virginiasprintseries Archives

Duke is RaceSaver Sprint king at Hagerstown

By Jim Haines HAGERSTOWN, Md. (April 23, 2022) – After winning his heat race, Ken Duke raced hard all feature taking the lead with four laps to go and going on to the Saturday IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature win at Hagerstown Speedway. Twenty cars were on hand for the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series and Virginia Sprint Series co-sanctioned event as the red clay oval was perfectly smooth sticky and dust free. The feature lined up with Scott Lutz and Chris Humblet pacing to green with Lutz out first and Duke in with the rest of the field dicing for a spot. Lutz and Duke stayed on the bottom as 10th starting Jerald Harris found a high line to his liking and was a rocket as he made it to third by lap two. Harris swept into the lead on lap four up high, leaving Lutz and Duke to race for second with John Scarborough closing in. Laps clicked off as the track stayed great and Harris was flying out front by himself with Duke [Read More]

Late pass sparks Bolac in Virginia Sprint Series opener

By Jim Haines NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. (April 16, 2022) – Daren Bolac streaked by the race-long leader with a few laps to go for the Saturday night win in the 2022 season debut for the Virginia Sprint Series at Natural Bridge Speedway. The feature-only IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car event had Mike Keeton and Bolac on the front row of the fast banked oval they went green with Keeton out first and Bolac in tow. After a couple of quick cautions it went back green with the front two unable to get away from the field as Jerald Harris, Joe Leavell and Chris Humblet stayed within striking distance. Laps clicked off as Leavel got by Harris. The top three were getting very close as lapped traffic was coming up. Keeton was right on a car to put a lap down when Bolac made his move to the bottom and got to the lead. Keeton moved over to try to regain the lead at the same time Leavel popped over his tire and ending his night. Keeton [Read More]

Hubbard smokes foes for Virginia Sprint Series win

By Jim Haines SHENANDOAH, Va. (Sept. 25) – Billy Hubbard raced to the front like a cat with its tail on fire, then paced his right rear tire which he had smoking hard to the finish for his third Virginia Sprint Series feature win of the year Saturday at Shenandoah Speedway. Matt Mullins and Chris Ware were on the front row as the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car event went green with Mullins out first and Ware moving to the bottom. Jerald Harris was making a quick trip up high to the front right away and by lap two he was on Mullins and going by for the lead. With Harris out front and looking strong, Mike Leraas made it to second and was chipping away at the lead with Hubbard working through the field to third. As the halfway flags were shown, Leraas shot to the lead with Harris holding off Hubbard. Hubbard got by Harris and took after Leraas as Harris was having a tire go down causing him to slow. Hubbard was really [Read More]

Mullins flies to first Virginia Sprint Series checkers

By Jim Haines NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. (Aug. 7) – Matt Mullins joined the Virginia Sprint Series four years ago after having raced other divisions. But being from Iowa, he always wanted to race a Sprint Car and Saturday night fulfilled a life-long dream of not just racing Sprinters but winning in one. Mullins and Chris Ware paced the IMCA RaceSaver field to green with Mullins out first, Ware right behind and Mike Leraas and Daren Bolac racing for third. Mullins was really rolling out in clean air while Ware tryied to stay in touch. Bolac made it to third with Leraas fourth. Mullins was still out front flying as Bolac and Leraas advanced. Brandon McLain made his way to fourth as Bolac was closing in on Mullins, but laps ran out as the leader flashed under the waving checkered flag for his first feature win. Next week it’s off to The Greater Cumberland Raceway in Cumberland, Md., with the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series on Saturday night Aug. 14. Feature results – 1. Matt Mullins; 2. Daren [Read More]

Ware is fastest in Fast Friday finale

By Jim Haines ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (July 23) – It’s been a few years of top finishes but no wins since 2017 but that all changed as it was back in the Virginia Sprint Series winner’s circle for Chris Ware at Dixieland Speedway. Ware shot back to take the win in the final Fast Friday event of the year for the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car series at Elizabeth City. He and Matt Mullins paced the field to green with Mullins out first up high and Ware right behind with Daren Bolac in third. Ware kept on the pressure, Mullins bobbled off turn two and Ware shot to the front, bringing Jerald Harris with him on the bottom. Ware was smooth out front as Harris chased with Billy Hubbard now third and Mike Leraas fourth. Hubbard slipped and spun in turn two, resetting the field and giving them a chance at Ware but off he went again with Harris still second and Leraas third. The leader started getting into the back of the field as Harris [Read More]

Melair dominates IMCA RaceSaver Sprints at Hagerstown

By Jim Haines HAGERSTOWN, Md. (June 19) – Nobody watching Mike Melair would ever have known this would become his first win in an IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car victory Saturday at Hagerstown Speedway. Thirty cars vied in the event co-sanctioned by the Virginia Sprint Series, Pennsylvania Sprint Series and Laurel Highland Sprint Series and Melair tuned up for the main event with a dominating heat win. Melair and Jason Roush then paced the feature field to green with Melair out front up top and Mikell McGee falling in behind before a car got a little too sideways causing a few cars to get together. Once back to green, Melair was off again followed by McGee and soon Ryan Lynn was chasing them down in third. Lap after lap, Melair stayed smooth, never putting a wheel wrong even as traffic came up. Melair’s brother Domenic came through the field and was soon on Lynn for third and using the brother’s high line to do it. With laps winding down, Mike Melair and McGee were still staying [Read More]

Three RaceSaver series run Saturday at Hagerstown

HAGERSTOWN, Md. – The Pennsylvania Sprint Series will join two other IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car series this Saturday night for a Father’s Day Weekend special program at Hagerstown Speedway. PASS, the host Virginia Sprint Series and the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series will vie for supremacy June 19 on the half-mile track alongside Conococheague Creek in Washington County, Md. Four weeks ago, PASS regular Dave Grube invaded a VSS/LHSS co-sanctioned race at Hagerstown and came away with the victory. An earlier RaceSaver date was rained out. In 2019, VSS stalwart Jerald Harris was a winner, along with former PASS drivers Zach Newlin and Scott Ellerman. A large field of cars is expected Saturday, including Grube and the last two IMCA RaceSaver national champions, Ken Duke and Garrett Bard. Local entries are expected to include Donnie Hendershot, a PASS winner earlier this season, and Dylan Shatzer, a former LHSS winner at Hagerstown and a winner this season at Hesston Speedway. It will be Kids’ Hot Dog Night at the speedway, plus Dads will get $5 off general [Read More]

Grube leads the way to Hagerstown checkers

By Jim Haines HAGERSTOWN, Md. (May 22) – Dave Grube topped the 25-car field Saturday night in a Hagerstown Speedway event co-sanctioned by the Virginia Sprint Series and Laurel Highland Sprint Series. Donny Hendershot and Alex Schmiedel paced the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field to green and Hendershot out first but nobody was getting away. While leading on lap three, Hendershot slowed to a stop and Grube took over on the restart, bringing Brad Mellott with him. The laps went by quickly on the wide smooth oval as Grube and Mellott entered lapped traffic with Jerald Harris and Dylan Shatzer closing in. Shatzer got by Harris for third and was working on Mellott, allowing Grube to start inching away as the two raced for second. Shatzer got second and was making up ground as his line on the bottom was working better. Time ran out, however, as Grube flashed under the waving checkered flag for his second win of the year, the first coming on May 1 with the Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Shatzer, Mellott, Jeff [Read More]

Bolac flies to RaceSaver win at home track

By Jim Haines ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (May 14) – The first visit to his home turf at Dixieland Speedway this season had local fans happy as Daren Bolac swept the evening, winning his heat and leading ever lap of the Virginia Sprint Series feature Friday night. Chris Ware and Bolac paced the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field to green with Bolac out first with Mike Leraas and Ben McCall giving chase as the high line showed to be the fastest. Soon after, Dylan Shatzer, Billy Hubbard and C.J. Faison were after McCall for third. Bolac and Leraas inched away from the field as the third place battle raged lap after lap on the tricky, fast oval. McCall tried to close on Leraas but slipped up, spun and had to rejoin the back of the field, leaving Shatzer, Faison and Hubbard to continue to race for third. Bolac and Leraas stayed smooth to keep their space but Shatzer had to really rim ride to keep his advantage as he tried everything to close in but the [Read More]

Defending champion smokes Virginia Sprint Series foes

By Jim Haines NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. (April 17) – The first dirt race of the year for the Virginia Sprint Series was an exciting one as defending champion Mike Leraas made his way to the front and fought off race-long challengers and a failure at the last lap but held on for the Saturday win at Natural Bridge Speedway. Matt Mullins and Chris Ware paced the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field to green. Ware was out first with Leraas, Bill Rice and Jerald Harris giving chase. Leraas got by, leaving Rice and Harris to fight with Ware for second. Ware got high in turn two with Harris getting by Rice to go after Leraas and Rice in a solid third. A quick spinner tightened up the field after they had caught the back of the field. Leraas was off again and Harris was right on him with Rice staying tough in third. The top two went after it lap after lap until coming down for the white flag Leraas started to smoke badly. But even with [Read More]