Will Hull Makes Maiden Voyage to Sprint Car Victory Lane
BRADFORD, VT – As a three-time track champion in Late Models, Will Hull of East Montpelier doesn’t need a road map to find victory lane at Bear Ridge Speedway, but he made the journey in a Sprint Car for the first time on Saturday night. The soft spoken chauffer did it in style, winning his heat and then using a dramatic pass in lapped traffic on lap 23 to snatch the victory from SCoNE 2011 Rookie of the Year Tyler Rich. On the last turn of the final lap, Chris Donnelly, who started 14th, was also able to get beneath Rich and beat him to the line by less than a car length.
“After the heat, we changed to a harder right rear tire and made an adjustment on the wing,” Hull explained. “In the feature the tire seemed to work for a while until it cooled down under the yellow flag and I lost a lot of ground on the restart. But after a couple of laps, the heat got back in it and I just worked the bottom. Tyler was doing a great job on the outside, but I could see that the lapped traffic was making him back up to me. I stuck to the bottom and just kept picking away and it worked out.”
Donnelly, who won under similar circumstances last week at the Canaan Dirt Speedway, was surprised by his runner-up finish. “It was a great run and I’m very happy. I didn’t have many expectations- when I got up to third I figured that was probably it. I couldn’t find a line that was useful, I tried running the top and with a few laps to go we got into lapped traffic and I decided to go back down to the bottom and it paid off. It’s too bad for Tyler, he was running so well all night, but he just slipped a little high and ended up losing the deal.”
Rich, who started tenth, was disappointed but far from despondent. “The car was really, really, fast. I could go to the inside, but on the outside, it really wanted to sail. When we got to the lapped cars, I couldn’t decide where to go, I tried to go outside, but I got too high and they were able to sneak by. It’s unfortunate because the car was very fast, but it happens.”
The event, sponsored by WYKR, was slowed by only two yellow flags. The first came on the initial lap when Brandon Valley spun and collected Shawn Lawler and the second came just after half way when Jake Williams’ car rolled to a halt in turn one.
After winning her heat, Lacey Hanson led the first seven laps. Rich took command on lap 8 and held it until Hull got by with two laps remaining.
After a week off, the Sprint Cars of New England make their second visit to the Canaan Dirt Speedway on Friday June 8 for Residence Inn night. They’ll headline a card that also includes a $300 to win non-points Modified feature.
Finish.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown-R=Rookie
Sprint Cars of New England (25 Lap Feature) 1. (3) Will Hull, East Montpelier, VT; 2. (14) Chris Donnelly, Piermont, NH; 3. (10) Tyler Rich, Lyme, NH; 4. (13) Clay Dow, Barnstead, NH; 5. (11) Dan Douville, Bridgewater, NH; 6. (8) Matt Robie, Hill, NH; 7. (17) Chris Downs-R, Moultonboro, NH; 8. (4) Tunk Berry, Center Ossipee, NH; 9. (18) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, NH; 10. (2) Lacey Hanson, Orwell, VT; 11. (120 Jim Lowrey, Jr., Tilton, NH; 12. (6) Bruce Kimball, Lebanon, NH; 13. (7) Shawn Lawler, Mason, NH; 14. (1) Randy Wimert, Falmouth, ME; 15. (16) Shawn Berry, Center Ossipee, NH; 16. (5) Brandon Valley, Center Ossipee, NH; 17. (15) Anthony Cain, Fairfax, VT; 18. (8) Jake Williams, Center Tuftonboro, NH. Did Not Qualify: Bob Giuliani, Middleton, NH; Jeff Horn-R, Ashland, MA.
Heats (10 laps – 7 Qualify)
Heat 1: 1. Will Hull, 2. Matt Robie, 3. Shawn Lawler, 4. Clay Dow, 5. Randy Wimert, 6. Brandon Valley, 7. Anthony Caine, 8. Andy Seuss, 9. Chris Downs.
Heat 2: 1. Lacey Hanson, 2. Chris Donnelly, 3. Jake Williams, 4. Tunk Berry, 5. Tyler Rich, 6. Jim Lowrey, 7. Bruce Kimball, 8. Jeff Horn, 9. Bob Giuliani.
B-Main (6 Laps – 4 Transfer)
1. Anthony Caine, 2. Shawn Berry, 3. Chris Downs, 4. Andy Seuss, 5. Jeff Horn, 6. Bob Giuliani.
Sources: Mark McKeon/SCONE PR