Troutman Celebrates Bedford Opener
4 min read
April 14th, 2018
Dave Troutman rose to the occasion and scored the big Late Model win as Bedford opened the 2018 season Friday night. For long time Bedford racer Troutman, it was his third career Late Model win but the first in over a decade, the last coming in 2007. Justin Weaver,Bill Replogle,, Mike Altobelli and Garrett Watkins joined Troutman as happy winners in the wild opening day festivities.
Pill draw set the Late Model feature lineup in the opening day action, and it was the Troutman family front row for the start. Father Dave Troutman got the jump on DJ and led the first lap. But four cautions flew in the first two laps as the antsy field couldn’t get settled.
Troutman pulled away on each restart, Jeff Rine blasted by DJ Troutman on lap three, followed by Dan Angellichio. Once the field settled down and ran ten consecutive green laps. Rine hounded Troutman but couldnt get by. Angellichio was all over Rine in the early laps, actually taking the second spot on two occasions, but each time Rine recovered.
At the finish, Troutman ran to the win, followed by Rine, Angellichio, DJ Troutman, Chuck Clise, Colby Frye, Dylan Yoder, Gene Knaub, Matt Sponaugle and Justin Kann. Sponaugle, Rine and DJ Troutman won the heats,
Occasional Bedford visitor Mike Pegher excited the crowd early in heat race action. Pegher had a huge lead in his heat when a motor grenaded, sending out a huge trail of smoke until he got pitside.
Justin Weaver scored his first Bedford feature win in Limited action., Weaver drew the pole for the event and led the distance. He was chased to the finish by Eddy Cornett who scored his best career Bedford finish. Ryan Sager came from the pack to score third, ahead of Greg Moore and Donnie Farlling who started 16th . Seger, Moore and Mike Smith won the heats.
The Semi Late event featured wild action and a semi surprise winner. Chris Chamberlain had the pole and was the early leader. But he attracted a mob at the front. Jesse Snyder got by on lap 5 but he couldnt shake the mob.
After applying pressure for four laps, Bob Jay got by Snyder and took over. But Snyder did not fade, keeping the pressure on Jay with Bill Replogle closing fast.
But the unexpected happened on lap 13. Coming off turn four, Jay’ s car shut off. Snyder, too close to react, slammed into Jay and then the inside wall, as Replogle slid by for the lead.
Over the remaining two laps, Replogle held off the Weyandt family, Kyle and Brian Jr, for the win. Botd Brode came from 10th to score fourth. ahead of Chamberlain. Brian Weyandt and Snyder won the heats.
Semi Late action started early as Willy Ling got into the wall and wildly flipped the length of the front stretch on the first lap of the first heat race of the season.
Vic Vandergrift led the Emod event early but he was caught by Mike Altobelli Jr. Altobelli hounded Vandergrift until he slid by on lap 5. After that Altobelli was clearly the class of the field, pulling out to a large lead for the duration.
First time visitor Troy Johnson came from deep in the field to collect third, but could not get by Vandergrift at the end. At the finish it was Altobelli, Vandergrift, Johnson, Drake Troutman and Jonathan Taylor. Dave Brown and Johnson won the heats
The evening closer 4 Cylinder event was wild. Rusty Martin led the event for the first eight laps.until Casey Fleegle ran him down The pair rubbed coming down the front stretch with Fleegle suffering a flat tire. But Martin only made it to turn three before heavily impacting the wall. That left a surprised Kyle Frankenberry in the lead, but Garrett Watkinsslid by and took the win. Steve Frederick scored hisd best ever finish at second ahead of Fleegle and Michael Carlyle. There were no heats for the diminished field.
LATE MODEL 25 LAPS 1 Dave Troutman, Jeff Rine, Dan Angellichio, DJ Troutman, Chuck Clise, Colby Frye, Dylan Yoder, Gene Knaub, Matt Sponaugle, Justin Kann, Travis Stickley, Wayne Johnson, John Weaver, Larry baer, Travis Cottle, Andy Haus, Jamie Beck, Scott Richwine, Nathan Lasalle, Dan Stone, Ernie Millon, Matt Parks, DNS Mike Pegher
LIMITED 20 LAPS 1 Justin Weaver, Eddie Cornett, Ryan Seger, Greg Moore, Donnie Farlling, Kevin Probst, Mike Smith, Devin Frey, Taylor Farlling, Curts Heath, Mike Murphy, Brad Feight, Devin Hart, Devin Weyandt, Garrett Walls, Clinton Hersh, Tim Murphy, Travis Wilson, Briam Lowery, Matt Nailer, Ron Bottenfield, DNS Kadden Smith, Dan Zechman, Dale Claycomb,
EMOD 18 LAPS 1 Mike Altobelli Jr, Vic Vandergrift, Troy Johnson, Drake Troutman, Mike Shoemaker, Jonathan Taylor, Bruce Dreistadt, Dave Brown, Ryan Peer, John Whitfield, David Green, Beau Aikey, Rick Singleton, Alyssa Rowe, Mike Potosky, DNS Justin Milburn
SEMI LATE 15 LAP 1 Bill Replogle, Kyle Weyandt, Brian Weyandy Jr, Boyd Brode, Chris Chamberlain, Josh Bream, Mark Patterson, Scott Sturtz, Bob Jay, Jesse Snyder, Cale Martin, Tom Brady, Laura Chamberlain, Dave Whetstone, Greg Hainsey, DNS Chubby Childers, Willy Ling
4 CYLINDERS 12 LAP 1 Garrett Waykins, Steve Frederick, Casey Fleegle, Michael Carlyle, Kyle Frankenberry, Rusty Martin, Chris Reckner, Todd Price, Jeremy Miller, Adam Bluebell
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