HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Derick Quade has come close to winning a Late Model Sportsman feature a few times in his career, but the driver hailing from Mechanicsville, Md., finally saw the checkered flag while leading to score his first Late Model Sportsman win at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday.
Quade came from sixth to take the lead from veteran Scott Palmer on lap 13 of the 20-lap feature event following a restart with a topside pass off of turn two down the backstretch.
With four laps to go, another restart was needed, and Quade fended off Palmer’s challenge on the last lap to hang onto victory.
“It’s never easy here. We’d always start out good here, but could never finish it off for some reason. This place has been a struggle for a long time, and I’m just super excited to get this one. This is awesome,” said Quade.
Rounding out the top five were James Lichliter, Dan Zechman and 12th-place starter Taylor Farlling.
Michael Altobelli scored the series season opener for the Mid Atlantic Modifieds in race that had a tough time getting started. But once it got rolling, Altobelli battled Ray Kable for several laps before taking command and going away to his third career win at Hagerstown.
Finishing third was former Mid Atlantic Modifieds series champion Brad Kling, followed by Mike Corbin who came from 13th on the grid to finish fourth, and fifth place finisher Carl McKinney.
The Pure Stock and Hobby Stock divisions each raced in a split feature format. Jeremy Tinsman and Wayne Hawbaker each scored pure stock feature win, while Brady Daniels and Craig Kline took home the checkered flags in hobby stock.