Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – Mother Nature hadn’t played nice for the first two scheduled weeks of the season at Linda’s Speedway and tried her best to throw a wrench into Friday night’s plans.
But after a brief rain delay, Opening Night of the 49th season of racing at the Jonestown quarter-mile was capped off with thrilling action across six different divisions.
The first race of the season for the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints was also a Mike Co Motorsports Time Trial Series event. Defending track champion Brandon Heist set the quick lap of time trials and appeared to have the strongest car entering the feature. But a blinding initial start from Cody Siegel saw his No. 17 fly from fourth to first in just over a lap to claim a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish en route to victory.
A similar hard-charge saw Brent Shearer take the win of the first Stolz Stove Sales Winged 600 Micro Sprint A-Main of the season. Shearer hounded Tyler Henry throughout the course of the 25-lap A-Main before finally pouncing and making the pass for the win with two laps remaining. Shearer’s victory in the Winged 600 class marked the fourth different division that the Manheim native has scored a win in at the speedway.
Friday night saw a long-awaited return trip to victory lane for former Chargers champion Josh Michael. After coming so close on several occasions last season, Michael finally ripped the monkey off of his back with a commanding win in the 15-lap A-Main event.
Six-time defending 600 Modified track champion Richie Hitzler re-announced his presence as well with a wire-to-wire win from the outside pole of Friday’s 20-lap A-Main. Despite the race briefly being paused due to a rain delay, nothing could break the No. 9 car’s momentum on his way to an Opening Night win.
New York’s E. J. Hatch took the victory of the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshot A-Main as he piloted the Schott Racing No. 10s to the winner’s circle in his first appearance at the speedway.
And former Little Linda’s Speedway champion Jase Smith grabbed the checkered flag in the inaugural Junior Sprint event on the quarter-mile. Smith started last and passed all four cars in front of him to claim his first “big track” win.
The Linda’s Speedway returns to action on Friday, April 26 with the running of the Earman Fulk Memorial for the East Coast Legends. Joining them on the docket will be the Wingless 600 Micro Sprints, Xcel 600 Modified Tour, All Star Slingshots, and the PA Micro Midgets.
Junior Slingshots
A-Main (15 Laps): 1. 10S-EJ Hatch[1]; 2. 57-Hailey Eroh[2]; 3. 77-Daniel Betz[5]; 4. 55B-Barry Seaman[4]; 5. 35A-Aubrey Romig[3]; 6. 1-Lilly Esterly[6]; 7. 94S-Emma Sneddon[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10S-EJ Hatch[2]; 2. 57-Hailey Eroh[4]; 3. 35A-Aubrey Romig[1]; 4. 55B-Barry Seaman[5]; 5. 77-Daniel Betz[6]; 6. 1-Lilly Esterly[3]; 7. 94S-Emma Sneddon[7]
Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 17-Cody Siegel[4]; 2. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[1]; 3. 1A-Austin Graby[3]; 4. 88X-Nick Skias[9]; 5. 6-Danial Boyer[12]; 6. 77S-Ben Stolz[13]; 7. 08-Jason Paisley[2]; 8. 41-Mike Boyer[17]; 9. 71-Scott Zimmerman[10]; 10. 11-Brian Heist[8]; 11. 88-Nolan Higgins[16]; 12. 11R-Tommy Rinck[14]; 13. 94-Dallas Sanders[24]; 14. 82-John Maurer[5]; 15. 23K-Courtney Kupp[18]; 16. 5W-Nunzi Allegrucci[21]; 17. 7C-Curtis Miller[20]; 18. 52-Makayla Fullerton[19]; 19. 76B-Noah Martin[11]; 20. 9M-Chris Dolan[15]; 21. 27-Brayden Spencer[6]; 22. 16C-Pat Bealer[7]; 23. 08X-Brandon Gibble[25]; 24. 11H-Chason Hauck[23]; 25. (DNS) 22C-Colton Kraeger; 26. (DNS) 22J-Raymond Ohlinger
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[1]; 2. 17-Cody Siegel[2]; 3. 16C-Pat Bealer[9]; 4. 71-Scott Zimmerman[3]; 5. 77S-Ben Stolz[4]; 6. 88-Nolan Higgins[7]; 7. 52-Makayla Fullerton[8]; 8. (DNF) 11H-Chason Hauck[5]; 9. (DNF) 08X-Brandon Gibble[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 08-Jason Paisley[1]; 2. 82-John Maurer[3]; 3. 11-Brian Heist[2]; 4. 76B-Noah Martin[5]; 5. 11R-Tommy Rinck[4]; 6. 41-Mike Boyer[6]; 7. 7C-Curtis Miller[7]; 8. 22C-Colton Kraeger[8]; 9. (DNS) 22J-Raymond Ohlinger
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1A-Austin Graby[1]; 2. 27-Brayden Spencer[2]; 3. 88X-Nick Skias[4]; 4. 6-Danial Boyer[5]; 5. 9M-Chris Dolan[8]; 6. 23K-Courtney Kupp[7]; 7. 5W-Nunzi Allegrucci[6]; 8. (DNF) 94-Dallas Sanders[3]
Time Trials (2 Laps): 1. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr, 00:12.732[7]; 2. 08-Jason Paisley, 00:12.859[8]; 3. 1A-Austin Graby, 00:12.875[6]; 4. 17-Cody Siegel, 00:12.911[19]; 5. 11-Brian Heist, 00:12.919[14]; 6. 27-Brayden Spencer, 00:12.923[24]; 7. 71-Scott Zimmerman, 00:12.938[4]; 8. 82-John Maurer, 00:12.946[3]; 9. 94-Dallas Sanders, 00:12.947[25]; 10. 77S-Ben Stolz, 00:12.978[9]; 11. 11R-Tommy Rinck, 00:12.983[21]; 12. 88X-Nick Skias, 00:12.989[26]; 13. 11H-Chason Hauck, 00:13.009[18]; 14. 76B-Noah Martin, 00:13.022[17]; 15. 6-Danial Boyer, 00:13.035[11]; 16. 08X-Brandon Gibble, 00:13.089[13]; 17. 41-Mike Boyer, 00:13.192[12]; 18. 5W-Nunzi Allegrucci, 00:13.247[20]; 19. 88-Nolan Higgins, 00:13.254[5]; 20. 7C-Curtis Miller, 00:13.266[15]; 21. 23K-Courtney Kupp, 00:13.315[22]; 22. 52-Makayla Fullerton, 00:13.504[2]; 23. 22C-Colton Kraeger, 00:13.620[1]; 24. 9M-Chris Dolan, 00:13.684[16]; 25. 16C-Pat Bealer, 00:13.967[10]; 26. 22J-Raymond Ohlinger, 00:13.967[23]
Winged 600 Micro Sprints
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 29-Brent Shearer[6]; 2. 56-Tyler Henry[1]; 3. 14H-Tyler Walton[2]; 4. 5J-Jason Sechrist[5]; 5. 77-Ben Stolz[10]; 6. 71-Brian Kramer[13]; 7. 27-Jase Smith[15]; 8. 45-Aiden Lutz[8]; 9. 78-Chase Bixler[11]; 10. 11H-Holden Eckman[14]; 11. 28K-Karter Adams[16]; 12. 14T-Heath Walton[4]; 13. (DNS) 44S-Steve Whary; 14. (DNS) 91-Randy Kunkle Jr; 15. (DNS) 19-Chase Schott; 16. (DNS) 29W-Rodney Westhafer
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44S-Steve Whary[1]; 2. 14T-Heath Walton[2]; 3. 14H-Tyler Walton[6]; 4. 91-Randy Kunkle Jr[3]; 5. 19-Chase Schott[4]; 6. 78-Chase Bixler[5]; 7. 71-Brian Kramer[7]; 8. (DNS) 27-Jase Smith
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Brent Shearer[1]; 2. 56-Tyler Henry[2]; 3. 5J-Jason Sechrist[4]; 4. 45-Aiden Lutz[3]; 5. 77-Ben Stolz[6]; 6. 29W-Rodney Westhafer[7]; 7. 11H-Holden Eckman[5]; 8. (DNS) 28K-Karter Adams
600cc Modifieds
A-Main (20 Laps): 1. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[2]; 2. 42K-RJ Smith[6]; 3. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[3]; 4. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[1]; 5. 13-Ed Hollenbach[9]; 6. 7$-Bryce Smith[11]; 7. 20-Ryley Garman[12]; 8. 21-Mark Bressler[8]; 9. 22J-Joshua Ohlinger[13]; 10. 5-John Hall[14]; 11. 756-Steve Lehman[15]; 12. 78-Josh Bewley[7]; 13. Z12-Randy Getz Jr[10]; 14. 28-Raymond Gradwell[16]; 15. 10T-Tyler Fronina[4]; 16. 4M-Dylan Cordier[5]; 17. (DNS) 69-Christian Smith
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 42K-RJ Smith[1]; 2. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[2]; 3. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[6]; 4. 78-Josh Bewley[5]; 5. 13-Ed Hollenbach[7]; 6. 7$-Bryce Smith[4]; 7. (DNF) 756-Steve Lehman[9]; 8. (DNF) 28-Raymond Gradwell[8]; 9. (DNS) 69-Christian Smith
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[1]; 2. 4M-Dylan Cordier[3]; 3. 10T-Tyler Fronina[2]; 4. 21-Mark Bressler[4]; 5. Z12-Randy Getz Jr[5]; 6. 20-Ryley Garman[7]; 7. 22J-Joshua Ohlinger[6]; 8. 5-John Hall[8]
Chargers
A-Main (15 Laps): 1. 2M-Josh Michael[2]; 2. 711-Eric Hollenbach[1]; 3. 6PK-Justin Riegel[5]; 4. 27-Austin Webster[3]; 5. 21-Ian Herr[4]; 6. 24S-Frank Stoner[6]; 7. 01-Ed Hollenbach[7]; 8. 10-Chucky Kimmel[9]; 9. 54-Chris Warren[11]; 10. 53K-Bryan Keller[8]; 11. 22-David Fidler[10]; 12. 30PK-Chris McCarr[12]; 13. (DNS) 100-Ronnie Buck; 14. (DNS) 10J-Jeremy Ott
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 711-Eric Hollenbach[1]; 2. 6PK-Justin Riegel[2]; 3. 24S-Frank Stoner[3]; 4. 01-Ed Hollenbach[5]; 5. 10-Chucky Kimmel[7]; 6. 54-Chris Warren[6]; 7. 30PK-Chris McCarr[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Austin Webster[2]; 2. 2M-Josh Michael[6]; 3. 21-Ian Herr[5]; 4. 53K-Bryan Keller[3]; 5. 22-David Fidler[1]; 6. (DNF) 100-Ronnie Buck[4]; 7. (DNF) 10J-Jeremy Ott[7]
Junior Sprints
A-Main (15 Laps): 1. 52-Jase Smith[5]; 2. 5G-Gage Pio[1]; 3. 15-Braylon Morris[2]; 4. 15G-Ashen Glazier[3]; 5. 65J-Landon Snyder[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5G-Gage Pio[4]; 2. 15-Braylon Morris[5]; 3. 15G-Ashen Glazier[2]; 4. 65J-Landon Snyder[3]; 5. (DNF) 52-Jase Smith[1]