On a historic night at the Bedford Speedway as the facility presented the 900th racing event in its 86th year in action, Kyle Lee thrilled the crowd with a dramatic last turn pass to claim the Late Model headliner, Rick Potter also rallied late to claim the wild Semi Late event as did Derrick Hinish in Pure Stock action and Josh Corbin in the 4 Cylinder closer. In the visiting Super Sportsman event, Trent Yoder came from dead last in the slim field to score his first ever win.
2024 hard luck racer Matt Sponaugle took off from the front row in the 25 lap late model event. He pulled away from Brian Bernheisel in the early laps in the all green flag event. But Bernheisel found himself under attack from Jakob Piper as Tim Smith, Jeff Rine and Kyle Lee waged their own battle behind that pair.
Piper secured second on lap 12 but Sponaugle had pulled to a substantial lead by then. That situation began to change when Sponaugle encountered lapped traffic by lap 14
When Sponaugle hesitated, Piper and the others closed rapidly. Lee, who had started sixth in the field, deftly moved through that crowd, taking second on lap 16. He and Piper closed on the leader with Lee rolling in alongside Sponaugle a lap later.
But Lee’s rush to the front seemed to go up in smoke as he overshot the runway a lap later, bouncing off the turn one wall. Piper seized that opportunity to regain second but Lee didn’t falter, falling back only that one spot.
It took two laps for Lee to get back by Piper again for second and he set off after Sponaugle. After closing on the leader for the second time, Lee threw caution to the win with a dramatic move on the leader as they went through turn four heading for the finish line.
Lee emerged with the lead to score the win in the historic event as Sponaugle settled for second at the line. Piper led Bernheisel and Rine to complete the top 5. Sponaugle and Rine won the heats.
Devin Weyandt was the early Semi Late leader as he again drove the Pork Sell 65. But his stay at the front ended as he spun in front of the field on lap 4. Rick Potter had already moved through the field and was right behind new leader Garrett Keifer on the restart, zooming by for the lead a lap later.
Chaos ensued a lap later as much of the middle of the field piled up on the front stretch, a crash wild enough to cause a red flag for cleanup. Things seemed to settle down after that but no one really challenged Potter as he ran off for the win. Keifer ran his best race of his young career, taking second, ahead of Nick Bechtel, Dave Brown and Kyle Weyandt, who had started last in the field. Devin Weyandt and Khi Swanger won the heats.
A slim field of only 6 Super Sportsman cars were in attendance. Scott Lutz was the early leader but Trent Yoder arrived in the area by lap three. After a several lap battle, Yoder took over and rushed off to the win.
Dominic Weyandt ran the best race of his Puer Stock career, leading the field from the start. But he was hounded every lap as the usual multi car pack jockeyed around for the chance to challenge him. Derrick Hinish maneuvered through that mob to emerge in second on lap 6 and immediately went to work on Weyandt.
After repeated attempts, Hinish finally got by on lap 10 for the lead, leaving Weyandt to wrestle with the mob alone. Weyandt battled hard before Dalton Weyant got by with two laps left.
At the line it was Hinish, Dalton Weyant, Dominic Weyandt, Darian Ritchey and Chubby Childers. Dalton Weyant and Charlie Clise won the heats.
Bryan Wright was the early 4 Cylinder leader before Shawn Smith got by. But it was Josh Corbin riding the wide outside groove on the move and he took over on lap 9, rushing toward another win. Colin Welsh and Jeff Marlett won the heats
LATE MODEL 25 LAPS Kyle Lee, Matt Sponaugle, Jakob Piper, Bryan Bernheisel, Jeff Rine. Tim Smith, RJ Dallape, Nathan Lasalle, Travis Stickley. Jeff Miller, Tyler Ritchey, Chuck Clise, Ron Fink. Matt Williamson, Wayne Johnson, DNS Clinton Hersh
SEMI LATE 15 LAPS Rick Potter, Garrett Keifer, Nick Bechtel, Dave Brown Kyle Weyandt, Kyle Deneen, Khi Swanger, Travis Calhoun, Devin Weyandt, William Miller, Erik Weyandt, Bob Jay, Brian Weyandt J, Andrew Stough, Todd Woodward, Jacob Shoop DNS Cody Jarvie
WINGLESS SUPER SPORTSMAN 20 LAPS Trent Yoder, Craig Perigo, Steve Wilbur, Scott Lutz Luke Lenker, Troy Fraker
PURE STOCK 15 LAPS Derrick Hinish, Dalton Weyant, Dominic Weyandt, Darian Ritchey, Chubby Childers, Charlie Clise. Kyle Beckett, Braydale Bauman, Brock Bunn, Denver Dishong, Mark Shope, Jay Talley, Barry Clark, Brad Boyd, Madison Miller, DNS Franklin Foor
4 CYLINDER 12 LAPS Josh Corbin, Chris Graybill, Tom Brady, Josh Borland, Isaac Kormanski, Todd Price, Colijn Welsh, Bryan Wright, Jeff Marlett, Shawn Smith, Malachi Doyle, Braden Powell, Maxton Mosgrave, Matt JOnes, Caseu Fleegle, John Diehl, Nevaeh Helsel, Matt Kauffman,
