HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Kyle Lee drove his way to the super late model triumph in the third annual Frank Sagi Tribute on Sunday evening at Hagerstown Speedway.
Polesitter Jason Covert and Marvin Winters paced the field from the front row, and Winters powered into the lead in his throwback of Tom Peck’s “Fireball 40.”
A caution for a multi-car pileup quickly negated Winters’ lead, but he was able to maintain his position over Covert following the restart, until he slowed going into turn four on the seventh lap.
Covert inherited the lead following the stoppage for Winters, but another multi-car incident following the restart bunched the field back up.
This time, Covert had Lee to contend with, and on lap eight, Lee drove underneath the potent No. 72 machine for the lead off of turn two.
Lee began to stretch out his lead by a two second margin at the halfway point, and then began navigating traffic on lap 19. The Mercersburg, Pa., driver maneuvered his No. 2t through the back markers to keep Covert at bay and take the checkered flag.
“I was really sad for what happened to Marvin,” Lee said. “I’m not exactly sure what happened, but that put us in a good spot on the next restart with Covert, and we just got lucky. I’m glad he chose the top lane and we were really working on the bottom. He kind of missed going into turn one and two, and that was it, man. The car was really, really good tonight.”
Covert held on to second, fending off a fast-closing Trever Feathers coming from 10th to finish third. Rounding out the top five were Gene Knaub and Tyler Bare.
Scott Palmer picked up the late model sportsman win after battling Derick Quade for the lead in the closing laps.
Michael Warrenfeltz won the pure stock feature.
Longtime fans will recognize the name Tom Peck. The 66-year-old from McConnellsburg, Pa., former racer was the special guest of honor for the 2019 Frank Sagi Tribute.
A feature winner of 171 races, Peck won 43 of them at Hagerstown along with two track championships in 1980 and 1986. Peck’s final feature win at Hagerstown came on September 5, 1988 before departing the dirt world for NASCAR where he finished fifth in BGN points during the 1990 season. His final race competed in was in 1995.
Logan Wagner made his super late model debut behind the wheel of the Coleman Farms No. 72, and had a tough time adapting, but put forth a valiant effort to make the show. He was awarded a provisional where he started 25th, and finished in 19th after falling out of the race.