Brad Brightbill captures Dick Tobias Classic, Pauch Jr crowned SpeedSTR Champion, Jay Hartman 600 Champion and Buccafusca Slingshot Champion

It was the final night of racing at JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA on the Kutztown Fairgrounds and the annual running of the Dick Tobias Classic for the USAC SpeedSTRs. How appropriate that this race would be won by a driver whose last name appeared many times in the same results as that of Tobias? But instead of it being the Shillington Slingshot, Kenny Brightbill it was his son, Brad Brightbill who would stand in Victory Lane with Mary Tobias after sixty hard fought laps of competition.

The 2014 point championship was on the line. There was a $5,000 pay day to the race winner. There was plenty of excitement in the air and around the speedway as a large crowd filled the Kutztown Fairgrounds for the 2014 season finale.

As always, the luck of the draw determined the starting line-up. Brad Brightbill drew the pole and Billy Pauch Jr. drew the outside pole for the start of the sixty lap feature event. The field was led to the start by two of the second generation drivers in the field.

Brad Brightbill took the lead on the start as Pauch Jr. ran second. Tim Buckwalter, making only his second start in SpeedSTR competition, challenged Pauch Jr. for second as lap five was completed. Anthony Perrego took to the high, outside of the track to try to make his way to the front as he raced into third on lap six. With ten laps complete, Brad Brightbill led Pauch Jr., Perrego, Buckwalter and Kenny Brightbill.

Pauch Jr. used the outside line on a restart to power into the lead on lap eleven but Brightbill was never far behind. Pauch Jr. rolled the top to hold a slight advantage over Brightbill as they raced across the line for laps eleven through seventeen. On lap eighteen, the leaders were a virtual dead heat and one lap later, Brightbill regained control of the lead as they exited turn two. When the caution flag waved, it was Brad Brightbill who was out in front on the restart.

And Brightbill never faltered for the remaining laps. “I knew who was behind me,” Brightbill stated. “You know that you have the best drivers in the Northeast here. I didn’t see anyone stick a nose along side of me so I thought we were okay. I was hoping that the track would keep getting slicker,” Brightbill continued. “I went with a tight set-up and the track just came to me. The car was just on a rail!”

When the caution was needed with twenty-nine laps complete, the cars were brought to a stop for the mid-race pit stop. Basically, any adjustments could be made but the competitors were only allowed ten minutes to add fuel, change tires or perform any other adjustments. After ten minutes, the field was lined up and ready to restart for the second half of the race.

Brad Brightbill went right back into the lead over Pauch Jr as Rick Eckert and Perrego now battled for third. Mike Bednar made some strong moves following the break and ran fifth.

Perrego took over second on lap thirty-one as Pauch Jr. was now challenged by Eckert for his position. Eckert took over third with forty laps complete.

Billy Pauch Sr. went to the extreme outside to try to improve his position with the final twenty laps to be run. Pauch Sr. raced by Bednar for fifth and then by Pauch Jr. and Perrego to move into third behind Eckert with fifteen laps to go. The battle to the checkered was between Perrego and Pauch Jr. for fourth.

The challenging of positions behind him kept the pressure off Brad Brightbill as he raced to the $5,000 pay day and his second win in a row in SpeedSTR competition. Eckert finished second with Pauch Sr. in third. Pauch Jr. finished fourth and captured the 2014 SpeedSTR Championship. Perrego completed the top five at the finish.

With the Championship foremost on his mind, Pauch Jr. admitted to “settling” for his position at one point in the race. But after he was passed for several positions, “I worked my way back up,” Pauch Jr. explained.

The Real Deal, James Morris of Rieglesville, PA raced to his third Pioneer Pole Building Wingless 600 win of the season at the ActionTrack. Morris, who took a very wild ride down the backstretch and into turn three just a few weeks ago, raced his third car of the season to the win in the Sunday night finale.

After racing his way into the lead, Morris dropped to second on a restart when Tim Buckwalter moved the Greth #71 into the lead. But Morris knew what he needed to do and did so on the next restart when he retook the lead from Buckwalter.

Morris raced to the checkered flag for the win ahead of Buckwalter, Eddie Strada, Brandon Azzalina and Mike Rutherford.

In spite of being sidelined in a lap one incident on the homestretch, Jay Hartman had a big enough lead to win his second consecutive Wingless 600 Championship at the Action Track.

Louden Reimert saved it all for the end of the night as he powered by Travis Bieber on the final lap of the NAPA Auto Parts All Star Slingshot feature to take the final checkered flag of the 2014 season at the Kutztown Fairgrounds. Bieber had to settle for second. Danny Buccafusca’s third place finish gave the young driver of the S&S Speedways #55 his second Slingshot title. Mark Sensenig and Larry Raifsnider rounded out the top five at the finish.

Dick Tobias Classic for USAC SpeedSTR’s (60 laps): 1.Brad Brightbill, 2.Rick Eckert, 3.Billy Pauch Sr., 4.Billy Pauch Jr., 5.Anthony Perrego, 6.Mike Bednar, 7.Tim Buckwalter, 8.Kyle Weiss, 9.Kenny Brightbill, 10.Wayne Weaver, 11.Frank Yankowski, 12.Jeff Strunk, 13.Frank Cozze, 14.John Kovatch, 15.Ryan Krachun, 16.JJ Grasso, 17.Brittany Wixon, 18.Larry Solomon, 19.Earl Paules, 20.Ryan Smith, 21.Gary Huber, 22.Jason Miller, 23.Brandon Grosso, 24.Steve Yankowski, 25.Mike Vermuelen, 26.Nick Baer. DNS: Sammy Piazza.
2014 Point Champion: Billy Pauch Jr.

Pioneer Pole Building Wingless 600cc Sprints (25 laps): 1.James Morris, 2.Tim Buckwalter, 3.Eddie Strada, 4.Brandon Azzalina, 5.Mike Rutherford, 6.Blaine Emery, 7.Billy Pauch Jr., 8.Will Butler, 9.Joey Jarowicz, 10.Dave Dimaio, 11.Alex Bright, 12.Kyle Lick, 13.Sam Kravitsky, 14.Frank Cozze, 15.Joe Kay, 16.Rob Vivona, 17.Hunter James, 18.Jarid Kunkle, 19.Andrew Hannula, 20.Eric Heydenreich, 21.Bobby Scherff, 22.Molly Chambers, 23.Jay Hartman, 24.Dan Schumaker, 25.Zac Azzalina. DNS: Billy Ney.
DNQ: Jermain Godshall, Chris James, Chris Panczner, Zack Bealer, Stephen Reynolds, Shawn Rooney, Jacob Severn, Doug Snyder, Jeff Weaver, Rick Perone, Jeff Carman, Tex Snyder, Jake Smith.
2014 Point Champion: Jay Hartman.

NAPA Auto Parts All Star Slingshots (20 laps): 1.Louden Reimert, 2.Travis Bieber, 3.Danny Buccafusca, 4.Mark Sensenig, 5.Larry Raifsnider, 6.John Bockhorn, 7.Joe Nemeth, 8.Cody Kline, 9.Dylan Hoch, 10.Matt Massone, 11.Jeff Kemp, 12.Kassidy Kreitz, 13.Donny Hockman, 14.Jackson Ring, 15.Tayllor Schoenly, 16.Jordan Knepp, 17.Austin Stufflet, 18.Cole Hentschel, 19.Blaire Schoenly, 20.Dave Carraghan, 21.Dave Morrell, 22.Brett Bieber, 23.Erik Jones, 24.Matt Miller, 25.Dakota Kohler.
2014 Point Champion: Danny Buccafusca.