Jeremy Weaver celebrates his $2,000 Western PA Speedweek championship (Rick Rarer photo)
June 1, 2025 (Shippenville, PA)…In what has become a common occurrence in 2025, the biggest winner of Western PA Speedweek was Mother Nature as she claimed three of the five victories on the week. Despite the constant struggles with rain and unseasonably cold temperatures, two races were completed at the half-mile speed factories known as Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and Tri City Raceway Park.
After leading exactly half of the contested 50 feature laps across the two main events, Jeremy Weaver settled for 2nd place finishes on both occasions. The consistency for the 23 year-old from Stoneboro, PA was enough to propel the Bob McMillin owned #5 machine to the Western PA Speedweek championship, narrowly fending off teenage sensation Steven Snyder, Jr (1st & 7th place finishes) and Matt Farnham (3rd & 4th place finishes) atop the standings. The sponsors on the championship winning car are BALA Management, H&H Materials, Slippery Rock Materials and Tri City Raceway Park.
Heading into the Western PA Speedweek finale at Tri City Raceway Park, Brandon Spithaler was atop the point standings by virtue of his win in the PPMS opener. Everything appeared headed in the right direction for the Barris #32B as the team began the night by claiming the overall quick time award in qualifying, and followed that up by transferring through their heat and making it into the redraw. Rolling off from the fifth starting position, the night quickly unraveled for Spithaler when the torque tube let go just a few laps into the main event, ultimately ending their night and his bid for the Western PA Speedweek crown.
The five-race miniseries known as Western PA Speedweek was scheduled to kickoff at Michael’s Mercer Raceway (Mercer, PA) on Wednesday, May 28th, but Mother Nature had other plans in store. An all-day rain event made for an easy, albeit unwelcome, decision by track and series officials to cancel the opening race.
Western PA Speedweek moved on to the sprawling half-mile oval of Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (Imperial, PA) for the second leg of the tour. Despite the chilly weather and unfavorable outlook for the coming weekend races, a strong field of 27 ‘410’ sprint cars headed to Dirt’s Monster Half Mile to open the speedweek festivities. Brandon Spithaler ultimately emerged victories for his first career win at the Pittsburgh oval, as well as his first career win in the Barris #32B. Jeremy Weaver settled for 2nd after leading early in the race. The top five was completed by 9th starting Matt Farnham, 13th starting Carl Bowser, and Michael Bauer.
The highly anticipated Friday event at Lernerville was dealt a bad hand by Mother Nature, with significant forecasted rain totals forcing the cancellation by track and series officials early in the afternoon. The 6th Annual Jean Lynch Classic presented by Mosites Lynch Racing was scheduled to pay $4,000 to-win before succumbing to the weather. Remarkably, this marked the first rainout for Lernerville Speedway during a Western PA Speedweek event after being successful in their first 11 attempts that spanned from 1993-2000, and continued again from 2021-2024.
Sharon Speedway had high hopes of celebrating their fifth running of Western PA Speedweek on Saturday, May 31st by paying $5,000 to-win which marked the highest amount of the week. Unfortunately those hopes were dashed in the early morning hours when the weather outlook proved far too much to overcome. The track began the day with already saturated grounds from previous weather encounters, and then was met with persistent rain showers, high wind, and real feel temps below 50 degrees. Despite the track management’s best intentions to race, the possibility of safely completing a show simply did not exist.
The Western PA Speedweek finale at Tri City Raceway Park on Sunday evening was filled with enough fireworks to make up for the lack of racing action the previous two days. After speedweek point leader Brandon Spithaler retired early in the race with mechanical troubles, teenage racer Steven Snyder, Jr and Ohio hotshoe Ricky Peterson waged battle for the lead as they fought through heavy lapped traffic. Significant contact was made between the two drivers in turns three and four, which opened the door for Jeremy Weaver to snatch the lead. Weaver extended his lead over the second place running Snyder at various points of the A-Main, but a late-race charge from the Rising Sun, MD driver put Snyder within striking distance. After the leaders took the white flag, Snyder positioned his #27H machine just close enough to where a last corner slider could be placed on Weaver. And sure enough, the move worked as Steven Snyder, Jr slid by and won a drag race to the line by 0.079 seconds.
The win was the first career for Snyder, Jr in a ‘410’ sprint car after making only a handful of starts in the division. This also marked the first win for Heffner Racing on the Western PA Speedweek trail. Australian native Brock Hallett, fresh off his win the previous night at Ohio’s Fremont Speedway, rounded out the podium in his first visit to the speedway. Matt Farnham and 15th starting A.J. Flick completed the Top 5.
Despite only completing two of the scheduled five races, a $9,000 point fund was still offered thanks to the incredible support of the Western PA Speedweek partners.
Final Western PA Speedweek Point Standings (Top 10)
1. 5 – Jeremy Weaver [190 points] – $2,000
2. 27H – Steven Snyder, Jr [182 points] – $1,500
3. 7NY – Matt Farnham [178 points] – $1,200
4. 2 – A.J. Flick [170 points] – $1,000
5. 46 – Michael Bauer [164 points] – $800
t6. 11 – Carl Bowser [160 points] – $650
t6. 98 – Ricky Peterson [160 points] – $650
8. 29 – Logan McCandless [154 points] – $500
9. 13 – Brandon Matus [152 points] – $400
10. 32B – Brandon Spithaler [151 points] – $300
Full results for Western PA Speedweek can be found HERE.
Full point standings for Western PA Speedweek can be found HERE.
Western PA Speedweek is brought to you by Schaeffer’s Specialized Lubricants together with JS Bova Excavating along with the support of The 21st Century Energy Group, A-Main Landscaping, Anytime Fitness of Sarver, Briscoe Run Land Surveying, Bowl O Drome of Grove City, Classic Ink USA, The Dirt Network, Fox’s Pizza Den-Mercer, Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic, Hobaugh’s Auto Parts, JDR Parts Barn and Sales, Jerich Company, Kistler Engines & Racing Products, The Knox Bakery, Knox Raceway, McCandless Ford, McClung Auto Body, Mobile Bail Bonds, Rod Squad Fishing Charters, Rustler Sales & Service, Superior Interiors Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Sprintcarnews.com, and Virgile Iron & Steel.
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