Kutztown >> A long period of heavy afternoon rain forced cancellation of the 2016 season finale at the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA on Sunday, August 21.
Ten events, and a total of 11 feature races were held for the USAC All Pro SpeedSTRs at the Berks County oval this season. Billy Pauch Sr., the veteran from Frenchtown, NJ, notched four victories and his first SpeedSTR point title at Action Track USA. With his four triumphs, Pauch is now the all-time leader in feature wins (in the SpeedSTR division) with ten.
Pauch ended the year with a 68-point bulge over Tim Buckwalter, while Mike Bednar finished third in the point chase. Bednar was just ten points ahead of Steve Nederostek, and Nederostek nipped Matt Janisch for fourth in the standings by two points.
The same number of events and features were held for the Hyper Racing 600 Sprints Powered by Hyper Fuel Injection Technology as were contested by the SpeedSTRs. In the tightest point battle of all three weekly divisions, two-time feature winner Eddie Strada, from Lake Ariel, captured the title by a mere five points over Billy Pauch Jr. The two drivers were tied for the championship lead heading into last Wednesday’s AEI Equipment 600 Fair Nationals, where Strada came from the rear (after spinning early in the 60-lap race) and managed a sixth-place finish. Pauch Jr. wound seventh, and that one position made the difference for Strada, as he recorded his first track championship at the speedway located on the Kutztown Fairgrounds.
Last year’s champ, Tim Buckwalter, had four wins and wound up third in points. Two-time track champion Jay Hartman was fourth in the final standings and Brandon Azzalina finished fifth.
What a year it was for Dylan Hoch, as the Mertztown racer won four times in NAPA Auto Parts All Star Slingshot competition and registered his first point championship at Action Track USA. Hoch won four times, and his victories included one of the Ronnie Tobias Memorial Twin 17’s, a Mid-Atlantic Silver Tour race, and the $4,000-to-win Slinger Warehouse Super Slingshot Fair National on August 16.
Hoch had clinched the point title even before Sunday’s finale was washed out. He held a 148-point lead over Seth Spayd of Shillington, after the Slingshot Fair National event. Travis Bieber, Anthony Raisner, and Austin Stufflet completed the top five in the championship standings.
The 2016 point champions, along with the top ten in the standings, will be honored at the annual Awards Banquet (site, date, and time to be announced in the near future) during the off-season.
The JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA will begin its fifth season of competition in May of 2017. News and information will be posted on the speedway’s website, www.actiontrackusa.com, and on its Facebook page, as it is released.
