McDermand is Mac-Dominating in Xtreme Outlaw Midget Win at Action Track USA
Kyle Lick Takes 600 Sprint Fair Week National; Hitzler & Bieber are Victorious on Tuesday Night at the Fair
Kutztown, PA (August 8 & 9)— Chase McDermand from Springfield, Illinois, put a whoopin’ on the rest of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget competitors on Wednesday night at Championship Energy Action Track USA on the Kutztown Fairgrounds.
The inaugural appearance of the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets presented by Toyota occurred during the 152nd Kutztown Fair, and the fledgling touring series (in just its second season of existence) thrilled fairgoers and hard core race fans alike during qualifying events and the 30 lap A-Main.
Kyle Jones from Texas raced from his pole position starting spot to a healthy lead as the first 20 circuits went non-stop before a double flip on the backstretch put a temporary halt to the fast and furious competition. Briggs Danner and Kevin Woody Jr. both tumbled after contact. The two drivers climbed from their cars unhurt.
Eight laps prior to that red flag, however, McDermand (who started fourth) ran down and passed Jones for the top spot. Following the stoppage for the double flip, McDermand charged to a huge lead, slicing through lapped traffic with ease. At one point, he went three-wide with a couple of back markers on the homestretch, diving to the very bottom of the track to dart by the other two cars.
Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Taylor Reimer started outside pole, fell back a few positions, then rebounded with a late race blast to zip past Jones for the runner-up slot with two to go. A late caution set up a green-white-checkered finish, but McDermand was just too good on this night, scooting away from Reimer to score the dominating win. The victory at Action Track USA was his second in two nights, as he also recorded the Tuesday victory at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Reimer settled for second place money with Jones, Allentown PA’s Gavin Miller, and series point leader Cannon McIntosh completing the top five.
Kyle Lick notched his fifth career 600 Sprint triumph at Action Track USA, and his first at the Berks County oval since 2014, in the $1,500 to win Fair Week Nationals on Wednesday. The Fair Week 600 Nationals were presented by Wayne Subaru.
Lick, from Catasauqua, PA, led every lap but four different drivers took turns harassing him throughout the 50 lap affair. Connor Gross, Preston Lattomus, Christian Bruno and eventually Brian Carber made Lick earn every penny of that $1,500 winner’s share while also battling one another for runner-up honors during the entertaining and highly competitive event.
Carber emerged from a three-car tussle to run second at the halfway point. Bruno climbed to third with 21 to go, but Gross bounced back to reclaim third with 15 tours remaining. On a restart with 13 laps left to run, Carber and Gross put some heavy pressure on Lick, but the leader’s No. 11z was up to the task, holding off his challengers and actually pulling away to win by about 3/4 of a second over two-time Fair Week Nationals winner Carber and a fast-closing Steven Snyder Jr. flew into third place during the final frantic laps. Snyder started 21st.
With ten revolutions remaining, there were five cars fighting for third; Gross, Colin White, Snyder, Bruno, and Mason Beinhower could have been covered by a blanket, with Zack Bealer and Alex Ruppert close behind that quintet. Using every inch of the spacious clay and swapping positions at both ends of the speedway, the five finally sorted out with Snyder finishing third ahead of Gross and White. Bruno, Beinhower, Bealer, Ruppert, and James Roselli rounded out the top ten.
On Tuesday, August 8, Richie Hitzler captured the Xcel 600 Modified victory as the first of four race nights at the Kutztown Fair was completed. Hitzler, from Lebanon, PA, prevailed in an exciting slide fest as he traded the top spot with Geoffrey Sutton on numerous occasions. Tyler Bartik slipped by Sutton for second after Hitzler finally secured the number one position for good. Bartik made several jabs at the leader, trying to duck under him repeatedly, but Hitzler kept him at bay to register the win after 20 hard fought laps. Bartik chased him to the checkered, with Sutton placing third, Bryce Smith fourth, and Tommy Nettleship racing home in fifth.
The All Star Slingshots kicked off their Speedweek Series on Tuesday at Action Track USA, and it was the defending Speedweek Champion, Oley’s Brett Bieber, who came away victorious over a very racy Tyler Hoch.
Bieber started on the pole and led all the way, but Dave Carraghan, Luke McCloskey, and then Hoch made him sweat out his fourth win of the year on the Kutztown Fairgrounds oval.
Hoch’s run on the high side ended up one spot short as Bieber took the win by a narrow margin. Garrett Chillot authored a stellar effort to finish third ahead of Tyler Ulsh and McCloskey.
Chase Gular picked up his second triumph of the season at Action Track USA in the Junior Slingshots 20 lap feature. Gular tracked down early leader Trevor Houghton, then muscled by the New York wheel-twister on lap five to take command. Houghton wound up second to Gular as the checkered flag waved, with Jocelynn Darinsig, Lily Barrett, and Lilly Esterly rounding out the top five.
Dave Dissinger, Mohrsville PA, was first under the black-and-white silks in the Vintage Car exhibition race. Kerry Meitzler finished second. Sven Olson and Mike Stofflet also took part in the 15 lap Vintage Stock Car portion of Tuesday’s program.
Racing continued on Friday and Saturday evening as part of the 152nd Kutztown Fair.
Wednesday, August 9 RESULTS:
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Feature, 30 laps: 1.Chase McDermand, 2.Taylor Reimer, 3.Kyle Jones, 4.Gavin Miller, 5.Cannon McIntosh, 6.Ethan Mitchell, 7.Daison Pursley, 8.Zach Daum, 9.Tim Buckwalter, 10.Jade Avedisian, 11.Hayden Reinbold, 12.Preston Lattomus, 13.Steve Buckwalter, 14.Michael Smith, 15.Austin Barnhill, 16.Michael Markey, 17.Trevor Cline, 18.Briggs Danner, 19.Kevin Woody Jr., 20.Mark Sokol, 21.Ayden Hare.
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints Fair Week National, 50 laps: 1.Kyle Lick, 2.Brian Carber, 3.Steven Snyder Jr., 4.Connor Gross, 5.Colin White, 6.Christian Bruno, 7.Mason Beinhower, 8.Zach Bealer, 9.Alex Ruppert, 10.James Roselli, 11.Zack Weisenfluh, 12.Preston Lattomus, 13.Kenny Miller III, 14.Tyler Lindsay, 15.Eric Bodine, 16.Dylan Kontra, 17.Michael Nolf, 18.Joe Nemeth, 19.Alec Quiggle, 20.Ronnie Dawson, 21.Joey Kay, 22.Tim Buckwalter, 23.Cole Dewease, 24.Shelby McLaughlin, 25.Dylan Hahn, 26.Jeremy Harshman, 27.Connor Mirabelli, 28.Hayden Wise, 29.Pat Bealer, 30.Damon Paul.
DNQ: Jace McIntosh, Jadan Bowling, JT Bierman, Fred Heinly, Olivia Haworth, Holden Eckman, Cole Gerber, Zack Jurcik, Aidan Donaldson, Geoff Federspiel, Gabe Gerber, Kyle Herve, Bobby Butler, Brenden Hires, Lukas Kostic, Weston Doklan, Jacob Severn, Reese Nowatarski, Corey Colaluce, Jacob Fisher, Dan Leaper, Evan Nolf, Aidan Svanda, Aidan Borden, Jasper Ziegafuse.
Tuesday, August 8 RESULTS:
Xcel 600 Modified Feature, 20 laps: 1.Richie Hitzler, 2.Tyler Bartik, 3.Geoffrey Sutton, 4.Bryce Smith, 5.Thomas Nettleship, 6.Kory Inglin, 7.Shjon Dove, 8.Kenny Harris, 9.Craig Whitmoyer, 10.Tom Martocci, 11.Justin Schraden, 12.Chris Smith, 13.Ryan Hockman, 14.Andrew Hendricks, 15.Brandon Kulp, 16.Daryl Baer, 17.Ray Gradwell, 18.John Martinsky Sr., 19.Nick Faust, 20.Josh Bewly, 21.Tiffany Mays, 22.John Martinsky Jr., 23.Eric Whitby, 24.Doug Newbigging, 25.Tyler Fronina.
All Star Slingshots Speedweek Feature, 25 laps: 1.Brett Bieber, 2.Tyler Hoch, 3.Garrett Chillot, 4.Tyler Ulsh, 5.Luke McCloskey, 6.Pat Weiss, 7.Nolan Layser, 8.Shawn Dengler, 9.James Benz, 10.Austin Kroboth, 11.Andrew Turpin, 12.Dave Carraghan, 13.Amanda Angstadt, 14.Mason Lineman, 15.Colton Lineman, 16.Brianna Snyder, 17.Griffin Hendershot.
Junior Slingshots Speedweek Feature, 20 laps: 1.Chase Gular, 2.Trevor Houghton, 3.Jocelynn Darinsig, 4.Lily Barrett, 5.Lilly Esterly, 6.Miles Zehner, 7.Matthew Laubach, 8.Darian Danyluk, 9.Christopher Tittle, 10.Daniel Benz. DNS: Mason Noll.
Vintage Stock Cars, Exhibition Feature, 15 laps: 1.Dave Dissinger, Kerry Meitzler, Sven Olson, Mike Stofflet.
