The JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA at the Kutztown Fairgrounds was back in action Wednesday

DOWN THE CHUTE BY JOHN SMITH

The JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA at the Kutztown Fairgrounds was back in action Wednesday, July 10th as they played host to leg three of the PA 600 cc Sprint Speed Week. 53 cars entered the facility to do battle on the 1/5th mile in twin heats, meaning each driver ran in not one but two heats. They even had one driver competing from Victoria, Queensland, Australia. I got only his last name and it was Symons.

Going into the 35 lap feature, Mike Dicely had been the Speedweek point leader but he failed to qualify, which hurt him big time as far as points go. Also a big hurt in the points came when Brian Carber lost a motor earlier at the Greenwood Valley race, so he was not in the field.

At the drop of “Iron” Mike Feltenberger’s green flag for the start of the Kioti Tractors feature, Tim Buckwalter and Billy Pauch Jr. got down to business right away and started exchanging slide jobs and cross over moves for several laps before things settled down, but just for a bit. On a lap six restart, Mike Rutherford and Kyle Lick both came out of the clouds to throw their hats into the ring with Lick coming from eighth to fourth on one lap while Rutherford, a standout when running with wings, moved into third. On a restart, Buckwalter was called for jumping the start and subsequently moved back one row, handing the lead to Rutherford. Now then rutherford and Buckwalter started exchanging slide jobs on each other while Pauch Jr. and Lick were right behind in a four car dogfight. Late in the race, Buckwalter went for it and nearly spun, costing him several positions as now Pauch Jr. began to throw the kitchen sink at the leader but he never wavered and Mike Rutherford nipped Pauch Jr. at the line for his first ever wingless 600 cc Micro win over Pauch Jr. and Chad VanHorn. Kyle Lick hand grenaded a motor on the last turn while running in the top five.

“I’ve gotta thank Gary Hunter,” Rutherford said. “This is actually the first wingless race we’ve run. Definitely a little out of our element. Thanks for having us.”
In the SpeedSTR division, it was only a matter of time before legendary Kenny Brightbill got a win but he got it this night as the 65 year old led all the laps and successfully repelled all of Mike Bednar’s challenges for the $2,000 top prize. “We changed it (the car) a little bit for the feature from the heat. It was a little pushy but I was right there most of the race,” Kenny said. It was an extremely popular win for the Shillington Slingshot and his first in this division and the first of any kind since 2011 when he last won at Charlie Cathell’s Delaware International Speedway in the Keith Coulborne (sic) 55 Big Block. With that win, Brightbill extended his point lead.

This coming Wednesday, July 17th (I know most of you won’t get your Gaters by then) will be the inaugural running of the “Kutztown Komet 100” presented by GMI First and Heat and Cool for the All Star Slingshots. The race is run to remember the late, great Freddie Adam, a Modified racer who recently passed away and had hailed from Kutztown. In preparation for this race, Mark Sensenig, out of Leesport, PA, wheeled his Slinger Warehouse number 7L to the win, wiring the field.

I need to mention the great run in the SpeedSTRS by multi time Late Model champion at Grandview Chuck Schutz. He pretty much had second in the bag till mechanical issues ended his night with just five to go.