Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – With the 35th running of the Linda’s Speedway National Open just one week away, drivers came to the quarter-mile on Friday night with hopes of finding that extra little bit of speed, confidence, and momentum needed to propel them to victory in one of the crown jewels of micro sprint racing.
In Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprint competition, “The Rocketman” Jason Swavely did just that, as he took advantage of a late-race restart and motored past Brandon Heist and Billy Logeman over the final three laps to claim an improbable win aboard the Mike Rice-owned No. 2R.
While a veteran went to victory lane in the 270s, it was a young gun picking up the checkers in the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Wingless 600 Micro Sprint feature, as “The Wild Child” Chase Schott added to his incredible season at Linda’s with his first Wingless 600 victory at the track. Schott was able to hold off Bridgeport track champion Anthony Tramontana in the closing laps to do so.
The Junior Sprints also ran their final tune-up race prior to their first-ever appearance at the National Open, and it was Boyertown’s Jase Smith bagging his fifth win of the 2024 season, good enough to officially cement himself as the track’s inaugural Junior Sprint champion.
The Xcel 600 Modified Tour contested their final 25-lapper of the season at Linda’s, and it was Eric Whitby holding off track champion Tyler Bartik to snap a long winless drought and put the No. 12E in victory lane.
The Front Wheel Drive division saw another exciting battle in their season finale, as track champion Ken Buck survived constant pressure from Daniel Eitnier and picked up his third win of the year in Linda’s Speedway’s final stock car race of 2024.
The Hoffer Paving All Star Slingshots feature saw one of their track champions go to victory lane as well, as Brett Bieber fended off a late surge from Garrett Chillot to bring down the season with his third win at the quarter-mile.
And in the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots, it was a long-awaited first-career win for Cameron Hartz, as he held off the track champion Hailey Eroh to finally snare a triumph that he had been chasing all season long.
All that remains is the 35th running of the Linda’s Speedway National Open next Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19. The event – featuring the 270 Micro Sprints, Wingless 600 Micro Sprints, and the Junior Sprints – will run its preliminary night on Friday. Championship Night then takes place on Saturday, culminating with the Driven2SaveLives 40-lapper for Wingless 600 Micro Sprints, and the 35th 270 Micro Sprint National Open A-Main.
Result’s -10/10/24
Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints 30 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 2R-Jason Swavely[7]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[1]; 3. 27O-Billy Logeman[5]; 4. 2-Nunzi Allegrucci[11]; 5. 02-Alex Swift[6]; 6. 88M-Nick Skias[10]; 7. 41-Mike Boyer[13]; 8. 82-John Maurer[3]; 9. 16C-Pat Bealer[15]; 10. 1L-Dave Labe[19]; 11. 8-Scott Gingrich[9]; 12. 1-Jesse Snyder[22]; 13. 6-Danial Boyer[23]; 14. 15-Alyssa Holmes[24]; 15. 47-Ernie Newmaster III[17]; 16. 3-Josh Stoyer[4]; 17. 2B-Brayden Winters[8]; 18. 54-Darren Schott[12]; 19. 71-Scott Zimmerman[20]; 20. 94-Dallas Sanders[16]; 21. 1A-Toby Blumenshine[2]; 22. 9M-Chris Dolan[18]; 23. 29J-Jacob Neff[21]; 24. 5W-Jason Klinger[14]
B-Main 8 Laps
1. 1L-Dave Labe[3]; 2. 71-Scott Zimmerman[4]; 3. 29J-Jacob Neff[2]; 4. 1-Jesse Snyder[8]; 5. 6-Danial Boyer[9]; 6. 15-Alyssa Holmes[1]; 7. 53-Dylan Kuronya[5]; 8. (DNF) 21D-Dave Williams[10]; 9. (DNF) 94D-Logan Diehl[6]; 10. (DNS) 23K-Courtney Kupp; 11. (DNS) 81-Dylan Holmes; 12. (DNS) 84-Zach Glass
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 2R-Jason Swavely[1]; 2. 3-Josh Stoyer[8]; 3. 8-Scott Gingrich[7]; 4. 1A-Toby Blumenshine[9]; 5. 41-Mike Boyer[10]; 6. 94-Dallas Sanders[3]; 7. (DNF) 94D-Logan Diehl[6]; 8. (DNF) 1-Jesse Snyder[4]; 9. (DNF) 21D-Dave Williams[2]; 10. (DNF) 84-Zach Glass[5]
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 54-Darren Schott[2]; 2. 2-Nunzi Allegrucci[3]; 3. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[5]; 4. 82-John Maurer[4]; 5. 5W-Jason Klinger[10]; 6. 47-Ernie Newmaster III[8]; 7. 15-Alyssa Holmes[1]; 8. (DNF) 23K-Courtney Kupp[7]; 9. (DNF) 6-Danial Boyer[6]; 10. (DNF) 81-Dylan Holmes[9]
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 02-Alex Swift[3]; 2. 2B-Brayden Winters[2]; 3. 88M-Nick Skias[6]; 4. 27O-Billy Logeman[4]; 5. 16C-Pat Bealer[8]; 6. 9M-Chris Dolan[7]; 7. 29J-Jacob Neff[1]; 8. 1L-Dave Labe[9]; 9. 71-Scott Zimmerman[10]; 10. 53-Dylan Kuronya[5]
Wingless 600 Micro Sprints 19 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 19-Chase Schott[2]; 2. 80-Anthony Tramontana[1]; 3. 10-Adam Buchel[4]; 4. 99X-Brandon Heist Sr[5]; 5. 98-Matthew Warner[3]; 6. 99-Craig Whitmoyer[6]; 7. 11H-Holden Eckman[8]; 8. 16-Marty Brian[9]; 9. 2D-Cole Dewease[12]; 10. 29-Brent Shearer[7]; 11. 71-Brian Kramer[14]; 12. 44-Barry Shearer[10]; 13. 22H-Fred Heinly[16]; 14. 03-Ryan Groff[11]; 15. 90-Trent Warner[15]; 16. 2S-Garyt Smith[19]; 17. 11-Connor Fetrow[13]; 18. 54-Dakota Barlet[17]; 19. 127-Korey Inglin[18]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 99X-Brandon Heist Sr[2]; 2. 99-Craig Whitmoyer[1]; 3. 80-Anthony Tramontana[4]; 4. 19-Chase Schott[3]; 5. 16-Marty Brian[6]; 6. 03-Ryan Groff[5]; 7. 11-Connor Fetrow[7]; 8. 90-Trent Warner[10]; 9. 54-Dakota Barlet[8]; 10. 2S-Garyt Smith[9]
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 29-Brent Shearer[1]; 2. 98-Matthew Warner[3]; 3. 10-Adam Buchel[2]; 4. 11H-Holden Eckman[5]; 5. 44-Barry Shearer[4]; 6. 2D-Cole Dewease[6]; 7. 71-Brian Kramer[8]; 8. 22H-Fred Heinly[9]; 9. 127-Korey Inglin[7]
All Star Slingshots 10 Entries
A-Main 20 Laps
1. 32-Brett Bieber[1]; 2. 349-Garrett Chillot[4]; 3. 3-David Carraghan[3]; 4. 1-Tyler Ulsh[6]; 5. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[2]; 6. 77-Daniel Betz[5]; 7. 17-Jon Imhoff[8]; 8. 55W-Ryan Wells[7]; 9. 17M-Gavin Marrero[9]; 10. (DNS) 7-Gage Marrero
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 32-Brett Bieber[4]; 2. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[3]; 3. 3-David Carraghan[8]; 4. 349-Garrett Chillot[6]; 5. 77-Daniel Betz[2]; 6. 1-Tyler Ulsh[9]; 7. 55W-Ryan Wells[1]; 8. 17-Jon Imhoff[5]; 9. 17M-Gavin Marrero[7]; 10. (DNF) 7-Gage Marrero[10]
Junior Slingshots 6 Entries
A-Main 15 Laps
1. 15-Cameron Hartz[1]; 2. 57-Hailey Eroh[3]; 3. 50-EJ Hatch[2]; 4. 72-Landon McNichol[5]; 5. 51-Frank Friztinger[4]; 6. 1-Lilly Esterly[6]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 15-Cameron Hartz[1]; 2. 50-EJ Hatch[4]; 3. 57-Hailey Eroh[6]; 4. 51-Frank Friztinger[2]; 5. 72-Landon McNichol[5]; 6. (DNS) 1-Lilly Esterly
600cc Modifieds 20 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 12E-Eric Whitby[1]; 2. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[8]; 3. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[13]; 4. 21-Mark Bressler[3]; 5. 17K-Kenny Harris[6]; 6. 13-Ed Hollenbach[18]; 7. 29-Douglas Newbigging[20]; 8. 71D-Austin Daniels[7]; 9. 33-Daisy Dove[11]; 10. 78-Dakota Barlet[2]; 11. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[4]; 12. 22-Lance Garrison[5]; 13. 2G-Austin Myers[9]; 14. 15-Jimmy Stong[10]; 15. 31-Gage Landis[14]; 16. 20R-Ryley Garman[15]; 17. 20K-Chad Kreiser[16]; 18. (DNS) 10T-Tyler Fronina; 19. (DNS) 23-Dave Fry; 20. (DNS) 3-Wade Mader
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 12E-Eric Whitby[5]; 2. 71D-Austin Daniels[1]; 3. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[7]; 4. 78-Dakota Barlet[9]; 5. 2G-Austin Myers[10]; 6. 33-Daisy Dove[8]; 7. (DNF) 23-Dave Fry[4]; 8. (DNF) 31-Gage Landis[2]; 9. (DNS) 10T-Tyler Fronina; 10. (DNS) 29-Douglas Newbigging
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 21-Mark Bressler[2]; 2. 22-Lance Garrison[5]; 3. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[8]; 4. 17K-Kenny Harris[3]; 5. 15-Jimmy Stong[7]; 6. (DNF) 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[4]; 7. (DNF) 20R-Ryley Garman[1]; 8. (DNF) 20K-Chad Kreiser[9]; 9. (DNF) 3-Wade Mader[10]; 10. (DNF) 13-Ed Hollenbach[6]
Front Wheel Drive 6 Entries
A-Main 20 Laps
1. 12-Ken Buck[1]; 2. 77-Daniel Eitnier[3]; 3. 11-Bill Sherwood[4]; 4. 18-Shane Flaherty[2]; 5. 41-Chris Derr[6]; 6. 8-Drew Oberdorf[5]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 12-Ken Buck[1]; 2. 18-Shane Flaherty[2]; 3. 77-Daniel Eitnier[3]; 4. 11-Bill Sherwood[4]; 5. 8-Drew Oberdorf[6]; 6. (DNF) 41-Chris Derr[5]
Junior Sprints 8 Entries
A-Main 15 Laps
1. 52-Jase Smith[3]; 2. 7-Ashlyn Wittmer[2]; 3. 15-Braylon Morris[4]; 4. 45-Logan Schibilia[1]; 5. 1-Enzo Iudicello[5]; 6. 44-Caleb Hines[7]; 7. 36-Barrett Bressler[8]; 8. 707-Jax Wittmer[6]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 707-Jax Wittmer[1]; 2. 1-Enzo Iudicello[2]; 3. 15-Braylon Morris[6]; 4. 52-Jase Smith[3]; 5. 7-Ashlyn Wittmer[7]; 6. 45-Logan Schibilia[5]; 7. 44-Caleb Hines[8]; 8. 36-Barrett Bressler[4]