Submitted by Robb Thomas, Hummingbird Speedway Race Reporter
A picture perfect fall afternoon greeted race teams and fans on Saturday as Chili Promotions and The Hummingbird Speedway teamed up once again to present the 11th Annual Chili 100 Sue Mathews Memorial. Selinsgrove’s Jim Yoder became the 11th different winner in the Chili 100 after a dominating performance in the 100 lap Super Late Model main event. Dom Surra of St. Marys charged to the front of the Chili Pepper 50 Street Stock feature to bring home second win in a row in the 50 lap event, while younger brother Doug Surra from Kersey made it a clean sweep for the T-3 team with his victory in the Chili Smackdown 25 lap event for the Front Wheel Drive 4 Cylinders. Kyle Shannon of Brockway continued his dominance of the Pure Stock division by picking up the win in the 25 lap Chili Dirt Burner. A large crowd was on hand to enjoy the beautiful weather and one final night of racing excitement at the bullring.
The Street Stocks kicked off the feature events with the Chili Pepper 50. Fuzzy Fields and Paul Kot led the field to the start, but the green flag was waved off as a multi car incident occurred as the field approached the starters stripe. Thunder Mountain Speedway Point Champion Skip Lindemuth was the only car involved in the incident that did not return to the speedway for the restart. On the re-start, Fields took off into the early lead with teammate Brian Rhed hot on his heals in the second position. The team cars of Fields and Rhed were setting a torrid pace as the began to distance themselves from the rest of pack. The action behind the leaders was hot and heavy with several drivers racing two and three wide in their bid for positions in the top ten. Tim Krape found himself locked in a battle for the third position with Johnny Lindenpitz, Jeff Taylor and the brothers Paul and Joe Kot. A quick caution for a spin by Chris Schneider erased the lead that Fields and Rhed had built over the rest of the field, and it wouldn’t be the last we would hear from Schneider. On the restart, Fields and Rhed again took off with Rhed applying steady pressure to Fields at both ends of the speedway. While the leaders were beginning to encounter lapped traffic, Krape slowed and gave up his fourth position as he retired from the event. Rhed was all over Fields as they began to race through the lapped traffic. Schneider was racing hard in an effort to stay on the lead lap, and Fields was having a tough time finding a line around the #55 as the two raced side by side for several laps. Rhed took advantage of the situation and dove low under Fields to take the lead in turn three as Fields tried the high line in an attempt to clear the lapped car of Schneider. Once out front, Rhed encountered the same situation as he was fending off heavy pressure from Fields as he worked to put Schneider a lap down. At the halfway point it was Rhed leading with Fields all over his rear bumper. Jeff Taylor and Joe Kot were locked in a heated battle for third while 15th place starter Dom Surra had patiently worked his way into the top five. Kot and Taylor would get together exiting turn two with Taylor spinning to the infield, both would be relegated to the rear of the field for the restart. On the restart, Fields dove under Rhed and the teammates raced side by side before Fields was able to regain the lead on the low side of turn three. Fields wasn’t in the clear as Rhed continued to challenge him for the lead, while Surra was drawing closer as the laps wound down. With ten laps to go, Surra made his move and took the second position from Rhed and then quickly began to challenge Fields for the lead. Surra wasted no time and made the pass for the lead on the low side of turns three and four. Once out front Surra began to pull away from the pack as Fields had his hands full with Rhed in the battle for second, while Dan Smeal began to challenge for that position as well. Surra navigated the lapped traffic and crossed the stripe to record his second Chili Pepper 50 in a row! Surra credited his team with the win, as they worked all week to get the T-3 back together after engine problems sidelined the team the previous weekend. Following Surra across the line were Fuzzy Fields, Brian Rhed, Dan Smeal and Gary Little to round out the top five. Heat race winners were Brian Rhed, Brandon Connor and Skip Lindemuth.
The Super Late Models were up next for the 11th Annual running of the Chili 100. Leading the field to the green flag were John Lobb and Eddie Connor. Before the green flag flew, the field aligned in a four wide salute to the fans that was met with cheers and waves from the fans. The field was set, the green flag was in the air, and the fans were ready for 100 laps of late model action on the bullring. When the green flag flew, it was pole sitter John Lobb jumping out to the lead with Eddie Connor, Jim Yoder, Luke Hoffner, and Bernie Whiteford settling in to the top five positions. Patience is a virtue in a 100 lap feature event, but you wouldn’t have known that by the way the drivers were jockeying for position in the pack. With 24 cars on the bullring, it didn’t take long for Lobb to begin to encounter lapped traffic. As Lobb began to work his way through the traffic, Hoffner took the second position from Connor on the high side of turns three and four and set his sights on the leader. Last years runner up, Jim Yoder wasn’t holding anything back this year, as he quickly passed Connor for the third position. Up front, Lobb was still setting the pace, with Hoffner and Yoder quickly closing the gap. With Lobb working hard to negotiate the lapped cars, Yoder was all over Hoffner in his bid for the second position. With no cautions to this point, action was spread all over the track, with Connor, Whiteford, Chad Hollenbeck, Doug Eck and Al Shawver Jr. all racing for positions in the top ten. With 30 laps down, Yoder made his move, taking the second position from Hoffner in turns three and four. Yoder wasted no time in making his bid for the lead as he slipped underneath Lobb in turns one and two to steal the top spot. Once out front, Yoder began to distance himself from the pack before a caution on lap 32 gave the drivers and fans a chance to regroup and catch their breath. On the restart it was all Yoder as he quickly began to distance himself from the rest of the field, before the caution waved for the mandatory fuel stop on lap 50. Halfway home, and only one caution had slowed the event to this point. The second half of the race was all Yoder as he quickly distanced himself from the rest of the pack. Lobb continued to hold down the second spot fending off constant pressure from Hoffner while Whiteford and Eck rounded out the top five. The mover and shaker in the field to this point was young Dylan Yoder. While his dad was leading the field, Dylan was picking off cars left and right on his charge to the front. Dylan had worked his way from deep in the field to take the fifth spot from Eck just before the caution flew. Dylan would take the #32 to the pits under the caution and return to start at the tail of the field for the restart. On the restart, Yoder again pulled away from the pack as Eck moved around Whiteford for fourth. Chris Farrell was making his presence known as he took the fifth position from Whiteford on the next circuit. Whiteford would bring out the next caution, and allow the field once again to erase the lead that Yoder had built. Yoder once again took off on the restart, and with 20 laps to go had almost a half lap lead on the second place car of Lobb. Lobb’s great run in second ended with a flat right rear tire with a handful of laps left in the event. With the laps winding down, it was all Yoder as he continued to wire the field with Hoffner and Eck trading the second position several times. When the checkered flag flew, it was Yoder picking up his first Chili 100 victory with Hoffner, Eck, Farrell and Denton Boyer rounding out the top five. In victory lane, Yoder stated that last year he had laid back a little too long and let the win slip away. This year, there was no denying him as he dominated the event to become the 11th different winner of the Chili 100! Heat race winners were: John Lobb, Bobby McMillen, Jim Yoder and Eddie Connor. The winner of the B-main was Ron Kline.
The Front Wheel Drive Chili Smackdown 25 was up next with Jay Blum and Doug Surra on the front row. Surra dominated the event, leading every lap on his way to victory lane to give the T-3 a clean sweep of the night after his brother Dom won the Street Stock feature earlier in the evening. While Surra led every lap, the action behind him was hot and heavy as Blum, Bob Pease, and Kenny White all took turns at running in the second position throughout the event. At the checkers it was all Surra with Blum, Pease, White and Bryan Warren rounding out the top five. Heat race winners were: Doug Surra and Chris Hickok.
The final event of the evening was the 25 lap Chili Dirt Burner for the Pure Stocks. Dustin Challingsworth and Kyle Shannon led the field to the green flag. Challingsworth took the lead on the start and fended off heavy pressure from Shannon during the early stages of the event. Challingsworth was looking strong has he continued to hold of Shannon at the front of the field, while Steven Arthurs, Matt Heindl and Bernie Whetstone were locked in a battle for the third position. Challingsworth was working heavy lapped traffic when Shannon made his move and took the lead on the low side of the speedway. Challingsworth pressured Shannon at both ends of the speedway before spinning while running second. It was all Shannon from there as the track champion from Hummingbird and Thunder Mountain went on to record another win on the season. Following Shannon across the line were Arthurs, Shawn Lindemuth, Matt Heindl, and Shawn Munoz. Heat race winners were: Dustin Challingsworth and Matt Heindl.
Notes: 101 race teams were on hand to compete in this years Chili 100 events including 34 Super Late Models, 27 Street Stocks, 23 Pure Stocks, and 17 Front Wheel Drive 4 Cylinders. Jim Yoder became the 11th different winner of the Chili 100. Three former Chili 100 Champions, Ron Kline, Luke Hoffner, and Chris Farrell, competed in this years 100 lap feature event. Luke Hoffner continued his streak as the only driver to qualify for all eleven Chili 100’s. Front Wheel Drive racer Chris Paar took a wild ride during his heat race when he clipped an infield marker and barrel rolled his #9x several times in turns one and two. Chris walked away from the accident uninjured. Chili Promotions would like to thank, The Hummingbird Speedway, Fogelman Trucking, Jessica’s House of Style, Little’s Auto Sales, GAP Enterprises and all the lap sponsors for their continued support for this years Chili 100.
Full Results:
Chili 100
1. Jim Yoder
2. Luke Hoffner
3. Doug Eck
4. Chris Farrell
5. Denton Boyer
6. Cody Schultz
7. Bryan Bernheisel
8. Dylan Yoder
9. Tim Smith Jr.
10. Al Shawver Jr.
11. Ron Kline
12. Eddie Connor
13. Josh Kennelly
14. Josh Young
15. John Lobb
16. Bernie Whiteford
17. Bobby McMillen
18. Jim Kurpakus
19. Bobby Stokes
20. Steve Stitt
21. Billy Eash
22. Chuck Kennedy
23. Chad Hollenbeck
24. Tom Shaffer
DNQ- Ryan Christoff, John Reed, Bill Davis, Ernie Millon, John Brady, John Chesnalavich Jr., Tom Decker Jr., Greg Kent, Jerry Redden, Rance Garlock
Chili Pepper 50
1. Dom Surra
2. Fuzzy Fields
3. Brian Rhed
4. Dan Smeal
5. Gary Little
6. Paul Kot
7. Paul Blake
8. Craig Bainey
9. Joe Kot
10. Jeff Taylor
11. Bob Rosman
12. Joe Jordan
13. Chris Schneider
14. Rick Hemphill
15. Mike Dempsey
16. Randy Reitz
17. Kyle Beimel
18. Pernell Beimel
19. Johnny Lindenpitz
20. Allen English
21. Mark Clark
22. Tim Krape
23. Eric Baun
24. Brandon Connor
25. Skip Lindemuth
DNS – Todd Mathews, Tim White
Chili Smackdown 25
1. Doug Surra
2. Jay Blum
3. Bob Pease
4. Kenny White
5. Bryan Warren
6. Chris McCracken
7. Bill Webber
8. Eric Luzier
9. Jesse Short
10. Jack Rumfola
11. Cory Silvis
12. Chris Hickok
13. David Smail
14. Jacob Kline
15. Brent Sholtis
16. Shawn Fedder
Chili Dirt Burner 25
1. Kyle Shannon
2. Steve Arthurs
3. Shawn Lindemuth
4. Matt Heindl
5. Shawn Munoz
6. Dustin Challingsworth
7. Zach Gustufson
8. Bill Mumau
9. Steve Barnes
10. Nate Stiles
11. Blane Kroft
12. Robin Welsh
13. Bernie Whetstone
14. Jim Challingsworth
15. Steve Huey
16. Preston Imler
17. Jason Joiner
18. Justin Queen
19. Dan Carney
20. #717
DNS- Shawn Thorne, Nathan Yeaney, Justin Kanouff