Weaver Tops Semi Lates at Hidden Valley; Lee picks up Super Late Special

July 5, 2024
Clearfield, PA - John Wayne Weaver of Commodore picked up the Semi Late Model Feature win Friday night at Hidden Valley Speedway, piloting the Robert Lydic #87 for a first win for both at the Bull Ring this season. Justin Williamson of Huntingdon picked up the Little’s Drive In Four Cylinder feature while Cameron Defenderfer of Fayetteville picked up the win in the Thunder Car Special for a first time win for all three.
Jon Lee of Summerville copped the Super Late Model Special while other repeat winners included: Hayden Holden of Tiona in the Small Block Modifieds, Mitch Stiles of Stump Creek made it two in a row in the Pure Stocks and it was Brandon Connor of Penfield won the Penn-Ohio Pro Stock main.
The Super Late Model main event saw heat winners Jon Lee and Del Rougeux lead the field to the start, with Lee darting into the lead and Dylan Fenton a close second. Fenton was on the high side of Lee at the end of the first lap, as the field went into the first turn. Working lap two, Rougeux was able to get by Fenton to regain second as he set his sights on the leader and Fenton was still charging on the highside. Working lap three Fenton was on the throttle entering turn one a little too much, nearly collecting the wall and losing some ground to the leaders and falling to third as Matt Tifft then charged into third. Meanwhile at the front, Rougeux was all over Lee trying the inside and outside, but Lee had just enough speed to hold the lead. A series of cautions starting on lap 9 through 12 kept the field slow, but the rest of the race only saw one more yellow, but Rougeux’s tires went away and Tifft just could not get hooked up to get by Rougeux. At the waving of Sam McClellan's double checkered flags it was Lee, Rougeux, Tifft, “Hot Rod” Rodney Phillips and John Wayne Weaver.
John Wayne Weaver and Nate Brady brought the Semi Late feature to the green flag and Weaver darted into the lead, finally after three tries to get the event started. Then another yellow flew on lap one. The racing finally got under way after lap three, with Weaver setting the pace and Dan Gill sliding into second and Brady sitting third. Gary Little had to come from sixth and would be sitting fourth trying to get by Brady, but Brady wasn’t having any of that. The race came to a halt on lap 10 when a driver held up the show by refusing to pit for having acquired his number of cautions. He was subsequently disqualified for the night. Weaver would be able to hold off Gill for his first win of the season at the speedway and the first ever win for car owner Robert Lydic at the Bull Ring. Gill was second, Brady held on to third, Little was fourth and Adam Nixon was fifth. BJ Hudson and Gill split heat wins.
The Small Block Modifieds were led to the start by Craig Casher and Hayden Holden, with Holden taking the lead and Casher sitting second. On lap three a yellow slowed the field. The restart saw Hayden holding the top spot, with Casher still second and Jimmy Holden now in third. Jimmy was trying all groves around Casher, when he was able to duck under the second place driver on lap seven in turn four. Jimmy Holden then set his sights on his son, Hayden, this time the boy had his dad as he was able to hold on for his second win of the season. Jimmy was second in the Mike Stine owned #7s with Chris Luzier having a great run coming home a close third with Jeremy Beichner in fourth and Aaron Casher in fifth. The heat was won by Hayden Holden.
A pair of 55’s led the Penn-Ohio Pro Stocks to the green, with Chris Schneider on the inside and Brandon Connor on the outside, with Connor taking the lead and Schnieder in second. Fuzzy Fields came from sixth to second on the second lap and he sat there a few laps, when he went high and allowed Schneider to get back by. Once in second, Schneider did not relinquish the spot, while trying to reel in the leader, but at the finish it was Connor getting another win with Schneider in second, Fields was third, Allen Lamb was fourth and Sheddy Graham III was fifth. Connor won the heat.
The Pure Stocks saw Josh Fields and Cody Cassler on the front row, and it was Fields who took the lead when Denny Fenton spun to bring the race down under yellow on lap one. The yellow quickly went to red when second running Tyler Rougeux had his car catch fire on the front stretch at the flag stand. Quick work by the BJW Fire Company and Madera EMS saw Rougeux out of the car and the fire extinguished. While Rougeux was not hurt, he was out for the night after just getting the engine back together. When the race resumed, Fields was leading with new second place driver Tim Steis chasing after him and Cassler in third. On lap 8, the Cassler 14C gave up the chase and pitted, allowing Ryan Shaffner to move to third. While third was being challenged, Steis was able to take the lead from Fields at the line, but Fields fought back and he regained the lead on lap 10 and continued to lead through the 12th lap, when he dropped out for the night. The lead then belonged to Steis, but Mitch Stiles wanted another win, and the two were fighting hard battling for the win, but Steis bobbled in the third turn, as Stiles dove under the leader to become the new leader and eventual winner of the race. Eric Lucas was second, Steis regrouped for third, Fenton was fourth and Shaffner was fifth. Steis and Rougeux split heat wins.
Twenty-three Little’s Drive In Four Cylinders answered the call for the feature, Justin Williamson beat Jason Elensky off the line at the start. Williamson took the lead and Josh Norton was second with Elensky third. On lap two, Elensky took second and was chasing the leader, but Williamson was running a smooth race and he held all challengers at bay. When the double checkered flags flew it was Williamson winning over Ryan Lippert who battled to second, Norton, Jesse Matney and Elensky. The heats were won by Lippert, Matney and “Wild” Bill Hassenplug.
Cameron Defenderfer out ran William Sterner at the start of the Thunder Car feature, with Charlie Stallman in third. The first lap saw Defenderfer leading and Kevin Bard in second. The top two would run that way the entire race with Parker Starr coming home third. Brock Foster and Matt Dixson rounded out the top five. The heats were won by Bard and Stallman.
Pit Notes: 79 Teams filled the pits, including: 10 Super Late Models, 13 Semi Lates, 8 Small Block Modifieds, 7 Penn-Ohio Pro Stocks, 9 Pure Stocks, 24 Four Cylinders and 8 Thunder Cars…Former NASCAR driver Matt Tifft was on hand and brought his Super Late home third…The BJW Fire Co. 50/50 went for a total of $800 to the winner…Coming up this week is a Weekly show for the Semi Lates, Small Block Modifieds, Penn-Ohio Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks and Little Drive In Four Cylinders. The ATVs and the UTVs will be back and the Four Cylinder Juniors will be back in action as well. Also there will be Kids Bike Racing #2 (Helmets are required)...July 19 there is no racing due to the Clearfield County Fair and on July 26th we’ll return with the Fay Lumadue Modified Memorial, a regular weekly Racing show the Old Skool Vintage Race teams and the Four Cylinder Juniors. For more details watch our Facebook page and our website at www.hiddenvalleyspeedway.net.
Summary:
Super Late Model Special - 1. Jon Lee, Summerville; 2. Del Rougeux, 3. Matt Tifft, 4. Rodney Phillips, 5. John Wayne Weaver, 6. Randy Burkholder, 7. John Brady, 8. Cody Lucas, 9. Dylan Fenton, 10. Todd English
Semi-Lates - 1. John Wayne Weaver, Commodore; 2. Dan Gill, 3. Nate Brady, 4. Gary Little, 5. Adam Nixon, 6. Jeremy Lippert, 7. Luke Hoffner, 8. Justin Owens, 9. Josh Henry, 10. Craig Bainey, 11. Ron Laubscher, 12. Chad Rougeux
Disqualified - BJ Hudson
Small Block Modifieds - 1. Hayden Holden, Tiona; 2. Jimmy Holden, 3. Chris Luzier, 4. Jeremy Beichner, 5. Aaron Casher, 6. Shannon Casher, 7. Craig Casher, 8. Dustin Fedder
Penn-Ohio Pro Stocks - 1. Brandon Connor, Penfield; 2. Chris Schneider, 3. Fuzzy Fields, 4. Allen Lamb, 5. Sheddy Graham, III, 6. Jim Bloom
Did Not Start - Louis Belisle
Pure Stocks - 1. Mitch Stiles, Stump Creek; 2. Eric Lucas, 3. Tim Steis, 4. Denny Fenton, 5. Ryan Shaffner, 6. Josh Fields, 7. Paul Metz, Jr., 8. Cody Cassler, 9. Noah Bloom, 10. Tyler Rougeux
Little’s Drive-In Four Cylinders - 1. Justin Williamson, Huntingdon; 2. Ryan Lippert, 3. Josh Norton, 4. Jesse Matney, 5. Jason Elensky, 6. Bill Hassenplug, 7. Anthony Sones, 8. Allen Robison, 9. Luke Hoffner, 10. Chris Anderson, 11. Chad Lidwell, 12. Tyler Gill, 13. Matt Dumall, 14. Bruce Long, 15. Joshua Lindenmuth, 16. Travis Semple, 17. Bethany McClellan, 18. Austin Fenton, 19. Dustin Miller, 20. Shane Wrigglesworm, 21. Kyler Henry, 22. Steven Jacobs, 23. Shane Williamson
Did Not Start - Jimmy Moyer
Thunder Cars Rear Wheel Drive Four Cylinders - 1. Cameron Defenderfer, Fayetteville; 2. Kevin Bard, 3. Parker Starr, 4. Brock Foster, 5. Matt Dixson, 6. Charlie Stallman, 7. William Sterner
Did Not Start - Ryan Pecht

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