Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – As a former Little Linda’s and Junior Slingshot track champion, Chase Schott has quite literally grown up racing at the Jonestown quarter-mile.
On Friday night, the Lebanon native cemented himself as not just a future star of the speedway – but a current one – as he claimed his first victory in the Stolz Stove Sales Winged 600 Micro Sprints.
Two-time feature winner Brent Shearer and former track champion Richie Hartman looked to have the two fastest cars over the course of time trials and heat racing action. In the early laps of the A-Main, Shearer pulled away to a monster lead over the rest of the field, seemingly well on his way to a hat trick of victories in the 2024 campaign.
But Schott got past Hartman for the runner-up spot on a restart just prior to halfway, and closed the gap to Shearer as smoke began to billow out of the Manheim driver’s No. 29 machine. With three laps to go, the engine finally expired, and
Schott avoided crashing in the fluid to inherit the lead, one that he would not relinquish through the final chase to the checkered flag.
Schott wasn’t the only first-time winner on Friday night, however. In the Chargers division, it was Chris Warren who took the iconic No. 54 entry fielded by Kimmel Racing to victory lane. The win for Chris came 36 years after his dad Smokey Warren took victory in a modified race at Linda’s back in 1988, when the track still ran under the half-mile configuration.
In Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprint action, Lebanon’s Matt Fernsler picked up the win in another thrilling feature event for the cars that blow smoke. Fernsler made a bold pass on Richie Hartman early in the race, and then held off a hard-charging Ben Stolz to win the race by half a car length. The victory for Fernsler was his first in 270 competition at Linda’s since July of 2020.
The win of Friday night’s 600 Modified feature went to Richie Hitzler, as he picked up his second victory of the year in the final race before the Modifieds’ “summer break” at the speedway. Tyler Fronina crossed the finish line first, but was disqualified for an infraction in post-race technical inspection, handing the win to the six-time track champion.
The Linda’s Speedway rounds out the month of June with a five-division show next Friday night, June 28. The Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints are back in action, while the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Wingless 600 Micro Sprints return for their final event before Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek. Both the Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshots and J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots are back on track, and the Front Wheel Drive division rounds out the classes scheduled for competition.
Results- 6/21/2024
Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints 16 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 19-Matt Fernsler[2]; 2. 77S-Ben Stolz[3]; 3. 747-Richie Hartman[1]; 4. 41-Mike Boyer[4]; 5. 20S-Sean Stolz[8]; 6. 9M-Chris Dolan[6]; 7. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[5]; 8. 6-Danial Boyer[12]; 9. 23K-Courtney Kupp[9]; 10. 94-Dallas Sanders[14]; 11. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[11]; 12. 1L-Dave Labe[15]; 13. 44-Blake Ludwig[13]; 14. 5W-Jason Klinger[7]; 15. 99K-Chad Kreiser[16]; 16. (DNS) 96W-Chase Walker
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 9M-Chris Dolan[1]; 2. 77S-Ben Stolz[2]; 3. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[4]; 4. 5W-Jason Klinger[5]; 5. 23K-Courtney Kupp[3]; 6. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[6]; 7. 44-Blake Ludwig[8]; 8. (DNS) 99K-Chad Kreiser
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 19-Matt Fernsler[1]; 2. 41-Mike Boyer[2]; 3. 747-Richie Hartman[3]; 4. 20S-Sean Stolz[7]; 5. 96W-Chase Walker[4]; 6. 6-Danial Boyer[6]; 7. 94-Dallas Sanders[8]; 8. 1L-Dave Labe[5]
Winged 600 Micro Sprints 19 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 19-Chase Schott[3]; 2. 39-Richie Hartman[2]; 3. 71-Brian Kramer[4]; 4. 12-Cole Cabre[9]; 5. 28P-Gunnar Pio[6]; 6. 90X-Trent Warner[13]; 7. 1-Trevor Gach[15]; 8. 28K-Karter Adams[10]; 9. 45-Aiden Lutz[7]; 10. 29W-Rodney Westhafer[11]; 11. 18M-Brayden Mickley[17]; 12. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[16]; 13. 29-Brent Shearer[1]; 14. 7-Jarrett Cavalet[5]; 15. 38-Isabella Landis[12]; 16. 77-Ben Stolz[14]; 17. (DNS) 11H-Holden Eckman; 18. (DNS) 54-Dakota Bartlet; 19. (DNS) 47-Scott Gesford
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 29-Brent Shearer[1]; 2. 19-Chase Schott[2]; 3. 7-Jarrett Cavalet[4]; 4. 45-Aiden Lutz[3]; 5. 12-Cole Cabre[5]; 6. 29W-Rodney Westhafer[6]; 7. 90X-Trent Warner[7]; 8. 1-Trevor Gach[8]; 9. 18M-Brayden Mickley[9]; 10. (DNS) 54-Dakota Bartlet
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 39-Richie Hartman[1]; 2. 71-Brian Kramer[2]; 3. 28P-Gunnar Pio[3]; 4. 11H-Holden Eckman[6]; 5. 28K-Karter Adams[4]; 6. 38-Isabella Landis[5]; 7. 77-Ben Stolz[7]; 8. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[8]; 9. (DNS) 47-Scott Gesford
600cc Modifieds 20 Entries
A-Main 20 Laps
1. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[5]; 2. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[8]; 3. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[12]; 4. 17K-Kenny Harris[10]; 5. 20-Ryley Garman[9]; 6. 21-Mark Bressler[16]; 7. 69-Christian Smith[3]; 8. 13-Ed Hollenbach[6]; 9. 4M-Dylan Cordier[1]; 10. 28-Raymond Gradwell[4]; 11. 5-John Hall[13]; 12. 122-Brandon Kulp[14]; 13. 20K-Chad Kreiser[15]; 14. 23-Dave Fry[17]; 15. 33-Daisy Dove[18]; 16. 78-Josh Bewley[7]; 17. 116-Gerry Bressler[20]; 18. M1-Ricky Bobby[19]; 19. 12-Tommy Nettleship[11]; 20. (DQ) 10T-Tyler Fronina[2]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 13-Ed Hollenbach[1]; 2. 28-Raymond Gradwell[2]; 3. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[9]; 4. 4M-Dylan Cordier[3]; 5. 20-Ryley Garman[8]; 6. 12-Tommy Nettleship[6]; 7. 5-John Hall[4]; 8. 20K-Chad Kreiser[7]; 9. (DNF) M1-Ricky Bobby[10]; 10. (DNF) 116-Gerry Bressler[5]
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[4]; 2. 69-Christian Smith[1]; 3. 10T-Tyler Fronina[2]; 4. 78-Josh Bewley[3]; 5. 17K-Kenny Harris[5]; 6. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[7]; 7. 122-Brandon Kulp[6]; 8. 21-Mark Bressler[9]; 9. 23-Dave Fry[10]; 10. 33-Daisy Dove[8]
Chargers 14 Entries
A-Main 15 Laps
1. 54-Chris Warren[2]; 2. 27-Austin Webster[1]; 3. 15-Butch Helsel[4]; 4. 711-Eric Hollenbach[8]; 5. 6PK-Justin Riegel[6]; 6. 21X-Chris Derr[3]; 7. 01-Ed Hollenbach[7]; 8. 10-Chucky Kimmel[5]; 9. 30PK-Chris McCarr[9]; 10. 2M-Josh Michael[12]; 11. 24S-Frank Stoner[11]; 12. 7-Raymond Gradwell[13]; 13. 21-Ian Herr[10]; 14. (DNS) 53K-Bryan Keller
Heat 1 8 laps
1. 10-Chucky Kimmel[4]; 2. 54-Chris Warren[1]; 3. 15-Butch Helsel[7]; 4. 01-Ed Hollenbach[2]; 5. (DNF) 24S-Frank Stoner[6]; 6. (DNF) 7-Raymond Gradwell[3]; 7. (DNS) 53K-Bryan Keller
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 6PK-Justin Riegel[4]; 2. 27-Austin Webster[7]; 3. 21X-Chris Derr[1]; 4. 711-Eric Hollenbach[6]; 5. 30PK-Chris McCarr[2]; 6. 21-Ian Herr[5]; 7. (DNF) 2M-Josh Michael[3]