Reimert Scores 1st SpeedSTR Win; T. Buckwalter Becomes National Champ On Day 2 of Fall Jamboree

Hanover, PA –  It was a good day to be a resident of Oley, PA.

  Race winners joined newly crowned champions on Sunday at Trail-Way Speedway; all posing for the cameras at the conclusion of Speedway Entertainment’s Fall Jamboree.

  Louden Reimert registered his first career victory in the USAC All Pro SpeedSTR division and Brett Bieber notched the All Star Slingshot triumph. Both drivers reside in the Berks County hamlet of Oley.

  Other feature winners on Sunday included Kyle Spence (wingless 600 Sprints) and Cole Stangle, who backed up his Junior Slingshot victory on Saturday with another checkered flag in Sunday’s event.

  Speedway Entertainment’s 2016 National Championships were decided in three classes on Sunday. Tim Buckwalter, Pottstown Pa., used a pair of runner-up finishes during the weekend to overtake Canadian Pierre Hebert, claiming the National SpeedSTR title by just 10 points.

  Dylan Hoch, Mertztown Pa., earned his second All Star Slingshot National Championship by notching two top-ten finishes during Fall Jamboree weekend. Hoch beat out Brett Bieber and Seth Spayd for the title.

  In the closest championship battle of the three divisions, Jared Silfee, from Saylorsburg, Pa., jumped from third in the standings to win the Junior Slingshot National title by just one point over Cole Stangle. Kyle Smith, who entered the weekend in first place, fell to third when the final points were tallied. Silfee finished seventh and second in the weekend’s races at Trail-Way, while Stangle made the point chase very interesting with his two wins at the Fall Jamboree.

  In Sunday’s SpeedSTR main, Earl Paules broke out to an early lead with Steve Buckwalter offering a challenge on lap three. They got together on the homestretch as S. Buckwalter attempted to pass Paules, and the contact broke the right-front wheel on Buckwalter’s No. 56, ending his day.

  Louden Reimert was now in second, and he may have made the move that eventually won him the race when, on a double-file restart, he muscled his way to the inside lane while exiting turn two as Billy Pauch Jr tried to squeeze inside Reimert’s No. 58. Reimert maintained his hold on second place and that allowed him to dive under Paules in three and four on the fifth circuit. Reimert beat Paules to the stripe, taking the lead just before another caution flag appeared.

  “I hated to pinch Billy down to the infield like that, but I knew I had to get down to the inside lane,” said the 15-year-old Reimert after the race. “I was just doing what I had to do on a daytime track.”

  With Reimert now in front, the battle for second took the spotlight as Kyle Lick moved up to challenge Paules. Lick grabbed the position on the ninth tour and soon had company in the form of Tim Buckwalter as Paules and Pauch faded a back to fourth and fifth.

  On a restart with 11 to go, Buckwalter passed Lick for the runner-up spot and a resurgent Pauch climbed back to third. With two of the best SpeedSTR pilots on his tail, Reimert had his hands full, and a now his engine began to lay down a bit, too, making his task even more difficult.

  Buckwalter tried high and low on a couple of late race restarts, and Pauch gave it one last shot by going high on the front chute on the final restart, but Reimert and his ailing car held on by hugging the bottom and repelling each attack.

  Reimert beat Buckwalter to the checkered, with Pauch seemingly finishing a close third. He was called for jumping on that last restart, however, and set back two spots in the final rundown. Matt Janisch wound up third with Pierre Hebert a solid fourth and Pauch Jr fifth.

  “This is unbelievable…I still can’t believe I’m standing here,” said Reimert afterward. “We think the mag started going bad but it made it to the finish somehow.”

  After he suffered through a tough day on Saturday, Kyle Spence gained redemption by driving Gary Hunter’s No. 7H Hyper to the wingless 600 Sprint triumph in Sunday’s 25-lap feature.

  Spence, from Bear, DE, bolted from the pole position to lead all the way, but Kyle Lick caught everyone’s attention by closing to within a couple of car lengths in the late stages. Spence held on to win over Lick with Tim Buckwalter, Robbie Hocker, and Zach Bealer completing the top five.

  Tyler Peet set the pace in the All Star Slingshot finale, but a wild restart sent him up the track and into Brett Bieber, causing the yellow to fly once again. Unfortunately for Peet, the resulting damage forced him to retire under the caution.

  That handed the top spot to Bieber, and he seized the opportunity, going on to win the 30-lap affair over Justin Mills, Saturday’s winner Cody Kline, Danny Buccafusca, and Austin Stufflet.

  The Junior Slingshots ran nine laps clean and green to begin their main event, with third-starting Tanner VanDoren snatching the lead quickly and charging to a comfortable lead over Cole Stangle, Hunter Lapp, and Kyle Smith.

  A restart with six to go proved fateful to VanDoren, as his No. 22 shot up and into the outside wall in turn two. He was knocked out of the race and Lapp was sent to the rear, putting Stangle in front as the Neshanic Station, NJ driver tried to make a clean sweep of the Junior Slingshot weekend.

  Stangle recorded his second win of the Fall Jamboree, with Jared Silfee scoring just enough points to win the championship by finishing runner-up in the race. Reese Nowatarski finished third for the second day in a row, while Smith and Gavin Santee rounded out the top five.

USAC All Pro SpeedSTR Feature, 30 laps: 1.Louden Reimert, 2.Tim Buckwalter, 3.Matt Janisch, 4.Pierre Hebert, 5.Billy Pauch Jr., 6.Kyle Lick, 7.Steven Nederostek, 8.Mike Bednar, 9.Brad Brightbill, 10.CJ Faison, 11.Briggs Danner, 12.Kevin Hebert, 13.John Bockhorn, 14.Earl Paules, 15.Jeff Hartman, 16.Jason Musser, 17.Andy Haus, 18.Phil Meisner, 19.Tim Iulg, 20.Brody Adamsky, 21.Frank Yankowski, 22.Jay Garris, 23.Keith Prutzman, 24.Steve Buckwalter. DNS: Joe Vaccaro.

Wingless 600 Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Kyle Spence, 2.Kyle Lick, 3.Tim Buckwalter, 4.Robbie Hocker, 5.Zach Bealer, 6.Jesse James Bartleson, 7.Damon Paul, 8.Ryan Quackenbush, 9.Pat Bealer, 10.Mikey Smith, 11.Jason Swavely, 12.Daniel Bair, 13.Devin Gundrum, 14.Jacob Severn, 15.Jermain Godshall, 16.Jack Conover, 17.Dylan Norris, 18.Bobby Butler, 19.Jon Smith. DNS: Byron Wagman.

All Star Slingshot Feature, 30 laps: 1.Brett Bieber, 2.Justin Mills, 3.Cody Kline, 4.Danny Buccafusca, 5.Austin Stufflet, 6.Dylan Hoch, 7.Seth Spayd, 8.Taylor Mills, 9.Alex Yankowski, 10.Kyle Herve, 11.Henry Anderson, 12.Dakota Kohler, 13.Joe Toth, 14.Don Boonstra, 15.CJ Fritz, 16.Tyler Peet, 17.Austin Silfee, 18.Samantha Muller, 19.Chris Kurtz, 20.Anthony Raisner.

Junior Slingshot Feature, 15 laps: 1.Cole Stangle, 2.Jared Silfee, 3.Reese Nowatarski, 4.Kyle Smith, 5.Gavin Santee, 6.Joey Vaccaro, 7.Mike Corbin, 8.Tanner Jones, 9.Hunter Lapp, 10.Joe Costello, 11.Nicho Flammer, 12.Emily Fleming, 13.Brayden Schoch, 14.Tanner VanDoren, 15.Tyler Banks.

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