The regular season point races ended Sunday at Bedford and produced four happy winners and four new champions. Devin Weyandt claimed the 2023 Limited championship with a win as did Charlie Clise in the Pure Stocks. Bradlee Means took his first ever Semi Late feature win while Brian Weyandt Jr claimed that title. Colin Welsh took the 4 Cylinder win while Josh Corbin took that title in the famous PT Cruiser.
Devin Weyandt made a statement of strength in the Limited 25 lapper. He rushed from his third row starting position to blow by early leader Tom Decker III on lap three and never looked back.
Shawn Shoemaker, the only driver in the field with a chance to unseat Weyandt in the point race had started alongside Weyandt in the third row and completed his climb forward by taking second from Decker on lap 12. After that Shoemaker really turned on the after burners, closing the gap on the leader with each passing lap.
With two to go he was on Weyandt’s bumper and making a real threat, thrilling the crowd. But at the finish line Shoemaker fell a car length short, finishing second to Weyandt in the event as well as the point race.
As the closing battle for the lead drew a lot of attention, the man on the move was Andy Fries, who discovered the outside groove and made a late race rush toward the front. After starting eighth in the field, Fries took third on lap 19 and made an exciting rush toward the leaders before taking third at the line. Taylor Farlling took fourth as Matt Parks came from 18th to take fifth. Farlling, Jakob Piper, and Weyandt won the heats. Piper came from dead last to win his heat with a stirring last lap pass.
Young Bradlee Means, who had earlier in the season led an event for 13 laps before his car broke, sealed the deal this time in the Semi Late 15 lapper. He led at the start but was instantly hounded by Rick Potter.
Potter threw everything he could at Means, several times drawing alongside, but Means never wilted, holding off every challenge. Late in the race, Brian Weyandt arrived at the front after starting deep in the field, bringing Greg Hainsey with him.
Weyandt’s arrival distracted Potter in the closing laps as he challenged for second, and Means was able to take the win, his first ever. Potter, Weyandt, Hainsey and Dave Brown completed the top five.
Means started off the evening with a heat race win while Potter and John Miller took the other two heats. The third heat featured a Bedford oddity as the top three finishers were all Ford powered cars. The second heat saw a grinding crash at the start as Bob Jay and Kyle Deneen crashed hard in turn one. Neither started the feature.
The Pure Stock event started off with a bang as it took three tries to complete the first lap. The second attempt was especially rough as a pile up in turn one was followed almost immediately with a larger crash on the backstretch, eliminating quite a few contenders.
On the single file third attempt, Derek Hinish took the early lead and pulled away as Charlie Clise took up the chase. In a rarity for the class, the top five stretched out over each other as Hinish was not really threatened for the lead.
But the dream ride for Hinish ended when his car came up lame on lap 11 and he retired to the pits. Clise, who had clinched the title with an earlier heat race win, inherited the lead and cruised to the win. He was followed by Denver Dishong, Chubby Childers, Keith Killander and Barry Clark, who had started last in the field. Hinish and Clise won the heats.
Todd Price led the 4 Cylinder finale for the first 5 laps before Colin Welsh got by. From that point on, Welsh went on unchallenged for the win. Price, Josh Corbin, who had clinched the title last week, Jeff Marlett and Tom Brady trailed. Chris Graybill and Darrin Chesney won the heats.
LIMITED 25 LAPS Devin Weyandt, Shawn Shoemaker, Andy Fries, Taylor Farlling, Matt Parks, Jakob Piper, Wes Bonebrake, Ryan Sager, Robby Black, Madelin Miller, Tim Snare, Bryan Benton, Brad Benton, Khi Swanger, Tom Decker III, Brad Feight, Danny Beatty, Tyler Ritchey, DNS Laura Reilly, John Seiler, Kaiden Bard
SEMI LATE 15 LAPS Bradlee Means, Rick Potter, Brian Weyandt Jr, Greg Hainsey, Dave Brown, John Miller, Josh Gustof, Kyle Weyant, Bill Replogle, Andrew Stough, Erik Weyandt, Dillon Isenburg, Cale Martin, Laura Reilly, Tony Catlett, Travis Calhoun, William Miller, Bob Torquato, Josh Bumberger, Nick Bechtel, Chris Wolfe DNS Bob Jay, Kyle Deneen
PURE STOCK 15 LAPS Charlie Clise Denver Dishong, Chubby Childers, Keith Killander, Barry Clark, Eli Hinish, Mark Shope, Tom Lewis, Jay Talley, Derek Hinish, Dalton Ritchey, Madison Miller, Jason Woods, Kyle Beckett, Chris Troutman, Darian Ritchey, Dalton Weyant, Jason Haggerty, Dominic Weyandt, DNS Cody Jarvie, Mason Replogle, Hayden Replogle
4 CYLINDER 12 LAPS Colin Welsh, Todd Price, Josh Corbin, Jeff Marlett, Tom Brady, Darrin Chesney, Matt Kauffman, Steve Delozier, Dwayne Wotring, Richard Athey, Dominic Heeter, Jimmy Delozier, Neveah Helsel, Dalton Long, Josh Taylor, Isaac Kormanski Derek Long, Chris Graybill, Hayden Kline, Javid Fairall
