Smoke on the Rail BBQ Festival (Day 2)
2025-07-26 – 2025-07-27 · New Freedom, PA · 📍 1 Playground Alley · State championship
Reps: BILL JONES, LOUISE WEIDNER, ROBERT MCKEE · Prize money: $8,000.00
Grand Champion: Smokin Hoggz BBQ - MA (704.5256) · 27 teams
Reserve Champion: 🥈 OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE
Entries
Top score
Winning margin
Field average
Perfect 180s
Tightest race
Top-10 cutoff
Field spread
Prize money
Double threats
How hot was the win?
Traveled in
Came back for more
Form held
Field strength
Storylines
🧳 Out-of-towners took the title
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA took the Grand Championship home to MA.
🔥 A day of perfect scores
3 perfect 180s were scored at this contest.
📸 Photo finishes
Master Series — Chicken places 1–2: SMOKECRAFT - MD and OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE tied on 176.5600 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Master Series — Chicken places 3–4: Big Bobs Smokin Que and UP IN SMOKERS tied on 175.4172 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Master Series — Chicken places 6–7: DRILLING & GRILLING and GETTIN' BASTED tied on 174.2744 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
🛡️ Back to defend
Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: The Fat is Where It's At (won 2024), Piggy & Swine BBQ (won 2025).
🃏 An upset on the books
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA came in rated below the field's top team, GETTIN' BASTED, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 29-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
Where the field came from (home regions on file)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-07-26 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 35 | 693.0512 | Rooters-N-Tooters TN | BLUE EYED BBQ |
| 2024-07-27 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 32 | 703.9544 | The Fat is Where It's At | WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ |
| 2025-07-25 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 30 | 706.8112 | Piggy & Swine BBQ | HotMess BBQ |
| 2025-07-26 ← this one | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 27 | 704.5256 | Smokin Hoggz BBQ - MA | OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE |
| 2026-07-24 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 43 | 710.8688 | B's Que | BBQ Maestros |
| 2026-07-25 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 39 | 707.4172 | Boggs Hog BBQ | ELJEFE SMOKE |
| 2027-07-23 | New Freedom, PA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2027-07-24 | New Freedom, PA | — | — | — | — | — |
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Series — Chicken | 176.5600 | 175.4056 | 171.9772 |
| Master Series — Pork Ribs | 180.0000 | 175.4172 | 171.9772 |
| Master Series — Pork | 180.0000 | 175.4172 | 173.7028 |
| Master Series — Brisket | 177.7144 | 172.5600 | 167.4288 |
| Backyard Series — Chicken | 180.0000 | 174.2628 | 171.9772 |
| Backyard Series — Pork Ribs | 177.7372 | 173.1200 | 169.6800 |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
27 entries · top 704.5256 · median 671.8628
Chicken
27 entries · top 176.5600 · median 170.8344
Pork Ribs
27 entries · top 180.0000 · median 167.4056 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork
27 entries · top 180.0000 · median 169.1316 · 🔥 perfect 180
Brisket
27 entries · top 177.7144 · median 166.2628
Backyard Series
Overall
26 entries · top 350.2628 · median 336.5200
Chicken
26 entries · top 180.0000 · median 169.4114 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork Ribs
26 entries · top 177.7372 · median 168.2514
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Ancillary — Dessert
13 entries · top 180.0000 · median 176.0000 · 🔥 perfect 180