Silfee wins Super Slingshot Fair National
KUTZTOWN » National Dirt Week at the Kutztown Fair continued on Thursday, August 16 with the third annual Super Slingshot Fair National, and Jared Silfee went home with the $2,000 winner’s check. It was Silfee’s first triumph in the 55lap event, his third of the season at Championship Energy Action Track USA, and his fourth career All Star Slingshot victory at the Kutztown Fairgrounds oval.
Thirty-nine cars entered the Super Slingshot Fair National, and after the qualifying process was complete, 28 of the Slingers took the green flag in the 55-lap main event. The original start was aborted after second-place starter CJ Fritz was shoved into the outside wall on the homestretch.
Silfee, the pole sitter, shot out to the early lead over Kyle Herve, Taylor Mills, Justin Thompson, and Dylan Hoch, who scrapped for positions two through five. A couple of caution periods slowed the action but laps seven through 19 went clean and green, allowing the leader to catch the back of the field and begin lapping cars. With Silfee in heavy traffic, Herve began to track him down and, just when he was ready to challenge for the top spot, the yellow waved with 19 complete, freeing Silfee from that traffic.
As the S&S Speedways No. 55 of Silfee pulled away on the ensuing restart, the battle for second turned into an entertaining tussle between Herve and Dylan Hoch. Hoch wrestled the spot from Herve on lap 21, only to have Herve turn the tables on him just three circuits later. On a restart with 26 tours in the books, Hoch ducked under Herve and reclaimed the runner-up slot for good.
Several caution periods dotted the second half of the event, with Silfee holding serve on each restart. He motored away from Hoch every time the green reappeared, with Taylor Mills snatching third from Herve as the race entered its final stages. A restart with seven to go offered the opportunity for Brett Bieber to slip past Herve for fourth. With Herve stuck in the outside lane, Dave Carraghan also dashed past him to snare the fifth position.
A final yellow flag, with five circuits remaining, gave Hoch one more shot at the leader, but Silfee was just too strong on this night, pulling away to win by 1.652-seconds over Hoch, with Mills completing the top three. Bieber and Carraghan finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
“I was never so nervous because of all those cautions,” said Silfee, who hails from Saylorsburg, PA. “And then I saw the No. 35 was second, and that had me real worried because he’s so good here. But we had a real good car tonight and got it done.”
The night began with the final 15 laps of the postponed feature from August 1st. When that race began, and just before a torrential downpour drenched the facility and sent the Slingshots scrambling off the track and back to their trailers, Cody Kline grabbed the lead from Nick Vinciguerra on a restart with four laps complete. The yellow flag waved with five tours scored, and it was during that caution period that the monsoon began. Kline led the field to green on Thursday as the race resumed, and he stayed out front for the remaining 15 trips around the oval to win his first main event - ever at Action Track USA.
Jared Silfee moved into the runner-up spot on lap eight and Brett Bieber charged into third place near the end, but it was Kline, from Bangor, PA, notching the win over Silfee and Bieber. Vinciguerra and Kyle Herve rounded out the top five.