CLEARFIELD, Pa. — Hidden Valley Speedway kicked off the 2023 season Saturday night, and with that began its 31st season.
Gary Little and Steve Scaife Jr. led the Scaife’s Racing Supplies Semi Late feature to the green flag, with Little taking the lead and Scaife falling into a close second.
Levi Ardery was third with Justin Owens in fourth. The leaders were winding down the laps as Scaife spun on lap eight and slowed the race. This put Owens in second behind Little when the race restarted, with Ardery in third and fourth a battle between Brad Benton and Jeremy Lippert. As the race went on, Scaife was heading back to the front and on lap 14 the final caution waved for Ron Laubscher.
On the restart Scaife had worked his way back into second and he was chasing leader Little. Working down the backstretch on lap 19, when Little shot around Laubscher and Scaife had to try and avoid the lapped car, looping the 7s as the checkered flag was waving. At the end the finish saw Little getting the win over Owens, Scaife, Laubscher and Ardery.
Small Block Modifieds
Due to their heat wins, Jimmy Holden and Ayden Cipriano led the Small Block Modifieds to the start as Holden took the lead and opened up a decent lead with Cipriano, Kyle Fink, Kole Holden and Shannon Casher in tow.Â
They jockeyed around all evening in the feature, and it wasn’t until the end of the race when the final positions were decided. At the finish it was Jimmy Holden taking the win over Cipriano, K. Holden, Cashier and Fink.Â
Pure Stock
The Pure Stock feature was led to the start with John Eckenrod and Jake Foradori on the front row, as Eckenrod took the lead and held it through the first caution on lap three.
On the restart, Foradori shot into the lead and Eckenrod faded, falling to fourth by lap five with Eddie Gardner and Brady Gallaher taking second and third.
Eckenrod wasn’t giving up, and he was challenging Gardner and Gallaher the rest of the race, with Foradori still setting the pace. Eckenrod moved back into second on lap 12 when the final caution of the race waved.
On the restart, Eckenrod tried to get by Foradori, but he just could not make it work, as Foradori held on for his first career win.
Eckenrod was second, Gardner was third, Gallaher was fourth and Daryl Whetstone was fifth. Heat wins went to Eckenrod and Foradori won the heats.
Four Cylinders
In the Little’s Drive In Four Cylinders Jimmy Ogden and Tanner Ogden led the field to the start, with Jake Pennington leading the first lap from third, but it was Luke Hoffner who took the lead on lap two, and he held on to get the eventual win.
Second place was a hard fought battle as Pennington, Jason Elensky, Hunter Flook and Ryan Lippert all help the spot at one time or another, but when the checkered flag waved, it was Hoffner taking his 197th career feature win.
Lippert was second, followed by Virgil Meyer in third, Allen Robison in fourth and Nick Bem rounding out the top five. Heat wins went to the Ogdens.