From East Coast Legend Series PR –
Colton Friese Takes Fifth of the Season as Alex McCollum claims first-ever Series Win in dual features at Winchester!!!
May 24, 2025 (Winchester, VA)-Defending East Coast Legend Series champion, Colton Friese, picked up the feature win at Winchester Winchester VA Speedway Saturday for his fifth win of the season and third in-a-row. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Alex McCollum won the second East Coast feature to secure his first-ever Series win.
Forty-five (45) East Coast teams signed in for action Saturday at Winchester Speedway, and the Speedway, in conjunction with the Series, elected to run two A-Main features. The teams conducted hot-lap time trials in six separate groups. Colton Friese, who qualified in group No. 1, was the fastest time overall at 18.861 seconds. McCollum was the fastest in group No. 4 at 19.263 seconds; Seth Kearchner was fastest in group two at 19.302 seconds; Kelby Friese was fasted in group five at 19.335 seconds; Jeremy Ott was fastest in group six at 19.589 seconds and Rick Hartwig, piloting the Kelby Friese No. 21, was fastest in group three at 19.635 seconds.
Colton Friese, Lincoln Kearchner, Hartwig, McCollum, Kelby Friese (in his dad Devin’s No. 12) and Logan Carbaugh won the heat races as the drivers raced heats within their respective qualifying groups.
Colton Friese led the entire distance to claim the first feature of the evening. He led his cousin, Kelby Friese, for the first 11 circuits. On lap 12, Logan Jones, moved into the runner-up spot. He was followed by Stephen Wurtzer in third, Mike Mohelski in fourth and Justin Cunningham in fifth.
An incident involving Jones in turn two relegated him to the rear of the field at lap 15. This put Wurtzer into second, moving the aforementioned drivers up one spot with Travis McClelland moving to fifth. Colton Friese gapped the field a bit until a late-race caution bunched the field with one to go. Wurtzer kept Friese in his sights for the final circuit, but Friese held off Wurtzer to claim the victory. Wutzer claimed the second spot, and Mohelski had a strong run to finish third. Cunningham and McClelland ran strong as well finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Kelby Friese took sixth, claiming the $100 bonus in honor of Sean Dawson, and Hartwig claimed seventh. Mike Racine was eighth followed by Brian Rampmeyer in ninth. Ben Morrow, in a recently-purchased car, rounded out the top-10.
Feature No. 2 began with Lincoln Kearchner pacing the field for the first four laps. Dustin Wiles flanked Kearchner early, but McCollum was able to move by Wiles to grab the second spot. On lap five, McCollum moved by Kearchner to grab the top spot.
McCollum, who won the Pro Division Dirt Nationals race at BAPs Motor Speedway in 2024, continued to hold the lead, but Jeremy Ott moved nicely through the field to take second at lap 12. Seth Kearchner was holding third, Lincoln Kearchner was fourth and Logan Carbaugh was fending off Shaun Abney to hold fifth.
McCollum, a veteran asphalt driver with just a handful of dirt starts, continued the lead while holding off Ott. The top five tightened up a bit, but McCollum held them off for his first-ever Series feature win. Ott finished second followed by Seth Kearchner in third. Lincoln Kearchner took fourth followed by Carbaugh in fifth.
Scott Houdeshell claimed sixth and took the $100 bonus in honor of Sean Dawson. Chris Transeau had a strong race to take seventh. Abney finished eighth and rookie points leader, Colby Miller, finished a solid ninth. Wayne Dutterer, Jr., rounded out the top-10.
David H. Martin Excavating, Inc. is the Series title sponsor. Additional sponsors for the races at Winchester include Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, Fairfield Auto Service, NAPA Auto Parts Taneytown and Charles “Tony” Dawson.
Feature No. 1 rundown: 1. Colton Friese, 2. Stephen Wurtzer, 3. Mike Mohelski, 4. Justin Cunningham, 5. Travis McClelland, 6. Kelby Friese, 7. Rick Hartwig, 8. Mike Racine, 9. Brian Rampmeyer, 10. Ben Morrow, 11. Moses Goetz, 12. Scott Spidle, 13. Eric Hurst, 14. Tyler Kaylor, 15. Logan Jones, 16. Matt Grebe, 17. Hunter McElroy, 18. Brad Kelley, 19. Ryan Walls, Jr., 20. Andrew Mowen, 21. Cameron Sutton, 22. Dustin Burnisky, 23. Nathanael Kelley
Feature No. 2 rundown: 1. Alex McCollum, 2. Jeremy Ott, 3. Seth Kearchner, 4. Lincoln Kearchner, 5. Logan Carbaugh, 6. Scott Houdeshell, 7. Chris Transeau, 8. Shaun Abney, 9. Colby Miller, 10. Wayne Dutterer, Jr., 11. Kirk Martin, 12. Bill Funk, 13. Connor Tracy, 14. Scott Musselman, 15. Isaac Kelley, 16. Mason Tracy, 17. Brad Friese, 18. Cameron See, 19. Dustin Wiles, 20. Tyler Rampmeyer, 21. Tracy Linn, 22. Dan Harrison
Photos by Clifford Dove Motorsports Photography and Teal Beard/wrtspeedwerx