Butler & Buckwalter Claim Victories on Night One of SpeedSTR World Championship Weekend
Julian Storms is Pro4 Winner; Carraghan & Hatch Record Slingshot Triumphs
Birdsboro, PA (October 18)— The Speedway at Pagoda Motorcycle Club, near Birdsboro, PA played host to night one of All Pro SpeedSTR World Championship Weekend on Saturday, October 18.
A smooth, quickly-run program saw Bobby Butler extend his lead in SpeedSTR World Championship points by winning the first of the Twin 20’s, then finishing a strong third in the nightcap. That second 20 lapper had Tim Buckwalter register his first SpeedSTR win—anywhere—of the 2025 season.
Julian Storms drove to the Pro4 Series feature win, while Dave Carraghan was victorious in the All Star Slingshot main. New Yorker EJ Hatch notched the Junior Slingshot triumph.
“My first goal for today was to take care of the car, then goal #2 was to score as many points as possible,” said Butler, of Milford, NJ, after accomplishing both missions by winning the first of the Twin 20’s for the SpeedSTRs.
Butler started on the pole and immediately darted away from Alex Bright and Tim Buckwalter, leaving them to dice for the runner-up position. As Butler motored away, Bright and Buckwalter were joined by eighth-starting Dustin Morris, who was running a higher line than everyone else and making it work.
After a restart with six circuits complete, Bright and Morris went side by side for the runner-up slot, with Morris finally securing the position at the halfway mark.
A yellow with five to go did not deter Butler, who dashed away from Morris as the race went back to green. Butler cruised to the victory over Morris, who held off Bright for second place money. Sammy Martz Jr. and Buckwalter made up the top five.
“Man, I love this place,” stated Butler in victory lane as he directed his crew to get the car back to the pit area right away because, “I want to change everything before the next race.”
With the top four finishers inverted for race #2, it was Martz on the pole and Bright starting alongside him on the front row. But Morris, who started third, slipped past both of them as Martz got loose off turn two and Bright had to check up to avoid contact.
Morris set the early pace and it wasn’t long before fifth-starter Tim Buckwalter found a groove he liked—on the high side—and rocketed forward. Bright put up a good fight for second, but Buckwalter eventually powered by him.
Buckwalter caught Morris and the battle for the lead raged for a few tours before Buckwalter swept past Morris off turn four to snatch the top spot on lap 12.
“I told Paul (Lotier Jr.) to free me up so I could run the top,” smiled Buckwalter afterward. “And that’s exactly what he did; the car was just hooked on the outside,” said the driver from Douglassville, PA.
Butler worked past Bright for third with six revolutions remaining, then battled Morris for runner-up honors but could not wrestle the position away from the Phoenixville, PA racer.
At the finish it was Buckwalter earning his first SpeedSTR triumph of the season over Morris, who ended the evening with a pair of runner-up efforts. Butler once again padded his point lead with a third place finish, while Bright ended up fourth and Martz completed the top five.
Bowmansville, PA resident Julian Storms created a little thunder and lightning in the 25 lap Pro4 Series Infinite Solutions Group LLC feature. Storms started fourth, jumped to second on lap one, then stalked leader Chris Yob for a few circuits before making his move and grabbing the lead on the fifth trip around the D-shaped speedway.
From that point on it was all Storms as he maneuvered through lapped traffic and maintained a comfortable advantage over Yob. At the finish, it was Storms taking the checkered flag over Yob, with pole sitter Andrew Keefer holding off Kelly Frantz for third. Adam Kratzer finished fifth.
The All Star Slingshots ran a non-stop 20 lap main that had three different leaders. Terry Noll battled Danielle Betz for the top spot in the opening laps, while fourth-starting Amanda Angstadt blasted into third on the second tour, then went to the front as lap three was scored.
Dave Carraghan, who started eighth, sliced his way through the field to run second by lap four. Carraghan, from Emmaus, PA, raced up to challenge Angstadt but the No. 55a fended off the repeated attacks. Finally, on the seventh revolution, Carraghan ducked under Angstadt heading into turn one, then accelerated off two with the race lead.
The race then belonged to Carraghan, while Brett Bieber throttled into third and began his assault on Angstadt for the runner-up position.
Carraghan danced to the easy win and Angstadt narrowly held off Bieber for second. Dylan Cordier wound up fourth and Noll settled for fifth.
New Yorker EJ Hatch loves coming to Pennsylvania to race. Running well at Pagoda earlier in the year and winning three times at Action Track USA in Kutztown make his trip worthwhile.
Hatch added to his 2025 win total by capturing the Junior Slingshot victory on Saturday at Pagoda. He went from third to first before a half-lap was completed, diving under the front row starters Waylon Wolf and Kenna Evans as the trio raced into turn one.
Hatch led all the way, winning handily over Wolf, with Preston Trautshold finishing third over Kylin Evans. Barry Seaman completed the first five.
Day Two of SpeedSTR World Championship Weekend, on Sunday, begins with pit gates opening at 10 a.m. Spectator gates open at noon, with warm-ups slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. The first heat race goes green at 2 p.m.
The highlight of day two will be the PA State 75, a long distance race for the SpeedSTRs, paying $4,000 to win. Joining the SpeedSTRs will be the Junior and All Star Slingshots, plus the Pro4 Series.
RESULTS:
All Pro SpeedSTR Twin 20, Race #1: 1.Bobby Butler, 2.Dustin Morris, 3.Alex Bright, 4.Sammy Martz Jr., 5.Tim Buckwalter, 6.Cole Stangle, 7.Matt Janisch, 8.Dan Lane Jr., 9.Tanner Van Doren, 10.Jason Musser, 11.Kenny Miller III, 12.Scott Houdeshell, 13.Cale Zangli, 14.Earl Paules, 15.Andy Ressler, 16.Matt Chowns. DNS: John Barnett.
All Pro SpeedSTR Twin 20, Race #2: 1.Tim Buckwalter, 2.Dustin Morris, 3.Bobby Butler, 4.Alex Bright, 5.Sammy Martz Jr., 6.Cole Stangle, 7.Tanner Van Doren, 8.Matt Janisch, 9.Andy Ressler, 10.Dan Lane Jr., 11.Kenny Miller III, 12.Scott Houdeshell, 13.Earl Paules, 14.Jason Musser, 15.John Barnett, 16.Matt Chowns. DNS: Cale Zangli.
Pro4 Series, 25 laps: 1.Julian Storms, 2.Chris Yob, 3.Andrew Keefer, 4.Kelly Frantz, 5.Adam Kratzer, 6.Matt Peck, 7.Josh Bittner, 8.Drac Lewis. DNF: Vinny Wollyung; Rob Storms; Robbie Strain.
All Star Slingshots, 20 laps: 1.Dave Carraghan, 2.Amanda Angstadt, 3.Brett Bieber, 4.Dylan Cordier, 5.Terry Noll, 6.Jocelynn Darinsig, 7.Daniel Betz, 8.Liam Mulea, 9.Chad Kohler.
Junior Slingshots, 15 laps: 1.EJ Hatch, 2.Waylon Wolf, 3.Preston Trautshold, 4.Kylin Evans, 5.Barry Seaman, 6.Gavin Wolfe, 7.Kenna Evans, 8.Aidan Buckwalter, 9.Bradley Dennis, 10.Logan Showers, 11.Brody Jennings, 12.MJ Trailes.
