Submitted by Randy Albert
Hurricane Irene blows in some wild racing action at Hummingbird Speedway
FALLS CREEK, PA –If it was a calm boring finish to the regular racing season was what you were looking for Hummingbird Speedway was not the place to be tonight. In the Pure Stock division Mike Calhoun continued his domination of the winners circle after which Luke Hoffner put on another show of hard charging driving style winning the Limited Late Model feature. Colton Gearhart raced his way to another win in the Street Stock class and Aaron Luzier again commanded the lead in the Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinder class with his win this evening.
The Pure Stock drivers were the first to compete for the evening. They didn’t waste any time bunching up at the front of the field with Matt Heindl in the 471 from St. Marys, Zack Gustafson in the 93 from Weedville and Mike Calhoun in the 25 from Brockway making a three wide bid for the lead. Calhoun came out in front followed by Heindl and Gustafson side by side. Calhoun stretched out a bit of a lead over Heindl but Heindl kept him close with Gustafson having his hands full with Dustin Challingsworth in the 46 car out of St. Marys. Something had to give and it did when Challingsworth and Gustafson got together on the back stretch bringing out a caution. Gustafson had to pit for a flat tire while the 46 car tailed the field on the restart. Heindl took aim on the leader Calhoun and worked on him from the outside and inside trying to gain an advantage. Behind them the 88 of Dustin Fields from Brockport was mixing it up with Shawn Munoz in the 15M car based in Punxsutawney as well as Colton Joiner from Dubois in the 1* car. Again something had to give and this time it was the 88 car spinning in turn two. Heindl still could not quite gain an advantage over Calhoun despite the restart opportunity. He remained on his bumper looking inside trying to gain the position. The 01 car of Steve Arthurs from Falls Creek had been battling his way forward trying to protect his points lead since the beginning of the race. The heated contest in a turn three and four caused a caution and Arthurs had to be towed to the pits ending his night. Calhoun held on for his sixth win of the season and his first track championship.
Winners in the heat races were Heindl and Calhoun.
The past couple of weeks the hot topic in the Limited Late Model class has been Luke Hoffner and tonight was no different. The race got off to a rough start with a first lap caution brought on by three wide backstretch racing which carried over into turns three and four. A number of cars had to leave to race due to damage. Jason Witherite from Luthersburg in the 24M car jumped out to an early lead on the restart and looked fast. John Chesnalavich Jr. followed him in the 812 car with Chris Farrell from Clearfield in the 53 not far behind. On the move were the point leaders in the 15 and 1B cars. Hoffner had been slamming the car into the turns and coming out like a rocket with the left front wheel in the air while Dwayne Brooks from Falls Creek patiently worked his way forward. Each driver using his own classic style of racing. Hoffner leaned on Witherite for the lead diving hard down into turn one repeatedly until the car stuck and he nosed under Witherite. As Hoffner went to the front Witherite dropped around behind him and under him on the backstretch to retake the lead. This set Hoffner back a bit, but not for long. As they swapped positions Witherite bobbled slightly in turn four and Hoffner took advantage of it. Brooks was working hard to get through traffic and keep the leaders in sight. Chris Farrell in the 53 car from Clearfield was now pressing the leader after also getting around Witherite. Brooks finally got close enough and nosed under Farrell into second place. As he slid up in front of him the two made contact causing Brooks to spin but he did not stop on the track. The caution flag flew but, since no one had stopped, the field was reset to the running order from the prior lap for the restart. The final shoot out saw Hoffner continue the lead with Brooks working low trying to take second from Farrell. It looked as if Brooks might take him but Farrell used the slingshot out of turn four along the rail on the last lap to hold onto second place. Hoffner won the race followed by Farrell, Brooks, Witherite, and John Chesnalavich Jr. with another solid run in the 812 car out of Reynoldsville.
A couple of other interesting races took place during the event including a solid run by Derek Rodkey driving the 14R car out of Osceola Mills coming home in sixth place. Following him in the 15S car was Eddie Connor from DuBois and Denny Fenton in the 55 car from Clearfield. While the leaders usually get all the attention these guys were mixing it up as if they were trying for the win on the last lap. Kyle Beimel from St. Marys had a great night bringing the 99X car to the finish line in ninth place. Eric Moore from Frenchville crossed the finish line in tenth place. He had engine trouble last week in the black 00 car. This week he borrowed a ride in the new 11G car usually piloted by Dan Gill. It was renumbered for Moore in this week’s competition. Heat races were won by Brooks, McMillen, and Hoffner.
Some of the Street Stocks were also trying to win it all on the first lap with a major pile up on lap one. A number of cars had to leave the tack and a few returned for the restart. The battle out front was between Kyle Shannon in the 1S from Brockway and Fuzzy Fields from Brockport in the 28 car. As Fields chased Shannon the trio of Colton Gearhart, Paul Blake, and Joe Kot kept it interesting by racing side by side. Gearhart from DuBois made it a point to stick the T3 car low between the loader tires and his competitors, making room for his car to move forward. Six other cars were trying to fit where only two or three should be in turn three bringing out another caution. This gave Gearhart a chance to again make it three wide this time with Shannon and Fields with Gearhart eventually coming out in the lead. Also working his way forward was the current point leader Joe Kot in the 37 car from DuBois as well as the 85 of Eddie Connor also from DuBois. Connor is getting his moneys worth jumping out of the Limited Late Model and into the Street Stock weekly. As Kot cleared Shannon for third Connor took up the position of racing side by side with Shannon. Gearhart worked his way through traffic and appeared to clear three lapped cars in turns three and four with one pass. Kot began to look to the low line for a way into second place and found it on lap 19. Gearhart made it a convincing win followed by Kot, Fields, Shannon and Connor. In the heat races, Kot, Fields, and Blake took first place.
The Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders point race was close with only two points separating the front runners of Bryan Warren of Curwensville and Shawn Fedder from Clearfield. It looked to be a great race shaping up with Warren on the pole and Fedder close behind starting in fourth. Warren came out for some hot laps and it was apparent there was a miss in the engine bringing a heartbreaking end to the push for a championship. He started the race at the back of the pack but the car died on the backstretch ending his night. This didn’t deter Fedder in the 38A car who raced hard initially against Aaron Luzier in the 5L car out of Clearfield. Kody Barrett in the 357B car out of DuBois went for a wild ride in a barrel roll coming out of turn four. He was ok and out of the car but could not continue the race. Luzier dominated the remainder of the race being chased by Fedder through traffic. Danny White followed them in the 7 car from Dubois, Dan Surra again driving the T3 car out of Kersey and the 37 of Hunter McCracken from Curwensville. The husband and wife team of Mike and Stephanie Lucas from Philipsburg also put on a good showing in the 81L and 81 cars. In the end no one had anything for Luzier who rode to his third win this year. Luzier and Warren won the Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinder heat races.
Notes:
20 Limited Late Models, 13 Pure Stocks, 20 Street Stocks and 16 Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders made the trip to Hummingbird Speedway tonight to compete in the final points race of the year. September 3rd will be a regular four-division night of competition with the top ten drivers in each class being recognized. Points will determine the starting order of the feature races. Gates open at 4:30 PM and racing action starts at 7:00 PM. For more information visit us on the web at www.hummingbirdspeedway.com.
Full Results
Pure Stock
1. 25 Mike Calhoun Brockway
2. 471 Matt Heindl St. Marys
3. 1* Colton Joiner DuBois
4. 35 John Barley DuBois
5. 88 Dustin Fields Brockport
6. 46 Dustin Challingsworth St. Marys
7. 44 Jim Challingsworth St. Marys
8. 57T Todd Bailey Brockway
9. 8 Eric Lucas Clearfield
10. 01 Steve Arthurs Falls Creek
11. 15M Shawn Munoz Punxsutawney
12. 93 Zach Gustafson Weedville
13. 24 Devin Yeaney Brookville
Limited Late Model
1. 15 Luke Hoffner Turbotville
2. 53 Chris Farrell Clearfield
3. 1B Dwayne Brooks Falls Creek
4. 24M Jason Witherite Luthersburg
5. 812 John Chesnalavich, Jr. Reynoldsville
6. 14R Derek Rodkey Osceola Mills
7. 15S Eddie Connor DuBois
8. 55 Denny Fenton Clearfield
9. 99X Kyle Beimel St. Marys
10. 00 Eric Moore Frenchville
11. 10J Bruce Raybuck Falls Creek
12. 22 Tim Steis St. Marys
13. 87 Eric Irvin Huntingdon
14. 77R Roswell Babcock Curwensville
15. 3D Bill Davis Luthersburg
16. 1E Loren Sallack Johnsonburg
17. 50 Bob McMillen St. Marys
18. 7 Cody Schultz Hyde
19. 78 Brian Molnar Falls Creek
20. 9 John Reed Reynoldsville
Street Stock
1. T3 Colton Gearhart Dubois
2. 37 Joe Kot DuBois
3. 28 Fuzzy Fields DuBois
4. 1S Kyle Shannon Brockway
5. 85 Eddie Connor DuBois
6. 137 Jamie Price Clearfield
7. 78 Paul Blake Weedville
8. 101 Bruce Hartzfeld Stump Creek
9. 96E Tim Fannin Ridgway
10. 68 Don Henry Brockway
11. 3 Rich Howell Clearfield
12. 37A Jim Bloom Curwensville
13. 43 Pernell Beimel St. Marys
14. 38 Todd Mathews Sanborn
15. 21Y Dale Yeaney Brookville
16. 00 Randy Sterling Morrisdale
17. 17C Brandon Connor DuBois
18. 69R Brian Rhed Brockport
19. 29L Johnny Lindenpitz Knoxdale
20. 2* Gary Little Clearfield
Front Wheel Drive Four Cylinders
1. 5L Aaron Luzier Clearfield
2. 38A Shawn Fedder Clearfield
3. 7 Danny White Dubois
4. T3 Dan Surra Kersey
5. 37 Hunter McCracken Curwensville
6. 81L Mike Lucas Philipsburg
7. 30N Jacob Kline DuBois
8. 81 Stephanie Lucas Philipsburg
9. 6 Frank Barrett III DuBois
10. 08 Mike Fields Brookville
11. 2B Rusty Murray Mayport
12. 21R Ray Zortman Clearfield
13. 357B Kody Barrett DuBois
14. 26 Chad Desmett Curwensville
15. 5 Bryan Warren Curwensville
16. 26F(DNS) Josh Frantz Falls CreeK
