Dirt Racing
Bernheisel Wires Bedford Opener
(Bedford, PA April 2, 2023): Veteran Jimmy Bernheisel ended a drought that lasted for more than thirty-four years when he roared to victory in the opening race of the 87th season at the Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway. The Jonestown, PA car builder won his first Super Late Model feature at the storied venue in 1988! The win came just a week before his sixty-fifth birthday, making the accomplishment all the more important to him.
Joining Bernheisel in victory celebrations were Dalton Weyant (Semi Lates and Pure Stocks), Mitch Thomas (Modifieds), and Shawn Smith (Mini Stocks).
Bernheisel climbed atop the roof of his car in victory lane and excitedly raised his clenched fists high above his head before pondering how he would get down. He executed the move rather gingerly.
“This was a good day,” he said. “It was Palm Sunday, so we started the day at church, and then we got to come here and play with the race cars,” he explained. “This was really cool,” he added. “There were a lot of good cars here.”
Bernheisel started on the pole and he led every lap, but it was not as easy as that may sound. “We had a good car,” he observed. “But I’ve had too many races when I started up front and went straight to the back. So, I was concerned.” Instead, he set a comfortable pace through most of the race and he had a comfortable margin as the laps were winding down.
However, two restarts late in the race gave Colton Flinner prime opportunities to overtake the leader. With three laps remaining, Flinner charged hard into turn one and slid up ahead of Bernheisel. But, the veteran calmly turned back under him in turn two to regain the lead. Bernheisel had a couple of car lengths on his younger foe when the caution came out again a lap later. “I was ready for him the second time,” Bernheisel said. Although Flinner tried to duplicate the slider in turn one, he was unable to get in front, and Bernheisel pinched down on him through turn two to ensure that Bernheisel maintained the lead.
Bernheisel was paired with Michael Lake for the start of the twenty-five lapper. Jeff Rine and Flinner made up row two. Spike Moore and Jon Lee were in the third row, with Dylan Lewis and Brian Booze in row four. Then came Justin Weaver and Matt Cosner. Row six belonged to Chuck Clise and Deshawn Gingerich. Buried in nineteenth was Drake Troutman.
Bernheisel assumed command at the drop of the green. Flinner nestled into second, with Lake, Rine, Moore, Booze, Lee, Lewis, Weaver, and Cosner following. The opening laps were uneventful, but as the race neared the halfway mark things started to heat up.
Rine and Lake had a struggle for the third spot. Rine got the spot with twelve down, but Lake fought back, literally. On the next round, there was contact between them and Rine got into the front stretch wall. Somehow, he saved the car and only lost the position to Lake.
Soon thereafter, Lake set his sights on Flinner. Lake slid Flinner in turn one with seventeen laps complete, but Flinner regained the position in turn two. The two went back and forth for the next five laps. Lake took second on the front stretch with twenty-two down.
Lake then went after Bernheisel. He never got the chance to challenge the wily veteran, though, as he jumped the cushion between turns three and four before slamming the outside wall. Lake’s spectacular effort ended at that point.
Lake’s misfortune restored Flinner to the second spot for the restart and it set the stage for the two daring sliders of his own going into turn one. The first one netted him the advantage briefly, but Bernheisel countered in the next corner. The second put the contenders wheel to wheel until Bernheisel crowded Flinner in turn two. The two did not make contact, but it was enough to break Flinner’s momentum and to preserve the win for Bernheisel.
At the checkers, it was Bernheisel over Flinner by .68 seconds. Moore overtook Rine in the final laps for third. Lee rounded out the top five. Booze, Weaver, Troutman, Cosner, and Gingerich were the next five across the line.
There were three heats for the twenty-four cars on hand. Wins went to Rine, Lee, and Lake. There was no B Main.
In the Semi Late Model go, Greg Hainsey jumped out front from his pole starting spot, and within a couple of laps Travis Calhoun worked his way into second from the outside of row two. Calhoun was mounting a challenge for the lead with nine laps complete, but a caution nullified his attempted pass.
Calhoun was the next victim of a caution just two laps later, and it looked as though Hainsey had the race in the bag.
However, on the ensuing restart, Dalton Weyant came to life. He moved into the third spot soon after the green was displayed for the final time. But his charge was not finished yet. He took second coming off turn two on the last lap and he drove up beside the leader in turn three! Hainsey maintained a slight advantage on the inside, but Weyant had the momentum on the outside. Weyant came off turn four with the lead and held it to the checkers,
Weyant, Hainsey, Bob Jay, Brian Weyandt, Jr., and Bill Replogle were the top five. They were followed by Josh Bummy, Laura Chamberlain, Nick Bechtel, John Miller, and Bob Torquoto.
Heat wins went to Calhoun and Bechtel. There was no B Main.
The Modified twenty lapper went to Mitch Thomas, his second victory of the weekend. Drake Troutman challenged Thomas midway through the race, but faded. He still held off Mike Altobelli, Jr. for the runner-up money. Jimmy Jesmer, Jr. and Donnie Farling were fourth and fifth. Jacob Marker, Brandon Inglish, Tory Johnson, Alyssa Rowe, and Brandon Hoover completed the top ten.
Heat victories went to Altobelli and Troutman. There was no B Main.
Dalton Weyant came back to victory lane after the Pure Stock feature. He finished ahead of rookie Charlie Clise, Dalton Ritchey, Derrick Hinish, and Kyle Beckett. Darian Ritchey, Mark Shope, Tom Lewis, Madison Miller, and Denver Dishong were next to cross the line.
Clise and Weyant were the winners in the Pure Stock preliminaries. There was no B Main.
The Mini Stocks wore the nightcap. Taking the win was Shawn Smith over Brad Marker and Derek Long. Casey Fleegle took fourth and fifth. Next finishers were Colin Welsh, Josh Corbin, Harlan Group, Steven Martin, and Todd Price.
Heat winners were Corbin and Long. There was no B Main.
Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway will continue action on Friday night, April 7, with Super Late Models, Late Model Sportsmen, Semi Lates, Pure Stocks, and Four Cylinders.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (June 5, 2026): Troy Wagaman, Jr. cashed in on the opportunities given to him to win the Lynn Paxton Classic at Williams Grove Speedway. The second win of the season for the defending track champion and current points leader was his first ever with the All Stars Circuit of Champions, which celebrated fifty-five years of competition at the famed oval. Wagaman received $8,000 for his efforts, matching his payday from the Tommy Classic held earlier in the season.
Wagaman benefitted from two miscues by Danny Dietrich, who had led from the start of the non-stop thirty lapper. The first came on lap fifteen, when Dietrich narrowly avoided disaster coming off turn two. The other came ten laps later when Dietrich slid out of the groove between turns three and four.
“I don’t know if I would have gotten him,” Wagaman said modestly.
He was trailing Dietrich by nearly 1.6 seconds in the middle of the race, but Wagaman squeezed between Dietrich, a lapped car, and the backstretch guard rail to take the lead. Preston Lattomus nearly spun at the exit to turn two, Dietrich came up on him quickly, made slight contact, and almost spun as well, but there was just enough room for Wagaman to scoot by. “I thought he missed it, got too close to the lapped car,” Wagaman explained.
Wagaman then built up a slight lead of his own, which evaporated in traffic. Dietrich drove under both Wagaman and the lapped car between turns three and four on lap twenty-four, but Wagaman came storming back on the next lap to regain the lead. Dietrich slid off the bottom in the same area, and Wagaman pounced. “Danny showed me the bottom. I was struggling on the top and I got down to the bottom after that.”
Wagaman, from Hanover, dedicated the win to his ailing grandmother, adding that he will get to see her on Sunday afternoon.
The starting line-up had a last minute shuffle when Lance Dewease got a flat while the cars were getting into formation. Dewease pitted for a fresh tire, but forfeited his second starting position. He rejoined the field for the start, and put in on an impressive drive to fourteenth from the rear of the twenty-six car field.
Dietrich thus moved to the front row, joining the Dash winner, Cale Thomas. Wagaman and Brady Bacon made up the second row, followed by Doug Hammaker and Kasey Kahne. Brock Zearfoss and T.J. Stutts came next. Chase Dietz and Parker Price Miller were in row five, and Austin Bishop was paired with Ryan “Fig” Newton in row six.
Dietrich wasted no time blasting into the early lead up on the cushion in turns one and two. Wagaman used a more conservative line to reach second. Thomas fell into line in third, ahead of Hammaker, Bacon, Stutts, and Kahne.
Dietrich seemed to have the race under control through the first half of the event. However, things changed suddenly on lap fifteen. He avoided a crash, but lost the lead. Dietrich wasn’t done quite yet, though.
Wagaman was still running the top in turns three and four despite having trouble getting past a lapped car. That allowed Dietrich to flash by on the inside to take the lead away. However, Wagaman came back to lead lap twenty-five when Dietrich slid up the track in almost the same place on the track.
Wagaman changed lines for the remainder of the race, and he paced himself off of the lapped cars, figuring that Dietrich would have to drive around them all if he were to make another bid for the win. However, Wagaman took the checkers 1.120 seconds ahead of Dietrich, who was driving his back-up car after crashing at Selinsgrove Speedway the night before.
Bacon, Stutts, and Dietz completed the top five. Zearfoss, Hammaker, Kahne, Price Miller, and Newton were the next five finishers.
J.J. Loss was the hard charger, advancing seven spots to finish thirteenth.
Kalib Henry, the current All Stars points leader and defending series champion, was the highest finisher from the tour, at seventeenth.
Hammaker, Dewease, Dietrich, and Kahne were the heat winners. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. won the B Main. Stutts was the fastest qualifier, lapping in 17.112 seconds in Group A. Dietrich was the best in Group B. His lap was 17.290 seconds. Thirty-eight cars checked in, including ten All Stars points chasers.
Ageless Steve Wilbur added another Wingless Sportsman victory to his resume. He led Tony Jackson for all twenty laps. “Tony’s hard to beat wherever we go, and to hold him off all of those laps was something,” Wilbur said. “It just feels so good to beat Jackson. I didn’t come all the way from Mechanicsburg to get my a$$ kicked,” he added with a laugh.
Wilbur claimed to use an old right rear tire dating back to his days at Silver Spring Speedway, which closed in 2005.
Cliff Brian, Jr. was third, one spot ahead of the hard charger, Brett Perigo. Brandon Shearer, Derek Shaffer, Brian Nace, Scott Smith, Curt Stroup, and John Edkin were fifth through tenth in the non-stop affair.
Jackson and Wilbur split the heat race wins. There was no B Main necessary for the nineteen car field.
Next Friday, Williams Grove Speedway will present fan appreciation night. All in attendance will get to mingle with the 410 and 358 Sprint Car racers in the front pit area before the start of the action. There will be free potato chips and candy during the pit party. Fireworks will also be part of the fun.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): A.J. Flick claimed his third championship in the Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. His first two titles came in 2023 and 2024.
“This whole week is so cool,” he said. He added, “I think consistency is important and I think that helped me.”
Flick started the week out very strongly, with wins at Michaels Mercer Raceway and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. He was fourth at Lernerville Speedway and fifth in the finale at Tr-City Raceway Park. His worst finish of the week was ninth at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night.
Flick was especially happy with his fifth place finish in the final round because he was not very comfortable in the car.
Other race winners during Speedweek were: Dale Blaney, at Lernerville, Logan Wagner, at Sharon, and Brandon Spithaler, at Tri-City.
Flick’s total earnings for the week were $14,750, which included the $3,000 championship stipend.
One other driver earned more than $10,000. That was Spithaler, who grossed $10.175.
Flick was one of sixteen drivers to enter all five events comprising Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. A total of sixty-one racers competed in at least one round of Speedweek.
The top ten drivers in the point standings shared the point fund, as follows:
- A.J. Flick, 452 points, $3,000
- Mark Smith, 412 points, $2,500
- Brandon Spithaler, 406 points, $2,000
- Jeremy Weaver, 393 points, $1,500
- Carl Bowser, 371 points, $1,000
- Michael Bauer, 368 points, $900
- Adam Kekich, 344 points, $800
- Brandon Matus, 338 points, $700
- Ricky Peterson, 320 points, $600
- Jacob Begenwald, 302 points, $500
Interestingly, one driver in the top ten in points missed a show along the way. Ricky Peterson was absent from Sharon because he had another commitment. He won the FAST on Dirt Sprint Car Series event at Skyline Speedway instead.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): Brandon Spithaler saved his best Speedweek performance for the final night of the five race series. The victory at Tri-City Raceway Park, his first of the season, netted the driver from Renfrew, PA a cool $6,000. He also finished third in Speedweek points, adding another $2,000 to his stash. Spithaler’s total winnings for the week amounted to $10,175, second only to the Speedweek champion, A.J. Flick.
Spithaler noted that “2026 hasn’t been very kind to us. We lost a motor, we trashed a car, we switched chassis. I think we’ve hit on something now.”
He added, “I felt like I was better than him, Ricky (Peterson, who finished a distant second). I was worried when he got by Logan (McCandless, the early leader), but I kept plugging away and I got by him (Peterson).”
Spithaler was especially good in traffic. He explained, “I am a fan of traffic. If we get a long run, I like picking my way through.”
Peterson, who held on for second place, had an opposite opinion about the traffic conditions. “I was really good early. I had issues with the lappers. I think I left a lane open for Brandon, and he got away from us.”
Mark Smith put on a strong charge in the second half of the race to grab the third position. He noted that it was a challenging night and that he changed some things around on his car between the heat and the feature. “We got it going, but it was a little too late. Maybe we needed 35 laps.”
The first ten positions in the starting line-up were reserved for the four heat winners and six of the fastest qualifiers.
Logan McCandless drew the pole position. He was joimed on the front row by the professor, Michael Bauer. Matt Farnham and A.J. Flick pulled the second row, followed by Peterson and Spithaler. Smith and Jeremy Weaver landed in row four. Then came Jared Zimbardi and D.J. Christie. Row six belonged to Tim Shaffer and John Jerich.
The initial start was waved off due to a crash between turns one and two, which claimed Jerich and Christie. Both cars tumbled, but neither driver was injured.
When the field was realigned for the start, Shaffer moved to the outside of row five and Bob Felmlee and Cody Bova became the new sixth row.
McCandless surged into the early lead, followed by Farnham, Bauer, Flick, Peterson, Spithaler, Weaver, Smith, Shaffer, Felmlee, and Zimbardi.
McCandless was exceptionally strong through the first half of the race. His lead grew to more than 1.8 seconds over Farnham through the first nine laps. Peterson moved into second position on lap ten. Gradually, he cut into McCandless’ advantage. On lap fifteen, the margin dwindled to just under a half a second.
Moving into the second half of the contest, McCandless began to have difficulty navigating through the traffic. Peterson narrowed the gap even further over the next few laps. On lap eighteen, Peterson drove by McCandless for the lead.
Meanwhile, Spithaler was closing in on both Peterson and McCandless. Spithaler moved ahead of McCandless on lap nineteen. Just one lap later, he passed Peterson in traffic.
In the final ten laps of the race, Spithaler was clearly superior to Peterson. The lead continued to grow with each lap. He was more than four seconds ahead of Peterson by lap twenty-six. The margin reached 5.338 seconds on the final lap.
Smith cracked the top five on lap sixteen. He held fourth from lap sixteen through lap twenty-nine. On the final trip around the big half mile, Smith moved into third.
McCandless held on for fourth, one spot ahead of Flick, who clinched the Speedweek championship with a steady performance. He was in or just outside the top five for the entire race.
Shaffer edged Farnham for sixth. Greg Wilson, Bauer, and Bova completed the top ten.
Flick, Weaver, Zimbardi, and Peterson won the heat races. Tyler Esh copped the B Main.
Brandon Matus was the night’s fastest qualifier. He topped Group A with a lap of 17.622. However, his night went downhill after that. While running in a transfer position on the last lap of his heat race, Matus flipped hard between turns three and four. His crew thrashed to get the car ready for the B Main with assistance from Spithaler and Weaver, among others. However, Matus finished fifth, with only four cars making the A Main.
Spithaler was the fastest member of Group B. His time was 17,796.
Blaze Myers took the lead on lap six of the RUSH Sprint Car feature and he cruised to an easy victory over Luke Mulichak. The early leader, Zach Morrow, finished in third. Brayden Blackshear and Samantha Priest were fourth and fifth. Lucas Roessner, Devon Deeter, Logen Lockhart, Grayson Bayle, and Ricky Tucker, III, rounded out the top ten. Myers and Roessner took the preliminaries.
The nightcap for the Mini Stock division went to Camden Franz. There was a constant three car battle for second throughout the fifteen lapper. Sheriff Tim Callahan prevailed, with Jordan Wheeler and Justin Forsyth following. Fifth went to Andy Thomson. Kevin Dotten, Michael Phillipson, Andrew Thompson, Ben Aley, and Jacob Wheeler were sixth through tenth.
Alex Palou wins fourth straight pole position at World Wide Technology Raceway
Rough day for Wright at Michigan
Opportunistic Wagaman Wins at Williams Grove
Heim holds off Honeycutt to win Truck race at Michigan
Flick is Speedweek King
Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing win the pole position for the 110th Indianapolis 500
Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Romain Grosjean involved in multi vehicle crash during Indy 500 practice
New York Dog wins the Wienie 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NASCAR community mourns the loss of champion driver Kyle Busch
