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BROOKFIELD, NY – The “beaver” has been caught.
John Lutes Jr. pulled off a popular – and long-awaited – Modified victory on Saturday at Brookfield Speedway, earning $2,000 from the “Chasing the Golden Beaver” event bringing Modifieds to Madison County for their sole appearance of 2026.
The twice-postponed-by-weather event at Brookfield took place under beautiful fall conditions on Saturday with a packed pit area of 76 entries taking part in the program.
Altamont, N.Y.’s Lutes – who has shown an affinity for Brookfield since the historic venue’s resurrection – narrowly edged Blaine Klinger in lapped traffic for the triumph, greeting the event mascot Brookfield Beaver in Victory Lane.
Lutes started from the pole of the 30-lap main following the redraw of top heat-race finishers but fought hard to maintain the lead at the tight quarter-mile oval.
He turned back a pair of series challengers: first Alex Bell and later Klinger for the breakthrough victory.
Bell and Klinger traded the runner-up spot through mid-race restarts before Klinger’s No. 9K took second position.
With lapped traffic coming into play during the final green-flag run, Klinger and Bell erased the advantage of Lutes’ Tom Clothier Trucking No. 959.
Walton, N.Y.’s Klinger, a past Sportsman victor at Brookfield, dove for the inside lane approaching the Sunoco Race Fuels checkered flag, falling just shy of the bid with a runner-up finish.
Cambridge, N.Y.’s Bell settled for third, followed by J.R. Hurlburt of Otego, N.Y., and Aaron Doolittle of Bloomingburg, N.Y., who started 10th.
Defending event winner Danny Creeden was eliminated from the event with a broken axle.
Modified heat winners were Hurlburt and Klinger.
Like their Modified counterparts, the M.J. Keith Construction Sportsman division produced a down-to-the-wire finish in the 25-lap feature. Gary Smith of Harpursville, N.Y., invaded Brookfield and scored the $700 payday.
As Smith led in the final five laps, Tim Falter and a fast-closing Matthew Richardson set up a three-car battle for the lead.
Falter, of Cicero, N.Y., ducked low on the final lap, but Smith blocked his advances.
Richardson was third, followed by Clayton DuMond and veteran Dale Welty.
Kenny Gates of West Winfield, N.Y., continued his domination of the Anderson Towing & Recovery Pro Stock ranks at Brookfield, leading wire-to-wire in the 20-lap main for a $500 top prize over Butchie Irwin and Bret Belden.
T.J. Smith of Oxford, N.Y., pulled off a winning pass with five laps remaining in the Hustle the Highway Series 600 Modified 20-lap feature for the $500 top prize. Smith cleared race-long leader Travis Brockner and held back Talan Oliver.
Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were 11th-starter Chuck Lohmeyer, Sam Hubbard and Brockner.
The 20-lap White’s Welding & Custom Cutting LLC Four Cylinder event went to West Winfield, N.Y.’s Kyle Simmons over Colin Mills, Ethan Weeks, Josh Reome and John Decker. Wayne Russell Jr. was the Single Cam winner.
Wayne Archer collected the Enduro $500 top prize from a 17-car field.
Saturday’s program concluded the 2026 season at Brookfield Speedway.
Brookfield Speedway is located at 1968 Fairground Road Brookfield, N.Y. 13314 and can be reached by phone at 315.941.6133, on the web at www.brookfieldspeedway.com, via e-mail at madisoncountyfair39@yahoo.
“CHASING THE GOLDEN BEAVER” RACE RESULTS SUMMARY – OCT. 3, 2026
“Chasing the Golden Beaver” Modified Feature Finish (30 laps): 1. 959-John Lutes[1]; 2. 9K-Blaine Klinger[3]; 3. 22M-Alex Bell[4]; 4. 6H-JR Hurlburt[2]; 5. 45J-Aaron Doolittle[10]; 6. 9-Ken Titus[7]; 7. 27J-Jared Miller[8]; 8. 27-Jason Reome[12]; 9. 45W-Mike Ward[11]; 10. 38-Jeff Sheely[5]; 11. 9X-Jim Introne Jr[9]; 12. 16X-Dan Creeden[6]
MJ Keith Construction Sportsman Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. 7UP-Gary Smith[1]; 2. 71-Tim Falter[3]; 3. 262-Matthew Richardson[6]; 4. 314-Clayton Dumond[5]; 5. 123-Dale Welty[7]; 6. 9-Todd Titus[4]; 7. 32W-Mike Hurlburt[8]; 8. O8-Doug Sheely[11]; 9. 55-Jonny Feagles[2]; 10. 5S-Keith Simpson[9]; 11. (DNS) M-Kyle Smith
Anderson Towing & Recovery Pro Stock Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[1]; 2. 177B-Butchie Irwin[2]; 3. 81-Bret Belden[3]; 4. 35B-Hayleigh Gates[4]; 5. 28G-Gus Gould[5]; 6. 909-Kailey Jaycox[6]
Hustle the Highway Series 600 Modified Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. 101-TJ Smith[3]; 2. 24-Talan Oliver[8]; 3. 5-Chuck Lohmeyer[11]; 4. 28-Sam Hubbard[5]; 5. 151-Travis Brockner[2]; 6. O4D-Anthony Desimone[12]; 7. 22-Owen Mossow[7]; 8. 49-Casey Doll[4]; 9. O8-Alan Barker[14]; 10. 27-Zack Hall[15]; 11. 44-Eric Bonham[1]; 12. 43-Andrew Rice[16]; 13. 14-Marty Eaves[13]; 14. 15-Chase Lohmeyer[17]; 15. 53JR-Aiden Miller[10]; 16. 79-Josh Mudge[6]; 17. 314-Kyle Percy[9]
White’s Welding & Custom Cutting Four Cylinder Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. 13D-Kyle Simmons[1]; 2. 23D-Collin Mills[2]; 3. 28WD-Ethan Weeks[9]; 4. 129D-Josh Reome[4]; 5. 67D-John Decker[5]; 6. 7D-Gavin Gifford[3]; 7. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[12]; 8. 31D-Jeff Connolly[7]; 9. H35S-Hank Wedgren Jr[10]; 10. 736S-David DeNova[8]; 11. 171D-Cory Mayer[6]; 12. 3AS-John Witt[11]; 13. (DNS) 11CD-Hank Wedgren
Enduro Winner (50 laps): B52-Wayne Archer (17 entries)
