Hilltop Speedway honors young fans on Kids Night

Hilltop Speedway sponsored Kids Night for young race fans on Friday, July 28. Kids visited the pits, meeting their favorite drivers, collecting autographs, photos and treats, along with getting a close-up view of race cars. Bicycles, gifts baskets, backpacks and other items were raffled off to children throughout the evening.

As the sun was setting, the racing action was heating up for a night at the dirt track in the heart of Amish Country. With six divisions on the docket, the Late Models tackled the racing surface for the first feature of the evening.

Todd Brennan and Wooster’s Larry Bellman brought the Late Model field to the green flag, signaling the start of the 20-lap feature event. On the opening lap, Brennan dashed into the top running spot, putting Bellman back to second. Behind the leaders a battle was heating up between Nathon Loney, Cody Scott and Thomas Baker. Loney, driving the No. 10 power machine, took the high groove around Bellman, moving into the second-place running spot.

As Brennan and Loney made their way through lap traffic in the final laps of the race, Bellman got caught up behind a lap car, which allowed Scott to slip past Bellman in turn four as the white flag waved, signaling the final lap of the race. Brennan was credited with another feature win, followed by Loney, Scott, Bellman and Wooster’s Thomas Baker as the top five finishers.

In the Modified division, last week’s winner Colton Shaw powered his car into the lead as the green flag waved, setting his sights on another victory. But KC Burdette was determined not to let that happen. Not long into the feature event, Burdette power slid his No. 44 black and white modified past Shaw and into the lead. Once there, Burdette never looked back, maintaining the lead throughout the balance of the race.

Behind the leader, Shaw, Jesse Hartman, veteran driver Robin Duston and others were racing hard and clean lap after lap. With the checkered flag waving, Burdette crossed the finish line ahead of Shaw, Hartman, Jason King and Jason Brookover.

In the 270 Sprint feature, polesitter Brian Borawiec powered into the lead, putting outside pole runner Rayu Jacobs back to second with Lonnie McConahy running third. As the laps ticked away, there was no stopping Borawiec, who crossed the finish line just seconds ahead of Jacobs. Following the leaders across the finish line were CJ Davis, McConahy and Jay Pettigrew.

In Mini Stock action, Billy Dawson and Rodger Parsons brought the field to the green flag to kick off their feature event. Parsons wasted no time putting his No. 16 orange power plant into the lead, which he held for several laps before spinning in turn two, causing Parsons to tag the tail of the field. When the race resumed, it was Dawson with the lead, but it wasn’t long before a three-way battle for second was heating up between Kenny Long, Ed Geary and Chaz Dawson. With the white flag in the air, Dawson only had one final lap to go before tasting victory, followed by Robert Searls, Brock Searls, Long and Geary.

Fast and furious describes the Mod Lite feature as these powerful machines put on a show for racing fans. Veteran driver Clint Snyder and the young-gun Tanner McLaughlin sat on the front row at the start of the feature. Snyder, driving the familiar B4u black and green mod lite, raced into the top running spot on the opening lap. With Snyder in the lead and McLaughlin running second, multi-time winner Jimmy Smith, driving his new #280 mod-lite machine, was moving swiftly through the pack, hoping to add another feature win to his tally. In the end it was Snyder picking up the feature win over McLaughlin, Smith, Jake Bowman and Darrick Hubbard.

Street Stock feature action saw last week’s feature winner Gary Hensel, Jr. of Wooster on the pole alongside veteran driver Kevin Potts. As they brought the field of cars down the front stretch for the final feature of the evening, Hensel and Potts raced wheel to wheel into turn one and remained side by side. Hensel gained the advantage over Potts as the duo raced down the backstretch, and once in the lead, it wasn’t long before Hensel developed a sizeable lead over the rest of the field.

Potts gave it all he could as the race was drawing to a close, but he wasn’t able to track down the leader, handing Hensel his second straight Street Stock victory. Potts finished in the runner-up spot ahead of Trae Schonauer and third-generation driver Logan Duncan of Fredericksburg.