Heath Walton Captures First Linda’s Speedway Victory; Skias Holds Off Stolz In 270s

Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – “I wanted to be him so bad when I was younger. It’s finally here.”

These were the words of Heath Walton in Linda’s Speedway’s victory lane on Friday night, as the Mifflintown native followed in the footsteps of his accomplished father Tyler Walton to pick up his first feature win in Stolz Stove Sales Winged 600 competition.

Despite claiming wins elsewhere and showing plenty of speed during his rookie season of racing at the Jonestown quarter-mile, Walton had yet to break through for that first Linda’s triumph. Whether he was catching on fire or barrel-rolling out of the race, it just seemed as if all the puzzle pieces couldn’t quite come together for the teenage driver.

That all changed on Friday night, however, as Walton picked up the win of the heat race and put himself on pole position for the 25-lap feature. With veterans and multi-time feature winners Jason Swavely and Brent Shearer behind him, it was easy to envision a scenario where Walton would fall back and continue having to wait for that elusive victory.

But instead, Walton rose to the occasion, driving away from the decorated wheelmen behind him and managing the race to perfection to put the No. 14T back into the Linda’s Speedway winner’s circle.

The Mike Co Motorsports Time Trial Series returned for competitors of the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints. Four-time track champion Nick Skias hopped into Charlie Palmucci’s No. 16P and steered it into the winner’s circle. The Wernersville native used an excellent display of defensive driving to keep a slightly faster Sean Stolz behind him for the duration of the 25-lap A-Main.

The Chargers division saw its fourth different winner in four races. This time, it was Jonestown’s Frank Stoner leading wire-to-wire to grab the victory.

In Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshot competition, Dave Carraghan took the lead from Chase Schott on an early-race restart to score his second win in the last three races. Meanwhile, Hailey Eroh kept her winning streak going in the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots, bagging her fourth consecutive victory.

Linda’s Speedway is back in action on Thursday, July 18 to host Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek presented by Performance Electronics. The event – sponsored by Keizer Racing Wheels – will be the fifth of a seven-race series featuring the biggest stars of the Wingless 600 Micro Sprint division, as well as the future stars competing in the Junior Sprint class.

Results for 7/12/2024

Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints 19 Entries

A-Main 25 Laps

1. 16P-Nick Skias[1]; 2. 20S-Sean Stolz[2]; 3. 9M-Chris Dolan[3]; 4. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[5]; 5. 41-Mike Boyer[4]; 6. 77S-Ben Stolz[6]; 7. 19-Matt Fernsler[8]; 8. 88-Nolan Higgins[14]; 9. 15-Sean McAndrew[17]; 10. 76B-Brent Shearer[9]; 11. 14-Mason McAndrew[11]; 12. 25D-CJ Davis[13]; 13. 23K-Courtney Kupp[12]; 14. 94-Dallas Sanders[15]; 15. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[16]; 16. 11R-Tommy Rinck[7]; 17. 6-Danial Boyer[10]; 18. 52-Makayla Fullerton[19]; 19. (DNS) 08-Jason Paisley

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 16P-Nick Skias[1]; 2. 9M-Chris Dolan[2]; 3. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[4]; 4. 11R-Tommy Rinck[3]; 5. 76B-Brent Shearer[7]; 6. 14-Mason McAndrew[6]; 7. 25D-CJ Davis[5]; 8. 94-Dallas Sanders[8]; 9. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[9]; 10. (DNS) 08-Jason Paisley

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 20S-Sean Stolz[1]; 2. 41-Mike Boyer[3]; 3. 77S-Ben Stolz[4]; 4. 19-Matt Fernsler[6]; 5. 6-Danial Boyer[5]; 6. 23K-Courtney Kupp[7]; 7. 88-Nolan Higgins[8]; 8. (DNF) 15-Sean McAndrew[2]; 9. (DNS) 52-Makayla Fullerton

Qualifying 2 Laps
1. 16P-Nick Skias, 00:12.688[11];
2. 20S-Sean Stolz, 00:12.693[15];
3. 9M-Chris Dolan, 00:12.720[8];
4. 15-Sean McAndrew, 00:12.820[18];
5. 11R-Tommy Rinck, 00:12.844[14];
6. 41-Mike Boyer, 00:12.919[5];
7. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr, 00:12.937[12];
8. 77S-Ben Stolz, 00:12.961[10];
9. 25D-CJ Davis, 00:12.995[2];
10. 6-Danial Boyer, 00:13.016[9];
11. 14-Mason McAndrew, 00:13.065[4];
12. 19-Matt Fernsler, 00:13.120[3];
13. 76B-Brent Shearer, 00:13.138[1];
14. 23K-Courtney Kupp, 00:13.204[19];
15. 94-Dallas Sanders, 00:13.316[7];
16. 88-Nolan Higgins, 00:13.319[13];
17. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin, 00:13.724[6];
18. 52-Makayla Fullerton, 00:14.433[16];
19. 08-Jason Paisley, 00:14.433[17]

Winged 600 Micro Sprints 9 Entries

A-Main 25 Laps

1. 14T-Heath Walton[1]; 2. 14-Jason Swavely[2]; 3. 29-Brent Shearer[3]; 4. 71-Brian Kramer[4]; 5. 19-Chase Schott[5]; 6. 28K-Karter Adams[8]; 7. 78-Chase Bixler[9]; 8. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[7]; 9. 38-Isabella Landis[6]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 14T-Heath Walton[1]; 2. 14-Jason Swavely[4]; 3. 29-Brent Shearer[3]; 4. 19-Chase Schott[2]; 5. 71-Brian Kramer[6]; 6. 38-Isabella Landis[8]; 7. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[5]; 8. 28K-Karter Adams[7]; 9. 78-Chase Bixler[9]

All Star Slingshots 12 Entries

A-Main 20 Laps

1. 3-David Carraghan[3]; 2. 10S-Chase Schott[4]; 3. 32-Brett Bieber[6]; 4. 1-Tyler Ulsh[12]; 5. 77-Daniel Betz[7]; 6. 14-Austin Kroboth[1]; 7. 98-Jeff Shank[10]; 8. 30-Aaron Weik[9]; 9. 33D-Tytan Deal[11]; 10. 97Z-Zack Gerber[5]; 11. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[2]; 12. 52M-Collin Carpenter[8]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 3-David Carraghan[5]; 2. 97Z-Zack Gerber[2]; 3. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[3]; 4. 77-Daniel Betz[4]; 5. 30-Aaron Weik[6]; 6. (DNS) 33D-Tytan Deal

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 10S-Chase Schott[4]; 2. 14-Austin Kroboth[2]; 3. 32-Brett Bieber[5]; 4. 1-Tyler Ulsh[3]; 5. 52M-Collin Carpenter[6]; 6. 98-Jeff Shank[1]

Junior Slingshots 5 Entries

A-Main 15 Laps

1. 57-Hailey Eroh[1]; 2. 15-Cameron Hartz[5]; 3. 55B-Barry Seaman[2]; 4. 02-RILEY MUGURIE[4]; 5. 1-Lilly Esterly[3]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 57-Hailey Eroh[1]; 2. 55B-Barry Seaman[2]; 3. 1-Lilly Esterly[3]; 4. 02-RILEY MUGURIE[5]; 5. 15-Cameron Hartz[4]

Chargers 13 Entries

A-Main 15 Laps

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

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 21-Ian Herr[2]; 2. 10-Chucky Kimmel[4]; 3. 15-Butch Helsel[7]; 4. 27-Austin Webster[6]; 5. 53K-Bryan Keller[1]; 6. (DNF) 01-Ed Hollenbach[3]; 7. (DNF) 21X-Vincent Wenrich[5]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 24S-Frank Stoner[2]; 2. 2M-Josh Michael[3]; 3. 54-Chris Warren[4]; 4. 711-Eric Hollenbach[5]; 5. 30PK-Chris McCarr[1]; 6. (DNF) 6PK-Justin Riegel[6]