HUMMINGBIRD SPEEDWAY CONCLUDES POINT SEASON AND CROWNS CHAMPIONS
WITH ONE MORE RACE NIGHT ON SCHEDULE

For Immediate Release
Saturday August 23, 2025
Written by: Dave Resinger

 

As the season winds down, the next to last event on the schedule saw repeat winners in Victory Lane as the points season came to a close. Feature winners (and champions) included…

• Bob McMillen in the Economod class, who also picked up the track championship;

• Paul Kot, who got his 3rd Super Late Model win on the season, with Denny Fenton being crowned the champion;

• Josh Fields (2nd win for the Pure Stocks), and Tim Steis track champion;

• BJ Hudson, winning both the feature and championship for the Semi-Lates;

• Bruce Hartzfeld, picking up his second win in a row subbing for Gary Miller, with Jim Bloom taking the championship;

• and Greg Kiehl, winning a shortened event for the 4-Cylinders after a crash that caused damage to guardrails, fencing, and caution lights. Brett Hanley won the championship.

 

The night began with an efficiently run set of qualifying events that were completed in less than an hour. Following a brief intermission, feature event racing was ready to begin, with the Economods first on the card. Bob McMillen and Steve Simon made up the front row and led the field to flagman Earl Jackson’s green flag. Simon led the first two laps before McMillen took to the high side and passed him, then never looked back as he led the rest of the laps and got the win, also securing his bid to be track champion. By lap five, he was pulling away from Simon who was still second, and Johnny Lindenpitz and Clay Ruffo who were battling for third. A few laps later, Lindenpitz and Ruffo had caught Simon and it was a three-way race for the runner-up spot. A lap later, Simon suffered a mechanical failure and pitted. As the laps wound down, Lindenpitz held off Ruffo and the frontrunners remained in that order, with McMillen taking the win, followed by Lindenpitz and Ruffo. Justin Milburn and Brad Curran rounded out the top five, both with solid runs. McMillen also won the lone heat race.

 

Next up were the always exciting D Fenton Fabrications & Mechanical Pure Stocks. After running green-to-checkered with no cautions the previous week (and for the second time this season), the crowd was anxious to see if they could do it again. Jake Foradori and Andrew Frey made up the front row, and Frey led lap one. A multi-car accident in turn four saw several cars pit, and Frey led one more lap after the restart before being overtaken by Josh Fields, who led from that point to the checkered flag. The rest of the top five swapped spots and provided good racing for the fans. In the end, following Fields across the line were Foradori, Dustin Challingsworth, Tim Steis (securing the championship), and Mitch Stiles. Heat race winners were Foradori, Frey, and Fields.

 

Srock Contracting Super Late Models took to the track for their feature, led by Paul Kot and Clay Ruffo. After a dominating heat race win, Kot wasted no time in taking the early lead. Several cautions bunched the field back up during the 25-lap event, but Kot was the class of the field and ran consistent laps, pulling away each time. The battle was on for second, though, as Ken Schaffer was challenged by Denny Fenton, having to hold off the hard charging #55 who wound up as track champion in this class. Kot got his third win of the season, Schaffer held on for second, and Fenton third; then it was Ruffo and newcomer Joe Petyak rounding out the top five.

 

BJ Hudson continued the great season he’d been having in the Gio’s BBQ Semi Lates, winning the feature and track championship. But it was not an easy task, as he had to best a number of other worthy competitors. Doug Surra and Gary Little started on the front row, with Surra taking the early lead, but lost the handle on lap three and collected the #96R machine of Tyler Rougeux. Surra was able to continue but Rougeux suffered more serious damage and had to be towed to the pits and was done for the evening. On the restart, Hudson was the leader, being chased by Little, Kyle Shannon, and Nick Erskine. At the halfway point, Hudson continued to lead, and with five to go it was Hudson, Little, Erskine, Surra, and Shannon. Erskine spun in turn four moving Surra back up to third. But no one had anything for Hudson as he went on to win. Little maintained the runner-up spot, followed by Surra, Shannon, and Erskine. Little and Surra copped the heats.

 

Who would win the Ken Schaffer Excavating Pro Stock championship? With only one point separating Denny Curry and Jim Bloom, the crowd anticipated a fight to the finish. Bloom won his heat race, putting him on the pole of the feature. He was flanked by Fuzzy Fields, who had won the other heat. Curry started fifth, so he had his work cut out for him. At the drop of the green flag, Bloom took the early lead. By lap 7, Curry had worked his way by Fields for second. A few laps later, Bruce Hartzfeld Sr. got by Curry, then several cautions bunched the field back up. At the halfway mark it was still Bloom leading, followed by Hartzfeld, Curry, Nathan Brady, and Fields. Just after this, Curry lost the handle in turn four dropping back several spots. Hartzfeld got by Bloom and with five laps remaining it was Hartzfeld, Bloom, Brady, Fields, and Curry. The #24C of Curry was pushing hard to gain positions and spun, bringing out another caution. With damage to the car, he was able to continue, but not up to speed though he gave it a valiant effort. Hartzfeld took the win, with Bloom second, and then Brady, Fields, and Jim Challingsworth. Bloom won the championship.

 

The final event of the evening was the Brooks Services 4-Cylinder feature. After qualifying race wins by Allen Robison, Greg Kiehl, and Brett Hanley, they led the rest of the 16-car field to the green flag. Kiehl took the early lead and was chased by Robison, Bruce Long, and Zach Frantz. Kiehl had a slight advantage as the other three raced two and three-wide for the second spot. By lap seven it was still Kiehl in control, followed by Robison, Frantz, Long, Hanley, and Shawn Hadden. Just as they were getting to the halfway point Long (whose throttle must have stuck) went head-on into the turn four guardrails, causing severe damage to the safety barriers and caution lighting. The race was red-flagged as emergency personnel extricated Long from his car. With repairs needed before the race could continue, the event was called complete by track officials. Long was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where he was treated for injuries. Word is that he is doing okay and wishes to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, especially the safety crew. Hanley was crowned the champion.

 

The track will take the Labor Day holiday weekend off and prepare for one final event of the 2025 season… A late model special on September 6th, and also a much-anticipated Pure Stock special with significant purse increase thanks to many sponsors who stepped up to support the show. Be sure to check the track’s website – www.hummingbirdspeedway.com – and Facebook page for further details.

 

RESULTS

 

ECONOMODS

 

1. #50 Bob McMillen

2. #29L Johnny Lindenpitz

3. #40R Clay Ruffo

4. #71 Justin Milburn

5. #C17 Brad Curran Jr.

6. #131 Cory Wolfe

7. #1S Steve Simon

 

D FENTON FABRICATION & MECHANICAL PURE STOCKS

1. #88 Josh Fields

2. #14 Jake Foradori

3. #46 Dustin Challingsworth

4. #34 Tim Steis

5. #54S Mitch Stiles

6. #55X Andrew Frey

7. #49 George Bailey

8. #14C Cody Cassler

9. #37B Josh Bloom

10. #56K Renae Meyer

11. #00 Shannon Casher

12. #18 Devin Dickey

13. #01D Dominic Marchiori

14. #17 Cory Price

15. #23W Tim Welsh

16. #50 Ashley Kilhoffer

 

SROCK CONTRACTING SUPER LATE MODELS

1. #36 Paul Kot

2. #13X Ken Schaffer

3. #55 Denny Fenton

4. #14R Clay Ruffo

5. #44 Joe Petyak

6. #5J Jeremy Ohl

7. #983 Zack Gustafson

8. #2P Skylar Park

9. #56 Dylan Fenton

 

GIO’S BBQ SEMI-LATES

1. #23 BJ Hudson

2. #69* Gary Little

3. #3xAA Doug Surra

4. #11 Kyle Shannon

5. #5X Nick Erskine

6. #17 Deegen Watt

7. #18 Rich Runyan Jr.

8. #60 Jeremy Lippert

9. #96R Tyler Rougeux

 

KEN SCHAFFER EXCAVATING PRO STOCKS

1. #1M Bruce Hartzfeld (subbing for Gary Miller)

2. #37A Jim Bloom

3. #77 Nathan Brady

4. #28 Fuzzy Fields

5. #44 Jim Challingsworth

6. #43* Cregen Brady

7. #24C Denny Curry

8. #3 Rich Howell

9. #152 Kyle Corah

 

BROOKS SERVICES 4-CYLINDERS

1. #13 Greg Kiehl

2. #4T1 Allen Robison

3. #36F Zach Frantz

4. #44B Bruce Long

5. #23 Brett Hanley

6. #3H Shawn Hadden

7. #64E Isaac Exley

8. #79 Devon Trayer

9. #15S Greg Snell

10. #778 David Hinderliter

11. #44M Dan McClain

12. #8F Sam Fye

13. #321A Bryanna Anderson

14. #358 Jace Frantz

15. #13KC KC Dunkle

16. #11H Gerald Hudson

17. (DNS) #79A Avery Robinson

18. (DNS) #22L Zack Lennox