Reynoldsville, Pa. — Overcast skies greeted a large crowd and a full pit area for the 4th Annual Mick Orsich Memorial Late Model Open at Hummingbird Speedway. Although the skies were overcast the weather wouldn’t play a factor in the evening\’s event, as fans and drivers from across the region converged on the bullring for a night of racing action in memory of former track manager and flagman Mick Orsich. Before racing action began, all of the racers filled the speedway for a full field, four wide salute in memory of Mr. Orsich. It was a touching scene as the fans stood and applauded the tribute from the drivers. The heavy rain that the area received on Friday provided a challenging surface for the heat races, but the track crew worked the track during the intermission and provided a good surface for the feature events. Denton Boyer of Punxsutawney would be the big winner as he won his first late model feature event, in his first visit to Hummingbird Speedway, during the speedway\’s premier event.
40 late models were on hand to attempt to qualify for the $2000 to Win Late Model Open, and the field was split in to five heat races. Bobby Stokes of Milton, Jim Kurpakus of Leechburg, Luke Hoffner of Turbotville, Denton Boyer of Punxsutawney, and Chris Farrell of Clearfield, won their respective qualifying heats and earned a spot in the five lap “Community First Bank Dash for Cash”, which would determine the top five starting positions in the Late Model Open. Bobby Stokes took the lead from Chris Farrell and went on to win the dash, picking up $100 along with the pole position for the main event. Bobby Watt from Latrobe, and Shane McMeans of Dayton won the twin B Main consolation races.
The field was set, and you could feel the excitement in the air as the crowd stood and waved off the drivers during the four abreast parade lap. Stokes and Boyer led the field to the green flag with Stokes gaining the early advantage, leading Boyer into turn one on the first lap. Several early cautions would slow the field, erasing any advantage that Stokes would gain, but Stokes looked strong as he would pull away from Boyer on the restarts. With only a handful of laps in the books, Stokes held the lead but dropped to the infield in turns three and four, retiring from the event with mechanical problems. Boyer assumed the lead with Luke Hoffner, Bobby McMillen, Dwayne Brooks and Chris Farrell battling for a top five position. Boyer opened up a comfortable lead over Hoffner as the laps wore on, while Brooks made his way around McMillen and began to pressure Hoffner for the second position. Brooks had just made the pass for second on the backstretch when he spun in turns three and four, giving the second spot back to Hoffner. During the caution, Farrell gave up his spot in the top five, retiring to the pits for the remainder of the event. Boyer was setting a blistering pace, and pulled away from Hoffner on several restarts. A long green flag stretch allowed Hoffner and third place running McMillen to gain some ground on Boyer as the leader began to encounter lapped traffic. Billy Dixon and Jim Kurpakus had worked their way into the top five, and were locked in battle for the third position with McMillen. Fans were also beginning to notice Dave Blazavich, who had started twenty second in the field and was knocking on the door of the top five. Hoffner pulled alongside Boyer as the pair raced through the lapped cars, but before he could pull off the pass for the lead, the caution waved once again for a spin in turn two that ended McMillen’s bid for a top three position as he was collected in the mishap. The caution took the heat off Boyer, as he would have a clear track ahead of him once again. When the green flag flew with nine laps to go Hoffner dove low under Boyer in turn one but Boyer powered away down the backstretch opening up a comfortable lead. Blazavich continued his great run to the front taking the fourth and third positions from Kurpakus and Dixon in the final laps, as John Chesnalavich also worked his way in to the top five. Boyer once again hit lapped traffic in the closing laps, but Hoffner was unable to gain much ground as the youngster from Punxsutawney went on to claim his first late model feature win, with Hoffner, Blazavich, Dixon, and Chesnalavich rounding out the top five. Boyer celebrated his first career win with a victory lap as fireworks lit up the sky. Boyer’s win in the Orsich Memorial, including lap money was worth $2,350.
The Street Stock feature saw several new drivers at the bullring. Brandon Connor and Randy Reitz lead the field of nineteen stockers to the green flag, and ran side by side before Connor was able to gain the advantage. Connor continued to lead as “The Hurricane” Gary Little worked the high line around Mike Dempsey and Reitz in to the second position and began to reel in Connor. Connor bobbled slightly in turn two, allowing Little to sneak by on the low side of the speedway, as seventh place starter Fuzzy Fields made his way into the top five. A quick caution tightened up the field and gave Connor a chance to regroup. On the restart, Little jumped out to the lead, but Connor wasn’t going away quietly as he pulled even with the leader and the two raced side by side by with Connor regaining the lead as Dempsey and Fields had their hands full with sixteenth place starter Joe Kot who was making some noise on his way to the front. Kot made his way into third, and looked to have a shot at the leaders when the caution waved with four laps to go. On the final restart, Connor took off with Little throwing everything he had at him with Kot all over his bumper in third. Connor would hold off one final charge from Little and go on to win his first feature event of the season at the bullring, with Little, Kot, Ben Asel and Fields rounding out the top five. Heat winners for the Street Stocks were Steve Cook, Dom Surra and Fuzzy Fields.
Twenty one Pure Stocks took the green flag for their feature event with AJ Flick and Brian Rhed battling for the lead while Steve Arthurs and Josh Fields fought for third. Rhed would win the battle for the lead over Flick, as Arthurs and Fields got together causing both drivers to pit in the following laps with flat tires. Rhed would continue to lead with Flick holding off the challenges of eight place starter Aaron Henry who was having a great run in his first pure stock start. Todd English threw his hat in the mix as well, as Henry saw his night come to an end after impacting the back stretch wall. Rhed began to run away from the field as English took the second spot from Flick only to have Flick return the favor as the laps wound down. At the finish it was Rhed picking up his second win of the season with Flick, English, Bryant Small, and Ryan Jones rounding out the top five.
The Rear Wheel Drive Four Cylinder feature saw third place starter Adam Nixon pick up his seventh win of the season after taking the lead from Mike Anderson early in the 15 lap event. The top five were Nixon, Anderson, George Bailey, Tim Bailey and John Gilbert.
The Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinder feature was action packed as always. Mike Lucas took the lead at the green flag and looked like he might be a run away winner before Chris Hickok made his way to second and began to challenge Lucas for the lead. The pair ran side by side and nose tail for several laps swapping the lead several times. As the field took the white flag, it was Hickok by a nose, but Lucas took one more shot as the pair entered turn three. The two were side by side as they exited turn four and traded paint on their way to the checkered flag. At the line it was Lucas taking the victory by the slimmest of margins with Hickok second. Shawn Fedder, Kenny White and Randall Bouch rounded out the top five.
Pit Notes: The Pits were full for the Mick Orsich Late Model Open with 40 Late Models, 20 Street Stocks, 21 Pure Stocks, 17 Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders and 7 Rear Wheel Drive Four Cylinders. The Orsich family presented all the feature winners with a special trophy commemorating the evening. The Chinese Auction was a success as a truck load of great items donated by area businesses were auctioned off with all proceeds benefiting the Hahne Cancer Center. Next week at the bullring, the Chili 100 returns for the 10th annual running of the event. The main event will be a 100 lap late model race for $3000 to win! The Street Stocks will be in action for 50 laps with $1000 to win, and the Pure Stocks and Front Wheel Drives will each compete in a 25 lap event for $250 to win. General Admission is $15 with $30 for pit admission. Gates open at 3pm with racing at 6pm. Join us at the bullring as we close out the 2009 racing season with the 10th Annual Chili 100 Sue Matthews Memorial. More information can be found on our website at www.hummingbirdspeedway.com.
Full Results:
Mick Orsich Memorial Late Model Open
- Denton Boyer (Punxsutawney)
- Luke Hoffner (Turbotville)
- Dave Blazavich (Indiana)
- Billy Dixon (West Decatur)
- John Chesnalavich (Reynoldsville)
- Cody Schultz (Hyde)
- Jim Kurpakus (Leechburg)
- Denny Fenton (Clearfield)
- Josh Young (Berwick)
- Eddie Connor (DuBois)
- Tom Decker Jr. (Bellwood)
- Bob McMillen (St. Marys)
- Chuck Kennedy (Brockway)
- Donnie Connor (Reynoldsville)
- Rich Womeldorf (Apollo)
- Jim Detman (Leechburg)
- Dwayne Brooks (Falls Creek)
- Jason Witherite (Luthersburg)
- Bill Davis (DuBois)
- Shane McMeans (Dayton)
- Jerry Redden (Red Hill)
- Tom Shaffer (Punxsutawney)
- Bobby Watt (Latrobe)
- Chris Farrell (Clearfield)
- Bobby Stokes (Milton)
DNQ: Scott Alvetro, Denny Curry, Billy Eash, Chris Clark, Sam Gindlesberger, Cheyenne Reed, Nick Loffredo, Tom Jobe, John Reed, John Poling III, Paul Kot, Tommy Kroenwetter, Ryan Christoff, Todd Bumgardner, Bruce Raybuck.
Street Stocks:
- Brandon Connor (DuBois)
- Gary Little (Clearfield)
- Joe Kot (DuBois)
- Ben Asel (Kane)
- Fuzzy Fields (Brockport)
- Mike Dempsey (Brookville)
- Randy Reitz (Punxsutawney)
- Ray Reed (Brockway)
- Steve Cook (Sykesville)
- Paul Blake (Weedville)
- Jeff Mease (Clearfield)
- Bob Ralston Jr. (Philipsburg)
- Rich Howe (Goshen)
- Jeff Taylor (Corsica)
- Jamie Price (Hyde)
- Doug Tibbens (Clearfield)
- Dom Surra (Ridgeway)
- Mark Bell
- Bob Rosman (Sykesville)
DNS: Jason Walker (Clearfield)
Pure Stock:
- Brian Rhed (Brockport)
- AJ Flick (Apollo)
- Todd English (Clearfield)
- Bryant Small (Gipsy)
- Ryan Jones (Reynoldsville)
- Jody Frantz (DuBois)
- Zach Gustafson (Weedville)
- Vaughn Kougher (Reynoldsville)
- Steve Barnes (Punxsutawney)
- Robin Welch (Stump Creek)
- Jim Challinsworth (St. Marys)
- Dave Kohler (Stump Creek)
- Travis Brady (Clearfield)
- Roswell Babcock (Curwensville)
- Josh Fields (Brockport)
- Mike Gervasoni
- Aaron Henry (Brockport)
- Sam McAdams (Blairsville)
- Kyle Shannon (Brockway)
- Steve Arthurs (Falls Creek)
DNS: Dustin Challinsworth (St. Marys)
RWD 4 Cylinder:
- Adam Nixon (Grampian)
- Mike Anderson (DuBois)
- George Bailey (Clearfield)
- Tim Bailey (Morrisdale)
- John Gilbert (Falls Creek)
- Matt Esbaugh (Grampian)
DNS: Bobby Battaglia (Reynoldsville)
FWD 4 Cylinders:
- Mike Lucas (Centre Hall)
- Chris Hickok (Commodore)
- Shawn Fedder (Clearfield)
- Kenny White (DuBois)
- Randall Bouch (Reynoldsville)
- Jessie Short (Clymer)
- Aaron Luzier (Clearfield)
- Stephanie Lucas (Centre Hall)
- Shawn Hadden (Punxsutawney)
- Rich Lucas (Wallaceton)
- Brittany Bouch (Reynoldsville)
- Joe Huffman (Latrobe)
- Brian Crawford (Punxsutawney)
- Jimmy Antonelli (Weedville)
- Brian Paulson (Blacklick)
- Jimmy Frantz
- Bryan Warren (Curwensville)
Robb Thomas
Race Reporter
Hummingbird Speedway