Bednar Blasts to SpeedSTR Win; T. Buckwalter Inherits 600 Sprint Victory 2nd Slingshot Triumph of Season for T. Hoch; Hahn is Jr. Slingshot Victor
Kutztown, PA (June 8)— Mike Bednar must be a fan of the first few Rocky movies, because he utilized the big screen boxer’s strategy to win Wednesday’s 30 lap SpeedSTR feature at Championship Energy Action Track USA.
Bednar let the other contenders punch themselves out, then threw some haymakers of his own to get the lead and run away to a three-second victory over Tom Mayberry.
Other winners on Bob Hilbert Sportswear Night included Tim Buckwalter, who inherited the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint triumph; Mertztown’s Tyler Hoch picked up his second win of the season in All Star Slingshot competition; and Dylan Hahn was victorious in the Junior Slingshot main.
The stage is now set for this Sunday’s second annual ImPOSSEible, when the winged 410 Sprint Cars of the central Pennsylvania Posse tackle the baddest bullring in Berks County, Action Track USA on the Kutztown Fairgrounds. Pit gates open at 3 p.m. and grandstand gates open at 4:30. Warm-ups are scheduled for 6 p.m., with qualifying events immediately following the hot lap sessions. The Hyper Racing 600 Sprints will join the 410 Sprint Cars for a fantastic doubleheader.
There is no racing scheduled for Action Track USA on Wednesday, June 15, but the SpeedSTR’s, 600 Sprints, All Star and Junior Slingshots return on June 22nd.
Wednesday’s SpeedSTR feature was marked by several terrific battles at or near the head of the field. Ryan Krachun led from the pole with Tom Mayberry in hot pursuit. Mayberry then found himself swapping sliders with Dillon Steuer in a furious fight for the runner up position. After a restart with 11 tours in the books, Mayberry engaged Krachun in side-by-side scuffle for the top spot, with Mayberry finally prevailing.
Seventh starter Louden Reimert was on the move, zipping into second and appearing primed to make a run at Mayberry, but his No. 1c suffered mechanical ills at the halfway point. Reimert suddenly slowed to a stop, bringing out the yellow and putting Whitehall, PA native Bednar alongside Mayberry for the restart.
As the green waved again, the lead duo began a slide-a-rama slugfest for the number one position. Slide jobs and crossover moves resulted in both drivers taking (short lived) turns in the lead until Bednar kicked the back end of his No. 23b up in front of Mayberry as they exited turn four with ten to go.
It was all Bednar over the last ten circuits as he drove away to a dominating win over Mayberry. Krachun notched a podium finish as he ran third, with Steve Buckwalter and Briggs Danner completing the top five.
Another banner field of 50 entries bolstered the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint portion of the event. The Bob Hilbert Sportswear main event went green with pole sitter Tim Buckwalter dashing into the lead and setting the pace for the first three trips around the oval. Briggs Danner and Tyler Lindsay diced for second before Danner secured the spot and set his sights on Douglassville, PA’s Buckwalter.
Danner swept to the outside of Buckwalter and darted past the No. 71 as the duo charged out of turn four on the fourth revolution.
With Danner firmly in front and Buckwalter settling into the runner-up spot, an absolute battle royal raged for third. Tyler Lindsay, Colin White, Steven Snyder Jr., Reese Nowatarski, and Christian Bruno ran two, three, and four wide while slicing under and in between one another in an incredibly entertaining tussle for positions three through seven. Colin White eventually landed the position with ten tours remaining,
On a restart with eight to go, Snyder’s No. 21s came to life, as he dared to venture higher than anyone else in the turns. The throttle-jockey from Rising Sun, MD went fourth to second in half a lap and immediately began to attack race leader Danner. Snyder may have been trying a bit too hard, however, as he stayed in the gas and tapped the wall in the fourth corner. Sparks emerged from his right-rear suspension as he limped down the front stretch and eventually stopped in turn two.
Danner led to the checkered with Buckwalter chasing him to the stripe. As the winner crossed the scales after the race, though, his brand new car did not meet the minimum weight requirement and the win went to Buckwalter.
Colin White was moved up to second in the finishing order, with opening night winner Christian Bruno third, Reese Nowatarski fourth, and Jackson White wound up fifth.
Tyler Hoch earned family bragging rights, at least for a few days, by winning his second All Star Slingshot feature of the season and, in the process, beating older brother Dylan for the victory. With the race being a Super Regional, Hoch and the rest of the top finishers were awarded World Championship points in addition to track points.
T. Hoch started on the pole with his sibling on the outside of the front row. Tyler led all the way in spite of several cautions that repeatedly gave Dylan opportunities to wrestle the lead from his brother on the restarts.
Brett Bieber got the better of Amanda Angstadt after an entertaining battle to run third, but the defending All Star Slingshot point champion at Action Track USA gave up the spot to Kyle Herve as the crossed flags were shown to the field.
T. Hoch easily led the rest of the way to record the triumph over his big bro, with Herve placing third, Bieber fourth, and Tyler Ulsh raced home in fifth.
Dylan Hahn sprinted to the early lead in the Junior Slingshot main, but had to hold off Matthew Laubach to achieve the victory. Griffin Hendershot claimed third place money, with Colton Williams and Chase Zimmer rounding out the top five.
RESULTS:
Speedway Entertainment All Pro SpeedSTRs, 30 laps: 1.Mike Bednar, 2.Tom Mayberry, 3.Ryan Krachun, 4.Steve Buckwalter, 5.Briggs Danner, 6.Dillon Steuer, 7.Alex Bright, 8.Dustin Morris, 9.Scott Houdeshell, 10.Cale Zangli, 11.Gary Wagner, 12.Josh Dalrymple, 13.Andy Haus, 14.Tim Buckwalter, 15.TJ Mayberry, 16.Jay Hartman, 17.Doug Snyder, 18.Louden Reimert.
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Tim Buckwalter, 2.Colin White, 3.Christian Bruno, 4.Reese Nowatarski, 5.Jackson White, 6.Connor Gross, 7.Tyler Lindsay, 8.Alex Ruppert, 9.Mason Beinhower, 10.Danny Buccafusca, 11.Gabe Gerber, 12.Jarid Kunkle, 13.Zach Curtis, 14.JT Ferry, 15.James Roselli, 16.Zach Weisenfluh, 17.Joe Nemeth, 18.Gary Smith, 19.Michael Nolf, 20.Jason Muldowney, 21.Steve Snyder Jr., 22.Jacob Severn, 23.Gunner Pio, 24.Aidan Svanda, 25.Nick Skias, 26.Joey Amantea, 27.Joe Kay, 28.Kenny Beinhower, 29.Briggs Danner.
DNQ: Jacob Fisher, Corey Colaluce, Hunter Metzger, Evan Nolf, Shelby McLaughlin, Preston Lattomus, Dawson Landis, Fred Heinly, Jared Kreider, Patrick Chilmonik, Jacob Dunn, Trevor Dunn, Eric Atherholt, Gavin Miller, Mason Peters, Mike Swisher, Ryan Boyd, Jacob Homnick, Maddie Boyd, Dallas Damask, Ryan Groff.
All Star Slingshots, 20 laps: 1.Tyler Hoch, 2.Dylan Hoch, 3.Kyle Herve, 4.Brett Bieber, 5.Tyler Ulsh, 6.Shelby McLaughlin, 7.Amanda Angstadt, 8.Dave Carraghan, 9.Gavin Danner, 10.James Hendricks, 11.Nate Freed, 12.Josh Roth, 13.Molly Struss, 14.Andrew Turpin, 15.Kylie Hendricks, 16.Colton Lineman, 17.Ryan Raidline, 18.Faith Turnbaugh, 19.Tom Mawson, 20.Lydia Navarro.
Junior Slingshots, 15 laps: 1.Dylan Hahn, 2.Matthew Laubach, 3.Griffin Hendershot, 4.Colton Williams, 5.Chase Zimmer, 6.Weston Doklan, 7.Peyton Leindecker, 8.Brianna Snyder, 9.Brayden Morrison, 10.Haley Burnatowski, 11.Cody Williamson, 12.Garrett Chillot, 13.Aubrey Romig, 14.Mason Lineman.
