Hitzler Scores Milestone 50th Modified Win At Linda’s; Walton Wins Winged 600 Opener

Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – Few drivers are more synonymous with success at the Linda’s Speedway than Lebanon native Richie Hitzler. It’s impossible to tell the story of the Xcel 600 Modified division’s history at the famed quarter-mile without prominently featuring the six-time track champion.

So in the Modifieds’ first race of Linda’s “Golden Anniversary” season, it was fitting to watch Hitzler turn in one of his most dominant and determined drives ever to score his 50th career Modified win at the Jonestown speedway.

After a scintillating drive from 10th to the win of his heat race earlier in the evening, Hitzler

started from the outside pole of the Xcel 600 Modified Tour season-opener, alongside defending tour champion and two-time Linda’s champ Kenny Harris.

But Hitzler quickly blasted to the point from his outside front-row starting spot, and put an

emphatic stamp on his meaningful victory by simply dominating the competition. Over the

course of the 30-lap feature, Hitzler lapped all but the top five finishers, and his final margin of victory over second-place Lance Garrison was a whopping 10.304 seconds – equating to more than two-thirds of the racetrack.

The season-opener for the Stolz Stove Sales Winged 600 Micro Sprints showcased two of the best young hot shoes in the central Pennsylvania area, as Cody West and Heath Walton dueled for the victory throughout the 25-lap feature event.

West was in command for most of the race, getting past and then holding off Walton in the early laps before stretching his legs during the A-Main’s middle stages. It seemed to be all sewn up for the driver of the West Fab No. 117. But coming through turns 3 and 4 on the penultimate lap, West clipped a yuke tire in the center of the corner, breaking the left-front corner on his machine and forcing him out of the race in heartbreaking fashion.

With his top challenger by the wayside, Walton nailed the final green-white-checkered restart out in clean air and kept former champions Brian Kramer and Brent Shearer behind him to score his second Linda’s Speedway feature win.

The Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints contested their first feature of 2025 as well, and two-time defending champion Brandon Heist kicked off his bid for a three-peat in the best way possible, putting the Dave Walter No. 5R into the winner’s circle.

Heist edged ahead of former National Open champion Nunzi Allegrucci just prior to a lap 6 caution flag, outdueled Brayden Spencer during the race’s middle portion, and then survived a one-lap shootout to complete the victory.

The second race of the Bernheisel Race Components Chargers season went the way of the Kimmel Racing team once again, as this time it was Chucky Kimmel parking his No. 10 stock car into victory lane. Kimmel inherited the top spot on lap 5 after Josh Michael pulled into the infield, and the Schuylkill Haven driver led Eric Hollenbach across the line to complete the second 1-2 finish for Kimmel Racing in as many Charger events.

Linda’s Speedway is back in action next Friday, April 25 with the annual running of the Earman Fulk Memorial in honor of the man who built the racetrack back in 1976. For a race 50 years in the making, the Winged Super Sportsmans will descend upon the quarter-mile for the special event. Joining them on the card will be the East Coast Legends, the Hoosier Tire Wingless 600 Micro Sprints, the 600 Modifieds, and the PA Micro Midgets

4/18/2025 Results-

Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints 29 Entries

A-Main 25 Laps

1. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[4]; 2. 27-Brayden Spencer[3]; 3. 41-Mike Boyer[7]; 4. 83-Nunzi Allegrucci[1]; 5. 7D-Chris Dolan[6]; 6. 19-Matt Fernsler[15]; 7. 6-Danial Boyer[16]; 8. 1H-Logan Hess[14]; 9. 23K-Courtney Kupp[18]; 10. 39M-Matt Hoffman[20]; 11. 11-Brian Heist[12]; 12. 34-Christi Sweigart[17]; 13. 29J-Jacob Neff[22]; 14. 21J-William Mohring[19]; 15. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[23]; 16. 5W-Jason Klinger[9]; 17. 71-Scott Zimmerman[5]; 18. 11H-Chason Hauck[21]; 19. 1L-Dave Labe[10]; 20. 27O-Billy Logeman[8]; 21. 77-Ben Stolz[13]; 22. 5-Cayden Forsythe[24]; 23. (DNS) 08-Jason Paisley; 24. (DNS) 95-Bennett Skelton

B-Main 8 Laps

1. 21J-William Mohring[3]; 2. 39M-Matt Hoffman[1]; 3. 11H-Chason Hauck[6]; 4. 29J-Jacob Neff[7]; 5. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[4]; 6. 5-Cayden Forsythe[2]; 7. (DNF) 94-Dallas Sanders[10]; 8. (DNF) 19P-Dalton Patteson[9]; 9. (DNS) 5A-Anthony Yerger; 10. (DNS) 10A-Jason Swavely; 11. (DNS) 2-Troy Groft

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 71-Scott Zimmerman[1]; 2. 27-Brayden Spencer[3]; 3. 83-Nunzi Allegrucci[5]; 4. 1L-Dave Labe[4]; 5. 77-Ben Stolz[6]; 6. 6-Danial Boyer[8]; 7. 39M-Matt Hoffman[2]; 8. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[7]; 9. (DNF) 5A-Anthony Yerger[9]; 10. (DNS) 2-Troy Groft

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 27O-Billy Logeman[2]; 2. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[6]; 3. 5W-Jason Klinger[4]; 4. 95-Bennett Skelton[5]; 5. 1H-Logan Hess[7]; 6. 34-Christi Sweigart[8]; 7. 5-Cayden Forsythe[10]; 8. (DNF) 11H-Chason Hauck[3]; 9. (DNF) 10A-Jason Swavely[9]; 10. (DNF) 94-Dallas Sanders[1]

Heat 3 8 Laps

1. 7D-Chris Dolan[1]; 2. 41-Mike Boyer[7]; 3. 08-Jason Paisley[4]; 4. 11-Brian Heist[6]; 5. 19-Matt Fernsler[2]; 6. 23K-Courtney Kupp[8]; 7. 21J-William Mohring[5]; 8. (DNF) 29J-Jacob Neff[9]; 9. (DNF) 19P-Dalton Patteson[3]

Winged 600 Micro Sprints 23 Entries

A-Main 25 Laps

1. 14T-Heath Walton[1]; 2. 71-Brian Kramer[5]; 3. 29-Brent Shearer[8]; 4. 5A-Anthony Yerger[9]; 5. 28K-Karter Adams[6]; 6. 19-Chase Schott[15]; 7. 39M-Austin Mieczkowski[21]; 8. 9W-Weston Doklan[14]; 9. 2L-Luke Hess[18]; 10. 5J-Jason Sechrist[12]; 11. 24S-Frank Stoner[16]; 12. 117-Cody West[2]; 13. 10-Mason Peters[11]; 14. 38-Isabella Landis[13]; 15. 21-Carter Mickley[19]; 16. 56-Tyler Henry[10]; 17. 51K-Kris Mckeown[3]; 18. 11H-Holden Eckman[22]; 19. 49-Brandon Fidler[23]; 20. 33-Scott Lutz[4]; 21. 14-Jason Swavely[7]; 22. 12S-Brianna Snyder[17]; 23. 4-Ryan Rochelle[20]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 14-Jason Swavely[2]; 2. 29-Brent Shearer[1]; 3. 14T-Heath Walton[6]; 4. 33-Scott Lutz[3]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[5]; 6. 10-Mason Peters[10]; 7. 38-Isabella Landis[4]; 8. 19-Chase Schott[9]; 9. 12S-Brianna Snyder[11]; 10. 2L-Luke Hess[8]; 11. 21-Carter Mickley[12]; 12. (DNF) 4-Ryan Rochelle[7]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 117-Cody West[4]; 2. 28K-Karter Adams[3]; 3. 51K-Kris Mckeown[5]; 4. 71-Brian Kramer[6]; 5. 56-Tyler Henry[10]; 6. 5J-Jason Sechrist[8]; 7. 9W-Weston Doklan[9]; 8. 24S-Frank Stoner[11]; 9. (DNF) 39M-Austin Mieczkowski[7]; 10. (DNF) 11H-Holden Eckman[1]; 11. (DNS) 49-Brandon Fidler

600cc Modifieds 21 Entries

A-Main 30 Laps

1. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[2]; 2. 22-Lance Garrison[5]; 3. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[9]; 4. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[8]; 5. 29-Douglas Newbigging[13]; 6. 71D-Austin Daniels[15]; 7. 13-Ed Hollenbach[6]; 8. 4X-Griffin Hendershot[21]; 9. 54-Chris Warren[4]; 10. 20K-Chad Kreiser[12]; 11. 21-Mark Bressler[18]; 12. 2G-Kenny Harris[1]; 13. 15-Jimmy Stong[17]; 14. 4M-Dylan Cordier[19]; 15. 78-Josh Bewley[3]; 16. 116-Gerry Bressler[7]; 17. 10T-Tyler Fronina[10]; 18. 5-John Hall[11]; 19. 20R-Ryley Garman[20]; 20. 3-Wade Mader[16]; 21. 17-Cory Phillips[14]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 9RGR-Richie Hitzler[10]; 2. 54-Chris Warren[1]; 3. 85AM-Tyler Bartik[4]; 4. 78-Josh Bewley[6]; 5. 8-Tiffany Hitzler[7]; 6. 5-John Hall[2]; 7. 29-Douglas Newbigging[5]; 8. 17-Cory Phillips[3]; 9. 71D-Austin Daniels[8]; 10. 3-Wade Mader[11]; 11. 15-Jimmy Stong[9]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 22-Lance Garrison[1]; 2. 116-Gerry Bressler[4]; 3. 2G-Kenny Harris[5]; 4. 13-Ed Hollenbach[7]; 5. 10T-Tyler Fronina[9]; 6. 20K-Chad Kreiser[3]; 7. (DNF) 21-Mark Bressler[2]; 8. (DNS) 4M-Dylan Cordier; 9. (DNS) 20R-Ryley Garman; 10. (DNS) 4X-Griffin Hendershot

Chargers 10 Entries

A-Main 15 Laps

1. 10-Chucky Kimmel[2]; 2. 711-Eric Hollenbach[5]; 3. 21-Ian Herr[4]; 4. 01-Ed Hollenbach[3]; 5. 21C-Chris Derr[6]; 6. 54-Chris Warren[7]; 7. 15-Butch Helsel[8]; 8. 6PK-Justin Riegel[9]; 9. 2M-Josh Michael[1]; 10. 32-Dennis Christ[10]

Heat 1 5 Laps

1. 2M-Josh Michael[2]; 2. 01-Ed Hollenbach[4]; 3. 711-Eric Hollenbach[3]; 4. 54-Chris Warren[5]; 5. (DNF) 6PK-Justin Riegel[1]

Heat 2 5 Laps

1. 10-Chucky Kimmel[1]; 2. 21-Ian Herr[3]; 3. 21C-Chris Derr[4]; 4. 15-Butch Helsel[5]; 5. (DNS) 32-Dennis Christ