“Altobelli Boss With Modified Mafia Victory at Potomac”

“Nelson Grabs Overdue Street Stock Success”

By Doug Watson

   Budds Creek, MD (8/4/23)- “We are left at 10 o’clock in the morning to come down here for this show, and I guess the long ride paid off.” Were the words from Saxton, Pa. resident Michael Altobelli after he scored the win in Friday nights 30 lap Modified Mafia main event at Potomac speedway. The win for Altobelli, worth $2500, came aboard his Harding Motorsports, Lethal chassis no.95 and would be his second career Potomac win and overall 101st career E-Mod victory.
   Altobelli and North Carolina’s Ty Norder shared the front row for the start with Altobelli inching into the lead as the field raced off turn number two. Altobelli clearly had his car dialed in to the racy Potomac surface as he would eventually pace all 30 circuits over eventual runner up Ty Norder. “I tried to pound the top as much as I could early in the feature, because I knew everybody behind me would be running the bottom.” Altobelli shared in victory lane. “Our car definitely got better later in the race and I was able to move around a bit because I knew I had a bunch of good cars behind me.” Chris Arnold came away with third, Austin Holcombe took fourth with local product Ray Kable completing the top five.
  Scotty Nelson took the lead on the first lap and would wire the field for the win in the 20 lap Street Stock feature. Current point leader Wyatt Hansen threw everything he had at Nelson but came up short by a fender at the checkered flag. “We needed this win bad.” Nelson stated after his 11th career division triumph. “We finally have a good motor in the car and it’s a great feeling to finally put it all together here tonight.” Stevie Gingery, Matt Tarbox and class rookie Jason Penn rounded out the top five.
  In other Friday night action, current Hobby Stock point leader Colin Long drove to his 2nd win of 2023 and career 11th in their 15-lap feature, Jayden Hatcher took his 3rd Strictly Stock win of the season after apparent winner Johnny Hardesty failed a post race inspection and Keith Brown had a career night as the first year driver won his qualifying event, and then lead all 15 laps to score his first career U Car contest.

Modified feature finish
Michael Altobelli, Ty Norder, Chris Arnold, Austin Holcombe, Ray Kable, Jimmy Jesmer Jr, TJ DeHaven, Ricky Hulson, Brent Bordeaux, Robbie Kramer, Justin Cullum, Lance Grady Jr, Doug Penny, Mike Grady Jr, Curtis Mason Jr, Brett Hamilton, Cole Hilton, Cody Oliver

Street Stock feature finish
Scotty Nelson, Wyatt Hanson, Stevie Gingery, Matt Tarbox, Jason Penn, Johnny Burch, Raymond Reed, Ben Pirner, Gerald Shannon, Steve Hilgenburg, John Cobb, PJ Hatcher, Jonny Oliver DQ-Mason Hanson

Hobby Stock feature finish
Colin Long, Mason Hanson, Watson Gordon, Ben Oliver, Richie Gibson, Owen Lacey, Kyle Randall, Austin Lathroum, Justin Hatcher, Billy Crouse, James Rainey, Bradley Shannon, Eric Hanson, Mikey Latham, Thomas Dennison

Strictly Stock feature finish
Jayden Hatcher, Greg Mattingly, Nabil Guffey, Billy Tucker, Daniel Knodle, John Hardesty, Larry Fuchs, Ricky Sexton, Patrick Kelly, Sarah Culver, Shawn Howsare, James Stone Jr DQ- Johnny Hardesty

U Car feature finish
Keith Brown, Mackenzie Smith, Travis Dye, Faith Lacey, John Burch, Richard Inscoe, Earl Whitehouse IV, Brooke Bowles, Austin Crouse, Luke Vandergrift, George Burch, Mason Foster DNS- Kelly Crouse, Trevor Hammett