FANS TREATED TO A NIGHT FULL OF GREAT RACING AT HUMMINGBIRD SPEEDWAY
By: Dave Resinger
After a rain-out the previous week, Hummingbird Speedway was back in action with Mother Nature providing beautiful weather for fans to enjoy the racing action. There was a full schedule on the card with the track’s six regular classes plus the PA Thunder On The Dirt Vintage Modified series visiting for the evening. In addition, two make up features from a July rain-out were held to conclude the evening’s racing program.
Picking up victories in the regular features were Fuzzy Fields of Brockway in the Cypress Clocks And Gift Shop Pro Stocks, Dwayne Brooks of Falls Creek in the Srock Contracting Super Late Models, Josh Frantz of Reynoldsville in the Brooks Services 4-Cylinders, Nick Erskine of Mahaffey in the Dan Joiner Heating & Air Conditioning Semi Lates, Steve Simon of Erie in the Andy Man's Car Care Economods, and Jake Foradori of Brockport in the Brian Savino Motorsports Pure Stocks.PA Thunder On The Dirt Vintage Modified winners were Jim Kurpakis (in the Modified division) and Tim Harris (in the Sportsman division). Rounding out the evening’s program were Josh Seippel of Franklin picking up the make-up feature win for the Cypress Clocks And Gift Shop Pro Stocks and Ben Lehan of Homer City with the Brooks Services 4 Cylinder win.
Following qualifying events, the feature events got underway with the Pro Stocks first to take the track. Josh Seippel and Jim Challingsworth were on the front row, with Seippel getting the lead on the first lap. By lap 8, Bruce Hartzfeld was pressuring Seippel for the top spot. Seippel prevailed and a few laps later Hartzfeld tangled with a lapped car and was forced to retire from the event with damage. Seippel pitted with a flat tire after the restart and Fuzzy Fields inherited the lead. Jim Bloom threw everything he had at Fields to try and get by as the two raced hard and clean. With two laps to go Bloom suffered a mechanical failure and pitted. Fields went on to win as he was followed across the line by Nathan Yeaney, Josh Fields, and Challingsworth. Heat races were won by Fields and Hartzfeld.
Next up were the vintage modifieds, with cars in two classes that range in age from the 1930s to 1980s running together. Bill Stile and Cody Schultz led the 13-car field to starter Earl Jackson’s green flag. Schultz jumped out to the early lead and looked like the car to beat until he got loose in turn three. He saved the car from spinning but lost several spots, with Kurpakis taking over the number one position. At the halfway point it was Kurpakis, Wally Stock, Stile, Tim Harris, and Schultz. Kurpakis went on to win in the caution free event, with Stock and Stile behind him. Harris was the next, and the first Sportsman car, thus the winner for that class. Schultz finished fifth.
The Super Late Models were now ready to put on a show, but it was all Dwayne Brooks as he took the lead at the start and never looked back. The first few laps Clay Ruffo was able to hang with Brooks and they ran side by side, but Brooks then got out front and began to pull away. Enduring a couple early cautions, Brooks started to stretch out his lead as Ruffo and Paul Kot battled for second. At the hallway point Brooks had stretched out his led to over 4 seconds, but then had to deal with lapped traffic. By lap 17 of the 25-lap event, Kot finally got by Ruffo but could not catch Brooks. The top five were Brooks, Kot, Ruffo, Doug Eck, and Rich Runyan Jr. Preliminary heat winners were Kot and Brooks.
The Four-Cylinders were on the card next, with 21 cars set to do battle. Justin Ehtysrof and Devon Trayer made up the front row. Josh Frantz took the early lead from his fourth starting spot, and all the field could get in was one lap at a time with cautions plaguing the early going. Once they got that out of their system, though, the yellow never flew after the halfway point. With 5 laps to go, Frantz still held the lead and was being chased by his son Camden, Shawn Hadden, Ben Lehane, and Cory Price. When the checkered flag was thrown it was J Frantz, C Frantz, Lehane, Hadden, and Sam Regitz. J Frantz, Lehan, Trayer, and Ehtysrof won the heats.
Now it was time for the Semi Lates to take to the track. Dan Smeal was on the pole, flanked by Nick Erskine to his outside. The two ran side by side after the green flag, but Erskine prevailed when Smeal got loose on lap two. The two started to pull away from the field as the rest of the competitors battled for position behind them. On lap six Doug Surra had moved into third and tried to track down Smeal for second. At the halfway point it was Erskine still showing the way, followed by Smeal, Surra, Deegen Watt, and Nick Loffredo. With five laps to go, Erskine’s lead was 2.6 seconds as Surra and Watt battled for second. Erskine took the win with Smeal second, then Surra, Watt, and Loffredo. Heat winners were Erskine and Smeal.
Bob McMillen and Orin Taylor led the Economods onto the track next. McMillen led early, and Steve Simon got by him on lap six after a restart for a car that spun. But another caution before a lap was completed gave McMillen the top spot back, then both Simon and Taylor got by McMillen on the next restart. Simon began to pull away , and McMillen and Taylor fought for second. McMillen was finally able to clear Taylor, but was unable to catch Simon as he went on to win by over six seconds. When the race ended it was Simon, McMillen, Ed Vogel, Taylor, and Gary Miller Jr. taking the top five spots. McMillen won the lone heat race.
Rounding out the regular racing program was the Pure Stock feature. Twelve cars took the green, with Caleb Bloom and Jake Foradori on the front row. Foradori took the early lead and as the field got sorted out it was Andrew Frey, Wayne Truitt, Bloom, and Mitch Stiles chasing him. Dustin Challingsworth was making his way up front from his last place starting spot. By lap eight he was up to third and a few laps later worked his way to second. But Foradori had a 3.7 second advantage. With one lap to go a caution bunched the field back up and gave Challingsworth the chance he needed. A green-white-checkered finish gave him a shot at the win. But Foradori was not to be denied as he held on for the win, followed by Challingsworth, Frey, Bloom, and Truitt. Heat winners were Challingsworth and Foradori.
Now it was time to make up two feature events that had been rained out on July 15th. The first was a Pro Stock feature, with Fuzzy Fields and Jim Bloom on the front row. Following a few early cautions, Bloom was leading just before the halfway point; but Josh Seippel got by him once they caught lapped traffic and Seippel went on to take the win. Bloom was second and then Nathan Yeaney, Fields, and Jim Challingsworth.
The final event of the evening was the Four Cylinder make-up feature. Fifteen cars were on hand to do battle, with Camden Frantz and Ben Lehane on the front row. Frantz led the first lap but Lehane got by him to lead lap two. Josh Frantz worked his way into third by lap eight. At the end of the race it was Lehane, C Frantz, J Frantz, Justin Ehtysrof, and Jay Blum.
There were a total of 91 cars in the pits including 11 late models, 9 semi lates, 13 pro stocks, 6 economods, 13 pure stocks, 24 four cylinders, and 15 vintage modifieds. Racing action continues next Saturday with the final points event of the season. Racing action gets underway at 7:00 with gates opening at 4:00. Several additional events are scheduled after the points season is over. For more information visit the track’s website at www.hummingbirdspeedway.com or follow Hummingbird Speedway on Facebook.
RESULTS
CYPRESS CLOCK & GIFT SHOP PRO STOCKS
1. 28 Fuzzy Fields
2. 11Y Nathan Yeaney
3. 88 Josh Fields
4. 44 Jim Challingsworth
5. 37A Jim Bloom
6. 43 Pernell Beimel
7. 77H Heath Close
8. 84S Josh Seippel
9. 101 Bruce Hartzfeld
10. 27 Amber Brady
11. 10R Raven Fuller
12. 152 Kyle Corah
13. 47 Shawnee Sturgeon
PA THUNDER ON THE DIRT VINTAGE MODIFIEDS
1. 31 Jim Kurpakis
2. 74 Wally Stock
3. 8+8 Bill Stile
4. 6 Tim Harris
5. 7 Cody Schultz
6. 20 Steve Longo
7. 1K Paul Bacchus
8. 16 Jeff Manners
9. 34 John Marks
10. 311 Tim Beatty
11. 74G Don Helet
12. 555 Ryan Maglione
13. 3 Dan Hildebrand
14. (DNS) 31 Thomas Warburton
15. (DNS) 27 Dave Senica
SROCK CONTRACTING SUPER LATE MODELS
1. 1B Dwayne Brooks
2. 36 Paul Kot
3. 14 Clay Ruffo
4. 20 Doug Eck
5. 18 Rich Runyan Jr.
6. 75 Dennis Curry
7. 43x Garrett Mott
8. 33 Bill Davis
9. 77 Nate Brady
10. 08 Bob Armagost
11. (DNS) Joe Loffredo
BROOKS SERVICES FOUR CYLINDERS
1. 114 Josh Frantz
2. 158 Camden Frantz
3. 1 Ben Lehane
4. 3H Shawn Hadden
5. 916 Sam Regitz
6. 17X Greg Kiehl
7. 5X Holden Farr
8. 79 Devon Trayer
9. 56 Justin Finland
10. 65 Louis Young
11. 29L Josh Lindenmuth
12. 21B Nevaeh Helsel
13. 88 Cory Price
14. 14I Isaac Irvin
15. 44B Bruce Long
16. 21J Jay Blum
17. 11 Jim Boyer
18. F6 Justin Ehtysrof
19. 65Y Michael Young
20. 8F Sam Fye
21. 4T1 Allen Robison
22. (DNS) Adam Pluebell
23. (DNS) 22A Lance Spencer
24. (DNS) 98E Ernie Irvin
DAN JOINER HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING SEMI LATES
1. 5X Nick Erskine
2. 44 Dan Smeal
3. 3xAA Doug Surra
4. 17 Deegen Watt
5. 9N Nick Loffredo
6. 11 Kyle Shannon
7. 47 Adam Nixon
8. 23JR William Phillips Jr.
9. 2 Cregen Brady
ANDY MAN’S CAR CARE ECONOMODS
1. 1S Steve Simon
2. 50 Bob McMillen
3. 83E Ed Vogel
4. 21T Orin Taylor
5. 1M Gary Miller Jr.
6. 29L Johnny Lindenpitz
BRIAN SAVINO MOTORSPORTS PURE STOCKS
1. 14 Jake Foradori
2. 46 Dustin Challingsworth
3. 55X Andrew Frey
4. 37B Caleb Bloom
5. 54 Wayne Truitt
6. 54S Mitch Stiles
7. 56K Renae Meyer
8. 01D Dominic Marchiori
9. 18 Devin Dickey
10. 50 Ashley Kilhoffer
11. 299 Shane Smith
12. 14C Cody Cassler
13. (DNS) 10-4 Jeff Smallwood
CYPRESS CLOCK & GIFT SHOP PRO STOCKS
(Make-up Feature)
1. 84S Josh Seippel
2. 37A Jim Bloom
3. 11Y Nathan Yeaney
4. 28 Fuzzy Fields
5. 44 Jim Challingsworth
6. 27 Amber Brady
7. 43 Pernell Beimel
8. 47 Shawnee Sturgeon
9. (DNS) 5B Jason Black
10. (DNS) 104 Allen Lamb
11. (DNS) 101 Bruce Hartzfeld
12. (DNS) 152 Kyle Corah
BROOKS SERVICES FOUR CYLINDERS
(Make-up Feature)
1. 1 Ben Lehane
2. 158 Camden Frantz
3. 114 Josh Frantz
4. F6 Justin Ehtysrof
5. 21J Jay Blum
6. 79 Devon Trayer
7. 65 Louis Young
8. 29L Josh Lindenmuth
9. 21B Nevaeh Helsel
10. 17X Greg Kiehl
11. 65Y Michael Young
12. 916 Sam Regitz
13. 3H Shawn Hadden
14. 11 Jim Boyer
15. 8F Sam Fye
16. (DNS) 22D Chuck Davis
17. (DNS) 45 Andrew Thompson
18. (DNS) 44B Bruce Long
19. (DNS) 66M Matthew Miller
20. (DNS) 919 Zack Hetrick
21. (DNS) 850B Bryun Hackenberg
22. (DNS) 64 Summer Pitts
23. (DNS) 309 Jordan Reges
24. (DNS) 02 Devin Haley
25. (DNS) 6 Adam Pluebell