Bieber Nets Third All Star Slingshot Win; Dylan Cordier Is Non-Stop Xcel Mod Victor on Tuesday at Action Track USA
Legends Win To McCollum; BP3 Takes Junior Slingshot Victory
Kutztown, PA (August 4)— When it’s time for some of the biggest races of the year, the GOAT of Slingshot racing gets hungry. And to no one’s surprise, he is once again feasting on his competition.
Brett Bieber, the “Oley Jet”, began Slingshot Speedweek on Tuesday, August 4, by rolling to a dominating win in the 20 lap main for the All Star Slingshots at Action Track USA. Tuesday’s triumph backed up his victory two weeks prior in the Kutztown Komet 100.
Along with Bieber, Tuesday’s list of winners included Dylan Cordier, who took the checkered flag after an exciting non-stop 20 lap feature for the Xcel Modifieds; Alex McCollum, who notched the East Coast Legends Series victory; Billy Pauch III, who recorded his first Junior Slingshot win of the season in that class’ Speedweek opener; and Kenny Gilmore, who drove his 30-year-old Modified to the Vintage Car triumph.
A solid Kutztown Fair crowd enjoyed Tuesday’s event, and a total of 85 race teams entered the evening’s program.
Bieber, the current All Star Slingshot point leader (and defending champion) at Action Track USA, outgunned pole sitter Daniel Betz and snatched the top spot as the race went green. New Tripoli’s Hailey Eroh was on the move early after falling back a bit at the start. Eroh charged into third on the second tour, then accelerated past Tyler Ulsh for the runner-up position just one circuit later. It appeared that she might be a strong contender for the win, but Bieber had other ideas.
The seven-time All Star Slingshot World Champion opened a commanding lead over Eroh and the rest of the field, then easily survived a number of restarts during the second half of the event to register his third Action Track USA win of 2026, and the 22nd of his stellar career at Berks County’s Baddest Bullring.
Eroh chased Bieber to the checkered, with Ulsh settling for third. Hannah Kormann finished fourth and Dylan Hahn placed fifth.
The race of the night belonged to the Xcel Modifieds. Orwigsburg, PA’s Dylan Cordier started on the inside of row one and set the pace in the early going, but he had to fight off some stiff challenges from Doug Newbigging. While Newbigging harassed the leader, Richie Hitzler and Tyler Bartik engaged in a crowd-pleasing duel for the final podium spot.
Cordier eventually pulled away from Newbigging, but his advantage was taken away when he caught the back of the pack and had to slow while picking his way past those cars. That allowed Newbigging to eat up his deficit. With four to go, Cordier tapped one of the infield tractor tires, throwing him into one of the cars he was attempting to put one lap down. His No. 4m wiggled badly off turn two, and Newbigging shot by to grab the lead.
Now it was Newbigging’s turn to deal with lapped traffic, and Cordier was not about to throw in the towel. On the final revolution, Newbigging got stuck behind a slower car and Cordier grasped the opportunity to launch off turn two and scoot past the defenseless No. 29 of Newbigging.
Even though Newbigging tried to get close enough to make one final run at him, Cordier stayed in the gas and raced to the victory in a green-to-checker 20 lapper. Newbigging was a disappionted second and Hitzler held off Bartik for the bronze. Ryley Garman completed the top five.
Phillipsburg, New Jersey’s Alex McCollum appreciated the caution flag that waved with five laps remaining in the East Coast Legends Series A-main. The yellow gave him a reprieve from the heavy lapped traffic with which he was fighting. But he didn’t enjoy the two subsequent cautions that delayed his journey to the winner’s circle.
“Yeah, that first one (on lap 15) was a relief, because I didn’t feel real comfortable out there and the lapped traffic was a big concern,” said McCollum afterward. “It was fun; this is a real fun track to race on, but I just wasn’t quite dialed in like I wanted and then those late restarts had me worried.”
There was no need to worry, as McCollum maintained command on each restart and dashed to the finish line well ahead of Dalton Friese, Scott Houdeshell, Logan Jones, and Scott Musselman.
The Legend Cars produced a good race, with Friese hounding McCollum for the top spot during the first half of the 20 lapper. Behind the lead duo, a terrific, four-car battle for third caught the fans’ eyes for several laps. Mason Weakley, Jones, Austin Bellemare, and Houdeshell fought tooth-and-nail among themselves, trading positions numerous times lap after lap. Weakley and Jones got together on one of the late cautions, with Jones flying back through the pack to salvage a fourth place effort.
Frenchtown, New Jersey’s Billy Pauch III lined up fifth for the Junior Slingshot 15-lap feature. By the third time they passed the flagstand, Pauch was dicing with two-time winner Landon McNichol for second. He secured the position on the fourth trip around the clay and set his sights on race leader Joey Osowski.
On a lap five restart, Pauch throttled to the lead and Khloe Dennis took over the third position. Once he got to the head of the class, Pauch simply waltzed away, opening a big lead as a pack of Junior Slingers waged war for second through fifth spots.
Osowski, Anna Strachko, Dennis, McNichol, and Aubrey Romig battled furiously with one another as Osowski tenaciously held onto the runner-up slot. On the final lap, as Pauch III cruised to the win, Romig slipped past Osowski off the final corner to earn second place cash. Osowski held on for third, Strachko wound up fourth, and McNichol finished fifth.
Kutztown’s Kenny Gilmore powered to the outside of leader Sven Olson on lap three, taking the top spot and romping to victory in the Vintage Car 15 lap Exhibition.
Olson stayed within striking distance for much of the jaunt, but Gilmore steadily motored away during the second half of the run.
Following Gilmore and Olson to the checkered flag were Tommy Sheetz, Nick Clemens, and Casey Davis.
Wednesday’s Short Track Super Series Modified Race presented by Bob Hilbert Sportswear was cancelled due to impending bad weather. The 50 lap Fair Nationals for the Hyper Racing 600 Sprints was also a victim of the decision, as the forecast called for storms and downpours from late afternoon through the evening. The event will not be made up and the Short Track Super Series looks forward to returning to Action Track USA in 2027.
Attention now turns to Friday night’s “Wing Ding”, when the wings are mounted on the 600 and 270 Sprints. Last year’s “Wing Ding” winners were Steven Snyder Jr. (600’s) and Richie Hartman (270’s), as large fields of winged warriors entered the fray.
Joining the 600’s and 270’s this Friday will be the All Star and Junior Slingshots, who will be competing in another Slingshot Speedweek event.
Warm-ups are slated to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday.
The same time applies to Saturday’s Mark Naftzinger Memorial/ Daniel Boone 153 Stock Car Race. The annual Enduro-style event takes place once again on the final night of the Kutztown Fair.
RESULTS:
All Star Slingshots Speedweek Race #1, 20 laps: 1. 32-Brett Bieber[2]; 2. 57-Hailey Eroh[3]; 3. 1T-Tyler Ulsh[4]; 4. 16K-Hannah Kormann[6]; 5. 42H-Dylan Hahn[7]; 6. 12-Brian Smith[10]; 7. 38-Charlie Moore[14]; 8. 50-EJ Hatch[9]; 9. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[12]; 10. 57T-Tighe Smolenyak[19]; 11. 77-Daniel Betz[1]; 12. 2K-Colby Knappenberger[18]; 13. 55B-Barry Seaman[15]; 14. 1-Lilly Esterly[20]; 15. 10R-Riley Maguire[16]; 16. 8DS-Darren Shenk[13]; 17. 3-David Carraghan[5]; 18. 99-Shawn Dengler[11]; 19. 18-Mackenzie Henn[8]; 20. 29B-Bayleigh Ross[17].
Xcel Modifieds Feature, 20 laps: 1. 4M-Dylan Cordier[1]; 2. 29-Douglas Newbigging[2]; 3. 9-Richie Hitzler[6]; 4. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[4]; 5. 555-Ryley Garman[5]; 6. 10T-Tyler Fronina[10]; 7. 7C-Cody Reichard[7]; 8. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[9]; 9. 7S-Bryce Smith[13]; 10. 20R-Chad Kreiser[8]; 11. 3D-David Cordier[14]; 12. 4X-Griffin Hendershot[15]; 13. 31-Gage Landis[17]; 14. 6-Dylan Hahn[18]; 15. 17-Scott Washburn[12]; 16. 30-Geoffrey Sutton[11]; 17. 23-Dave Fry[16]; 18. 27-Korey Inglin[3]; 19. (DNS) 15-Jimmy Stong.
East Coast Legends Feature, 20 laps: 1. 0-Alex McCollum[2]; 2. 44-Dalton Friese[1]; 3. 5S-Scott Houdeshell[7]; 4. 5J-Logan Jones[4]; 5. 11R-Scott Musselman[8]; 6. 3D-Shjon Dove[5]; 7. 8-Jayden Powell[10]; 8. 75-Ben Morrow[9]; 9. 34-KJ Massey[11]; 10. 66-Donald Stoudt[12]; 11. 30-Owen Wagaman[15]; 12. 90-Scott Spidle[14]; 13. 63-Dave Benner[20]; 14. 5B-Blake Nalley[17]; 15. 7C-Chad Trout[13]; 16. 95-Devin Smith[18]; 17. C9-Jimmy Eicher[22]; 18. 7D-Dan Wirfel[16]; 19. 48-Mason Weakley[3]; 20. 2J-Austin Bellemare[6]; 21. 7H-Hunter McElroy[19]; 22. 45-Eric Moats[21].
Junior Slingshots Speedweek Race #1, 15 laps: 1. 15-Billy Pauch III[5]; 2. 10S-Aubrey Romig[12]; 3. 02-Joey Osowski[1]; 4. 5A-Anna Strachko[8]; 5. 72-Landon McNichol[3]; 6. 39-Brody Shelton[11]; 7. 18B-Brayden Stratton[17]; 8. 10K-Kenna Evans[14]; 9. 44D-Dylan Miller[18]; 10. 44M-Tommy Morris[16]; 11. 14K-Kylin Evans[15]; 12. 23G-Gavin Wolfe[9]; 13. 99-Rockey Johnson Jr[7]; 14. 44-Jonathan Severn[13]; 15. 7D-Dawson Gulick[10]; 16. 79-Khloe Dennis[6]; 17. 5M-MJ Tralies[19]; 18. 48-James Labar[4]; 19. (DNS) 16B-Brody Jennings.
Vintage Cars Exhibition, 15 laps: 1.Kenny Gilmore, 2.Sven Olson, 3.Tommy Sheetz, 4.Nick Clemens, 5.Casey Davis.
