Buckwalter Wins the “Muddy Miracle” Fair Week Nationals on August 7
Big Race for 600 Sprints Completed In Spite of Day-Long Rain Showers
Kutztown, PA (August 7) — Perhaps Rich Tobias and Doug Rose were thinking about the well-known catchphrase of Larry the Cable Guy when they decided to forge ahead with the Kutztown Fair Week National for 600 Sprints on Wednesday. Facing the need for a minor miracle in preparing the clay oval after day long showers and periods of steady rain, they simply decided to “Git ‘er done” and carry on with the program.
In the end, another terrific 600 Sprint Fair Week National was contested at Foley Cat Action Track USA, and Tim Buckwalter was standing in a soupy victory lane after his third victory of the season in the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint division. But it certainly wasn’t easy for the Douglassville, PA throttle-jockey.
After Tobias and his track prep team turned a mud hole into a racy, albeit heavy surface that definitely had some character, 33 drivers steered their mounts onto the speedway for qualifying heats, a B-Main, and the 50-lap Fair Week National, with $1,500 going to the winner.
The management team decided to start all 33 in the main event; a reward for coming out on a less-than-desireable night that many felt, even upon arrival at Berks County’s number one bullring, simply wasn’t going to happen.
Never tell Tobias and Rose that they cannot pull something off, though, and the starting field took the green to start the feature shortly before 9 p.m.
Pole sitter Connor Mirabelli and Buckwalter diced for the lead on the first trip around the clay before Buckwalter gassed his No. 71 into the top spot on lap two.
As Buckwalter danced away with the race lead, seventh-starting Kyle Lick was lead-footing his way into the top three and tenth-starter Briggs Danner navigated his “Orange Crush” No. 99 to fourth.
An early yellow for a multi-car incident saw point leader Connor Gross forced to go to the back of the pack due to him being collected in the scrum.
On the restart, Lick zipped from fourth to second and Danner climbed to third. As the leaders caught the rear of the field, Buckwalter got stuck behind a car in the bottom groove. Lick blasted around him in turns one and two, but the yellow flew once again, negating the pass.
Christian Bruno, who began the race in ninth position, had calmly and steadily sliced forward and was now battling for third as the race restarted. Buckwalter’s hot rod was excellent on each of the several restarts needed during the 50 lapper, and he bolted away from his pursuers as the race went green again with 19 tours in the books. Lick, Danner, and Bruno scuffled for the runner-up spot for many circuits, trading second, third, and fourth in an entertaining three-way fight.
The restarts were extremely interesting; Buckwalter was really good and separated himself from the cars chasing him on each occasion. And it seemed Lick would either gain one or two positions or lose a couple of spots every time the race resumed after a caution.
Lick was back in second with 15 to go, and Bruno wrestled third from Danner with 11 revolutions remaining. Bruno continued his march to the front with a pass of Lick on lap 42, just as some fans noticed the left-rear tire going soft on Buckwalter’s car.
“Oh, it was a handful when that tire started going down,” said Buckwalter after the race. “It was even tough to drive on the straightaways because it wanted to go left all the time. I started entering the corners much lower to compensate and that helped a little bit. But I was worried because Christian showed his nose on my inside, and I know he is one of the best when the bottom is good like it was tonight. So entering lower kind of took the low groove away from him, too.”
Bruno, the two-time and defending 600 Sprint champion at Foley Cat Action Track USA, harassed Buckwalter over those final eight circuits but could not figure out how get past the leader. “I think I showed him my nose a little too soon,” said Bruno afterward.
Buckwalter held the point and scored the win, even with the rapidly deflating left-rear sneaker. It was his second Fair Nationals triumph and the 23rd Action Track USA, 600 Sprint victory of his career. Those 23 wins have him atop the track’s all-time win list in the 600 Sprint class.
“Got to give credit to Ryan (Greth) at 600cc Performance,” stated the winner when asked about his notable prowess on the multiple restarts. “He recently tuned up the engine in this thing and man, did he do a great job.”
Buckwalter also hailed Tobias and Rose for their efforts in preparing the speedway and deciding to hold the race despite the unfavorable weather. “Even at 5:00 when I got here, I didn’t think we would be racing tonight. Shout out to them (Tobias and Rose) for going ahead with it and getting it in.”
Following Buckwalter and Bruno across the stripe were Lick, Danner, and point leader Connor Gross, who rebounded nicely after the early mishap.
Gross now leads Colin White by 50 points and Bruno by 60 points with three point-paying events remaining on the 2024 Foley Cat Action Track USA schedule.
RESULTS:
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 50 Laps: 1.Tim Buckwalter, 2.Christian Bruno, 3.Kyle Lick, 4.Briggs Danner, 5.Connor Gross, 6.Colin White, 7.Tyler Lindsay, 8.Trevor Gach, 9.Jeff Champagne, 10.Anthony Tramontana, 11.Chase Wehr, 12.James Roselli, 13.Danny Buccafusca, 14.Ryan Rochelle, 15.Zack Weisenfluh, 16.Jarid Kunkle, 17.Wayne Scott, 18.Connor Mirabelli, 19.JT Bierman, 20.Weston Doklan, 21.Brenden Hires, 22.Zach Fisher, 23.Richie Hartman, 24.Lavar Scott, 25.Jasper Ziegafuse, 26.Nate Freed, 27.Dakota Barlet, 28.Fred Heinly.
DNS: James Hendricks, Aidan Donaldson, Shelby McLaughlin, Tyler Henry, Dylan Smith.
