Kunkle Holds Off Young Guns To Return To Linda’s Speedway Winner’s Circle

Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – In his first Linda’s Speedway appearance of the 2024 season, former track champion Ryan Kunkle made it a winning one in the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Wingless 600 Micro Sprint A-Main.

A fascinating battle throughout the course of the 25-lapper saw Kunkle fight with young competitors Chase Schott and Gunnar Pio for the victory.

Running nose-to-tail for almost the entire race, each of the three combatants traded laps either closing in or pulling away from their competition. A red flag looked as if it might throw a wrench into things, as both Kunkle and Schott’s cars suffered some overheating issues while stopped on the speedway. But once action resumed, it proved to be no issue for Kunkle’s No. 61 Hyper Chassis, as the Fleetwood driver kept Schott and Pio at bay to grab the VP Racing Fuels checkered flag.

A mega 35-lap A-Main awaited the Xcel 600 Modified Tour competitors on Friday night. It seemed as if Doug Newbigging was destined for his first Linda’s Speedway win, as the No. 29 quickly got the lead on the opening lap and kept the rest of the competition behind him throughout the race. But on the final lap, Newbigging slid just a little too high entering turn 1, giving Kenny Harris all the room he needed to pounce and claim a dramatic last-lap victory. Harris’ win was his second in a row in Linda’s Speedway Modified competition.

In his second race back in the Chargers division, Justin Riegel led all 15 laps of a green-to-checkered race, putting the No. 6PK into the winner’s circle for car owner Chris McCarr.

The Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshot feature saw an impressive performance turned in from Chase Schott, as the Lebanon native picked up his second win in as many races with a stellar sixth-to-first drive through the field.

Linda’s Speedway returns to action next Friday, May 24th with one of the biggest races of the season. The Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series will join forces with the stars of Linda’s Speedway for the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial Race. Joining them will be the Stolz Stove Sales Winged 600 Micro Sprints, the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots, the Front Wheel Drive division, and the Junior Sprints. There will also be a meet-and-greet and autograph session for all fans during intermission.

5/17/2024 RESULTS-

Wingless 600 Micro Sprints 39 Entries

A-Main 25 Laps

1. 61-Ryan Kunkle[2]; 2. 19-Chase Schott[1]; 3. 28P-Gunnar Pio[3]; 4. 5-Alex Ruppert[6]; 5. 117-Zachery Bealer[4]; 6. 12-Dylan Kontra[8]; 7. 39-Richie Hartman[5]; 8. 44S-Steve Whary[11]; 9. 03-Ryan Groff[12]; 10. 7L-Chase Layser; 11. 98-Matthew Warner[14]; 12. 18M-Brayden Mickley[10]; 13. 3-Jesse Maurer[17]; 14. 56-Tyler Henry[18]; 15. 21-Mason Beinhower[13]; 16. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[20]; 17. 78-Chase Bixler[23]; 18. 90-PJ Reid[22]; 19. 34-Abel Engler[21]; 20. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[7]; 21. 54-Dakota Bartlet[16]; 22. 29-Brent Shearer[9]; 23. 163-Travis Keiser[15]; 24. 2D-Cole Dewease[19]; 25. (DNS) 28-Dustin Degler

B-Main 1 8 Laps

1. 3-Jesse Maurer[1]; 2. 2D-Cole Dewease[3]; 3. 34-Abel Engler[4]; 4. 78-Chase Bixler[5]; 5. 7L-Chase Layser[9]; 6. 22H-Fred Heinly[11]; 7. 88-Cole Armstrong[8]; 8. 11-Connor Fetrow[6]; 9. 24S-Frank Stoner[2]; 10. 24J-Blake Broadaway[12]; 11. 63-Cody Hockensmith[10]; 12. 00-Peyton Knecht[7]

B-Main 2 8 Laps

1. 56-Tyler Henry[1]; 2. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[2]; 3. 90-PJ Reid[3]; 4. 28-Dustin Degler[5]; 5. 11H-Holden Eckman[8]; 6. 49-Brandon Fidler[9]; 7. 14H-Luke Harding[4]; 8. 2XL-Trevor Stover[7]; 9. 32HX-Tyler Harper[10]; 10. 29S-Clayton Shaw[6]; 11. 71-Brian Kramer[11]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 03-Ryan Groff[1]; 2. 29-Brent Shearer[3]; 3. 19-Chase Schott[2]; 4. 21-Mason Beinhower[6]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[4]; 6. 2D-Cole Dewease[8]; 7. 78-Chase Bixler[7]; 8. 00-Peyton Knecht[9]; 9. 7L-Chase Layser[10]; 10. 22H-Fred Heinly[5]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 117-Zachery Bealer[1]; 2. 39-Richie Hartman[2]; 3. 5-Alex Ruppert[6]; 4. 98-Matthew Warner[9]; 5. 24S-Frank Stoner[3]; 6. 34-Abel Engler[8]; 7. 11-Connor Fetrow[5]; 8. 88-Cole Armstrong[7]; 9. 63-Cody Hockensmith[10]; 10. 24J-Blake Broadaway[4]

Heat 3 8 Laps

1. 44S-Steve Whary[2]; 2. 28P-Gunnar Pio[8]; 3. 12-Dylan Kontra[7]; 4. 163-Travis Keiser[1]; 5. 56-Tyler Henry[5]; 6. 90-PJ Reid[4]; 7. 28-Dustin Degler[3]; 8. 2XL-Trevor Stover[9]; 9. 49-Brandon Fidler[10]; 10. (DNS) 71-Brian Kramer

Heat 4 8 Laps

1. 61-Ryan Kunkle[2]; 2. 18M-Brayden Mickley[1]; 3. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[3]; 4. 54-Dakota Bartlet[8]; 5. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[7]; 6. 14H-Luke Harding[9]; 7. 29S-Clayton Shaw[4]; 8. 11H-Holden Eckman[6]; 9. 32HX-Tyler Harper[5]

All Star Slingshots 14 Entries

A-Main 20 Laps

1. 10S-Chase Schott[6]; 2. 77-Daniel Betz[1]; 3. 32-Brett Bieber[3]; 4. 14-Austin Kroboth[2]; 5. 91-Matt Kiefert[5]; 6. 42-Mason Pittenger[7]; 7. 95-Lucas Pittenger[9]; 8. 55AX-Amanda Angstadt[4]; 9. 22S-Ronnie Spitler[8]; 10. 721-Troy Kline[10]; 11. 55A-Cole Armstrong[11]; 12. 33D-Tytan Deal[12]; 13. 1-Tyler Ulsh[13]; 14. 15-Faith Turnbaugh[14]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 32-Brett Bieber[4]; 2. 77-Daniel Betz[3]; 3. 91-Matt Kiefert[1]; 4. 42-Mason Pittenger[2]; 5. 95-Lucas Pittenger[5]; 6. 55A-Cole Armstrong[7]; 7. (DNF) 33D-Tytan Deal[6]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 10S-Chase Schott[1]; 2. 14-Austin Kroboth[4]; 3. 55AX-Amanda Angstadt[6]; 4. 22S-Ronnie Spitler[7]; 5. 721-Troy Kline[2]; 6. (DNF) 1-Tyler Ulsh[3]; 7. (DNF) 15-Faith Turnbaugh[5]

600cc Modifieds 20 Entries

A-Main 35 Laps

1. 17K-Kenny Harris[9]; 2. 29-Douglas Newbigging[2]; 3. 21-Mark Bressler[1]; 4. 3D-Shjon Dove[3]; 5. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[11]; 6. 20-Ryley Garman[5]; 7. 10T-Tyler Fronina[8]; 8. 7$-Bryce Smith[15]; 9. 13-Ed Hollenbach[12]; 10. 5-John Hall[14]; 11. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[10]; 12. 33-Daisy Dove[13]; 13. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[16]; 14. 69-Christian Smith[6]; 15. 22-Lance Garrison[7]; 16. 122-Brandon Kulp[19]; 17. 116-Eric Hollenbach[4]; 18. 756-Steve Lehman[18]; 19. (DNS) 28-Raymond Gradwell; 20. (DNS) 1-Trevor Bixler

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 116-Eric Hollenbach[1]; 2. 3D-Shjon Dove[2]; 3. 21-Mark Bressler[6]; 4. 22-Lance Garrison[3]; 5. 10T-Tyler Fronina[10]; 6. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[9]; 7. (DNF) 7$-Bryce Smith[7]; 8. (DNF) 28-Raymond Gradwell[4]; 9. (DNF) 122-Brandon Kulp[8]; 10. (DNS) 1-Trevor Bixler

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 17K-Kenny Harris[3]; 2. 69-Christian Smith[1]; 3. 29-Douglas Newbigging[2]; 4. 20-Ryley Garman[4]; 5. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[8]; 6. 13-Ed Hollenbach[6]; 7. 33-Daisy Dove[5]; 8. 5-John Hall[9]; 9. (DNF) 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[7]; 10. (DNF) 756-Steve Lehman[10]

Chargers 13 Entries

A-Main 15 Laps

1. 6PK-Justin Riegel[2]; 2. 15-Butch Helsel[4]; 3. 10-Chucky Kimmel[6]; 4. 54-Chris Warren[1]; 5. 27-Austin Webster[5]; 6. 711-Eric Hollenbach[3]; 7. 01-Ed Hollenbach[12]; 8. 24S-Frank Stoner[10]; 9. 2M-Josh Michael[7]; 10. 21-Ian Herr[8]; 11. 21X-Vincent Wenrich[9]; 12. 30PK-Chris McCarr[11]; 13. (DNS) 53K-Bryan Keller

Heat 1

1. 15-Butch Helsel[1]; 2. 54-Chris Warren[4]; 3. 10-Chucky Kimmel[5]; 4. 2M-Josh Michael[6]; 5. 21X-Vincent Wenrich[2]; 6. 30PK-Chris McCarr[7]; 7. (DNF) 01-Ed Hollenbach[3]

Heat 2

1. 711-Eric Hollenbach[3]; 2. 27-Austin Webster[4]; 3. 6PK-Justin Riegel[5]; 4. 21-Ian Herr[1]; 5. 24S-Frank Stoner[6]; 6. (DNF) 53K-Bryan Keller[2]