Published: September 25, 2022
JENNERSTOWN -- Barry Awtey clinched the Martella’s Pharmacies Late Models division title a week early, but finally got to celebrate on Championship Night at Jennerstown Speedway on Saturday.
Awtey, who finished second in the final race of the year behind winner Garry Wiltrout, had a tremendous 2022 campaign. Awtey won 10 feature events, which is half of the division’s feature races, and finished in the top five in all but one race.
The championship is the second consecutive for Awtey and ninth overall. Awtey was Jennerstown Speedway’s Limited Late Model champion in both 1987 and 1988 and the Late Model champion in 2000, 2003, 2007, 2014, 2016, and 2021.
He finished a whopping 106 points ahead of Bryan Shipp, who finished second behind Awtey in the standings a season ago as well. Jarred Barclay repeated with a third-place finish in the points.
The One Stop Auto Sales Pro Stock championship came down to the final event. Jeff Giles had an eight-point lead going into the feature race over former track champion Adam Kostelink.
After winning last week, Giles started toward the back and had to climb his way through traffic. Kostelnik started on the front row and battled for the lead with Will Hemminger, but Hemminger pulled away leaving Kostelnik in second. For more than half the race, Giles struggled to move into the top five, but with just seven laps to go, Giles got into a position that would secure the track championship.
A caution came out with five laps to go for a single car spin on the back stretch. The restart stacked the cars back up. Hemminger pulled away for the win after the restart, leaving Kostelnik second once again. Giles worked his way to third, which was enough to beat Kostelnik in the points and claim his first-ever track championship by just six points over Kostelnik.
Tom Golik capped off a back-to-back title run in the Stoystown Auto Wreckers Modifieds with a third-place finish. Golik had a 14-point lead going into the feature event over Jason Busch.
Busch had to move to a competitor’s car after a wreck in hot laps. John Fama allowed Busch to jump behind the wheel of his machine and tape the number 42 on it to compete for the championship.
Anthony Aiello picked up his fourth modified win of the season. Busch came up short with a fifth-place finish in the feature race.
Steve Singo has been behind the wheel of a race car for 24 years. On Saturday night, the Hooversville native won his first-ever championship. Singo has been atop the Farmer’s Union Co-Op Chargers standings all season long. All he had to do was start the feature race to claim the division championship.
Nate Valente, who finished second in the point standings behind Singo, started on the pole and led every lap, but it wasn’t enough to chip into Singo’s points lead. Singo finished fourth, but still celebrated on the front stretch as the champion.
It took two green-white-checkered finishes to crown a champion in the Ron’s Collision Center Street Stocks.
Brent Bickerstaff won his first race of the season after holding off Dale Kimberly. Kimberly made the pass for the lead on the final lap, but a caution regrouped the field for a restart. Bickerstaff and Kimberly were battling once again when the white flag waived a second time after the restart, but cars got together again, tearing up points leader Greg Burbidge’s car.
Like Singo, Greg Burbidge had a big enough lead in the standings where all he had to do was take the green flag on Saturday to claim the championship over Kimberly. A somber Burbidge was recognized as the division champion despite not taking the checkered flag after the wreck.
Bickerstaff and Kimberly restarted on the front row for a final time. The caution cooled the tires of Bickerstaff’s car enough to hold on for his first win of the year.
Johnathan Haburcsak also secured his first championship in the Somerset Trust Fast N’ Furious 4’s. Haburcsak, racing in just his second season, had a sizeable lead over Caleb Vasos coming into the night.
Haburcsak's car had issues last week and could not go again on Saturday. Haburcsak climbed behind the wheel of a Carlson Racing machine and used painter’s tape to put a No. 40 on it to run the final two races of the year.
Despite the issues, Haburcsak finished with a top five. Travis Shaffer claimed his first career win in the division after Caleb Vasos lost a right front tire and ended up in the wall with just a few laps left.
