2nd STR Win for Cole Stangle; Bruno Rockets to 600 Sprint Checkers at Action Track USA

Story By: BARRY ANGSTADT / ACTION TRACK USA – KUTZTOWN, PA – Berks County’s Baddest Bullring, Action Track USA on the Kutztown Fairgrounds, was finally blessed with some great weather and no chance of precipitation on Wednesday. And the racers took full advantage of the beautiful summer evening to tantalize the enthusiastic crowd with some terrific side by side and three-wide competition.

With GMI First sponsoring the event, Cole Stangle, from Whitehouse Station NJ, captured his second All Pro SpeedSTR victory of the season in a hard fought 30 lap main, while Deptford, NJ’s Christian Bruno scored his first triumph of the year in the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint feature.

Dave Carraghan of Emmaus, PA was victorious in the All Star Slingshot 20 lap main and Frenchtown, NJ’s Billy Pauch III recorded the Junior Slingshot victory.

Wednesday marked the first-ever appearance of the PA Micro Midgets at Action Track USA. In the second race of their PA Micro Midget Speedweek Series, Todd Walls won the 500cc feature while Dakota Thomas was triumphant in the 300cc main event.

Sammy Martz Jr. took off from the pole of the SpeedSTR headliner, building a huge lead during the first half of the 30 lapper. With 15 circuits complete, disaster struck the driver of the Washington Collision Center No. 24, as Martz could not avoid a lapped car that got out of shape in turn four. Martz spun out of the lead, handing the top spot to a strong running Cole Stangle.

Tim Buckwalter, still searching for his initial SpeedSTR win of the 2025 campaign, zipped past Stangle off the fourth corner on the 16th tour. One revolution later, Stangle returned the favor, powering back past Buckwalter as they throttled off turn two. Buckwalter slipped under Stangle the next time around as Stangle fell back into a torrid three-car fight for the runner-up position with Bobby Butler and Briggs Danner. Unfortunately, Butler’s No. 04 locked up suddenly with eight to go, eliminating him from contention and knocking him out of the race.

Stangle once again muscled by the Buckwalter machine with three laps remaining, pedaling around the low groove while most of the field was ripping the top. Buckwalter broke while challenging Stangle for the lead on the white flag lap, leaving Matt Janisch and Billy Pauch Jr. to try and wrest the number one spot from Stangle, who refused to give up the bottom lane over the final few trips around the clay.

Stangle held on for his second consecutive SpeedSTR triumph, and the third of his career at Action Track USA. Janisch finished in the bridesmaid spot, while Pauch rounded out the podium. Ryan Krachun, whose car suffered a small fire about halfway through the race, rebounded with a fourth place effort and Cale Zangli completed the top five.

The Hyper Racing 600 Sprints provided the evening’s nightcap with a rousingly entertaining 25 lap feature. Polesitter Danny Buccafusca blasted to the early lead, while Nate Freed dueled with Jarid Kunkle for the runner-up spot. Freed won that battle, then began his assault on Buccafusca. While the fight for the lead was a good one, many eyeballs in the grandstand were watching a pair of wheel twisters making a relentless charge toward the front of the talent-laden field.

Christian Bruno (started 11th) and Briggs Danner (started tenth) were rippin’ the lip and slicing through traffic as they tag-teamed their way forward. Bruno gassed by Freed for second with a half-dozen tours left, then set his sights on Buccafusca as Danner moved into third.

Bruno used the turn four banking for a high-to-low run down the homestretch on lap 21, beating Buccafusca to the line by half a car length. Danner manuvered by Buccafusca to snare second position with two to go. He made one final attempt to overtake Bruno on the last lap, running deep into three and four on the low side. But Bruno was too good on this night; he accelerated off four and raced under the checkered flag by a half-second over Danner. Buccafusca registered his first podium finish of the season, with Kunkle and James Roselli making up the top five.

In the All Star Slingshot 20 lapper, Dave Carraghan passed Tyler Ulsh for the lead on the seventh trip around the speedway. Carraghan danced away from the pack to notch his second win of the season and tenth of his career at Action Track USA.

Brett Bieber worked past Matthew Laubach to secure second place on a restart with six laps remaining. At the finish it was Carraghan, Bieber, Laubach, Patrick Weiss, and Ulsh making up the top five.

Fourth generation racer Billy Pauch III battled with Landon McNichol for the early lead in the Junior Slingshot main. Pauch claimed the top spot for good on the third revolution, then raced to a nearly one-second margin of victory over Hannah Kormann. Kormann emerged from a fun tussle with Lily Esterly to earn runner-up honors, while Esterly finished third ahead of McNichol and Mason Noll.

The inaugural appearance of the PA Micro Midgets was a definite success. In the 500cc division’s 20 lap feature, Todd Walls utilized lapped traffic to close the gap on race leader Josh Forry. Walls charged up to Forry’s rear bumper, then a caution flag with two to go enabled him to make his move for the lead.

The duo raced side by side over the final tours, with Walls winning the drag race off turn four to the stripe. His margin at the checkered was just one-tenth of a second over Forry. CJ Kimm chased them to the finish line with Ryan Rost placing fourth and Mason Noble taking fifth place pay.

Dakota Thomas bolted to the front in the 300cc Micro Midget feature, but Hunter Smith surprised him with a move off the second corner to grab the number one position. Thomas reclaimed the point just one circuit later, then held on as Asher Paxton, grandson of the late Lynn Paxton, made a late race charge. At the finish, it was Thomas cashing in for the win over Paxton. Smith settled for third with Maddox Wire and Gannon Wright completing the top five.

This Wednesday, July 30, is a Legends of Short Track Racing Dirt Circus event. The menu will consist of All Pro SpeedSTRs, Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, along with the All Star and Junior Slingshots.

The first week of August is the annual Kutztown Fair, with racing scheduled for four nights during the week-long Fair on Tuesday (Slingshot Nationals); Wednesday (Xtreme Outlaw Midgets & 600 Sprints); Friday (winged 600’s and 270 Sprints); and Saturday (Mark Naftzinger – Daniel Boone 153 Stock Car Race).

Pit gates open at 4 p.m., while grandstand gates swing open at 5:00. Warm ups commence at 6:00, with opening ceremonies and qualifying heats immediately following the hot lap sessions.

Adult General Admission is $18, with Senior Citizens enjoying an admission price of $16. Youth between the ages of six and 12 are just $5, and children aged five and under are admitted FREE. NOTE: Special pricing in effect for the August 6 Xtreme Outlaw Midget event.

The track is located on the Kutztown Fairgrounds at 144 North Whiteoak Street, Kutztown, PA 19530.

Website is www.actiontrackusa.com; also on social media at Facebook.com/ Action Track USA.

RESULTS:

All Pro SpeedSTR Finish, 30 laps: 1.Cole Stangle, 2.Matt Janisch, 3.Billy Pauch Jr., 4.Ryan Krachun, 5.Cale Zangli, 6.John Barnett, 7.Dustin Morris, 8.Briggs Danner, 9.Austin Kroboth, 10.Tim Buckwalter, 11.Tyler Kehs, 12.Matt Chowns, 13.Bobby Butler, 14.Daniel Schumaker, 15.Scott Houdeshell, 16.Paulie Hartwig III, 17.Aidan Svanda, 18.Andy Ressler, 19.Brendan Hires, 20.Sammy Martz Jr., 21.Dan Lane.

Hyper Racing 600 Sprints Finish, 25 laps: 1.Christian Bruno, 2.Briggs Danner, 3.Danny Buccafusca, 4.Jarid Kunkle, 5.James Roselli, 6.Tyler Henry, 7.Tim Buckwalter, 8.Connor Gross, 9.Zack Weisenfluh, 10.JT Bierman, 11.Aidan Donaldson, 12.Kyle Lick, 13.Lukas Kostic, 14.Adam Buchel, 15.Larry Kelleher, 16.Weston Doklan, 17.Jacob Fisher, 18.Jacob Homnick, 19.Zach Curtis, 20.Landon Smith, 21.Brianna Snyder, 22.Chase Wehr, 23.Colin White, 24.Nate Freed, 25.Connor Mirabelli, 26.Hank Steller, 27.Cole Dewease.

DNQ: Dakota Barlet, Mike Gular, Jacob Severn, TJ Dilts, Grady McGrew, Dylan Smith, Amanda Buchel, Aidan Svanda, Colton Colaluce, Kate Mattern, Dan Lane.

All Star Slingshots Finish, 20 laps: 1.Dave Carraghan, 2.Brett Bieber, 3.Matthew Laubach, 4.Patrick Weiss, 5.Tyler Ulsh, 6.Amanda Angstadt, 7.Mason Lineman, 8.Daniel Betz, 9.Shawn Dengler, 10.Chase Gular, 11.Tyler Lilick, 12.Makenzie Henn, 13.Tom Mawson, 14.Hunter Handelong.

Junior Slingshots Finish, 15 laps: 1.Billy Pauch III, 2.Hannah Kormann, 3.Lily Esterly, 4.Landon McNichol, 5.Mason Noll, 6.Anna Strachko, 7.Jon Severn, 8.Hayden Kimm, 9.Bailey Ross, 10.Kaleb Stufflet, 11.Danica Wenberger, 12.Benji Fry, 13.Nick Fry, 14.Aiden Buckwalter.

PA 500 Micro Midgets, 20 laps: 1.Todd Walls, 2.Josh Forry, 3.CJ Kimm, 4.Ryan Rost, 5.Mason Noble, 6.Nick Decker, 7.Jeremy Sperlein, 8.Andrew Ketterman, 9.Ryan Wells, 10.Landon Godfrey, 11.Jim Rost, 12.Chase Fry, 13.Chason Hauck, 14.Daniel Feltch, 15.Matt Kiefert, 16.Bobby Geiman, 17.Lily Barrett, 18.Brady Wilt, 19.Jim Rost Jr., 20.Justin Care, 21.Denny Gross, 22.Wes Walls, 23.Chris Lennox, 24.Bryon Urey.

PA 300 Micro Midgets, 15 laps: 1.Dakota Thomas, 2.Asher Paxton, 3.Hunter Smith, 4.Maddox Wire, 5.Gannon Wright, 6.Owen Bull, 7.Katherine Arnold, 8.Addison Noble.