Final Lap

HAGERSTOWN, MD - It will be Fan Appreciation Night at the Hagerstown this Saturday. The late models, Hoosier Tires/Mid-Atlantic - A&C Racing Engines late-model sportsman and Ernie's Salvage Yard pure stocks battle it out in the final point races of the year. The track championships will be on the line for the late models and late-model sportsman. Gates open at 5 p.m. with warm-ups beginning at 7 p.m. and racing at 7:30 p.m. Grandstand general admission is only $6 with children under 12 free.

Marvin Winters picked up his first win in nearly two years Saturday night in front of a full house at Hagerstown Speedway as he took the checkered flag during the 41st annual Johnny Roberts Memorial Late Model feature event. Winters, of McConnellsburg, Pa., started first, but was quickly passed on the low side in Turns 1 and 2 by Alan Sagi on Lap 2. Sagi ran away from the pack and looked as if he was going to cruise to Victory Lane until he lost his drive shaft on Lap 19 and was forced to leave the race.

HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY Greencastle's Gary Stuhler took the lead from Charlie Schaffer on the final lap and held on by a half-car length to win the 25-lap ITSI late model feature race Saturday night. It was Stuhler's 105th career victory and his third this season at Hagerstown. Stuhler started 12th in the feature and was fourth with three laps left before making his final charge. In other action, Will Fair scored his first win of the year in the 20-lap Hoosier Tires/Mid-Atlantic late model sportsman feature, Bruce Leibowitz ended a winless spell dating back to October 2001 in the 15-lap Ernie's Salvage Yard pure stock main event and Jim Mullandore, of Hagerstown, won the 30-lap enduro dash.

Jimmy Mars got just a little bit more out of the high groove than anybody else. Running in third on the final lap, Mars used the top side to slide around leader Steve Shaver in Turns 1 and 2 and held off runner-up Austin Hubbard to win at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night, taking the 40-lap opener of the third annual Appalachian Mountain Dirt Late Model Speedweek. In his first start in several years at the track, Mars of Menomonie, Wis., overcame his 11th-starting spot after he was docked several spots for jumping restarts in his heat race to notch his first career win at Hagerstown and take the $5,000 winner’s purse.

North Hagerstown sophomore Emily Ward left it all on the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex track during the Class 3A girls 1,600-meter run Tuesday evening at the Maryland State Indoor Track & Field Championships. Ward fought through the pain to stay in a lead group that was four runners early, then three with two laps to go before the final lap became a battle between her and Hereford sophomore Sarah Ashwood. Ashwood held off Ward in the final 50 meters to win in 5:16.33, while Ward settled for second in 5:18.

Marvin Winters grabbed the lead from the pole and held off the challenge of Gary Stuhler the final 10 laps Sunday to win the 30-lap late model feature at the Hagerstown Speedway. Meanwhile, J.R. Heffner, of Averille Park, N.Y., passed Gil Teggt for the lead on the ninth lap and fought off Brett Hearn and Jamie Mills on the final two laps to win the 30-lap small block modified feature. Both drivers pocketed $2,000 for their efforts and Heffner also received a guaranteed starting spot for the Octoberfest 350 on Oct. 26-27.

andrewm@herald-mail.com According to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association meet officials, the finish-line area was no place for newspaper reporters to be at the state track and field championships at Morgan State University on Saturday. It seemed almost like they were guarding the Super Bowl sidelines from autograph seekers disguised as sportswriters. And it seemed just like mall security guards squeezing out every last ounce of badge power on a skateboarding bust.

LANDOVER, Md. - Jesse Buchman's anchor leg of Williamsport's state championship-winning 3,200-meter relay on Monday can be described in one word. Guts. Buchman lost the lead to Digital Harbor on the first turn of the final lap, but fought back to regain it on the final turn and held on at the Prince George's Sports Complex. Buchman won by about three meters, helping the Wildcats clock 8:25.18 and give Washington County its first state title of the day. "He passed me on the outside, so I knew I'd have to pass him outside, I wouldn't be able to do it inside," Buchman said.

BEIJING (AP) -- Bernard Lagat advanced to the 5,000-meter final, hoping to salvage his Olympics and maybe start a rally Wednesday for the struggling U.S. track team. Lagat won his heat in 13 minutes, 39.70 seconds to move on to Saturday night's medal race. He didn't qualify for the 1,500-meter final, adding his name to a list of high-profile American flame-outs at the Bird's Nest. The U.S. team entered Wednesday with only three gold medals, and two of them came from the most unlikely of sources -- discus thrower Stephanie Brown Trafton and 100-meter hurdler Dawn Harper.

BALTIMORE - South Hagerstown senior Emilie Bonano came to the Baltimore Armory on Wednesday hoping to finish her high school career with a state championship. cont. from front page By the time she left, Bonano had two. Bonano claimed the girls 300-meter title in 43 seconds to edge out Oakland Mills' Shade Smith. Bonano earned her second title of the event by beating Smith by a head in the 55-meter dash finals in one of the closest races. Two other individuals won state titles at the Maryland Class 1A/2A championships.