8/24/2025
Birch Run Speedway
Feature winners equal Champions to wrap up 2025 weekly racing season at Birch Run!
Robbie Johnson took the lead from his outside front row starting position for the O'Guinn Family Funeral Homes Modifieds 40-lap feature. All eyes were on the battles on track, but also the points battle between Nick Lechota, Michael Luberda, and David McManus. Johnson led the first 10 trips around until McManus sailed in on the outside in turn one and completed the pass to grab the lead. Scott Quall moved into third after a fierce battle with Johnson and Justin Noffsinger. A lap 16 caution set up a restart with McManus on the inside and Luberda to his outside. McManus charged ahead as Luberda followed behind. Lechota, the points leader entering the night (and driving with a broken arm), started contending for third as he tried to get around both Johnson and Noffsinger. Another caution with 12 to go had McManus in first, Luberda second, and Lechota up to fourth. Again, McManus commanded the start and advanced to the lead ahead of Luberda. McManus never slowed over the course of the last 10 laps and went on to claim victory over Luberda, Noffsinger, Lechota, and Johnson. In one of the closest point battles in recent history, David McManus, who came into the night third in points, became the 2025 O'Guinn Family Funeral Homes Modified Champion over Luberda by two points! For McManus, it is his fourth track Championship in five years (2021,2022,20223, and 2025)!
The "Iron Horses" of the third mile at Birch Run Speedway, the Backroad Beaute' Salon American Race Trucks, put Anthony Richardson and Michael Dvorscak on the front row for their Championship race. Brad Reseigh and Greg Long III jockeyed for position, battling for second spot. Championship contenders Darren Burton and Charles Hamilton started coming through the field from their seventh and eighth starting spots. Burton got past Hamilton three laps in and started setting his sights on the lead group of Richardson, Long III, and Reseigh. 19 laps to go, and Burton had moved into third and one lap later got a two-for-one special. Moving to the outside of turn two, Burton picked off Reseigh and Richardson to take the lead. Hamilton challenged Long III for third as two and three wide racing littered the third mile. The pressure of two cautions and ensuing restarts over the course of the last 10 laps didn't faze the veteran Burton as he held off Hamilton, Reseigh, Josh DeLong, and Richardson. Burton's feature win netted him the 2025 Backroad Beaute' Salon American Race Trucks Championship, his first in 40 years of racing!
A former Pure Stock Champion and a Figure 8 ace led the field to green for the Finish Line Seamless Gutters Pure Stocks. Williams, with the inside position, claimed the lead at lap one. The field remained two-wide, battling behind for position. Bruce Dunton Jr, Mosier, Kyle Callahan, and Jim Miller Jr waged a war for position. Miller tried the outside of the cars in front of him, but fell back to sixth and then got back to fifth with 13 laps in. Williams, in one of his strongest showings, continued to pace the field until 10 to go when the caution flag flew. He would grab the lead on the restart as Miller started a charge to the front, moving into third. Miller stalked Williams and, coming out of turn four with the white flag waving, Miller got inside of Williams. The duo pushed the limits entering one, neither driver giving an inch, and Miller came out of turn two with the lead and went on to secure his fifth win of 2025 and become a back-to-back Finish Line Seamless Gutters Pure Stocks Champion to go with his Street Stock Championship in 2006!
A caution on the opening lap of the Front Wheel Drive feature resulted in a change in the running order for the ensuing restart. Layden Delong snatched the lead from Matthew Baker off turn two. Point leader Mark Williamson and Daegan Clayton moved into contention for the win, but a caution four laps in saw Clayton head pitside for repairs. Williamson led the charge on the restart as DeLong fell back to second. Fast qualifier Emily Clayton got to third to battle with DeLong. While DeLong tried holding off the pair of Claytons in Daegan and Emily and Gavin Iseler, Williamson maintained his lead and parked in victory lane for the third time in 2025 and clinched the Front Wheel Drive Championship!
Backroad Beaute' Salon Fast qualifiers for the night were:
Front Wheel Drive Compacts - Emily Clayton 18.186
Backroad Beaute' Salon American Race Trucks - Darren Burton 16.948
Finish Line Seamless Gutters Pure Stocks - Lonnie Saumier Jr 17.055
O'Guinn Family Funeral Homes Modifieds - Tim Lahar 16.259
Four Car Dashes and Australian Pursuits were won by:
O'Guinn Family Funeral Homes Modifieds
Four Car Dash - Scott Quall
Australian Pursuit - Mark Labean (first modifed Birch Run win!)
Australian Pursuit - Nick Lechota
Backroad Beaute' Salon American Race Trucks
Four Truck Dash - Brad Reseigh
Australian Pursuit - Jason Dvorscak
Australian Pursuit - Josh DeLong
Finish Line Seamless Gutters Pure Stocks
Four Car Dash - Hunter Doutre
Australian Pursuit - Talen Diehl (first checkered flag at Birch Run Speedway!)
Front Wheel Drive Compacts
Australian Pursuit - Gavin Iseler (1st Birch Run Speedway win!)
This Friday is the next-to-last Monster X Metals and Gold Eve of Destruction at Birch Run Speedway! The carnage and chaos will kick off at 7:30 and feature the Push and Pull races along with the Flagpole RWD and FWD, Back to School, Oval enduro, Figure 8 enduro, and School Bus Figure 8 races. Gates open at 5, and advance tickets can be purchased at www.birchrunevents.com
Submitted By: Charles Darling
Article Media
