shot by with Welsh scoring the win. Jay Talley, Josh Corbin and Shawn Smith trailed. Brian Livengood and Talley won the heats.
LATE MODEL 25 LAPS 1 b Kyle Lee, Jeff Rine, Drake Troutman, Matt Cosner, Tim Smith, Bryan Bernheisel, Jeff Miller, Chuck Clise, Travis Stickley, Colby Frye, Spike Moore, Wayne Johnson, Nathan Lasalle, Matt Sponaugle, Justin Kann, Brian Booze, DNS Clinton Hersh
LIMITED 20 LAP 1 n Devin Hart, Devin Weyandt, Matt Parks, Bryan Benton, Matt Murphy, Ryan Zork, Brian Lowery, John Seiler, Jim McBee
DEMI LATE 15 LAP 1 Travis Calhoun, Bill Replogle, John Miller, Brian Weyandt Jr, Kyle Weyandt, Erik Weyandt, Laura Chamberlain, Jeremy Fama, Greg Hainsey, Bob Torquato, Willy Ling, Chris Wolfe, Cale Martin, Nick Bechtel, DNS Laura Reilly
PURE STOCK 15 LAP 1 Barry Clark, Derek Hinish, Dalton Weyant, Denver Dishong, Charlie Clise, Dalton Ritchey, Anthony Fama, Brian Shingleton, Bill Shehan, Darrin Ritchey, Jim Frost, Zack Frost, Kyle Beckett, Kevin Weyandt, Cody Jarvie, Charles Jones, Anthony Troutman, Mason Replogle, DNS Cody Riggleman, Harlan Group DQ Kyle Deneen
4 CYLINDER 1 Colin Welsh, Jay Talley, Josh Corbin, Shawn Smith, Todd Price, Michael Boring, Ernie Hewitt, Dominic Shipley, Dalton Long, Adam Plubell, Jason Woods, Brian Livengood, Jimmy Delozier, Tyler Beckett, Matthew Jones, Richard Athey, Devin Iser, DNS Deanna Datillio
About The Author
