Pauch Jr. Back in SpeedSTR Victory Lane; T. Buckwalter Wins Wild 600 Sprint Main
Kutztown, PA (June 11)— Billy Pauch Jr. was winless in the All Pro SpeedSTR class since 2022…until Wednesday, June 11.
“The Kid’s Kid” roared to victory in the Goldie & Elton Meitzler Memorial at Action Track USA on the Kutztown Fairgrounds. In doing so, Pauch pulled back into a tie with Tim Buckwalter for most career SpeedSTR wins at Berks County’s Baddest Bullring. Both Pauch and Buckwalter have 25 triumphs.
Speaking of Buckwalter, the Douglassville, PA throttle-jockey is also the all-time leading 600 Sprint winner at the Rich Tobias/Doug Rose playground of clay, and he added to that total with a big win in the 25 lapper for the 600’s on Wednesday. Buckwalter now has 25 career triumphs, more than twice the amount of the driver who is second on the all-time win list—Steven Snyder Jr., who has a dozen victories.
There were a pair of first time winners in the Slingshot classes on Wednesday, as Amanda Angstadt notched her first-ever win at Action Track USA in the All Star Slingshot 20-lapper, while Lilly Esterly raced home the winner of the Junior Slingshot feature.
Driving for veteran SpeedSTR car owner Ralph Rehrig, Pauch and the No. 1R team had been struggling in the early part of the 2025 campaign. They had suffered through a miserable night on June 4, but found the problem in the days leading up to the June 11 program.
“It was an issue with the turbo charger,” stated Rehrig prior to Wednesday’s event. “We believe it happened during the incident we had at Pagoda (the Speedway at Pagoda Motorcycle Club) a few weeks ago. We figured it out—finally—and it should run a whole lot better tonight.”
That was an understatement, as Pauch kind of bided his time during the first five tours in Wednesday’s Meitzler Memorial, then turned up the wick as he battled Buckwalter for the runner-up spot while Cole Stangle set the pace.
Matt Janisch and opening night winner Briggs Danner joined the fun at the front of the pack, with Pauch forging in front of Buckwalter to snare second just prior to the halfway point of the 30 lap affair. He managed to close the gap on Stangle, but could not get quite close enough to offer a serious challenge to the leader. Meanwhile, Buckwalter, Janisch, and Danner fought furiously for the final podium spot.
A yellow with six to go was the opportunity that Pauch, from Frenchtown, NJ, was looking for and he made the best of it on the restart. His Honda powered No. 1R fired off the top of the turn two banking, flying past Stangle to grab the lead as they accelerated down the backstretch. Stangle tried to dive back under him in three and four, but Stangle’s No. 27s got out of shape and that led to several cars scrambling for some clear race track behind him. Danner took an alternative route through the infield, but Buckwalter could not avoid contact with another car, ending up disabled at the top of the banking. He had to be towed off, ending his good run. Janisch was also eliminated in the fracas.
When the race restarted, it was Pauch in command with 15th starting Dan Schumaker now in the runner-up slot, Danner resided in third, and the driver who began the race in 20th (last), Dustin Morris, now riding in fourth.
Pauch pretty much cruised to the win from that point, beating Schumaker to the stripe by almost a full second. It was the second consecutive runner-up finish for Lenhartsville, PA resident Schumaker. Danner followed up his previous week’s win with a solid third place effort with Bobby Butler and Morris rounding out the top five.
Tim Buckwalter had to work hard to get the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint victory. He started eighth and moved up quickly, but had to sit in third and watch as Billy Koch hassled early leader Zack Weisenfluh. James Roselli was in the mix, too, battling with Buckwalter as the race remained green for the first 11 circuits.
On the restart, Weisenfluh and Koch initiated a “Slideapalooza” for the top spot, trading the point for a few laps at both ends of the race track. Weisenfluh eventually cleared Koch once again to reclaim the number one position, but now he had to deal with Buckwalter, who slipped past Koch for second with nine trips left to run.
A restart with seven to go gave Buckwalter the chance to hound the leader before blasting off turn four to secure the top spot for good. The previous week’s winner, Kenny Miller III, sliced his way from 12th starting position to second with just a trio of laps remaining. He tried to work some magic on the low side and attempted to set up Buckwalter for a slide job on the white flag lap, but the savvy Buckwalter slid himself going into turn one, and that settled the issue.
Buckwalter won by a few car lengths over Miller, with Koch scoring a well deserved third place paycheck. Weisenfluh shook off the bad luck that has plagued him in Kutztown with a fourth place run and Connor Mirabelli crossed the line in fifth.
“This win means a lot,” said Buckwalter in Weaknecht Archery Victory Lane. “Today is the fifth anniversary of my father-in-law’s passing, so this one is for Amanda’s dad. We know he is up there watching,” explained the winner as he gazed skyward.
Exeter Township’s Amanda Angstadt took the initial green of the All Star Slingshot main on the outside of row one, blasted into the lead at the outset, and never looked back as she recorded her first Action Track USA triumph.
Patrick Weiss, Brett Bieber, and Dave Carraghan scuffled for the runner-up spot, with Bieber gaining the edge on lap 11. But Carraghan, the winner on June 4, would not let “the Oley Jet” settle into that position, as he began an assault on Bieber as Angstadt danced away to a nice lead.
Carraghan muscled past Bieber for second with two revolutions left and began his pursuit of the leader. He closed in as Angstadt came up on a slower car and appeared unsure of which line to take to get around the lapped machine. She throttled by the slower car off turn two on the final tour, and Carraghan attempted to gun his No. 3 in an effort to stay with Angstadt. Unfortunately, he made slight contact with the lapped car, snapping his front axle and coasting to a stop in turn three as the leaders took the checkered flag.
Angstadt was a relieved and shocked winner, with Bieber and Weiss chasing her to the finish. Matthew Laubach and Zack Gerber completed the top five.
Hard nosed racing on June 4 led to contact in the Junior Slingshot feature, and that contact took Lilly Esterly out of the lead. That disappointment led to a desire for redemption on Wednesday, and she got the job done in grand style.
Esterly, from Birdsboro, started on the pole and led wire to wire, but the victory did not come easily. Anna Strachko bounded into second on lap one, and she applied some pressure to the leader before Hannah Kormann darted past her and into the runner-up slot.
Kormann harassed Esterly for several laps, but Lilly’s No. 1 was up to the challenge, fending off each attempt to overtake her. Numerous ties, Kormann’s No. 16k ducked under the leader for a second or two, but each time it was Lilly who powered off the corner and remained the race leader.
When the checkered flag waved after 15 laps, Esterly had her first Action Track feature win. Following her to the stripe were Kormann, Aidan Buckwalter (Tim’s oldest son), Brayden Bednar (SpeedSTR driver Mike Bednar’s son), and Strachko.
Wednesday, June 18 is another Championship Points Night for the four weekly divisions: the All Pro SpeedSTRs, the Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, along with the All Star and Junior Slingshots.
Pit gates open at 4 p.m., while grandstand gates swing open at 5:00. Warm ups commence at 6:00, with opening ceremonies and qualifying heats immediately following the hot lap sessions.
Adult General Admission is $18, with Senior Citizens enjoying an admission price of $16. Youth between the ages of six and 12 are just $5, and children aged five and under are admitted FREE.
Coming up on Sunday, June 22 is the third-ever appearance of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series. Last season, Logan Seavey nosed out Briggs Danner for the victory in a real thriller.
The track is located on the Kutztown Fairgrounds at 144 North Whiteoak Street, Kutztown, PA 19530.
RESULTS:
All Pro SpeedSTRs, 30 laps: 1.Billy Pauch Jr., 2.Daniel Schumaker, 3.Briggs Danner, 4.Bobby Butler, 5.Dustin Morris, 6.Brendan Hires, 7.Cale Zangli, 8.Matt Chowns, 9.Cole Stangle, 10.Matt Janisch, 11.Paulie Hartwig III, 12.John Barnett, 13.Tim Buckwalter, 14.Andy Ressler, 15.Sammy Martz, 16.Mike Bednar, 17.Tyler Kehs, 18.Ryan Krachun, 19.Austin Kroboth. DNS: Scott Houdeshell.
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Tim Buckwalter, 2.Kenny Miller III, 3.Billy Koch, 4.Zack Weisenfluh, 5.Connor Mirabelli, 6.James Roselli, 7.Connor Gross, 8.Steven Snyder Jr., 9.Lukas Kostic, 10.Jarid Kunkle, 11.Dakota Barlet, 12.Tyler Henry, 13.Kyle Lick, 14.Ryan Rochelle, 15.Jasper Zeigafuse, 16.Chase Wehr, 17.Cole Gerber, 18.Geordan Marrero, 19.Jacob Fisher, 20.Aidan Donaldson, 21.Briggs Danner, 22.Danny Buccafusca, 23.Luke Hess, 24.Hank Steller, 25.Dylan Smith, 26.James Fries, 27.Sonny Tete, 28.Weston Doklan.
DNQ: Adam Buchel, Eddie Mort, JT Bierman, Kyle Herve, Luke McCloskey, Nate Freed, Sammy Martz Jr., Jacob Homnick, Larry Kelleher, John Barnett, Amanda Buchel, Amanda Onimus, Brianna Snyder, Tommy Nettleship.
All Star Slingshots, 20 laps: 1.Amanda Angstadt, 2.Brett Bieber, 3.Patrick Weiss, 4.Matthew Laubach, 5.Zack Gerber, 6.Daniel Betz, 7.Tyler Ulsh, 8.Mason Lineman, 9.Gavin Marrero, 10.Gage Marrero, 11.Shawn Dengler, 12.Josh Roth, 13.Dave Carraghan, 14.Riley Maguirre. DNS: Brenden Lilick.
Junior Slingshots, 15 laps: 1.Lilly Esterly, 2.Hannah Kormann, 3.Aidan Buckwalter, 4.Brayden Bednar, 5.Anna Strachko, 6.Jon Severn, 7.Bayleigh Ross, 8.Kaleb Stufflet, 9.Landon McNichol, 10.Danica Weinberger, 11.Benji Fry, 12.Nick Fry, 13.Billy Pauch III.
600 Sprints Mad Scramble, 8 laps (Winner transfers to feature): 1.Steven Snyder Jr., 2.Jacob Homnick, 3.Geordan Marrero, 4.Kyle Herve, 5.Amanda Buchel.
