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Dirt racing spectacular set for this weekend

Rain, rain, go away and, for that matter, stay away from Elkins Raceway!

This weekend will feature the largest local racing event of the year. This will be a two-day show.

On Friday evening, the first annual Red Frederick Memorial Race will take place, featuring increased purses in all divisions. The Jenkins Ford Super Late Models will run 52 laps for $5,200, plus lap leader money of $100 per lap.

Then on Saturday, come on out early and meet the legends of Elkins Raceway as the 2017 Wall of Fame induction ceremony takes place. There will be opportunities for autographs and lots of wonderful videos and still photos of past races. Also, a restored ’70s style Late Model Camaro driven by Bob Wearing will be there along with other historic items.

Then the evening will wrap up with the Richard Skidmore Memorial races. Once again there will be increased purses in all the divisions and the Late Models will run for another $5,000 winner’s purse.

There will be free camping offered and this should be quite a weekend of dirt track racing at its very best!

•••

Last weekend the NASCAR stars invaded the Kentucky Motor Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky.

Action started Thursday evening with the Camping World truck series. They ran the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 and Ben Rhodes took the first stage win. Rookie Noah Gragson took the second stage.

In the closing laps, Rhodes crashed out, with his teammates getting swept up. and eliminated all three Trusports team trucks. Christopher Bell spun out early but fought his way back and took the win over Branden Jones. Justin Hayley ran third. Austin Cindric and Noah Gragson rounded out the top five.

Friday night rains took the center stage and washed out all activities at the track. This forced the Xfinity teams to stay over and race on Saturday afternoon.

The Alsco 300 was totally dominated by Kyle Busch. Yawn, surprise, Kyle took both early stages and won by a good margin over Austin Dillon. Daniel Suarez finished third. Erik Jones and Darrell Wallace rounded out the top five.

Later on Saturday evening the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series took to the track. Martin Truex Jr gave his girlfriend a get-well gift by dominating the event. She has had a reoccurrence of the ovarian cancer that had been in remission. Martin won both stages and beat Kyle Larson by 14-plus seconds to take the victory. Chase Elliott finally had a decent day and finished third. JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.

This week’s NASCAR action moves to the “moody mile” at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and next Wednesday night to the half-mile dirt of Eldora Raceway in Ohio for the Camping World truck series.

The Xfinity teams run the Overton’s 200 on Saturday afternoon at New Hampshire and then The Monster Energy Cup series runs the Overton’s 300 on Sunday afternoon.

Set the DVR for the NASCAR stuff and come on out to Elkins Raceway both nights if possible for the best dirt track action for the whole family. There’s great food in the concession stands. Check the track Facebook site for more detailed information.

Fireworks are planned for Saturday night and don’t forget about the Wall of Legends ceremony Saturday afternoon.

Gates will open at 6 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday. Come on out and remember, at the end of the straightaway there’s always another left turn.

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