Bieber Returns To Winning Ways At Linda’s; Late Restart Helps Bartik Find Victory On Stock Car Friday

Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – After last weekend’s “micro mania” of sorts, there was not a sprint car in sight for Linda’s Speedway’s final race in the month of July. Six divisions of fender-car racing provided great action and a variety of winners on Stock Car Friday Night at the track.

It had been a rough go of it in recent Linda’s Speedway races for Brett Bieber. But “The Oley Jet” steered his No. 32 flawlessly back to Selinsgrove Ford Victory Lane to claim his third win of the year and retain his points lead entering the month of August in the Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshot division. Chase Schott, who started on pole for the All Star feature but slipped to sixth, grabbed another victory earlier in the night in the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshot A-Main.

The Mike’s Towing & Recovery 600 Modified division made its long-awaited return to the quarter-mile and put on a show in their first race in two months. It looked as if a sibling battle for the win was brewing in the race’s early laps between Tiffany Hitzler-Mays and Richie Hitzler. But after Richie fell by the wayside with mechanical woes, the door opened for Tyler Bartik, who went from fourth to first on a late restart to claim the win over Justin Schraden.

Two weeks after getting passed for the win on the penultimate lap of the A-Main, Frank Stoner ensured that this time he would make it all the way to lap 15 with his No. 24s machine still out in the wind. Stoner fended off Josh Michael in the early laps and Eric Hollenbach down the stretch to score his first triumph of the season in the Bernheisel Race Components Chargers.

The Appalachian Auto Front Wheel Drive class saw its fourth different winner of the season in just as many races, as Gary Grim took his car to the winner’s circle after holding off a last-corner bump-and-run attempt from Rob Pyle.

The Classic Racing Series returned for their second-ever appearance at the quarter-mile and their only scheduled one of 2023. After winning last year as well, Dylan Brown kept his perfect record at the speedway alive by picking up the victory over Tyler Miller in the 15-lap event.

Linda’s Speedway returns to action next Friday, August 4th with a Time Trial Series Race for the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints. The Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshots and Bernheisel Race Components Chargers will each return for their second race in as many weeks. And the PA Micro Midgets will be back in action for the fourth race of the division’s Speedweek. Additionally, the ARDC Midgets will have an opportunity to shake down their cars through a series of hot lap sessions in preparation for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota event on August 10th.

Results for 7/28/2023

Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshots 17 Entries

Feature 20 Laps

1. 32-Brett Bieber[2]; 2. 112-Cody Kline[8]; 3. 1-Tyler Ulsh[3]; 4. 3-David Carraghan[5]; 5. 50-Tyler Hoch[7]; 6. 10S-Chase Schott[1]; 7. 42-Mason Pittenger[9]; 8. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[4]; 9. 95-Lucas Pittenger[10]; 10. Z28-Tyler Lilick[14]; 11. 55AA-Cole Armstrong[6]; 12. 349-Garrett Chillot[17]; 13. 33D-Tytan Deal[13]; 14. 5R-TJ Roswell[16]; 15. 18-CJ Kimm[11]; 16. K33-Ryan Lutz[12]; 17. 01-Daron Repperts[15]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 112-Cody Kline[5]; 2. 32-Brett Bieber[7]; 3. 1-Tyler Ulsh[6]; 4. 55AA-Cole Armstrong[1]; 5. 42-Mason Pittenger[3]; 6. 18-CJ Kimm[9]; 7. 33D-Tytan Deal[2]; 8. 01-Daron Repperts[4]; 9. 349-Garrett Chillot[8]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 50-Tyler Hoch[4]; 2. 3-David Carraghan[5]; 3. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[1]; 4. 10S-Chase Schott[6]; 5. 95-Lucas Pittenger[3]; 6. K33-Ryan Lutz[2]; 7. Z28-Tyler Lilick[7]; 8. 5R-TJ Roswell[8]

J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots 7 Entries

Feature 15 Laps

1. 10S-Chase Schott[4]; 2. 35A-Aubrey Romig[3]; 3. 77-Daniel Betz[2]; 4. 55B-Barry Seaman[1]; 5. 5S-Anthony Speece[5]; 6. H1-Hayden Kimm[6]; 7. 91-Brenden Lilick[7]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 10S-Chase Schott[6]; 2. 35A-Aubrey Romig[5]; 3. 77-Daniel Betz[2]; 4. 55B-Barry Seaman[1]; 5. 5S-Anthony Speece[7]; 6. H1-Hayden Kimm[3]; 7. 91-Brenden Lilick[4]

Mike’s Towing & Recovery 600cc Modifieds 21 Entries

Feature 20 Laps

1. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[3]; 2. 88-Justin Schraden[4]; 3. 28-Raymond Gradwell[9]; 4. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[2]; 5. 12E-Eric Whitby[10]; 6. 22-Lance Garrison[12]; 7. 13-Ed Hollenbach[13]; 8. 22K-Brandon Kulp[18]; 9. 10T-Tyler Fronina[15]; 10. 33-Ryan Heckman[17]; 11. 21-Mark Bressler[1]; 12. 78-Josh Bewley[8]; 13. 69-Christian Smith[21]; 14. 61D-Christian Donati[11]; 15. 23-Jason Mills[19]; 16. 4M-Steven McLaughlin[7]; 17. 3D-Shjon Dove[20]; 18. 22H-Andrew Hendricks[14]; 19. 61S-Kyle Donati[16]; 20. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[5]; 21. 17K-Kenny Harris[6]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[1]; 2. 88-Justin Schraden[3]; 3. 4M-Steven McLaughlin[9]; 4. 17K-Kenny Harris[8]; 5. 28-Raymond Gradwell[5]; 6. 61D-Christian Donati[4]; 7. 13-Ed Hollenbach[6]; 8. 10T-Tyler Fronina[7]; 9. 33-Ryan Heckman[11]; 10. 3D-Shjon Dove[2]; 11. (DNF) 69-Christian Smith[10]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 78-Josh Bewley[1]; 2. 21-Mark Bressler[3]; 3. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[6]; 4. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[5]; 5. 12E-Eric Whitby[2]; 6. 22-Lance Garrison[7]; 7. 22H-Andrew Hendricks[9]; 8. 61S-Kyle Donati[10]; 9. 22K-Brandon Kulp[4]; 10. 23-Jason Mills[8]

Bernheisel Race Cars Chargers 13 Entries

Feature 15 Laps

1. 24S-Frank Stoner[1]; 2. 711-Eric Hollenbach[9]; 3. 2M-Josh Michael[2]; 4. 27-Austin Webster[8]; 5. 33-Scott Lutz[7]; 6. 8-John Hall[12]; 7. 100-Ronnie Buck[6]; 8. 30PK-Chris McCarr[11]; 9. 10-Chucky Kimmel[10]; 10. 00-Ed Hollenbach[4]; 11. 15-Butch Helsel[5]; 12. 21-Ian Herr[3]; 13. 53K-Bryan Keller[13]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 27-Austin Webster[7]; 2. 33-Scott Lutz[4]; 3. 100-Ronnie Buck[6]; 4. 15-Butch Helsel[1]; 5. 711-Eric Hollenbach[5]; 6. 30PK-Chris McCarr[3]; 7. (DNS) 53K-Bryan Keller

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 2M-Josh Michael[3]; 2. 24S-Frank Stoner[6]; 3. 00-Ed Hollenbach[5]; 4. 21-Ian Herr[1]; 5. 10-Chucky Kimmel[4]; 6. 8-John Hall[2]

Appalachian Auto LLC Front Wheel Drive 11 Entries

Feature 15 Laps

1. 127-Gary Grim[2]; 2. 55J-Rob Pyle[4]; 3. 12-Ken Buck[8]; 4. 11-Bill Sherwood[3]; 5. 97-Justin Riegel[5]; 6. 11W-Ian Whitcomb[6]; 7. 97X-Heidi Riegel[11]; 8. 80-Jasen Geesaman[7]; 9. 71-Daniel Eitnier[10]; 10. 72-David Eitnier[1]; 11. 18-Shane Flaherty[9]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 55J-Rob Pyle[2]; 2. 11-Bill Sherwood[4]; 3. 127-Gary Grim[8]; 4. 72-David Eitnier[10]; 5. 97-Justin Riegel[1]; 6. 11W-Ian Whitcomb[9]; 7. 97X-Heidi Riegel[11]; 8. (DNF) 80-Jasen Geesaman[3]; 9. (DNF) 12-Ken Buck[5]; 10. (DNF) 18-Shane Flaherty[6]; 11. (DNS) 71-Daniel Eitnier

Classic Cars 8 Entries

Feature 15 Laps

1. 9-Dylan Brown[2]; 3. 8-Tyler Miller[5]; 3. 89-Joe Brown[1]; 4. 20-Steve Cantwell[3]; 5. 07-Nate Todt[7]; 6. 15-Logan Miller[4]; 7. 55-Mark Shorb[6]; DNS 27-Connor Cantwell

Heat 1 6 Laps

9-Dylan Brown[4]; 2. 20-Steve Cantwell[2]; 3. 8-Tyler Miller[1]; 4. 27-Connor Cantwell[3]

Heat 2 6 Laps

89-Joe Brown[3]; 2. 15-Logan Miller[1]; 3. 07-Nate Todt[2]; 4. 55-Mark Shorb[4]