Heist, Carraghan, and Esterly Claim First Championships of 2025 at Linda’s Speedway
Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – The first three track champions of Linda’s Speedway’s “Golden Anniversary Season” were crowned on Friday night at the Jonestown quarter-mile, as the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints, the All Star Slingshots, and the Hoffer Paving Junior Slingshots contested their final points races of the 2025 campaign.
Friday night was more of an official coronation than anything else for Brandon Heist, as the Jonestown native had already mathematically clinched his third consecutive 270 track championship before the night had even begun. Making things even sweeter was the fact that Brandon’s older brother, Brian, was able to lock up second in the points standings on Friday night, marking the first time that both members of the Heist family accomplished that feat.
Heist’s championship came on the heels of a whopping seven victories at the track, an
accomplishment made all the more notable by the fact that no other driver has scored more than one win this season in 270 competition. Heist joined Mike Rutherford, Nick Skias, and Mike Boyer as the only drivers to win three consecutive championships in the 270 class at Linda’s.
While Heist ultimately won the war, Friday night’s battle was a resounding statement for Brent Shearer, as the driver nicknamed “Hotrod” stormed from 11th to score an emphatic victory aboard the Jake Dupler-owned No. 1A. With the National Open looming just four weeks away, Shearer’s performance was one that continued to cement his status as a favorite for the 36th running of 270 Micro Sprint racing’s biggest event.
While Mother Nature interfered heavily with the All Star Slingshots’ planned competition at
Linda’s in 2025, it was abundantly clear through even a five-race sample size that Emmaus native Dave Carraghan was the class of the field. Carraghan claimed victory in three of the five feature events – including Friday night’s 15-lapper – to handily score his fourth track championship in the division, trailing only six-time champion Brett Bieber in the all-time record books.
Meanwhile, in the Junior Slingshots, the 2025 season belonged to Lilly Esterly, as Esterly scored a dramatic heat race win over Bayleigh Ross and her championship rival Aubrey Romig to secure her first championship.
Romig would go on to win the feature, scoring her class-leading third win of the season. But
Esterly’s Lebanon Valley 15 triumph in addition to a Super National race win in June helped propel the Exeter native to the top of the standings when all was said and done. Esterly’schampionship also made it back-to-back years that a female driver scored the title in the Junior Slingshots, as Hailey Eroh accomplished the feat in 2024.
Friday night saw the penultimate points race of the season for the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Winged 600 Micro Sprints, and it was Pine Grove’s Matt Warner breaking through for his first win at the quarter-mile in four years – and his first-ever at the speedway in Winged 600 competition. Chase Schott came home as the runner-up, and cut ninth-place finisher Brian Kramer’s points lead down to just nine markers entering the final points race on Oct. 10.
Next Friday, Sept. 26 will be Linda’s Speedway’s big “Stock Car Finale” for 2025, as the Bernheisel Race Components Chargers will contest their annual Championship Race, while the GP Motorsports Front Wheel Drive Car Finale is on tap as well. The Xcel 600 Modifieds will run a doubleheader to cap off their points-paying season, with a makeup feature from April 25 in addition to a complete second show. The All Star Slingshots and the Hoffer Paving Junior Slingshots will have non-points events for their final races of 2025, while there will also be a Junior Slingshots “non-winners” race eligible to any driver that has competed at the speedway but has yet to win a feature event this year.
9/19/2025 Results-
Mt. Gretna Roller Rink 270 Micro Sprints 32 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 1A-Brent Shearer[11]; 2. 08-Jason Paisley[5]; 3. 4-Ross Perchak[7]; 4. 4R-Brandon Heist Sr[9]; 5. 27O-Billy Logeman[22]; 6. 6-Danial Boyer[16]; 7. 41-Mike Boyer[15]; 8. 11-Brian Heist[10]; 9. 3-Nick Skias[13]; 10. 19-Matt Fernsler[8]; 11. 1J-Toby Blumenshine[19]; 12. 94-Dallas Sanders[2]; 13. 39-Austin Mieczkowski[23]; 14. 1-Jesse Snyder[18]; 15. 5-Cayden Forsythe[21]; 16. 5W-Scott Gingrich[12]; 17. 23K-Courtney Kupp[24]; 18. 5A-Anthony Yerger[17]; 19. 88J-Jason Klinger[3]; 20. 21D-Randy West[4]; 21. 3X-Bradley Brown[14]; 22. 2B-Brayden Winters[1]; 23. 08G-Austin Graby[20]; 24. 77G-Issac Graby[6]
B-Main 8 Laps
1. 5-Cayden Forsythe[1]; 2. 27O-Billy Logeman[10]; 3. 39-Austin Mieczkowski[4]; 4. 23K-Courtney Kupp[5]; 5. 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[7]; 6. 34-Christi Sweigart[6]; 7. 21-Joe Snyder[12]; 8. 76H-Bryson Haugh[2]; 9. 44T-Tanner Hugney[3]; 10. 2-Troy Groft[8]; 11. 56-Brian Kramer[9]; 12. 96W-Chase Walker[11]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 4-Ross Perchak[2]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[1]; 3. 2B-Brayden Winters[5]; 4. 3-Nick Skias[7]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[4]; 6. 5-Cayden Forsythe[6]; 7. (DNS) 56-Brian Kramer; 8. (DNS) 96W-Chase Walker
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 1A-Brent Shearer[2]; 2. 4R-Brandon Heist Sr[6]; 3. 11-Brian Heist[4]; 4. 3X-Bradley Brown[7]; 5. 1-Jesse Snyder[8]; 6. 76H-Bryson Haugh[1]; 7. 39-Austin Mieczkowski[5]; 8. 34-Christi Sweigart[3]
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 21D-Randy West[1]; 2. 94-Dallas Sanders[2]; 3. 08-Jason Paisley[4]; 4. 41-Mike Boyer[7]; 5. 1J-Toby Blumenshine[8]; 6. 44T-Tanner Hugney[6]; 7. 23K-Courtney Kupp[5]; 8. (DNF) 24M-Andrea Matter Martin[3]
Heat 4 8 Laps
1. 88J-Jason Klinger[1]; 2. 77G-Issac Graby[6]; 3. 5W-Scott Gingrich[4]; 4. 6-Danial Boyer[5]; 5. 08G-Austin Graby[7]; 6. (DNF) 2-Troy Groft[8]; 7. (DNS) 27O-Billy Logeman; 8. (DNS) 21-Joe Snyder
Winged 600 Micro Sprints 16 Entries
A-Main 25 Laps
1. 98-Matthew Warner[1]; 2. 19-Chase Schott[2]; 3. 42K-Travis Keiser[5]; 4. 117-Cody West[7]; 5. 44-Pat Bealer[6]; 6. 33-Scott Lutz[3]; 7. 39M-Austin Mieczkowski[9]; 8. 9M-Keith McIntyre Jr[11]; 9. 71-Brian Kramer[12]; 10. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[15]; 11. 9-Joe Kepple[8]; 12. 88-Cole Armstrong[14]; 13. 39-Richie Hartman[4]; 14. 56-Tyler Henry[13]; 15. 11-Dan Souder[10]; 16. (DNS) 5J-Jason Sechrist
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 42K-Travis Keiser[1]; 2. 44-Pat Bealer[2]; 3. 19-Chase Schott[3]; 4. 117-Cody West[5]; 5. 39M-Austin Mieczkowski[4]; 6. 9M-Keith McIntyre Jr[6]; 7. 56-Tyler Henry[7]; 8. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[8]
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 33-Scott Lutz[1]; 2. 98-Matthew Warner[5]; 3. 39-Richie Hartman[3]; 4. 9-Joe Kepple[2]; 5. 11-Dan Souder[6]; 6. 71-Brian Kramer[8]; 7. 88-Cole Armstrong[4]; 8. (DNS) 5J-Jason Sechrist
All Star Slingshots 10 Entries
Slinger Stinger 15 Laps
1. 3-David Carraghan[1]; 2. 32-Brett Bieber[3]; 3. 1-Tyler Ulsh[2]; 4. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[4]; 5. 10S-Aubrey Romig[8]; 6. 97Z-Zack Gerber[5]; 7. 77-Daniel Betz[6]; 8. 98-Jeff Shank[7]; 9. F14-Dylan Kresko[9]; 10. (DNS) 1L-Lilly Esterly
Time Trials 2 Laps
1. 3-David Carraghan, 00:14.981[5];
2. 1-Tyler Ulsh, 00:15.293[2];
3. 32-Brett Bieber, 00:15.318[6];
4. 55A-Amanda Angstadt, 00:15.509[4];
5. 97Z-Zack Gerber, 00:15.522[7];
6. 77-Daniel Betz, 00:15.570[1];
7. 98-Jeff Shank, 00:15.664[9];
8. 10S-Aubrey Romig, 00:15.747[3];
9. F14-Dylan Kresko, 00:15.798[8];
10. 1L-Lilly Esterly, 00:15.798[10]
Pole Shuffle 2 Laps
1. 3-David Carraghan[1];
2. 1-Tyler Ulsh[2];
3. 32-Brett Bieber[3];
4. 55A-Amanda Angstadt[4]
Junior Slingshots 9 Entries
A-Main 15 Laps | 00:06:46.698
1. 10S-Aubrey Romig[1]; 2. 1-Lilly Esterly[3]; 3. 00-Anthony Dinatale[7]; 4. 55B-Barry Seaman[9]; 5. 44-Jonathan Severn[6]; 6. 29B-Bayleigh Ross[2]; 7. H1-Hayden Kimm[4]; 8. 4D-Dallas Peters[5]; 9. 94S-Emma Sneddon[8]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 1-Lilly Esterly[7]; 2. 29B-Bayleigh Ross[1]; 3. 10S-Aubrey Romig[4]; 4. H1-Hayden Kimm[5]; 5. 4D-Dallas Peters[6]; 6. 44-Jonathan Severn[8]; 7. 00-Anthony Dinatale[9]; 8. 94S-Emma Sneddon[3]; 9. 55B-Barry Seaman[2]
