HAMLIN SPEEDWAY NEWS

Hamlin, PA - All Roads Lead To Hamlin Speedway In 165 Entry Racing Superfest
By: Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media
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The 2012 racing season may be in its infancy stages but the premier action attraction in the Pocono Mountains, the Hamlin Speedway, is already at full stride as a record setting one day entry list of 165 talented and eager driving stars converged at the speedway to present an eight feature event racing superfest for the large and appreciative standing room only crowd. Successful promoters Randy and Denise Smith and staff worked overtime and then some to accommodate the many new and talented racers from a surrounding six-state area that was bolstered by the temporary shut down of the Greenwood Valley facility when owner Gerry Creveling suffered a heart attack last week. The Smith Family, in establishing the parameters for the new season at the speedway, knew the existing pit area at the speedway was bulging at the seams and took the necessary steps to add additional parking to the pit area and the new parking area easily handled the onslaught of the new faces to the Hamlin facility. While the weather appeared to be questionable on Saturday morning, the Pocono skies above the speedway gave way to a warm and sunny day and as the sunshine faded, the stars in the sky and the bright full moon above granted safe passage to the driving stars who planted their right rear tires in the perfectly manicured Hamlin clay. When the exciting heart stopping action was completed, Kyle "The Hot" Lick found his way to paydirt and a $750.00 fistful of cash awaiting him in the 600 Wingless Sprint headline attraction in a great battle royal with James "Philip" Morris. Additional winners included "The Midget" Chris Kurtz in his first All Star Slingshot triumph, defending track champion CJ Heinig in the 270 Winged Sprints, "Thrillin" Dylan Martin in his first Stage One Modified win, "Double J" Jimmy Johnston capturing his second consecutive win in the Super Slingers, second generation star Jared Labagh scoring big in the Junior Slingshot feature, and Josh Schaffer in the Rookie 270 Sprints and Steve Yankowski in the Rookie Wingless 600 Sprints nailing down wins for the growing rookie stars.
The Smith Family has provided an unparalleled promotion for small car division and with the 2012 racing season as their seventh year in control of the Hamlin facility, the tremendous support from the entire racing community continues to flourish with an excellent partnership with drivers, owners and fans alike.

The hot-lap sessions lasted more than an hour last evening as the new and returning drivers were given an additional opportunity to dial in their race cars for the heated competition that was going to occur. Time trials were held for the Wingless 600 Sprints, Junior Slingshots, Super Slingers and the Winged 270 Sprints while heats were completed for the remaining divisions. "The Cadillac Man" Kurt Bettler was the fast timer for the 270's as he stopped the clocks at 11.830 seconds followed closely by CJ Heinig, Tommy Kunsman Jr and newcomer Jessica Miller in one of the Widdos entries. Time Traveler Mick D'Augustino made the trip down from his Taunton, Massachusetts home to nail down the top time for the Wingless 600 Sprints at 12.367 seconds over "The J-Man" Jay Hartman, "The Bushkill Bullet" Kyle Rohner and newcomer James Morris. Jared Labagh was the quick timer for the Junior Slingshots and "The Ambassador" Wes Hearn was quickest in a close group of Super Slingers. The four heats for the All Star slingshots produced heats wins for "The Rockaway Rocket" Danny Buccafusca, the returning Joe Bodenschatz, "The Carbondale Comet" Paul Ennes and "The Cos" Jeff Cosgrove. Glenn Macomber and Josh Schaffer were winners in rookie 270 Sprint action and "The Warwick Warrior" Robbie Hocker and "RiMac" Riley Moczulski were victorious in Wingless 600 Sprint action. Bobby Smith Was the victor in the lone Stage One Modified preliminary. B-Mains were needed to set the qualifying field and Steve Walters in the 270's and Steve Yankowski and defending track champion Brett Michalski were victorious in the Wingless 600 Sprints. All Star Slingshot action found local stars Gary Dennis and Henry Anderson in victory lane.

After a short delay to give the speedway a needed drink of H2O to insure a great racing surface for the eight headliners, the starting field of 16 Junior Slingshots rolled out onto the raceway for their scheduled 20-lap feature excursion. Garden Stater and former kart star at the speedway Paulie Tigue grabbed the lead at the start of the event with fellow Jersey-ite "Scoot" Taylor Eccles taking up the chase. Tigue was smooth as silk as he led through the first nine laps of the action. Eccles would make an ill-fated move as the racing duo worked turns one and two. Hard contact between the two saw both cars being eliminated from further action on this evening of competition. Labagh inherited the lead for the restart and showed a ton of speed and wisdom as he led the remaining laps to capture his first Hamlin Speedway victory. Fellow Empire Staters "The Bullville Bandit" Tommy Zwart was the runner-up with 2011 Accord Speedway Champion "Kid Ice" Cole Hentschel in third, Collin DuBois in fourth and Garden Stater Thomas "Sonny" Strupp completing the top five. "The Flash" Bobby Flood, "The Predator" Kevin Predmore, "The Top Dog" Matt Henneforth, Leo Fotopolous and last week's winner Tyler Peet completed the top ten finishers.

Rookie feature events followed quickly and the Rookie Wingless 600cc Sprints saw a 19 car feature line-up for the main event. Lots of adrenalin was flowing as the boys and girls were anxious to show their talents on the speedway and the end result proved to be a time shortened ten lap event with Steve Yankowski leading all of the laps enroot to his first Hamlin Speedway win. Brandon Azzalina was the runner-up for the second straight week and "The Big Dog" Stephen Reynolds strutted his stuff in third place for his new sponsor AutoPro. Aaron Henneforth did a great job in fourth and the first appearance of the season brought a solid fifth place finish to Riley Moczulski. "The Electric Man" Colin White, Amber Oraschin, Shelby Ogazaly, Steve Van Valkenburg and Ryan Neil completed the top ten finishers.

Glenn Macomber and Josh Schaffer brought the field to the line for the Rookie 270 main and Schaffer wasted no time to establish himself at the point. Macomber took up the chase and stayed close and stuck his nose under at times but Schaffer was able to maintain an advantage. Northampton's John Dvorscak became a player at the midway point as he worked his way into contention in hopes of a second straight win . Dvorscak shot past Macomber for the runner-up slot and then went to cut down the distance of the Schaffer lead. The pair were side by side on occasion in the finals laps but lapped traffic came into play and the drivers were true gentlemen as they raced for the point. Schaffer captured the win with Dvorscak in the runner-up role and Macomber third. The returning Paul Rimsky was fourth and Jenna Weidner completed the top five with Connecticut's Sydney Prince and New Jersey's Tyler Galatro following.

The Super Slinger feature once again saw Jimmy Johnston find the sweet spot of the speedway to vault into the lead and lead the entire 25-lap distance to earn his second win of the season in the Super Slingers. Paul Ennes, Wes Hearn and Dale Kober provided a ton of competition to "Double J" but Johnston reeled off some very quick laps on his way to victory. Ennes as the runner-up with Hearn, Kober and the resurgent Kevin Olver completing the top five. Roger Collins, Tom Arntz, Del Howell, Richie VanOrden and John Rooks Sr completed the top ten finishers.

The Wingless 600cc Sprint main was top-notch from the drop of the green flag even though shortened by five laps due to time restraints. "The Minuteman" Alex Curley led the first lap but contact between he and Kyle lick would find Curly facing traffic and restarting from the rear of the field. On the restart it was Lick at the point and James Morris reacting to every move Lick was making and Kyle Rohner and Jay Hartman following closely. Hartman would get by Rohner and began to try to figure out a way around the slick running Morris for second. The racing was tight and intense as the stars of the Wingless 600 Sprints would back'em in and hang it all out as they jockeyed for real estate. The hard driving Lick was at his best as he fended off all challengers on his way to victory and a nice pot of Hamlin gold for his efforts. Morris was the runner-up in a great effort with Jay Hartman in third, hard driving Eddie Strada in fourth and Jeff Hartman from 14th turning in a yeoman's effort to round out the top five. Kurt Bettler, Brandon Azzalina, Jacob Hendershot from 17th, Brett Michalski from 20th and Steve Yankowski from 19th filled out the top ten and provided the breath taking action the fan base at Hamlin has come to love.

Bethlehem's Tommy Kunsman went searching for his second straight win at the speedway and appeared headed to victory in the star studded feature attraction for the 270 Sprints. Tommy Kunsman hustled his mount into the lead at the start with constant pressure coming from CJ Heinig, Kurt Bettler and Jessica Miller. At the midway point of the event it was apparent that lapped cars would come into play as Heinig was able to shoot into the lead when Kunsman became momentarily trapped and had to check up but just as quickly the same fate befell Heinig and it was Kunsman surging to the front. A twelfth lap mishap between the Nutmeg State's Grady Johnston and Kendall Segar brought the field to a halt and when the event restarted it was Kunsman, Heinig and Bettler once again separating themselves from the rest of the field. Lapped traffic would again come into play on lap-21 as the leaders looked for a way around the slower traffic. Kunsman went high and Heinig went as low as you could get on the speedway and was able to squirt into the lead as Kunsman tried valiantly to regain the point. The three drivers crossed the line inches apart with Heinig winning and Kunsman and Bettler in the next two positions. Mike Casario used a late charge to nail down fourth place and Jessica Miller completed the top five in her first Hamlin appearance. Harlee Schaffer, Rob Pajauis, Zach Weidner, Luke Kroboth and Gene Burd completed the top ten.

The Stage One Modifieds may have lacked in quantity but more than made up for it in quality as "The Sherriff" Simon Egan jumped into the lead at the outset and led the first thirteen laps with Dylan Martin in tow as the hot little buggies were touring the Hamlin clay in 13.2 second laps. Reeling off of turn two, Egan's new chariot gave up the ghost with mechanical woes and handing the lead over to the pursuing Martin. Martin made the most of the situation as he led the remaining laps on his way to his first victory but not before showing his talent as he held off one of the best Stage One pilots Joel Smith on his way to his first win. Joe Smith, Bobby Smith, and Collin DuBois followed.

The All Star Slingshot main attraction saw Chris Kurtz grab the lead at the outset of the event with "The Hot Rod" Kyle Rode hot on his heels. The action was intense throughout the pack as much side by side and three wide action was taking place on the speedway. The youngster Kurtz was hitting his marks as he held off the many challenges of Rode and all eyes became focused on Buccafusca as he utilized the raceway in its entirety to work has way past a series of formidable foes. Also back on the move came former speedway champion Billy Clark as he lost some considerable ground early on in the event and then came charging back into a contending role. Kurtz would not be denied on this evening as he sped under starter Russ Furry's checkered flag to claim his first All Star Slingshot victory. Rode did a great job to finish in the runner-up role with Buccafusca third in an excellent drive from eighth starting position. Clark, who had fallen back as far as eighth at the midway point point, regained his momentum to rally for a fourth place finish and Troy Langendorfer from twelfth starting place was on the money to complete the top five. Joe Bodenschatz, Don Schmidt, Mack Brink, Dale Kober and Wyatt Clark from 19th completed the top ten finishers.

POCO-NOTES:

Having been brought up in racing and living it throughout my lifetime, I would like to make a side bar to this release and make a profound statement for small car racing as with the high cost of fielding and maintaining a Modified or Sportsman race car, the small car divisions of racing are certainly the best and most affordable way to maintain one's love for racing and their need for speed as every division at the speedway is top notch and the driving talent has been superb. Whenever 165 entries arrive at a speedway to do battle, it become clear-cut to understand the growth and the popularity of small car racing divisions and will continue to grow with great facilities in place for the racing to flourish.

The extensive work Randy Smith and his staff did over the winter months continues to provide dividends as the multi-driving lanes have created the tremendous side by side competition the true racing fan desired to witness on the race track. The new clay surface remained tacky and very drivable throughout the evening of events and was relatively dust free throughout. Ten minutes after leaving the speedway the rain began to fall and continued to fall until I reached my Pen Argyl destination.

The strong contingent of racers from the Empire State of New York has filled out the ranks of the Junior Slingshots with Jared Labagh, Tommy Zwart, Cole Hentschel, Leo Fotopolous, Collin DuBois, Bobby Flood Kevin Predmore, Caitlyn Krum and Ryan Quackenbush all making their way out of New York to compete at Hamlin. Accord Modified ace Tony Kowalchuk has made the successful transition to the slingshot ranks and once qualified for the main event and was 14th in his second go around at the speedway. "The Weasel" Jacob Dunn has made the move into the All Star ranks but a faulty mechanical problem stopped him from starting the main event. Trevor Dunn also made his first start in the 270 Sprints and finished 15th in the main event. Former National Slingshot Champion Ben Whitaker made his first start of the season and finished in 18th in his maiden voyage at the speedway. Paul Rimsky and Derek Pramik were first timers for the season in the Rookie 270's. Mike Wolfe, Johnny Bush, Jim Wyant and Bob Clark nade their first appearances of the season as the Super Slinger car count swelled to fifteen. New 600 racers who transferred into the main event included Danny Wykes, James Morris, Doug Snyder, Lou Horvath and Stan Tykarski while those who fell short in their bids included Chris Rupp, Chris Oraschin, Jared Kunkle and Jeffrey Anderson. Another of the new 600 chassis design race cars out of the Manieri Motorsports Fabrication shops (MMF) was on hand and Lou Horvath was able to drive the car into the main event and finish 16th. Joseph Krum and Carissa June were newcomers to the All Star Slingshot ranks. Mike Casario, Jessica Miller, Harlee Schaffer, Rob Pajauis, Luke Kroboth, Zack Bealer, Steve Walters and Kevin Pritchard filled out the ranks for the 270 Sprints. Tiffany Wambold's troubles continued early in the season as some mechanical problems kept her out of the starting field. Shelby and Makenzie Harper both encountered some concern during the evening as Shelby got upside down in one of the B-Mains and didn't transfer and Makenzie encountered steering problems while leading a B-Main and bounced her race car off the jersey barriers in turn three. Neither gal was hurt in the scary incidents. Bill Darcy Jr made his first appearance in some time and was in a transfer position until he too encountered some problems and was forced out of competition.

RESULTS

All Star Slingshots: Chris Kurtz, Kyle Rode, Danny Buccafusca, Billy Clark, Troy Langendoerfer, Joe Bodenschatz, Don Schmidt, Mack Brink, Dale Kober, Wyatt Clark, Jimmy Johnston, Joe Howey, John Rooks Jr, Tony Kowalchuk, Tyler Johnston, Trevor Labagh, Richie VanOrden, Ben Whitaker, Jeff Cosgrove, Henry Anderson, John Pantis, Gary Dennis, Paul Ennes, Aloan Howell, Jacob Dunn

270cc Sprints: CJ Heinig, Tommy Kunsman Jr, Kurt Bettler, Mike Casario, Jessica Miller, Harlee Schaffer, Rob Pajauis, Zach Weidner, Luke Kroboth, Gene Burd, Robbie Watson, Steve Walters, Kyle Rutledge, Rich O'Neill, Trevor Dunn, Ron Pierson, Jeff Ubel, Zack Bealer, Hayden Miller, Grady Johnston, Kendall Segar, TJ Lilly, Larry Hoagland, Nathan Hahn

600cc Wingless Sprints: Kyle Lick, James Morris, Jay Hartman, Eddie Strada, Jeff Hartman, Kurt Bettler, Jacob Hendershot, Brandon Azzalina, Brett Michalski, SteveYankowski, Alex Curley, Chad Sandt, Rhett Long, Mick D'Agostino, Doug Snyder, Lou Horvath, Kyle Rohner, Mark Manieri, Jason Van Doren, Joseph Smith, Jacob Severn, Danny Wykes, Shelby Harper, Stan Tykarski

Stage One Modifieds: Dylan Martin, Joel Smith Bobby Smith Jr, Collin DuBois, Simon Egan

Junior Slingshots: Jared Labagh, Tommy Zwart, Cole Hentschel, Collin Dubois, Thomas Strupp, Bobby Flood, Kevin Predmore Jr, Matt Henneforth, Leo Fotopolous, Tyler Peet, Caitlin Krum, Charlie Towner, Paul Tigue, Taylor Eccles, Kyle Dice, Ryan Quackenbush

Super Slingshots: Jimmy Johnston, Paul Ennes, Wes Hearn, Dale Kober, Kevin Olver, Roger Collins, Tom Arntz, Del Howell, Richie VanOrden, John Rooks Sr, Jerry Hughes, Mike Wolfe, Johnny Bush, Jim Wyant, Bob Clark

Rookie 270cc Sprints: Josh Schaffer, John Dvorscak, Glenn Macomber, Paul Rimsky, Jenna Weidner, Sydney Prince, Tyler Galatro, Scott Avery, Derik Pramik

Rookie 600cc Wingless Sprints: Steve Yankowski, Brandon Azzalina, Stephen Reynolds, Aaron Henneforth, Riley Mozulski, Colin White, Amber Oraschin, Shelby Ogazaly, Steve Van Valkenburg, Ryan Neil, Zac Azzalina, Heidi Hedin, Charlie Shaver, Jamie Czekai, Danielle Dickinson, William Butler, Spencer Mease, Shawn Rooney

Racing every Saturday evening from April through September. The next special event of the new season will unfold on May 12th with the exciting Briggs & Stratton Mid-Atlantic Gold Slingshot Tour with a dual heat format and dualing side by side on the Hamlin clay for a $500.00 reward based on a 24-car starting field. Pit Gates open at the speedway at 1 PM; Drivers Meeting at 4:45; Hot Laps are at 5:00 and the racing begins at 6 PM sharp. Admission Prices for regular shows are: Adults $8.00; Senior Citizens $4.00 Children under 6 are Free; Pit Pass: $20.00 The "new" General Admission Bonus Pack is available for families: It consists of 4 General Admission Tickets + $20.00 in Food Vouchers for $40.00 (a savings of $12.00)

For further updates and information regarding all of the news and additions to the Hamlin Speedway, logon to their well documented website at: http://www.hamlinspeedway.com or call the speedway hotline at: 570 420 5500. For video work or questions regarding the purchase of videos from the exciting on-track action at the Hamlin Speedway, contact videographer Barry Boyd at: http://www.boydracingvideos.com For photos of all of the great racing action contact Rick Schwindenhammer Racing Photos at: http://www.ricksracingphotos.zenfolio.com
Visit us often for a great night of racing action as............................................

The Hamlin Speedway Is The Gateway To The Poconos