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By DINO OBERTO
(6-29-25) The All Pro SpeedSTRs where back on blacktop for the first time in a decade, headlining “The Summer Slam” at Evergreen Raceway as part of Foley Action Track USA Extras under the promotional effort of Rich Tobias, and on hand was a good mix of dirt track stars with a few asphalt specialists which made for a very competitive feature.
And when all was said and done, standing in Fairway Chevrolet Victory Lane was a driver who has plenty of experience racing both surfaces. Matt Janisch of Nazareth proved to be no match for the rest of the pack despite the close action that went on behind him.
Janisch is no stranger when it comes to racing at Evergreen, winning previously here in TQ Midgets and 600 Micro Sprints, and now he can add a SpeedSTR to his list of accomplishments at the 1/3-mile oval.
Starting third, Janisch quickly advanced behind early leader JR Booth. By lap three, he had taken the lead, maintaining his position throughout the race. From that point on, he steadily increased his advantage, leaving the competition far behind by the time the checkers waved.
During a lap seven caution was the only time the field got close, but once the race resumed, the leader quickly regained his dominance. By the time the conclusion of the race Janisch had established nearly a half-track advantage.
“I didn’t know at first just how far ahead we were. I did glance up at the leaderboard about halfway through the race and saw where we where against everyone else and thought that with the cars behind me they would close up, but that never happened,” said Janisch.
“Rich (Tobias) gave us a good tire to run with today and it didn’t hurt either that I’ve been good here in the past especially with TQs. I kind of have a good idea on how to get around here and know what is fast.”
Everyone, including Janisch, worked on determining the appropriate set-up for the race. Janisch last raced a SpeedSTR on asphalt 10 years ago at Mahoning Valley Speedway.
“I pretty much just set the offset to the max and just took a guess on springs and really went off from what Rich recommended, and we weren’t that far off,” noted Janisch.
“All in all I felt it was great to have these cars back on the pavement and there’s not many series out there that you can take the same car and put a different setup on it, change the tires and run them on both dirt and asphalt.”
Although Janisch may have been having his way while leading the battle for second spot was a whole different race as a very tight knit group of cars ran under a blanket virtually the entire time.
As Booth was holding down second, he remained under extreme pressure with the likes of Bobby Butler, Anthony Sesely and Earl Paules and for a while Cole Stangle.
Butler, Sesely and Paules all traded spots back and forth while keeping closely glued to the rear tail tank of Booth. Paules then showed a burst of speed late in the going when he disposed of Sesely and Butler unseated Booth with just a few laps remaining.
By then, however, Janisch was well on his way to taking the checkers. Janisch, along with many in the field, are regulars on Wednesday nights at Foley Action Track USA in Kutztown. And for the winner he has come very close to winning there, including a heartbreaking runnerup this past week. It was though, his fourth All Pro SpeedSTR win, with three coming on paved tracks including Wall Stadium Speedway and Shangri-La II Speedway while his lone dirt victory took place at New Egypt Speedway.
In the 602 Crate Modifieds it turned out to be another victorious day for a young driver who seems to have the knack for capturing checker flags no matter where he or what races.
Paulie Hartwig III of Galloway, NJ, who is known as “Boy Wonder” made his first appearance at Evergreen this season a successful one and he ended it the same way he did when he last raced here in 2024, in Victory Lane.
Coming from eighth on the grid, Hartwig worked quickly to get into the top-5, doing so by taking care of one spot after another until reaching second place by lap eight. At that point he was behind leader Jacob Kerstetter and bidding his time, waiting for just the right time to strike.
As they reached the 10th circuit the front pair began a crowd-pleasing side-by-side clash, putting on some good, clean hard racing. With Hartwig on the outside of Kerstetter he began to creep ahead and coming off turn 4 to complete the 13th lap, he had the nose of his No. 73 out front.
Hartwig would not look back from there as he cruised to his 14th career Evergreen win.
Defending 602 Crate Modified champion Steve Shultz provided a thrilling display of speed and maneuverability. Under a slew of green flag laps Shultz continued to pick off cars, eventually advancing to second by lap 25. However, Hartwig had built a substantial lead by then time had run out for him to make a challenge on the leader. Nonetheless it was a great effort by Shultz.
In the Street Stock main, it appeared that Gordie Buchman was on his way to a second straight win. But Thomas Flanagan of Bethlehem, who was making his first start, used a restart with four laps to go and was able to shoot past for the lead and hold on for his first win here in three years.
The TQs of the Penn-NY Midgets were on hand which saw several drivers doing double duty between the SpeedSTRs and TQs which included Tanner VanDoren of Snecksville who parlayed his pole starting spot into a rousing victory, wheeling Michael Murray’s No. 12 ahead of the pack the entire distance.
Tyler Wagner gave chase all race long and took second while SpeedSTR winner Janisch drove to third.
The Four Cylinder class has off for the next race on July 5 so many looked to get their laps in this week before the break.
However, there would be no denying the power from race winner Michael Wambold of Brodheadsville, who jumped to the lead from the outset and then stayed the course throughout for his first career win at Evergreen. Point leader and two-time winner this season TJ Kapish ran second.
Adding to the full day of action where the Slingshots and Amanda Angstadt from Exeter made her first start on pavement a memorable one, putting in a flawless run en route to victory and also beating one of the all-time greats in the process, Brett Bieber.
SpeedSTR feature finish (30): 1. Matt Janisch, 2. Earl Paules, 3. JR Booth, 4. Bobby Butler, 5. Anthony Sesely, 6. Daniel Schumaker, 7. Scott Houdeshell, 8. Austin Kroboth, 9. Cale Zangli, 10. Cole Stangle, 11. Tanner VanDoren, 12. Tyler Kehs
602 Crate Modified feature finish (30 Laps): 1. Paulie Hartwig III, 2. Steve Shultz, 3. Jacob Kerstetter, 4. Mick Dutka, 5. Micah Adams, 6. Brian Rygielski Jr., 7. Jerry Hildebrand, 8. Bobby Jones, 9. Mike Albasini, 10. Deegen Underwood, 11. Max Pfeifer, 12. Marty Knoll. 13. Randy Ahner Jr., 14. Jacob Boehm, 15. Tommy Catanzaro
Street Stock feature finish (30 laps): 1. Thomas Flanagan, 2. Gordie Buchman, 3. Bobby Hunsicker Jr., 4. Paul Frantz, 5. Cory Derr, 6. Mallory Kutz, 7. Dennis Buss, 8. Sarah Derr, 9. Geary Rinehimer Jr.
Four Cylinder feature finish (20 laps): 1. Michael Wambold, 2. TJ Kapish, 3. Michael Klotz, 4. Jared Frye, 5. Sam Ryan, 6. Dob Bauder, 7. Caitlyn Makarewicz, 8. Brooklyn Peters, 9. Jacob Knittle, 10. Lauren Skupski, 11. Maggie Wambold, 12. Cody Boehm
TQ Midget feature finish (18 laps): 1. Tanny VanDoren, 2. Tyler Wagner, 3. Matt Janisch, 4. Jasper Ziegafose, 5. Josh Patterson, 6. Billy Cole, 7. Don Zirinski, 8. Ken Hirt, 9. Ozzy Carlino, 10. Lexi Przybylinski, 11. Howard Boss, 12. Chris Hirt, 13. Bobby Butler
Slingshot feature finish (12 laps): 1. Amanda Angstadt, 2. Brett Bieber, 3. Anna Strachko, 4. Ryan Raidaine
