Reynoldsville, PA (June 13, 2009) With rain advancing eastward across the state, the Hummingbird Speedway rushed to get their Saturday night show in the books. It was Kids give-a-way night at the speedway and the winners of the bikes were Corey Rosman and Brianna Sebring who was celebrating her fifth birthday. After a short intermission to allow the track crew to repair a rut in turn three, the teams raced not only against each other, but against Mother Nature as well. Three of the five scheduled feature events were completed before the skies opened up, bringing the show to a halt. Dwayne Brooks of Falls Creek blistered the field for his first Limited Late Model feature win, Bobby Connor picked up his third win in the street stock division, and Aaron Henry took the lead with laps winding down to bring home his second victory in the Rear Wheel Drive Four Cylinders.
After the short intermission, the Rear Wheel Drive Four Cylinders were brought to the track for their 15 lap feature event. Devin Lewis jumped out to an early lead with Don Henry giving chase in second. From their mid pack starting spots, Adam Nixon and Aaron Henry were working their way to the front as D. Henry took the lead from Lewis. Nixon and A. Henry would put on a great show for the fans as they raced each other for second, and began to reel in leader D. Henry. A caution on lap seven bunched up the field and wiped out the advantage that D. Henry had gained. On the restart, Nixon and A. Henry both overtook D. Henry exiting turn two and began to battle each other for the top spot. A. Henry got a great run off of turn four and dove under Nixon going into turn one. The pair raced side by side down the back stretch and into turn three where A. Henry finally gained the spot on the inside as they raced to white flag. Nixon took one final shot at A. Henry as they raced into turn three, but was unable to overtake the leader as A. Henry took the checkered flag for his second feature win of the season. The top five at the line were A. Henry, Nixon, D. Henry, Chris Semple, and last weeks winner Mike Anderson from his twelve place starting spot. Heat races were won by, Mike Anderson and Chris Semple.
With the setting sun providing a colorful backdrop off turn three, the Street Stocks made their way to the speedway for their twenty lap feature. Front row starter Ben Asel would jump out to the lead only to have that lead erased when fellow front row starter Denny Draisma spun entering turn three, collecting Joe Kot and Orin Taylor. The restart would find Danny Gill moving to the front row and he took advantage of the opportunity, taking the lead on the start. Asel settled into the second position with Gary Little, Jim Bloom and Steve Cook rounding out the top five in the early part of the event. Asel would lose the second position when he spun in turns one and two. Gill would continue to pace the field as Little, Bloom and Cook battled for second. The race for second was intense, with two and three wide action at times, and the battle was about to heat up as Bobby Connor had worked his way to fifth after starting at the rear of the field. Connor was hooked up on the low side of the speedway as he seemed to be passing one car a lap in the middle stages of the event. Several multi car incidents would slow the event as Gill, who was nursing a deflating left rear tire, would jump out to the lead on each restart, with Connor challenging each time. Just past the halfway point, Connor made his move to wrestle the lead away from Gill, while Joe Kot was making his presence felt as he entered the battle with Bloom, and Little for third. Little was able to break away from Bloom and gained some ground on Gill as Connor began to pull away from the pack. Kot was putting on a show as he moved past Bloom, Little and Gill in the closing laps to overtake the second position. With a handful of laps to go, Little dove under Gill for third while entering turn one. Gill’s left rear tire finally let go as he got sideways collecting Little in the process. A green, white, checkered finish was setup and saw Connor jump to the lead with Kot on his tail. Cook had come back from his early spin to earn a spot in the top five. Kot was not able to challenge Connor for the lead as Connor took his third victory of the season in style, coming from last to first on the field. At the stripe it was Connor, Kot, Cook, Bloom and Rosman as the top five. Heat races were won by Scott Hollopeter and Danny Gill.
With the threat of rain drawing closer, the Limited Late Models were next on the track. After a disappointing finish last week, Dwayne Brooks would find himself on the front row for tonight’s feature event. Brooks would jump to the lead at the start and never look back. Rich Womeldorf settled into second with new comer Jeremy Ohl applying pressure. Chris Farrell, a substitute for Jim Parsons Jr., occupied the third spot with Cody Schultz riding fourth. Brooks began to pull away from the pack as Ohl worked his way into second and began to chase down the leader as Farrell was all over his rear bumper. Luke Hoffner found the outside line and was working his way to the front from his ninth place starting spot, while Kyle Wisor and Cody Schultz battled for fourth. There was action all over the speedway as Brooks continued to pull away from the field. Farrell continued to challenge Ohl for second, but Hoffner was the man on the move as he continued to work the high line. Farrell got out of shape in turn two allowing Schultz and Hoffner to move by, and Hoffner would then use the outside to get around Shultz for third. With the laps winding down, Hoffner would take the second spot from Ohl and set his sights on the leader as Brooks began to enter lapped traffic. Hoffner would close the gap, but would not catch Brooks as the hometown driver would take the checkered flags for his first win at Hummingbird Speedway. Brooks took his customary victory lap a step further as he toured the pit area with the checkered flag in celebration. The top five at the finish were Brooks, Hoffner, Ohl, Schultz, and Wisor. Heat race wins went to Jeremy Ohl, Cody Schultz, and Dwayne Brooks.
The rain began to fall as the pure stocks fought to get their feature in the books. Several cautions in the opening laps slowed down the action, and allowed Mother Nature to take over the night. With a persistent rain falling, official’s red flagged the event and cancelled the remainder of the show. The pure stocks will complete their feature next week, with Todd English, Bruce Hartzfeld, Travis Brady, John Barley, and Zach Gustafson the top five after four laps were completed.
Notes: 85 cars signed in for competition under the threat of rain, including 12 Rear Wheel Drive Four Cylinders, 15 Street Stocks, 17 Limited Late Models, 18 Pure Stocks and 23 Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders. Several new teams were in the pits, but none traveled farther than the #773 Limited Late Model of Mike Evock. Mike made the long tow from Fort Bragg, North Carolina with a car that is dedicated to all the POW / MIA’s. The Fenton Racing team found itself with two substitute drivers as Scott Fenton was in the #55 and Chris Farrell took the reigns of the #95 for Jim Parsons Jr., who found himself in the hospital on Saturday with an illness. The Updyke racing team took up a collection for the family of Jennifer Updyke who passed away recently.
- Aaron Henry (Brockport)
- Adam Nixon (Grampian)
- Don Henry (Brockway)
- Chris Semple (Shirleysburg)
- Mike Anderson (DuBois)
- Devin Lewis (Weedville)
- Alan Barnett (Philipsburg)
- Bill Washeck (Clearfield)
- Paul Metz Jr. (Julian)
- George Bailey (Clearfield)
- Randy Albert (Morrisdale)
- Mike Maines (Clearfield)
- Bobby Connor (DuBois)
- Joe Kot (DuBois)
- Steve Cook (Sykesville)
- Jim Bloom (Curwensville)
- Bob Rosman (Sykesville)
- Pernell Beimel (St. Mary’s)
- Gary Little (Clearfield)
- Danny Gill (Clearfield)
- Denny Draisma (Reynoldsville)
- Neil Wilson Jr. (Clearfield)
- Orin Taylor (DuBois)
- Scott Hollopeter (Reynoldsville)
- Ben Asel (Kane)
- Mike Hummel (Clearfield)
DNS: Bill Huntington (Stump Creek)
- Dwayne Brooks (Falls Creek)
- Luke Hoffner (Turbotville)
- Jeremy Ohl (Jersey Shore)
- Cody Schultz (Hyde)
- Kyle Wisor (Orbisonia)
- Chris Farrell (Clearfield)
- Josh Young (Berwick)
- Rich Womeldorf (Apollo)
- Doug Updyke (DuBois)
- Jake Shady (Beech Creek)
- Scott Fenton (Clearfield)
- Mike Evock (Ft. Bragg, NC)
- John Brady (Clearfield)
- Brian Molnar (Falls Creek)
- Robert Oknofski (Ridgeway)
DNS: Derrick Rodkey (Osceola Mills)
DNS: Donnie Connor (Reynoldsville)
Robb Thomas
Race Reporter
Hummingbird Speedway