BETHEL –– Bethel Speedway had a jam-packed two days of racing on tap for this past weekend, but persistent rain on Saturday turned it into a long, jam-packed Sunday, especially as other tracks in the area pulled the plug due to persistent rain.

After track drying attempts were going to be futile Saturday with the persistent rain, the entire show for both days was shifted to Sunday, with a 20-lap Full Fender Frenzy event, a 48-lap Phil Goetschius Memorial for the Sportsman cars, the Sullivan 100 for Street Stocks, a 100-lap Open Comp 4-Cylinder race, and the Iron Man 100-lap open comp enduro, the schedule was packed.

The Sportsman lineup was packed with outside “invaders”, including Justin Holland, who won the last 100-lap Sportsman event Bethel hosted back in 2011. Jared Labagh joined him, as did Corey Lowitt. Track regulars who have competed during the season included Jamie Yannone and Jeffrey Tubbs. Also in attendance were Jerry Curry and Matt Curry. Tubbs and Lowitt won their heat races, setting the stage for the feature. Yannone suffered from mechanical issues in the heat race, and was a DNS for the feature. Lowitt was on top of his game from the start right through the end, setting a fast time of 13.100, and he led every lap of the feature on his way to the win. Justin Holland finished second, where he ran for the majority of the race. Tubbs was third. J. Curry and LaBagh both finished one lap down, and M. Curry crossed the line four laps down.

The Street Stock feature, which lost early-season Accord winner Mikey Corbin from mechanical issues on Saturday, ran one heat race that was won by returning competitor John Brush (whose son Leland now runs the car regularly in competition). Leland was in the role of “crew chief” for the night. Brush crossed the line first in the heat race, followed by George VanArsdall, who has competed on a limited basis at Accord this year. Kevin Cargain finished third in the heat. Cargain definitely turned up the heat in the feature, as Brush got the early lead but then faced the difficulty of his tires “going away”, surrendering the lead to Cargain. 

At the halfway mark, the caution flag enabled Cargain to head to the pits for a tire change, although that meant Walt Henry (the only other lead lap car) would start ahead of him. Cargain, whose motor was running hot, got back out front fairly quickly, leaving Henry to finish second, and Brush crossed the line third.

Dan Houghtaling was prepared to run in the Renegades feature, but a motor issue caused him to withdraw before the heat race was run, setting up a battle between Tom Katz and his son Tucker, who was this year’s Street Stock division champion at Bethel. The younger Katz won the heat race, turning in a fast lap time that was less than 0.05 seconds ahead of his father. In the feature, however, experience prevailed as Tom took down the win.

Due to an early rainout at Riverhead, several cars showed up for the Open Comp  4-Cyliner race that weren’t expected. The two heat race wins were taken down by Scott Young and Sam Mesick. In spite of having to pit during the race, Mesick came back to win the feature, followed by Tucker Katz and Chris Hardenbergh. Fawn Card and Eou Hayward rounded out the top five.

Richie Smith dominated the Open Comp Enduro, collecting the win over Long Island’s Ryan Warren and Jessie Norman.

PHIL GOETSCHIUS MEMORIAL SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (48 laps): 1. COREY LOWITT, 2. Justin Holland, 3. Jeffrey Tubbs, 4. Jared LaBagh, 5. Jerry Curry, 6. Matt Curry. DNS: Jamie Yannone.

SULLIVAN 100 STREET STOCK FEATURE FINISH (100 LAPS): 1. KEVIN CARGAIN, 2. Walt Henry, 3. John Brush, 4. Walter Henry IV, 5. George VanArsdall. DNS – Glenn Cargain, Mikey Corbin.

FULL FENDER FRENZY FEATURE FINISH (20 laps): 1. TOM KATZ, 2. Tucker Katz. DNS – Dan Houghtaling.

OPEN COMPETITION 4 CYLINDER FEATURE FINISH (100 laps): 1. SAM MESICK, 2. Tucker Katz, 3. Chris Hardenburgh, 4. Fawn Card, 5. Eou Hayward, 6. AJ DeSantis, 7. Joe Warren, 8. CJ Zukowski, 9. Tisha Curry, 10. Scott Young, 11. Bradley Gruber, 12. Richie Smith.

OPEN COMPETITION ENDURO FEATURE FINISH (Top 3, 100 laps): 1. RICHIE SMITH, 2. Ryan Warren, 3. Jessie Norman.