HAMLIN SPEEDWAY OPENS UP 2019 SEASON IN SPECTACULAR FASHION
ByHamlin, PA -Hamlin Speedway Opens Up 2019 Season In Spectacular Fashion
By: Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media
Hamlin Speedway Promoters Randy and Denise Smith welcomed in an energetic group of racers on Saturday evening as they hosted the start of their 2019 racing season at Hamlin Speedway. The racing was top notch all of the way in all divisions and a great crowd was on hand to kick off what will be a great season at the speedway. The Hamlin driving stars used all channels of the 1/5th mile clay cushioned attraction to keep the fans the fans on their feet throughout the evening of speed. With some additional dollars on the line for the Wingless 600 Sprint stars, a great field of entries assembled in the Pocono Mountains to place their marks on the "Pearl of the Poconos" racing facility. The high flying racing action was sponsored by the good folks at S&S Speedways Indoor Go Karts located in Stroudsburg, PA. (www.ssspeedways.com). Six smiling winners found their way to the RLE Towing and Recovery Winners Circle at the end of the evening of racing action. The six feature show was completed before the 11 PM curfew rolled around and the rain the weatherman was calling for hit the speedway.
The Saturday night action found "The Rockaway Rocket" Danny Buccafusca putting on a show stopping performance as he led all of the 20-lap feature in the All Star Slingshot feature headliner. "Thr Oxford Express" Dale Kober finshed third in the regular Slingshot event event but did two positions better as he captured the regular Super Slinger feature. The JPA Masonry Rookie Wingless 600 Sprint finale went to Dennis Chamberlain. Chad Sandt, a former champion in the divsion at Hamlin, put the finishing touches on the great run to capture the Chad Wheeler Excavating Wingless Sprint feature over a hard charging "Traveling Man" Mick D'Agostino. Kasey Hufcut captured the Junior Slingshot event with a great run to the checkered flag. Pat Van Varick put on a show as he captured a feature event for the first time in a couple of seasons in the Hampton RV & Trailer Sales Stage One Modified headliner with Adam Buchel tagging on to him with each turn of the wheel. Alex Reinsmith held on for a great run in the opening event for the 270 Sprint division.
In the All Star Slingshot feature, Danny Buccafusca wasted no time as he grabbed the lead at the start of the 20-lap main and in a matter of a few laps you could color him gone as he raced away from the field in the Gilroy Northeast Inc hot rod. The battle for runner-up honors was a dandy as CJ Fritz couldn't run with Buccafusca but held on to the runner-up slot over a trio of hot rod drivers named Dale Kober, Jared Silfee and Austin Silfee. Rookie in the division, Brian Smith held on for sixth place whiletrack champion form a season ago Scott Neary was seventh followed by aniother rookie in the classs James Benz, veteran Paul Ennes and newcomer and former Junior Slingshot champion Shelby McLaughlin.
The Hampton RV & Trailer Sales Stage One Modified headliner found Pat Van Varick jumping out front early but getting stiff pressure from Adam Buchel. Buchel quickly glued himsel;f to the Van Varick rear bumper as he challenged Van Varick for the top spot. Van Varick and Buchel ran one/two the remainder of the event and they had to dart and dodge some slower cars in the fast paced event. Chrobak,, made no mistakes on this night as he finished in thiird place and probably had the best seat in the house as he witnessed the battle royal before him. The returning Michael Samony and Jeff Hineline rolled into fourth and fifth posistions. Another Rookie Lawson Scenceritis headed up the second five with Tanner Van Doren, Joel Price, another rookie James Costlow, and Amnda Buchel rounding out the top ten.
The Super Slingshot feature event found David Guest unleashing the power on his hot rod and raced away from the field with impressive laps in his number 29 race car. Guest spun out on lap six and Richie VanOrden took over the point. Dale Kober rushed in quickly and grabbed the lead from VanOrden and won the race going away. Kober and Richie VanOrden, Paul Ennes, Wally Bell amd Mark Exetor kept it interesting for the fans as they waged a fierce battle for third place.
Aidan Elliot raced into the lead at the start and would receive early pressure from Doug Smith. Hufcut worked his way forward from a fifth starting position and quickly found the traffic more bearable at the top of the raceway and drove around Elliot and grabbed up the lead and walked away from the field from that point on. Hufcut would claim his first win of the season with Elliot in for runner-up honors and hard charging RJ Sherman third. Charlene Benz was fourth and Aiden Donaldson rounded out the top five. Heading up the second five were New Yorker Ashton DeWitt, with Jason Bierman, Doug Smith, James Hendricks and Isabella Van Orden following.
The JPA Masonry Rookie Wingless 600 Sprint encounter found Dennis Chamberlain leading the way at the start of the event over Carmen Leggio Sr. The Whiz Kid" Jack Hanna found his way into second place near the end of the event with some good moves off of the bottom of the raceway. Jacob Eby was solid with a great run from eighth starting place. Carmen Leggio Sr was fourth with Tony Parlanti, Kyle Ferrucci and Cody Powell hustling to stay in the hunt. The new breed of stars into the division did well in their first attempt at handling the rigors of side by side racing
"Bad" Chad Sandt took the lead at the start of the Chad Wheeler Excavating 600 Sprint event and he would lead throughout with Mick D'Agostino matching each one of his moves to remain in the runner-up slot. Later laps would have "The Electric Man" Colin White join in and the three cars were like magic on the racetrack. Zack Weisenfluh, a champion last year in the rookies, began well with a fourth place finish and Scott Slater Jr returned to the speedway to nail down a fifth place finish. Like Schostkewitz, who has been away from the speedway for a coouple of years did well in his return to action capuring a sixxth place on opening night. 270 Winner Alex Reinsmith took a ride in a 600 and came away with a seventh place finish while "The Big Show" Joey Amantea wa eight, Paul Richards Jr ninth and Mack Brink rounding out the top ten.,
In the exciting 270 Sprint feature, Glenn Macomber led early on until Alex Reinsmith pulled off an inside move to get by him in the latter stages of the event. Macomber was the runner-up with newcomer Lucas Weirich in for a third place finish and newcomer Chad Riddle was fourth
PEARL JAMS:
Kudos to Randy Smith for an excellent track surface that once again found the drivers utilizing the many racing channels throughout the evening of competition. Additional time was taken to keep the track surface smooth and tacky throughout the evening of speed.
The Junior Slingshot heats found Kasey Hufcut and Chalrene Benz with wins. JPA Masonry Rookie Wingless 600 Sprint heats were captured by Jack Hanna and Carmen Leggio Sr. Glenn Macomber won the lone 270 Sprint heat. Pat Van Varick and Adam Buchel were the heat winners in the Stage One Modifieds.
John Gilroy captured the Super Slinger time trialed event with a clocking of 14.902 seconds over Paul Ennes who times in at 15.110 seconds for his run. heat event. John Mirabelli captured the Stage One Modified heat run. Mick D'Agostino was the top man in the time trials for the 600 Sprints with a 12.662 clocking over Chad Sandt's and Colin White's time of 12.795
Lots of new faces and cars for the new season ahead at Hamlin. Announcer Steve Pados aplogized to the crowd early on letting everyone know he wasn't going to get all of the names correct on this opening event evening.
On behalf of the Smith Family and Staff, thank you all for being part of our Hamlin racing community.
RESULTS:
All Star Slingshots: Danny Buccafusca, CJ Fritz, Dale Kober, Jared Silfee, Austin Silfee, Brian Smith, Scott Neary, James Benz, Paul Ennes, Shelby McLuaghlin, Mikey Johannes, Andrew Turpin, Rich VanOrden, Ashley Kober, Ron Thoman, Dawson Harringer, Joey Kalafut, Rachel Dickinson, Wally bell
Chad Wheeler Excavating Wingless 600cc Sprints: Chad Sandt, Mick D'Agostino, Colin White, Zack Weisenfluh, Scott Slater, Luke Schostkwitz, Alex Reinsmith, Joey Amantea, Paul Richards Jr, Mack Brink, Gerodan Marrero, Cody Smith, Noah Zielinski, Joseph Smith, Tony Parlanti, Ryan Lacoe, Danny Buccafusca (DNS)
Hampton RV And Trailer Stage One Modifieds: Pat Van Varick, Adam Buchel, Anthony Chrobak, Mike Samony, Jeff Hineline, Lawson Scerncitis, Tanner Van Doren, Joel Price, James Costlow, Amanda Buchel, Evan Civick, John Bachetti Jr, John Bachetti Sr, Cody Motto (DNF)
Junior Slingshots: Kasey Hufcut, Aiden Elliot, RJ Sherman, Charlene Benz, Aoden Donaldson, Ashton DeWitt, Jacob Berman, DougSmith ,James Hendricks, Isabella VanOrden, Chaes Zimmer, Connor Mirabelli, Jenna Amantea, Kylie Hendricks
Super Slingshots: Dale Kober, Richie VanOrden, Paul Ennes, Wally Bell, Mark Exeter, David Guest
JPA Masonry Rookie 600cc Wingless Sprints: Dennis Chamberlain, Jack Hanna, Jacob Eby, Carmen Leggio Sr, Tony Parlanti, Kyle Ferrucci, Cody Powell, Richie Maguire, Ryan Lacoe, Justin Newhard, Victor Cleary, Brett Kern (DNS)
270 Sprints: Alex Reinsmith, Gleen Macomber, Lucas Weirich, Chad Riddle
Make sure to always check the Hamlin Speedway website or Facebook page for any additional information. Pit Gates open at the speedway at 3 PM; Drivers Meeting at 5:45; Hot Laps are at 6:00 and the racing begins at 7 PM sharp. Admission Prices for regular shows are: Adults $10.00; Senior Citizens $5.00 Children under 6 are Free
Please support the many great sponsors who assist in working and sponsoring the season long events at the speedway. Tilcon, Ron Brown Hauling, JPA Masonry, Chad Wheeler Excavating, RLE Towing and Recovery, RockAuto.com, S&S Speedways and Yankowski Enterprises are all part of the advertising family at the speedway and we graciously thank them for their support.
Hamlin Speedway is seeking additional marketing sponsors to join the speedway team for the 2019 racing season. For more information, contact Steve Pados at: 484-784-7756 or through email at: steveswp@ptd.net or Denise Smith at S&S Speedways at: 570-420-5500 or at: http://www.hamlinspeed.com/ or on facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/HamlinSpeed/ or
https://www.facebook.com/SSSpeedways/ and http://ssspeedways.com/
http://ssspeedways.com/
For photos of the great racing action at Hamlin Speedway, contact Tim
Krysiuk at: https://strictlydirtphotography.smugmug.com or
https://www.facebook.com/tim.krysiuk
Visit us often for a great night of racing action as.........................
The Hamlin Speedway Is The "Pearl" Of The Poconos
