Category: News

Bridgeport, NJ – Ryan Godown became the sixth different winner in the Foley Cat Modifieds this season with his dominating run on Saturday night. Dominick Buffalino, Ryan Krachun, Joseph Watson, Joe Toth and Tim Fuller (Super DIRTcar winner) have each recorded one victory to date but no one has been able to get back to the Weaknecht Archery Victory Lane so far this season.

This is not the case in the other divisions as Sammy Martz, Jr. added his fourth win in the South Jersey Overhead Door 602 Sportsman, Tom Wills, Jr. raced to his third win of 2021 as did Ethan Bill in the DA’s Auto Body & Repair Rookies.

Godown started fifteenth on the grid but raced into the top five in less than ten laps. The two previous Saturday night events for the Foley Cat Modifieds saw Godown finish second. Both races saw twenty-nine non-stop green flag laps with the one and only caution coming on the final lap. In both cases, Godown lined up third for the restart but crossed the finish line in second when the checkered waved.

But this week was different. Several yellow flags brought the field back together, especially during the early going. And that was the difference. “We had restarts tonight!,” the feature winner exclaimed. That was what made all of the difference.

But never mind that the Godown No. 26 was fast and enabled Godown to pass the competition at will.

Clay Butler was certainly hoping for another race with twenty-nine green flag laps as he led the way for the first eighteen laps. Godown took the lead on a lap nineteen restart and was never challenged once he put the No. 26 out in front.

Godown took the checkered flag over Dominick Buffalino, Alex Yankowski, defending track champion, Billy Pauch and Matt Stangle. After a very strong outing, Butler finished sixth after making hard contact with the turn one wall in the final laps. Krachun finished seventh with Joe Toth, Joseph Watson and Billy Osmun III rounding out the top ten.

Sammy Martz, Jr. added win number four in the South Jersey Overhead Door 602 Sportsman after Howie Finch and Wayne Weaver battled early for the lead. Martz took the lead from Finch following a lap seventeen restart and was able to pull away from the field once he was out in front.

Finch finished second with Ryan Godown, Jr. taking third from Wayne Weaver on the final lap. First year driver, Matt Ellery finished fifth after winning the battle with defending champion, Steve Kemery who finished sixth. Rookie, Ethan Bill finished seventh after starting in eighteenth. Tom Sherby, Howard Huepful and Billy Chester completed the top ten at the checkered.

The Rookie feature was the most competitive race yet. Shane Kassekert figured out how to run the outside and led the way through the first six laps, keeping previous winner, Ethan Bill at bay. A caution on the final lap put Kassekert on the inside and Bill used the outside line to take the lead and the win. Kassekert finished second followed by Mike Creamer, Zach Cox and Ethan Young.

Tom Wills, Jr. picked up his third win of the season in the Sunbelt Rental Street Stocks. His back to back victories were a first for Wills who had never won two races in a row before Saturday night – not even in the seasons where he won the championship. Spider Ensinger made his first Bridgeport appearance of the season and finished second in front of Jeff Dirkes, Jeramy Doerr and Brian Ludwig, who was also making his first Bridgeport start of the season

The Foley Cat Modifieds join the World of Outlaws on Tuesday night for a double header. Racing resumes next Saturday night with another full show of Modifieds, 602 Sportsman, Street Stocks and Rookies.

FOLEY CAT BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS (30 laps)

1. Ryan Godown, Sr., 2. Dominick Buffalino, 3. Alex Yankowski, 4. Billy Pauch, Sr, 5. Matt Stangle, 6. Clay Butler, 7. Ryan Krachun, 8. Joe Toth, 9. Joseph Watson, 10. Billy Osmun, III, 11. Tommy Beamer, 12. Neal Williams, 13. Jim Gallagher, Jr., 14. Sam Martz, Sr., 15. Brett Ballard, 16. Matt Peck, 17. Billy Lasko, 18. Troy Ale, 19. Frank Cozze, 20. Mike Franz, 21. Jim Britt, 22. Brad Roberts, 23. Tim Buckwalter, 24. David Crossman, DNQ – Ron Roberts, Tom Moore, Jr., Art Leidl

SOUTH JERSEY OVERHEAD DOORS 602 SPORTMAN (25 laps)

1. Sam Martz, Jr., 2. Howie Finch, 3. Ryan Godown, Jr., 4. Wayne Weaver, 5. Matt Ellery, 6. Steve Kemery, 7. Ethan Bill, 8. Tom Sherby, 9. Howard Huepful, 10. Billy Chester, 11. John Stevenson, 12. John Scarpati, 13. Brad Cicio, 14. Zach Steffey, 15. Nick DeSantis, 16. Will Protonick, 17. Josh Bricker, 18. Erik Mattson, 19. Mike Creamer, 20. Scott Hulmes, 21. Zach Cox, 22. Pete Serra, 23. Joseph Brown, 24. Shane Kassekert, 25. Ryan Higgs

D.A.’S AUTO BODY AND REPAIR ROOKIES (7 laps)

1. Ethan Bill, 2. Shane Kassekert, 3. Mike Creamer, 4. Zach Cox, 5. Ethan Young, 6. Zach Steffey, 7. Courtney Pickens

SUNBELT RENTALS STREET STOCKS (15 laps)

1. Tom Wills, Jr., 2. Spider Ensinger, 3. Jeff Dirkes, 4. Jeramy Doerr, 5. Brian Ludwig, 6. Mike Hughes, 7. John Parker, 8. Keith McKinley, 9. Nick Sandone, III

Bridgeport, NJ – Tim Fuller raced to the front of the stellar field of Big Block Modifieds to capture the victory in the Super DIRTcar show at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park and become the new reigning King of the Big Blocks. In the five year history of the event, only Bridgeport Champion, Ryan Watt has been a repeat winner, winning back to back victories in 2018 and 2019.

The number thirteen was not an unlucky number for Fuller who raced from the thirteenth starting spot and into the lead on lap fifty-eight of the one hundred lap contest. It was Fuller’s first win since the 2018 season but not his first Bridgeport victory. Fuller won on the 5/8th mile track on opening day in 2003. “I had won on the old track,” Fuller stated, “I really needed this one!”

The Watertown, NY driver prefers the longer distance races. “I like the longer distance races,” Fuller explained. The races that require a driver to make good judgement calls on how aggressive to be an any given point in the race. “It takes a good bit of patience,” Fuller added.

Jimmy Phelps and Larry Wight made up the front row of the starting line-up and led the field to the wave of the green flag. Phelps immediately jumped into the lead as Wight, Dominick Buffalino and Mike Maresca raced three-wide for second. Buffalino won the battle and set sail after Phelps.

Ryan Godown brought out the first caution he bounced through turn one in need of a new Hoosier. Contact between Buffalino and Maresca while racing for second had both drivers heading to the hot pit for new rubber.
Fuller raced his way into the top ten quickly and then ran in the top five by the lap fifteen green flag.

Phelps led Max McLaughlin, Peter Britten, Fuller and Demetrios Drellos at the quarter century mark. Phelps led through lap thirty-four when McLaughlin powered into the lead with the Sweetner’s No. 32. It was McLaughlin’s first attempt on the Bridgeport high banks and he declared after the race that the he ranks the New Jersey speedplant as one of his top five favorite tracks.

McLaughlin ran away from the field, putting more and more distance between himself and second place Phelps. Peter Britten and Fuller took their wheel-to-wheel battle by Phelps to run second and third and the half way mark.

Just a few laps later, Fuller settled the battle with Britten to take second and then turned his attention to McLaughlin. By lap fifty-seven, Fuller was on the leader’s back bumper and took the lead on the next trip around the track.

Fuller raced away from the field – even while racing through heavy lapped traffic late in the race.

2020 King of the Big Blocks winner, Stewart Friesen raced by Phelps and then chased down Britten. Friesen wheeled the Halimar No. 44 by Britten and into third with just ten laps to go. With five to go, Friesen took over second but had little time to chase down Fuller.

Fuller took the $10,000 win over Friesen, McLaughlin, Britten and Phelps. Alex Yankowski, a regular on Bridgeport’s high banks finished sixth to be the first area driver to the finish line. Mike Maresca finished seventh after making an early race pit stop. Matt Shepperd, Jack Lehner and Tim Sears, Jr. rounded out the top ten.

The USAC All Pro SpeedSTRS were also on the card for the Tuesday night event. Defending Bridgeport Track Champion, Billy Pauch wheeled the Rodota Trucking No. R7 to a flag-to- flag victory in the twenty lap main event. Briggs Danner finished second after throwing everything he had at the leader. Tim Buckwalter finished third followed by Tom Mayberry and Jason Musser.

SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS: (100 laps) 1. Tim Fuller, 2. Stewart Friesen, 3. Max McLaughlin, 4. Peter Britten, 5. Jimmy Phelps, 6. Alex Yankowski, 7. Mike Maresca, 8. Matt Sheppard, 9. Jack Lehner, 10. Tim Sears Jr., 11. Mat Williamson, 12. Mike Mahaney,, 13. Larry Wight, 14. Tyler Dippel, 15. Duane Howard, 16. Chris Hile, 17. Dominick Buffalino, 18. Jordan Mcreadie, 19. Ryan Watt, 20. Billy Decker, 21. Kevin Root, 22. Sam Martz, 23. Brandon Walters, 24. Jim Britt, 25. Marcus Dinkins, 26. Ryan Godown, 27. Demetrios Drellos, 28. Erick Rudolph, 29. Joseph Watson

USAC ALL-PRO SPEEDSTRS: (20 laps) 1. Billy Pauch, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Tim Buckwalter, 4. Tom Mayberry, 5. Jason Musser, 6. Jay Hartman, 7. Jeff Hartman, 8. Jeff Cot, 9. Dillon Steuer, 10. Tim Iulg, 11. Kenny Meisner, 12. Nick Havens 13. Ryan Godown Jr. 14. TJ Mayberry 15. Nick Pecko

Bridgeport, NJ – ​Bridgeport Motorsports Park presented a five division show on Saturday night while the Foley Cat Modifieds had a night off in preparation for Tuesday night’s King of the Big Blocks Super DIRTcar event.  

Sammy Martz, Jr. became the first three time winner in the South Jersey Overhead Door 602 Sportsman division while Kevin Nagy won his third Delaware Auto Exchange Mid Atlantic Sprint Series feature event.  Tom Wills, Jr. won his second feature of the season in the Sunbelt Rentals Street Stocks while Ethan Bill picked up win number two in the DA’s Auto Body & Repair Rookie feature.  The Xcel 600 Modifieds made their first ever appearance on the high banks of the 4/10 mile track with Geoff Sutton earning the victory. 

After a thrilling battle with Joe Toth for the lead, Martz, Jr. pulled away from the field as he drove to victory in the South Jersey Overhead Door 602 Sportsman.  Joe Toth led for the first three laps before he and Martz put on a display of slide jobs and crossovers.  Martz was scored as the leader from lap four until the checkered but there were several laps where the lead changed hand several times as these two young drivers circled the track.  It was apparent that the two drivers enjoyed their battle.

Toth raced in second for the remaining laps while several drivers contended for the third spot.  Steve Kemery was the ultimate third place finisher after a battle with Matt Elery.  Elery is in his first full season of competition and is has become a force to be reckoned with during the first part of the 2021 season.  Elery crossed the line in fourth with Sean Metz finishing fifth.  Joe Brown, Tom Sherby, Ryan Harris, rookie Ethan Bill and Pete Serra completed the top ten at the checkered flag.

The Delaware Auto Exchange Mid Atlantic Sprint Series (MASS) made its third Bridgeport appearance of the season.  Joe Kay led the first two laps before Dave Brown took the lead on lap three.  Brown set a torrid pace, pulling away from the field with each subsequent lap.  With just three laps to go, Brown brought out the caution when his right rear tire blew.  Nagy led the field back to the green flag and went on to post his second win at Bridgeport this season.  “I wouldn’t have been able to get him,” Nagy commented after the win but he did drive from a twelfth place start to the lead.

Defending champion, Tim Tanner had his best outing of the season to finish second.  The big story of the night was the third place finisher, Buddy Schweibinz – a fifteen year old rookie in the MASS sprints this season.  Schweibinz started seventeenth and passed Rick Stief, Jeff Geiges and then Mark Bitner to finish third and collect the race’s Hard Charger award.  Bitner finished fourth with Rick Stief rounding out the top five.  Geiges, Aidan Borden, Joe Kay, Eddie Wagner and Craig Pellegrini made up the rest of the top ten.

Larry McVay went for a wild ride between turns one and two during the MASS feature event and  was attended to by the safety crew at the track. 

Nick Sandone III led the first three laps of the Sunbelt Rentals Street Stock feature until Tom Wills, Jr. took over on lap four.  Wills, Jr. pulled away from the pack, leaving second through fifth up for grabs.  After many side by side battles, Jeramy Doerr finished second followed by Jeff Dirkes, last week’s winner, Mike Hughes and Ken Moren.

Ethan Bill made it two for two in the DA’s Auto Body & Repair Rookie feature, racing ahead of Mike Creamer for the win.  Zack Cox finished third followed by Sean Kassekert and Ethan Young.

Geoff Sutton was spun during the race’s early laps, restarted at the rear of the field and drove to the victory in the Xcel 600 Modified feature event.  Sutton was a man on a mission as he drove through the pack to take the lead and then the win over Kenny Harris, Korey Inglin, Eric Whitby and Thomas Pychka.  Not bad for a driver who has spent most of his time racing TQs on asphalt.

 The stars of the Super DIRTcar series take on the stars of Bridgeport on Tuesday night in the King of the Big Blocks.  It’s a race that you won’t want to miss.  The USAC All Pro SpeedSTRs will appear for the second time this season on the high banks as part of this show.  Pit gates open at three with grandstands opening at 5pm.  Warm-ups are scheduled for 6pm with the green flag waving at 7pm.

Sunbelt Rentals Street Stocks: (15 laps) 1. Tom Wills Jr., 2. Jeramy Doerr, 3. Jeff Dirkes, 4. Mike Hughes, 5. Ken Moren, 6. Nick Sandone III, 7. John ParkerSouth Jersey Overhead Door 602 Sportsman: (25 laps) 1. Sammy Martz Jr., 2. Joe Toth, 3. Steve Kemery, 4. Matt Ellery, 5. Sean Metz, 6. Joe Brown, 7. Tom Sherby, 8. Ryan Higgs, 9. Ethan Bill, 10. Pete Serra, 11. Billy Chester, 12. Mike Creamer,, 13. Scott Hulmes, 14. Zack Cox, 15. Erik Mattison, 16. Zachery Steffey, 17. Wayne Weaver, 18. Andy Walko, 19. Shane Kassekert, 20. Jimmy Dallett, 21. Howie Finch, 22. Aaron Weaver DNS: Ethan Young

600 Xcel Mods (20 laps) 1. Geoffrey Sutton, 2. Kenny Harris, 3. Korey Inglin, 4. Eric Whitby, 5. Thomas Pychka, 6. Brandon Graner, 7. Andy Ressler, 8. Ray Gradwell, 9. Olivia Schmeltzer, 10. Dave Burns, 11. Bryce Smith, 12. Christian Smith, 13. Jarad Myers, 14. Matt Yoder, 15.  Tyler Barik, 16. Matt Kiefert, 17. Chad Miller DNS: Hunter Diehl, Gene Hartman

Delaware Auto Exchange MASS Sprint Cars (25 laps): 1. Kevin Nagy, 2. Tim Tanner, 3. Buddy Schweibinz, 4. Mark Bitner, 5. Rick Stief, 6. Jeff Geiges, 7. Aidan Borden, 8. Joe Kay, 9. Eddie Wagner, 10. Craig Pellegrini, 11. Christian Rumsey, 12. Phil Meisner, 13. Cody West, 14. Rich Janney, 15. Brody Adamsky, 16. Dale Eggert, 17. Josh Bricker, 18. Zack Bergof, 19. Matthew Swift, 20. Dave Brown, 21. John Brennfleck, 22. Larry MvVay, 23. Marie McVay, 24. Rory Janney  DNQ – Jenna Shotz, Keith Anderson, Justin Nowlen, Michael Keen

D.A.’s Auto Body & Repair Rookies: 1. Ethan Bill, 2. Mike Creamer, 3. Zack Cox, 4. Shane Kassekert, 5. Ethan Young, 6. Courtney Pickens

Bridgeport, NJ – Joe Toth raced to his first feature win in the Foley Cat Modifieds at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park in just his third Modified start of the season.  Steve Kemery raced to his second win of the season in the South Jersey Overhead Door 602 Sportsman feature.  Mike Hughes has been close on several occasions but finally won for the first time in the Sunbelt Rental Street Stocks.  Ethan Bill opened up the DA’s Auto Body & Repair Rookie season with a win.  Mike Bednar raced Billy Pauch to the finish line to claim the victory in the USAC All Pro SpeedSTR feature.

Neal Williams led the Foley Cat Modified Feature for the first ten laps before Toth made the pass for the lead on lap eleven.  Toth immediately pulled away from the field as the race for second heated up behind the leader.  Tim Buckwalter won the race for second by halfway with another Modified rookie, Jim Gallagher, Jr. racing in third.  

Ryan Godown raced up to third on lap nineteen and immediately started to race Buckwalter for second.  With Toth out in front, Buckwalter and Godown set a torrid pace as the battled for the runner-up spot.  The pressure intensified as the laps counted down.  

Toth took the white flag several car lengths ahead of the battle for second.  The leader was in turn three, coming for the checkered flag when the caution waved for the disable No. 31 of Tommy Beamer. 

 
For the second week in a row, the Modifieds raced for twenty-nine consecutive green flag laps only to have a caution on the final lap, setting up a green to checkered one lap shoot-out – certainly not what Toth was looking for.

Toth had a good restart as he took the green with Buckwalter dropping to the bottom of the track to try to challenge for the lead.  He pulled alongside of Toth in the corners but Toth pulled away as he exited turn two.  Buckwalter lost just enough momentum in his challenge to allow Godown to take over second.  

Toth got sideways in turn four as he dropped to the bottom of the track.  He was good and lucky in that he was able to collect the car and continue on and lucky because of the skill of the drivers behind him who were able to avoid hitting the No. 9.  “I thought somebody was either going to hit me and straighten me out or there was going to be a big wreck,” Toth stated.  Fortunately, he was able to gather it back in and race to the waiting checkered flag.  For the second week in a row, Godown grabbed second on the last lap restart.  “We needed a caution,” Godown stated.  “Even a green, white checkered would have been enough!.”  Buckwalter finished third followed by Matt Stangle and Billy Pauch.  Mike Franz, Jim Gallagher, Yankowski, Ryan Krachun and Billy Osmun III rounded out the top ten.  

Steve Kemery and Travis Hill had a wheel to wheel battle, racing side by side for several laps with Kemery finally pulling into the lead.  It was the second win of the season at Bridgeport for the defending champion.  
Howie Finch finished third behind Kemery and Hill.  Steve Davis finished fourth with early race leader, Ryan Higgs taking fifth.  Sammy Martz, Jr. finished sixth over Tom Sherby, Matt Elery, Wayne Weaver and Aaron Weaver.

With the help of former track champion, TJ Henry, Mike Hughes drove to his first win in the Sunbelt Rental Street Stocks.  Hughes credited Henry with helping him to become so competitive.  Hughes has been in the thick of the battle every week this season.  
Hughes took the win over Jeramy Doerr, Jeff Dirkes, Nick Sandone III and Ken Moren.

Ethan Bill completed a pass for the lead at the race’s midway point to become the first winner in the DA’s Auto Body & Repair Rookies.  Mike Creamer was the early race leader and went on to finish second over Zack Cox, Ethan Young and Shane Kassekert.

Mike Bednar picked up the win in the USAC All Pro SpeedSTR feature event after battling with Billy Pauch and Alex Yankowski.  It was Bednar’s first Bridgeport victory.  Yankowski was sidelined when the engine blew in the Rita’s Italian Ice No. 56.

Bednar led Pauch to the checkered followed by Tom Mayberry, Tim Iulg and Jason Musser.  Jeff Hartman, Jay Hartman, Nick Pecko, Justin Thompson and Nick Havens rounded out the top ten.

FOLEY CAT BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS (30 laps) –  

1. Joe Toth, 2. Ryan Godown, 3. Tim Buckwalter, 4. Matt Stangle, 5. Billy Pauch, Sr., 6. Mike Franz, 7. Jim Gallagher, Jr., 8. Alex Yankowski, 9. Ryan Krachun, 10. Billy Osmun, III, 11. Joseph Watson, 12. Neal Williams, 13. Sam Martz, Sr., 14. Brett Ballard, 15. Billy Lasko, 16. Ron Roberts, 17. Troy Ale, 18. David Crossman, 19. Tommy Beamer, 20. Tom Maccherone, 21. Matt Peck, 22. Tom Moore, Jr., 23. Tommy Errico, Jr., 24. Dominick Buffalino, 25. Kenny Hildebrant, DNS – Clay Butler 

SOUTH JERSEY OVERHEAD DOORS 602 SPORTSMAN (25 laps) –  

1. Steve Kemery, 2. Travis Hill, 3. Howie Finch, 4. Steve Davis, 5. Ryan Higgs, 6. Sammy Martz, Jr., 7. Tom Sherby, 8. Matt Elery, 9. Wayne Weaver, 10. Aaron Weaver, 11. David Jenkins, 12. Jimmy Dallett, 13. Brad Cicio, 14. Billy Chester, 15. Ethan Bill, 16. Pete Serra, 17. Scott Hulmes, 18. Mike Creamer, 19. Zack Cox, 20. Erik Mattson, 21. John Scarpati, 22. Shane Kassekert, 23. Ryan Stangle, 24. Joseph Brown, DNS – Bryce Higgs, Howard Huepful, Ethan Young 

D.A.’S AUTO BODY & REPAIR (7 laps) – 

1. Ethan Bill, 2. Mike Creamer, 3. Zack Cox, 4. Ethan Young, 5. Shane Kassekert, 6. Courtney Pickens, DNS – Bryce Higgs 

SUNBELT RENTALS STREET STOCKS (15 laps) – 

1. Mike Hughes, 2. Jeramy Doerr, 3. Jeff Dirkes, 4. Nick Sandone, III, 5. Ken Moren, 6. Tom Wills, Jr. 

USAC ALL PRO SPEEDSTRS (20 laps) –  

1. Mike Bednar, 2. Billy Pauch, Sr., 3. Tom Mayberry, 4. Tim Iulg, 5. Jason Musser, 6. Jeff Hartman, 7. Jay Hartman, 8. Nick Pecko, 9. Justin Thompson, 10. Nick Havens, 11. Dustin Morris, 12. Alex Yankowski, 13. Jeff Kot, 14. Tim Buckwalter, DNS – T.J. Mayberry