TIMONIUM, MD

After being teased with a heat-race win over series dominator Donnie Mullen the week before, only to crash at the start of the final, Raun Wood (88, below) pulled out the stops and scored a pair of wins, in the Open A and Open Sportsman classes, and also topped the five-lap Dash For Gascard event at round four of the Mid-Atlantic Short Track Series, which doubled as round three of the 16th annual Kevin McNicholas Memorial Short Track Series. With the Hagerstown National slated to run the following night, Mullen chose not to compete on this night.

In the Open A contest, Wood put his Scott PowerSports-sponsored Honda into the lead, ahead of Jason Isennock (92G, above), Chris Klinefelter and Kayl Kolkman, and gradually pulled away.

The Open Sportsman event had Wood in front of Nick Henderson, Klinefelter, Isennock and Kolkman. Klinefelter took control of second on lap two, leaving the others to fight for third. Isennock took that spot on the eighth lap, with Kolkman following him across the line.

Like her mentor, Wood, Becca Zafia (16, above) had also crashed at the start of her final the previous week, but on this night she topped the Open B final. She held the lead out of turn two, ahead of Anthony Crabbe, Mike Sponseller and Albert Cook. The front four stayed very close throughout the final, with Cook getting under Sponseller going into turn one on the final lap for third.

Since this series started, and for most of the year, the 65 class has been extremely competitive. Things were no different on this night, as Nathan Reichert took his usual lead exiting turn two, with Chase Smith, Brandon Price and Chris Thomas behind him. Recently crowned 65 National champ Price was in second after one lap, and he started to close on Reichert. For the last half of the race, they ran side by side. On the final lap, they split around a lapper in turn three and crossed the line side by side, with Reichert winning by inches. Right afterward, Reichert plowed into the rear of a backmarker; both riders were okay.

After crashing hard entering turn three at the start of the 85 final, Price sat out the rest of the night. On the official start, Cameron Smith led Reichert, Bubba Fogle and Chase Smith. Reichert kept close to Smith most of the way, while Chase used the outside line to take third off turn two on the final lap.

Cameron also topped the 150 Youth class after taking the lead from Jeremy Dugan on the fourth lap.

Chase's older brother Colton Smith scored a closely fought 125 win, over Jason Cole and Joe Dragunas, with about a bikelength between each rider. Colton also topped the 250 Sportsman final on his Triple J Stables/Don's Kawasaki-sponsored Kawasaki, over Joey Alexander, Samantha Bergman and Matt Langrehr.

Most of the Sportsman riders also contested the always-close 250 B final. Joey Alexander (14, above) led that group, with Matt Langrehr (15), Colton Smith (32) and Crabbe following. Bergman took third off turn two on the third lap, but fell in the same spot on lap six.

Scott Mullen won his third Over 40 final, taking the point from John Henderson, Brett Friedel and Damian Kocovinos. The first three were very close for most of the race, but the order stayed the same.

Chris Hathaway (84, above) led John Henderson (29), Albert Cook and Jack Stedding off turn two in the Over 30 final. Cook fell in turn one on the fifth lap, while Henderson took the lead on the back straight on the seventh lap, with Hathaway staying very close to the end.

Results

50 SHAFT: 1. Nicholas Crone (Yamaha); 2. Alex Thomas (Yamaha); 3. Matthew Scibek (Yamaha); 4. Ethan Stroh (Yamaha); 5. Darrin Davis (Yamaha).

50 CHAIN: 1. Jacob Gast (KTM); 2. Burke Marsiglia (KTM); 3. Ethan Stroh (Cob); 4. Jordan Bennett (Honda); 5. Rainey Pacis (Honda).

50 (7-8): 1. Nicholas Crone (Cob); 2. Jacob Gast (KTM); 3. Alex Thomas (KTM); 4. Matthew Scibek (KTM).

65: 1. Nathan Reichert (KTM); 2. Brandon Price (KTM); 3. Chase Smith (Kawasaki); 4. Chris Thomas (Suzuki); 5. Karl Wheeler (KTM).

85 (7-11): 1. Cameron Smith (Suzuki); 2. Nathan Reichert (Yamaha); 3. Chase Smith (Kawasaki); 4. Bubba Fogle (Honda); 6. Dylan Almony (Suzuki).

85 (12-15): 1. Josh Owens (Kawasaki).

125 2-STRK/150 4-STRK: 1. Colton Smith (Kawasaki); 2. Jason Cole (Suzuki); 3. Joe Dragunas (Kawasaki); 4. Jeff Standiford (Honda); 5. Austin Tippett (Kawasaki).

150 AIR-COOLED YTH: 1. Cameron Smith (Suzuki); 2. Jeremy Duggan (Yamaha); 3. Chase Smith (Suzuki); 4. Dylan Almony (Honda); 5. Jordan Desombre (Honda).

ADULT 150: 1. Matt Langrehr (Honda); 2. Joey Alexander (Honda); 3. Joe Dragunas (Kawasaki); 4. Cody Bauer (Honda); 5. Sean Simmons (Yamaha).

250 B: 1. Joey Alexander (Honda); 2. Matt Langrehr (Kawasaki); 3. Colton Smith (Kawasaki); 4. Anthony Crabbe (Suzuki); 5. Brian Nuse (Yamaha).

250 SPTSMN: 1. Colton Smith (Kawasaki); 2. Joey Alexander (Honda); 3. Samantha Bergman (Suzuki); 4. Matt Langrehr (Kawasaki).

OPEN A: 1. Raun Wood (Honda); 2. Jason Isennock (Honda); 3. Chris Klinefelter (Honda); 4. Kayl Kolkman (Honda); 5. Nick Henderson (Honda).

OPEN B: 1. Becca Zafia (Honda); 2. Anthony Crabbe (Suzuki); 3. Albert Cook (Kawasaki); 4. Mike Sponseller (Honda); 5. Mike Cortese Jr. (Honda).

OPEN SPTSMN: 1. Raun Wood (Honda); 2. Chris Klinefelter (Honda); 3. Jason Isennock (Honda); 4. Kayl Kolkman (Honda); 5. Michael Poe (Kawasaki).

OPEN TW/VINT: 1. Jason Isennock (Triumph); 2. Chris Klinefelter (Triumph); 3. Matt Langrehr (Bultaco); 4. John Klein (Yamaha); 5. Michael Day (Yamaha).

WMN: 1. Megan Bell (Honda); 2. Melissa Hildebrand (Yamaha); 3. Delaney Cadden (Honda); 4. Josee Stedding (Honda); 5. Taylor Tsirigos (Suzuki).

30+: 1. John Henderson (Rotax); 2. Chris Hathaway (Yamaha); 3. Jack Stedding (Kawasaki); 4. Albert Cook (Kawasaki).

40+: 1. Scott Mullen (Honda); 2. John Henderson (Rotax); 3. Brett Friedel (Kawasaki); 4. Damian Kocovinos (Honda); 5. Mike Mester (Honda).