Stiles and Stahl new weekly winners; Bender, Longo win vintage races at Hidden Valley
July 20, 2026

Stiles and Stahl new weekly winners; Bender, Longo win vintage races at Hidden Valley

CLEARFIELD — Mitch Stiles of Stump Creek picked up his first win of the season in the Penn Ohio Pro Stocks and Kyler Stahl of Wattsontown picked up his first ever HVS win in the Pure Stock main during Hidden Valley’s regular program Friday.

Chad Bender of Clearfield won the special for the PA on Dirt Vintage Modifieds while Steve Longo of Bradford won the Vintage Modified Sportsman portion.

Repeat winners include: BJ Hudson of Clearfield in the Semi Lates, Jimmy Holden of Tiona in the Small Block Modifieds, Scott Robison of Clearfield in the Four Cylinders and Eric Lucas of Clearfield in the make up Pure Stock feature. The Aquaholic Powder Puff event was won by Brenda Snell of Punxsutawney.

The Semi Late Feature had trouble getting started, but once it did, BJ Hudson was able to shoot into the lead with Justin Owens moving into second and Doug Surra moving to third. The top three ran that way several laps with Dylan Fenton, Tom Vilello and Jeremy Lippert all jockeying for position. The race came under caution again on lap eight, and with the field tightened up, Fenton was able to move by Surra for third, he and Surra battled for third several laps, then on lap 17, Surra blew a tire and drifted to a stop in turns three and four. The race saw another yellow on lap 17, before Fenton was able to muscle by Owens for second and set his sights on the leader, but Hudson had the hot set up, as he took his second win of the season. Fenton was a strong second over Owens, Lippert and Craig Bainey from 11th. Heat wins went to Brad Benton and Surra.

The Small Block Modifieds were brought to Sam McClellan’s green flag with Craig Casher and Jimmy Holden on the front row. The pair were wheel-to-wheel the first complete lap before Holden was able to take the lead and hold on the entire 20-lap, non-stop distance. Casher held on to a solid second, with Trent Ogden taking a convincing third, Levi Picard was fourth while battling with Aaron Casher and Milton Owens who rounded out the field. The heat was won by Craig Casher.

Dennis Curry and Nathan Brady brought the Penn Ohio Pro Stock field to the start, with Brady leading the opening lap, but then looping the #77 in turn two. This gave Curry the lead but on the restart, he got tagged on the backstretch and went sliding off the track into a third turn catch fence. He was not able to continue. This then put Rich Howell in the lead, but Mitch Stiles in search of a win and he was restarting third in the line up, and when the green waved, Stiles was able to drive around Howell and into the lead before the second lap was completed and once Stiles had the lead, he simply had to hold off Howell and Fuzzy Fields for his first win of the season. Zack Gustafson and Brandon Connor completed the top five. Heat wins went to Curry and Brady.

Pure Stock heat race winners Kyler Stahl and Caleb Bloom brought the field to McClellan’s green flag, with Stahl taking the lead and Ryan Shaffner sliding into second. Stahl led the event from green to double checkers, as Shaffner and Bloom trailed and worked to reel him in, but the newcomer had the right setup and picked up his first ever HVS win. Shaffner, Bloom, Eric Lucas and Ashley Kilhoffer completed the top five.

The Four Cylinder main went non-stop, with Scott Robison beating Ryan Lippert off the line at the start and holding off all the advances from Zack Frantz and Brett Hanley for his second win of the season. Robison was closely pursued over the line by Frantz, Hanley, Allen Robison and Greg Snell. Scott Robison and Lippert won the heats.

The PA Thunder on Dirt Vintage Modifieds had a smaller turnout than expected, as Chad Bender took the lead and Cody Schultz ran second for the first three laps, before Wally Stock was able to make his way into second. Stock was unable to gather the extra power to catch Bender, who had opened a slight lead and took the win. Bender said he hasn’t stood in the HVS victory lane in 20 years. Stock was second over Schultz with Sportsman drivers Steve Longo and Bob Alcorn completing the rundown. Bender also won the heat.

The make up Pure Stock feature from July 3, which was double points, saw Eric Lucas lead from start to finish Ryan Shaffner was second early on, but Caleb Bloom was able to find an opening on lap five and he took second and set his sights on Lucas, but there was no catching the leader at this time, as Lucas took the win over Bloom, Shaffner, George Bailey and Cody Cassler. Heat wins that night went to Lucas and Shaffner.

The Aquaholic Powder Puff race saw Melissa Robison and Brenda Snell on the front row, by luck of a pill pull. Snell darted into the lead and ran second for most of the race, before Bethany McClellan worked her way into second, on the final lap, as Snell took the win. The run down was Snell, McClellan, Robison, Gina Bush and Angelle Frantz. 

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