Brandon Heist Gets Back On Track With 270 Micro Sprint Win At Linda’s Speedway

Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – Following an uncharacteristically rough weekend for defending 270 Micro Sprint track champion Brandon Heist, the Jonestown native was looking to get his mojo back on Friday night at Linda’s Speedway.
The pilot of the Dave Walter-owned No. 5R did just that in the final race before the summer off week, as he picked up his second points victory – and third win overall – at the quarter-mile in 2024.
Heist struggled on restarts throughout the early portion of Friday’s Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprint 25-lapper, allowing Dan Boyer to hold the advantage during the first several laps of the feature.
As the race sprung into a long green-flag run, Heist’s machine came to life. He took the lead for good on lap 10, and despite a late-race charge from Richie Hartman, Heist was able to hold on by two car lengths to claim the win, a victory that kept him firmly in the race for the title with three-time champion Mike Boyer.
In the final tune-up before Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek, the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Wingless 600s returned to the quarter-mile on Friday night. Wilmington, DE’s P. J. Williams came out on top of a battle with points leader Ryan Groff to pick up his first Linda’s win since the opening race of 2020.
A much longer dry spell was broken in the Front Wheel Drive division, as Bernville’s Ken Buck snapped a winless streak lasting nearly two decades with a win in Friday night’s main event. The winner of the match race portion of this year’s Jonestown Throwdown claimed his first feature victory since September of 2004.
While one driver picked up his first win in a long time, another competitor grabbed their first win ever on Friday night. Nazareth’s Lucas Pittenger held off Tyler Ulsh in another dramatic Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshot A-Main. For the second Slingshot race in a row, the winner was decided in a photo finish. This time, it was Pittenger taking the win in his Lightning McQueen-themed ride by just 0.033 seconds over Ulsh.
In J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshot competition, Hailey Eroh continued her winning ways with another dominating performance that allowed the New Tripoli native to grab her third-straight Linda’s Speedway triumph.
Linda’s Speedway’s only off week of the season is next Friday, July 5. On Friday, July 12, the quarter-mile roars back to life with another five-division show, featuring the Mike Co Motorsports 270 Time Trial Series, the Stolz Stove Sales Winged 600 Micro Sprints, the Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshots, the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots, and the Chargers all in competition.
Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[3]; 2. 747-Richie Hartman[5]; 3. 6-Danial Boyer[1]; 4. 9M-Chris Dolan[6]; 5. 41-Mike Boyer[4]; 6. 88-Nick Skias[9]; 7. 77S-Ben Stolz[7]; 8. 94-Dallas Sanders[11]; 9. 1L-Dave Labe[10]; 10. 5C-Bret Cronrath[13]; 11. 5W-Jason Klinger[19]; 12. 08-Jason Paisley[22]; 13. 11H-Chason Hauck[15]; 14. 21J-Josh Weiant[24]; 15. 19-Matt Fernsler[16]; 16. 76H-Bryson Haugh[23]; 17. 22-Jesse Leiby[18]; 18. 23K-Courtney Kupp[20]; 19. 74-Brayden Winters[12]; 20. 8-Scott Gingrich[8]; 21. 61-Jeff Haefke[2]; 22. 08G-Issac Graby[14]; 23. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[17]; 24. 52-Makayla Fullerton[21]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9M-Chris Dolan[3]; 2. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[1]; 3. 88-Nick Skias[4]; 4. 1L-Dave Labe[5]; 5. 5C-Bret Cronrath[6]; 6. 19-Matt Fernsler[2]; 7. 5W-Jason Klinger[8]; 8. 08-Jason Paisley[9]; 9. 21J-Josh Weiant[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 61-Jeff Haefke[2]; 2. 8-Scott Gingrich[1]; 3. 77S-Ben Stolz[6]; 4. 94-Dallas Sanders[4]; 5. 08G-Issac Graby[7]; 6. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[8]; 7. 23K-Courtney Kupp[5]; 8. 76H-Bryson Haugh[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Mike Boyer[3]; 2. 747-Richie Hartman[2]; 3. 6-Danial Boyer[4]; 4. 74-Brayden Winters[5]; 5. 11H-Chason Hauck[1]; 6. 22-Jesse Leiby[6]; 7. 52-Makayla Fullerton[8]; 8. (DNF) 20S-Sean Stolz[7]
Wingless 600 Micro Sprints
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 29-PJ Williams[2]; 2. 91-Nate Freed[5]; 3. 28P-Gunnar Pio[15]; 4. 03-Ryan Groff[1]; 5. 21-Mason Beinhower[6]; 6. 88B-Billy Calvert[4]; 7. 61-Ryan Kunkle[9]; 8. 71-Brian Kramer[13]; 9. 42-Dylan Hahn[16]; 10. 19-Chase Schott[18]; 11. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[22]; 12. 44-Rodney Westhafer[20]; 13. 56-Tyler Henry[3]; 14. 7L-Chase Layser[7]; 15. 54-Dakota Bartlet[19]; 16. 18M-Brayden Mickley[11]; 17. 32H-Wayne Scott[21]; 18. 88-Justin Yohn[10]; 19. 3R-Trenton Rivera[14]; 20. 78-Chase Bixler[12]; 21. 12J-Jacob Homnick[8]; 22. 00-Peyton Knecht[17]; 23. 2D-Cole Dewease[23]; 24. 22H-Fred Heinly[24]
B-Main 1 (8 Laps): 1. 00-Peyton Knecht[2]; 2. 54-Dakota Bartlet[4]; 3. 32H-Wayne Scott[1]; 4. 2D-Cole Dewease[6]; 5. 39-Richie Hartman[5]; 6. 11-Connor Fetrow[11]; 7. 24-Logan Rhoad[10]; 8. 2XL-Trevor Stover[8]; 9. 14H-Luke Harding[9]; 10. (DNF) 09-Vincent Gueci[3]; 11. (DNS) 24J-Christopher Broadaway; 12. (DNS) 13-Ben Freels
B-Main 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Chase Schott[3]; 2. 44-Rodney Westhafer[2]; 3. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[5]; 4. 22H-Fred Heinly[4]; 5. 11H-Holden Eckman[6]; 6. 24S-Frank Stoner[7]; 7. 28-Dustin Degler[8]; 8. 8-Kyle Gisleson[9]; 9. 98-Matthew Warner[1]; 10. (DNS) 39M-Austin Mieczkowski
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Nate Freed[2]; 2. 78-Chase Bixler[1]; 3. 88-Justin Yohn[3]; 4. 71-Brian Kramer[6]; 5. 32H-Wayne Scott[4]; 6. 09-Vincent Gueci[10]; 7. 39-Richie Hartman[9]; 8. 24J-Christopher Broadaway[5]; 9. 2XL-Trevor Stover[8]; 10. 14H-Luke Harding[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Mason Beinhower[1]; 2. 03-Ryan Groff[5]; 3. 61-Ryan Kunkle[9]; 4. 3R-Trenton Rivera[3]; 5. 00-Peyton Knecht[4]; 6. 54-Dakota Bartlet[6]; 7. 2D-Cole Dewease[7]; 8. 24-Logan Rhoad[2]; 9. 11-Connor Fetrow[10]; 10. 13-Ben Freels[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12J-Jacob Homnick[1]; 2. 18M-Brayden Mickley[3]; 3. 29-PJ Williams[5]; 4. 28P-Gunnar Pio[6]; 5. 98-Matthew Warner[4]; 6. 19-Chase Schott[9]; 7. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[7]; 8. 24S-Frank Stoner[8]; 9. (DNF) 39M-Austin Mieczkowski[2]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7L-Chase Layser[2]; 2. 88B-Billy Calvert[1]; 3. 56-Tyler Henry[6]; 4. 42-Dylan Hahn[4]; 5. 44-Rodney Westhafer[5]; 6. 22H-Fred Heinly[3]; 7. 11H-Holden Eckman[9]; 8. 28-Dustin Degler[7]; 9. 8-Kyle Gisleson[8]
All Star Slingshots
A-Main (20 Laps): 1. 95-Lucas Pittenger[2]; 2. 1-Tyler Ulsh[1]; 3. 3-David Carraghan[6]; 4. 32-Brett Bieber[5]; 5. 42-Mason Pittenger[3]; 6. 10S-Chase Schott[12]; 7. 55W-Ryan Wells[11]; 8. 77-Daniel Betz[9]; 9. 14-Austin Kroboth[14]; 10. 97Z-Zack Gerber[4]; 11. 33D-Tytan Deal[13]; 12. 98-Jeff Shank[10]; 13. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[7]; 14. 22S-Ronnie Spitler[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Ulsh[2]; 2. 42-Mason Pittenger[3]; 3. 3-David Carraghan[7]; 4. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[4]; 5. 77-Daniel Betz[6]; 6. 55W-Ryan Wells[5]; 7. 33D-Tytan Deal[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Lucas Pittenger[2]; 2. 32-Brett Bieber[6]; 3. 97Z-Zack Gerber[3]; 4. 22S-Ronnie Spitler[5]; 5. 98-Jeff Shank[1]; 6. 10S-Chase Schott[7]; 7. 14-Austin Kroboth[4]
Junior Slingshots
A-Main (15 Laps): 1. 57-Hailey Eroh[1]; 2. 1-Lilly Esterly[4]; 3. 50-EJ Hatch[3]; 4. 55B-Barry Seaman[7]; 5. 41-Trent Bohr[5]; 6. 4C-Colten Berndt[2]; 7. 15-Cameron Hartz[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Hailey Eroh[4]; 2. 4C-Colten Berndt[2]; 3. 50-EJ Hatch[6]; 4. 1-Lilly Esterly[5]; 5. 41-Trent Bohr[1]; 6. 15-Cameron Hartz[7]; 7. 55B-Barry Seaman[3]
Front Wheel Drive
A-Main (15 Laps): 1. 12-Ken Buck[1]; 2. 81JR-Michael Wambold[6]; 3. 11-Bill Sherwood[3]; 4. 18-Shane Flaherty[7]; 5. 97-Justin Riegel[4]; 6. 51-Ryan Smith[5]; 7. 39-Larry Eck[10]; 8. 8-Andrew Oberdorf[8]; 9. 18F-Bubba Sonnon[9]; 10. 1-Daniel Eitnier[11]; 11. 11W-Ian Whitcomb[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11W-Ian Whitcomb[2]; 2. 11-Bill Sherwood[3]; 3. 97-Justin Riegel[1]; 4. 18-Shane Flaherty[6]; 5. 18F-Bubba Sonnon[4]; 6. 1-Daniel Eitnier[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Ken Buck[2]; 2. 51-Ryan Smith[1]; 3. 81JR-Michael Wambold[4]; 4. 8-Andrew Oberdorf[3]; 5. 39-Larry Eck[5]