Brooks, Kot, Challingsworth, and Surra all winners at Hummingbird Speedway.
By: Randy Albert
Falls Creek, PA — A break in the rainy weather brought another great night of racing action to the Hummingbird Speedway on Saturday. The combination of Mother Nature, track preparation, and the lineup provided great track conditions and competition for all divisions. Only one driver was successful in his first repeat win of the season. While another driver earned his first career win at the Bird. Dwayne Brooks of Falls Creek in the 1B was successful in the Limited Late Model division. The 46 car of Dustin Challingsworth out of St. Marys found the winners circle for his first time in the Pure Stock division. Joe Kot, driving the 37 car from DuBois, was the track’s first repeat winner this season in the competitive Street Stock class. Rounding out the winners list was the T-3 driven by Doug Surra from Kersey in the Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders.
The Limited Late Model feature found the 10J of Bruce Raybuck on the pole. It was a quick start but a quick caution that brought the field to a complete restart. On the restart Raybuck took the lead with the 1B of Dwayne Brooks, the 102 of Rick Maxim, 55H of Jake Shady and 14R driven by Derek Rodkey in hot pursuit. Lap traffic was encountered early with Brooks taking the lead on lap 5. A second caution collected the 102 of Maxim when he tried to avoid a spinning lap car. Maxim went to the pits but returned later. The laps ticked off with Brooks showing he was smooth and fast while the others battled for position behind him. The 55 of Fenton and 55H of Shady traded for third and fourth positions while Raybuck worked hard in second to make up ground on Brooks. Last week’s winner, Luke Hoffner, was working his way forward on the outside in seventh position. Laps 15 through 17 helped Brooks gain a quarter track advantage and found Hoffner headed to the pits for the night. Fenton gained the second spot when Raybuck, trying to make up ground on Brooks, lost the handle in turn two. The restart bunched up the field but Brooks was too strong for any late race challengers. A bit of late race excitement was caused by a spin in turn four by a lapped car and both Brooks and Fenton had to make quick moves to avoid it. In a green/white/checkered flag finish Brooks found the winners circle for the first time this season and extended his points lead.
Pure stocks were next on the card lead by the 15M of Shawn Munoz. The 46 car driven by Dustin Challingsworth was on the outside pole but not for long. He took the lead on the second lap and made the decision to stay there the rest of the race. Also on the second lap the 471 of Matt Heindl clipped a tire in turn two bringing out the caution and relegating him to the back of the pack but he wouldn’t stay there for long. Positions two through four were both hot battles with positions changing frequently. The 1B of Jeremy Buck and 25 of Mike Calhoun worked hard for the second spot while the 42 driven by Dave Kohler and Steve Arthurs driving the 01 car worked for 4th and 5th position. Close racing took place throughout the remaining laps for all top five positions with Calhoun nearly taking the first spot from Challingsworth on lap 13. The desire for his first feature win won out as Challingsworth regained the position and held for the lead and the checkered flag honors. The battle for the next four positions was tight to the end and saw Calhoun, Arthurs, Heindl, and Buck round out the top five in a very close finish.
Close racing was the norm for the Street Stock divisions as well with the speedways only repeat winner so far this year. The field was led to the green flag by the 77 car of Chad O’Brien. He held the lead for the first few laps and through an early caution that collected a number of cars sending a few to the pits for repairs. On the restart, Joe Kot, driving the 37 car was looking to the inside for the lead and never looked back once he took the position. The hot racing action was taking place behind the leader with Jamie Price in the 137 car, Brian Rhed driving the 69R, O’Brien and the 17C of Brandon Connor trading places on a regular basis. A tough battle for second by Price and Rhed was taking place by while the T3 of Colton Gearhart and Connor worked hard for fourth. A mid race caution sent the 64 car of Allen English and 28 driven by Fuzzy Fields into the front stretch wall after some turn 4 contact. Both drivers were able to exit their cars but the cars had to be towed from the track due to front-end damage. Meanwhile the 44 car of Dan Smeal was sneaking forward lap by lap. Kot continued to be strong and extend his lead with Rhed trying to make up ground. Price also put together a strong run holding in the third position. Also on the move was the 1S of Kyle Shannon, last year’s Pure Stock Champion. He began to show he didn’t forget his way to the front with a strong run after an early spin. In the final laps no one had enough steam to catch the elusive Joe Kot who found the victory circle for the second time at the Bird. Brian Rhed made easy work of the second position. The race of the night was for the third spot with Shannon, Price, and Smeal going three wide for the position and finishing in that order.
A smaller than normal field of Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders made their way to the track for the final race of the evening. The 99 driven by Rich Lucas was on the pole with Lee Zalno driving the 77S car on the outside. A caution free race was made exciting by typical 3 wide racing action and two separate trips through the turn one and two infield by Bryan Warren in the #5 car to avoid traffic and sideways cars. Zalno led the first half of the race chased closely by the T3 of Doug Surra. Surra took over at the mid point with Zalno following him for the remainder of the race. A hard charging #7 car driven by Danny White tried to make up ground working his way into fifth position prior to dropping to 6th near the end of the race. Surra and the T3 car proved too strong for the field taking the checker flag by 10 car lengths.
Notes: 66 Cars registered to compete in the nights racing action including 18 Limited Late Models, 19 Street Stocks, 15 Pure Stocks, and 14 Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders. June 4, 2011 is Bucktail Council Scout Night at the speedway with all Bucktail Council scouts and leaders dressed in uniform receiving free admission. The show starts at 7:00 PM with the gates opening at 4:30 PM . For more information visit us on the web at www.hummingbirdspeedway.com.
Full Results
Limited Late Model:
1. 1B Dwayne Brooks Falls Creek
2. 55 Denny Fenton Clearfield
3. 55H Jake Shady Beech Creek
4. 14R Derek Rodkey Osceola Mills
5. 50 Bob McMillen St Marys
6. 3D Bill Davis DuBois
7. 812 John Chesnalavich, Jr. Reynoldsville
8. 9 John Reed Reynoldsville
9. 2R Rich Wolmeldorf Apollo
10. 10J Bruce Raybuck Falls Creek
11. 34 Joe Malobicky, Jr. St. Marys
12. 77R Roswell Babcock Curwensville
13. 57 Bo Lockwood Brookville
14. 15 Luke Hoffner Turbotville
15. 102 Rick Maxim Reynoldsville
16. 99X Kyle Beimel St. Marys
17. 55T Todd English Clearfield
18. 00 Eric Moore Frenchville (DNS)
Street Stock:
1. 37 Joe Kot DuBois
2. 69R Brian Rhed Brockport
3. 1S Kyle Shannon Brockway
4. 137 Jamie Price Clearfield
5. 44 Dan Smeal Houtzdale
6. T3 Colton Gearhart DuBois
7. 85 Eddie Connor DuBois
8. 77 Chad O’Brien Strattanville
9. 17C Brandon Connor DuBois
10. 21R Rick Hemphill Osceola Mills
11. 88 Scott Hollopeter Reynoldsville
12. 96E Tim Fannin Ridgway
13. 29L Johnny Lindenpitz Knoxdale
14. 78 Paul Blake Weedville
15. 89 Ryan Jones Clearfield
16. 64 Allen English Morrisdale
17. 28 Fuzzy Fields Brockport
18. 37A Jim Bloom Curwensville
19. 43 Pernell Beimel St Marys
Pure Stock:
1. 46 Dustin Challingsworth St. Marys
2. 25 Mike Calhoun Brockway
3. 01 Steve Arthurs Falls Creek
4. 471 Matt Heindl St. Marys
5. 1B Jeremy Buck Woodland
6. 42 Dave Kohler Rockton
7. 93 Zack Gustafson Weedville
8. 1* Colton Joiner DuBois
9. 10N Justin Kanouff Clearfield
10. 44 Jim Challingsworth St. Marys
11. 13 Dustin Michuck St. Marys
12. 20 George Bailey Clearfield
13. 15M Shawn Munoz Punxsutawney
14. 88 Dustin Fields Brockport
15. 57T Todd Bailey Brockway
Front-Wheel Drive 4 Cylinders:
1. T3 Doug Surra Kersey
2. 77S Lee Zalno Clearfield
3. 38A Shawn Fedder Clearfield
4. 37 Mike Lucas Philipsburg
5. 5 Bryan Warren Curwensville
6. 7 Danny White DuBois
7. 99 Rich Lucas Wallaceton
8. 80 Dustin Kemp Clearfield
9. 17 Sam Fye Penfield
10. 357B Kody Barrett DuBois
11. 26 Chad Desmett Curwensville
12. 1F Walt Fedder Curwensville
13. 6 Eric Luzier Clearfield (DNS)
14. 29 Josh Lindenmuth Brockway (DNS)