Hoffner, Smeal, Arthurs, and White Victorious at Hummingbird Speedway!
Falls Creek, Pa. – (May 21, 2010)
The Hummingbird Speedway was back in action Saturday night, and after last week’s rain out, the fans and race teams were ready for some exciting short track action. Bringing home the checkered flag this week were Luke Hoffner of Turbotville in the Limited Late Models, Dan Smeal from Houtzdale in the Street Stocks, Falls Creek’s own Steven Arthurs in the Pure Stocks, and Kenny White from DuBois in the Front Wheel Drive 4 Cylinders. Mother Nature provided a beautiful evening, and the track crew had the racing surface in great shape for a night of action on the bullring.
The Limited Late Models started off the feature action for the night with Bruce Raybuck and Luke Hoffner leading the field to the green flag. After witnessing Hoffner’s dominating performance in his heat race, a lot of fans thought this would be a 25 lap exhibition, however, third place starter Eric Moore had other ideas. It took several attempts to get the first lap of the feature in books, but once that first lap was completed, Hoffner and Moore began a side by side duel that would last the entire feature. Hoffner jumped to the high side of the speedway, while Moore was locked down on the bottom side hounding the leader lap after lap. Moore would bobble a little bit in turn four, giving Hoffner some breathing room as the leader began to enter lapped traffic. A quick caution for a three car pileup reset the field and erased the lead that Hoffner had built. On the restart, Moore challenged Hoffner for the lead again as the pair raced side by side for several laps when they began to encounter lapped traffic again. Both drivers were using the lapped traffic to their advantage as Moore trapped Hoffner up high in turn four to take the lead, only to see Hoffner return the favor in turn two. Before the lap was complete, Moore would regain the lead once again in turn four. It was an intense battle for the lead as the leaders swapped the top spot several times while negotiating lapped traffic. The back and forth battle had allowed third place runner Rick Maxim to gain some ground on the leaders, and now it was a three car battle for the lead. The three car battle was short lived as the leaders checked up for a slower car in turn four starting a chain reaction incident with Maxim being charged with the caution. The restart with seven laps to go once again found Hoffner out front with Moore throwing everything he had at the leader as the laps wound down. Moore would pull even with Hoffner on several occasions but Hoffner held strong and took the checkered flag by a slim margin after the race long duel. The top five at the line were Hoffner, Moore, Bruce Raybuck, Dwayne Brooks, and Jake Shady. Heat race winners were: Bruce Raybuck, Luke Hoffner, and Eric Moore.
The Pure Stocks were up next with Shawn Munoz and Dustin Challingsworth on the front row. Challingsworth jumped out to the early lead and paced the field for several laps while Munoz was locked in a battle for second with Steven Arthurs, and Zach Gustafson. Arthurs settled into the second position and began to hound Challingsworth, while the previous week’s winner Matt Heindl was working his way through the pack to the front. Challingsworth and Arthurs raced side by side before Arthurs wrestled the lead away with five laps to go. Heindl made his way around Gustafson for third and began to work on Challingsworth for the second position. The pair would make contact exiting turn four on their way to the white flag with Heindl taking the position. Arthurs was unchallenged as he went on to claim his first win of the season by several car lengths over Heindl, Gustafson, Challingsworth and Mike Calhoun. Heat race winners were: Matt Heindl and Steven Arthurs.
The always exciting Street Stocks were next on the card with Jamie Price and Bob Connor (substituting for Joe Kot), on the front row. Price took the early lead before a caution reset the field for a complete restart. On the restart, Fuzzy Fields used the low side of the speedway to take the lead away from Price. Connor settled into second and began to pressure Fields as Dan Smeal was making his presence felt in the top five after starting deep in the field. Smeal was using the high and low sides of the speedway as he picked off cars, while Connor continued to pressure Fields for the lead. Smeal took over second position from Connor and set his sights on Fields as the caution waved for one of several single car spins. On the restart, Smeal took the lead from Fields and never looked back, as he would lead the rest of the way, enduring several late race restarts. Following Smeal across the stripe were, Fields, Connor, Price and Brandon Connor rounding out the top five. Heat race winners were: Eddie Connor, Fuzzy Fields, and Bob Connor.
The Front Wheel Drive 4 Cylinders were the final event of the evening and were led to the green flag by Shawn Fedder and Kenny White. White would lead the entire distance while first fending off the challenges of Doug Surra in the early stages of the race, and then holding off a hard charging Bryan Warren to take the win. The top five at the line were White, Warren, Jim Frantz, Shawn Fedder and Walt Fedder. Heat race winners were: Shawn Fedder and Kenny White.
Notes: 19 Limited Late Models, 14 Pure Stocks, 17 Street Stocks, and 15 FWD’s were on hand for the night’s racing action. The Hummingbird Speedway will return to action next Saturday night with a regular 4 division show. June 4th will be Bucktail Council Scout Night, with all scouts and leaders in uniform receiving free admission. For more information visit the track’s website at www.hummingbirdspeedway.com.
Full Results:
Limited Late Model:
1. Luke Hoffner – Turbotville
2. Eric Moore – Frenchville
3. Bruce Raybuck – Falls Creek
4. Dwayne Brooks – Falls Creek
5. Jake Shady – Beech Creek
6. Eddie Connor – DuBois
7. John Chesnalavich Jr. – Reynoldsville
8. Denny Fenton – Clearfield
9. Derek Rodkey – Osceola Mills
10. Loren Sallack – Johnsonburg
11. Rick Maxim – Reynoldsville
12. Rich Womeldorf – Apollo
13. Joe Malobicky Jr. – St. Marys
14. Brian Molnar – Falls Creek
15. Kyle Beimel – St. Marys
16. Kie Brown – Punxsutawney
17. Bo Lockwood – Brookville
18. Roswell Babcock – Curwensville
DNS: John Reed – Reynoldsville.
Pure Stock:
1. Steven Arthurs – Falls Creek
2. Matt Heindl – St. Marys
3. Zack Gustafson – Weedville
4. Dustin Challingsworth – St. Marys
5. Mike Calhoun – Brockway
6. Shawn Munoz – Punxsutawney
7. Dave Kohler – Rockton
8. Colton Joiner – DuBois
9. Shawn Lindenmuth – Brookville
10. Jim Challingsworth – St. Marys
11. Dustin Michuck – St. Marys
12. Todd Bailey – Brockway
13. Brandon Hixson – Punxsutawney
14. Dustin Fields – Brockport
Street Stock:
1. Dan Smeal – Houtzdale
2. Fuzzy Fields – Brockport
3. Bob Connor – DuBois
4. Jamie Price – Clearfield
5. Brandon Connor – DuBois
6. Tom Slack – DuBois
7. Brian Rhed – Brockport
8. Bruce Hartzfeld – Stump Creek
9. Ryan Jones – Reynoldsville
10. Paul Blake – Weedville
11. Johnny Lindenpitz – Knoxdale
12. Jim Bloom – Curwensville
13. Colton Gearhart – DuBois
14. Tim Fannin – Ridgway
15. Scott Holopeter – Reynoldsville
16. Eddie Connor – DuBois
DNS: Kyle Shannon – Brockway
FWD 4 Cylinder:
1. Kenny White – DuBois
2. Bryan Warren – Curwensville
3. Jim Frantz – Reynoldsville
4. Shawn Fedder – Clearfield
5. Walt Fedder – Curwensville
6. Brett McCracken – Curwensville
7. Eric Luzier – Clearfield
8. Chad Desmett – Curwensville
9. Mike Fields – Brookville
10. Rusty Murray – Mayport
11. Josh Lindenmuth – Brockport
12. Doug Surra – Kersey
13. Cody Barrett – DuBois
14. Sean Gearhart – Falls Creek
15. John Campisano – Punxsutawney
