By Andy Marquis
BUDDS CREEK, Md. (July 27, 2009)—For the second night in a row, Jamie Lathroum broke while leading. This time, it put DJ Myers in the driver's seat with 2 laps to go.
Justin Gilroy drew the pole and Ed Pope, Sr. drew the shotgun starting position for the Strictly Stock feature that would get the features underway at Potomac Speedway with weather threatening. Pope got around Gilroy to lead the first lap. He was quickly pressured by Jimmy Jesmer, Jr in car #47. After a quick caution for Gilroy, Kyle Vantassel began to apply enormous pressure of Jesmer for second. Vantassel made the pass for second on lap 10 and began to reel in Pope for the lead. As those guys battled, a spectacular show of nature was taking place in the very near distance. Rain and lightning was very much threatening the evening's racing program. Vantassel was unable to get close enough to make a move allowing Ed Pope, Sr. to win the 20 lap feature.
With weather fast-approaching, track officials made the decision to move the Super Late Model feature up right behind the Consolation Heat in an attempt to get the race in. The decision to move the main event, a 51 lap Super Late Model feature, up eliminated the dash race that would set the top 10 starters.
Kyle Lear and Jamie Lathroum started on the front row for the Vernon Harris Memorial, the main event on Saturday night's racing program. Lathroum, on the outside line, edged Lear to lead the first lap and then cleared him the next time around. Lathroum was able to take off and drive away. The first caution came out on lap 17 when Dale Hollidge spun in turn two. Lathroum was leading over Lear and Jason Covert at this juncture of the event. The second and third place cars both had trouble on the lap 18 restart. Covert's car slowed on the back stretch and he took it to the pits while Kyle Lear looped his car around out of turn four bringing out the caution. Lear and Covert's troubles moved DJ Myers to second, Jim Yoder to third, Austin Hubbard to fourth and Booper Bare to fifth.
Booper Bare made quick work of getting around Hubbard on the restart. Scott Cross spun off of turn two on lap 20 to bring out the third caution. Caution came out on lap 23 for the fourth time of the race, debris was the cause. At this point, there was no change inside the top 5. Caution came out again just after the restart when Scott Cross, Roland Mann, Kyle Lear, Devin Friese and Jeff Pilkerton got stacked up in the corner of turns three and four. The next restart was clean, and Booper Bare got by Yoder for third. The sixth caution came out on lap 30 when Jeremy Miller's car stalled in turn two.
Miller was able to get off the track quickly setting up a 20 lap dash for the win with Lathroum leading over Myers and Bare. The seventh caution came out just after the green flag dropped for a wreck involving Scott Cross and Dale Hollidge. Cross was able to drive away, Hollidge was not. Safety crews got Hollidge's car off the track as quickly as they could because rain was only a matter of minutes away. Caution came out on lap 42 when Kyle Lear and Larry Ramsey did a textbook synchronized spin in the corner of turns three and four. Lathroum continued to show the way with no change in the top-five. Caution came out again on lap 44 for Matt Quade's single car spin in turn four. Jamie Lathroum, who wrecked Friday night while holding a big lead, started to pull away from the field before Hollidge brought out the 10th caution of the event on lap 49 setting up a Green-White-Checkered finish. With two to go, just like Friday night, Jamie Lathroum again wrecked on the backstretch while leading. That set up another attempt at a Green-White-Checkered finish with DJ Myers leading over Jim Yoder and Booper Bare. DJ Myers captured the checkered flag in the Vernon Harris Memorial, his second Potomac Speedway SLM feature win of the year and his first win since March.
"The cautions really weren't helping us any." Myers bottom-lined. "The longer we ran green the better the car got." Myers winning run was once again aided by Lathroums misery. "He (Lathroum) had the car of the weekend as far as I'm concerned. He's fun to race with and I'm real sorry about his bad luck, but I've always said it's better to be lucky than good." Myers was quick to praise his car owner in victory lane. "I can't thank Greg Gunter and PPM chassis enough." Myers said. "We work real hard at this deal and the results are starting to show."
Ed Pope took command early on in the Limited Late Model feature. An early wreck brought out the red flag. Kenny Geer slammed the outside wall hard in turn four and had to be taken to a nearby St. Mary's County medical facility for observation. He was able to get out of the car on his own power, but he was clearly shaken up to say the least. With rain pouring down, that was it for the evening.
Results
Super Late Models: 1. D.J. Myers, 2. Jim Yoder, 3. Booper Bare, 4. Austin Hubbard, 5. Nick Dickson, 6. Kirk Ryan, 7. Andy Anderson, 8. Randy Burkholder, 9. Darryl Hills, 10. Scott Cross, 11. Larry Ramsey, 12. Matt Quade, 13. Ray Kable Jr, 14. Devin Friese, 15. Frankie Plessinger, 16. Jamie Lathroum, 17. David Williams, 18. Dale Hollidge, 19. Kyle Lear, 20. Roland Mann. 21. Jeremy Miller, 22. Jeff Pilkerton, 23. Deane Guy, 24. Jason Covert (DNQ) Pat Wood, Skip Hare, Harold Dorsey, Bo Feathers, Deuce Wright
Strictly Stocks: 1. Ed Pope Sr, 2. Kyle Vantassel, 3. J.T. Bowie, 4. Rusty Jones, 5. John Hardesty, 6. Larry Fuchs, 7. Mark Wroble, 8. Mike Maske, 9. Kevin King, 10. Ray Hutchins, 11. Al Joliffe, 12. Justin Meador, 13. Mark Chapman, 14. Ray Bucci, 15. Zach Mattingly, 16. Nabil Guffey, 17. John Kalin, 18. James Sparks,19. Justin Gilroy, (DNS) Ricky Douglas, (DQ) Jimmy Jesmer Jr.