MANNING OUT DUELS THE FIELD FOR SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON IN BRIDGEPORT MODIFIEDS
MANNING OUT DUELS THE FIELD FOR SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON IN BRIDGEPORT MODIFIEDS
Just one month ago, Roger Manning scored his first feature win in the Danny’s Pizza Pizzazz Modifieds at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park. Twelve different drivers have won Modified features so far this season but Roger Manning is the first to repeat in this competitive division, scoring his second win in just a month!
Saturday night’s races were sponsored by AllState Auto Glass, the family business of sprint car competitor, Bob DeVault. The five division show also included the fifth win of the season for Brian Papiez in the Ice Less LLC 602 Sportsman. Mike Hughes tried something new under the hood of his No. 18 Street Stock and found a winning combination. Dave Grube kept the string of single winners alive in the DCB’s Plumbing & Heating Mid Atlantic Sprint Series (MASS) while Brian Spencer made it three in a row in the Victory Fuel Wingless Sprints.
Manning has an interesting, although, perhaps frustrating, record so far this season. He has won every race that he’s finished. The next race following his first win, Manning was a casualty in an on-track incident, forcing him out of the feature event before the checkered. One week later, his “winning” engine expired as a result of a very unusual part failure. “We’ve either won or been crashed or something broke,” Manning stated. He’d like to be finishing races! “The second win feels as good as the first,” Manning added after his second win.
Manning did not have an easy thirty lap win as he was pressured by Billy Osmun III during the first half of the race and then Sam Martz for the second half of the thirty lap feature event. He didn’t know who is challenger was until a caution flag around half way when Martz lined up to his outside. Osmun pitted under the caution leaving Martz to challenge for the win.
It was Manning all of the way in the Design for Vision No. 414 with Martz taking second. Frank Cozze won the battle with Neal Williams for third while Osmun rebounded from his mid-race issues to finish fifth. Current point leader, Billy Pauch, Jr. finished sixth followed by Ryan Krachun, Stan Frankenfield, Dillon Steuer in a second No. 51 and Thomas Prychka.
In a true show of sportsmanship, the Krachuns offered the No. 29 to Matt Stangle after a heat race crash sidelined his regular mount. The Danny’s Pizza Pizzazz No. 51 crew put Steuer in their second car when mechanical issues sidelined the No. 6D early in the night. Krachun and Steuer raced side-by-side for many laps at one point in the race.
Brian Papiez raced Steve Kemery to the checkered for his fifth win of the season. Ethan Young led the first three laps before Kemery took over on lap four. Papiez was already up to second and raced into the lead on lap seven but Kemery didn’t allow him to drive away from the field. Kemery made several attempts to regain the lead but Papiez was prepared with a counter move each time. Steve Davis, behind the wheel of Howie Finch’s second entry, raced into third late in the race and kept pace with Papiez and Kemery. Joe Toth had his best Bridgeport run of the season to finish fourth after starting mid-pack while Clay Butler made a late race charge to finish fifth. Matt Peck finished sixth after running among the top five for most of the race. Craig Pellegrini finished seventh followed by Travis Hill, Ethan Bill and Billy Chester.
Papiez declared that he is preparing for the $10,000 race coming later in the season.
Troy Betts led the first lap before Bob DeVault took the lead on lap two in the DCB’s Plumbing and Heating Mid Atlantic Sprint Series feature event. With DeVault’s AllState Auto Glass as the evening sponsor, it looked like DeVault was going to get double billing until DeVault got caught up with slower traffic and got the No. 4 upside down in turn four. DeVault was not injured but his bid for victory ended just before half way.
Betts led the field to the restart but it was Dave Grube who raced into the lead to score lap thirteen. Christian Rumsey battled with Betts for second, securing the runner-up spot in the final ten laps.
Grube led the way to the checkered for the first win of the season for the Racer X team. Grube has competed in several other MASS events this season, finding the High Banks to his liking. Rumsey finished second followed by Betts, Ryan Stillwaggon and Tim Iulg who was the race’s Hard Charger. Dave Brown, Jon Brennfleck, Eddie Wagner, Mark Bitner and Phil Meisner completed the top ten at the checkered.
Mike Hughes returned to Champion Brands Victory Lane and was a little surprised at his results. With numerous engine issues sidelining the No. 18 several times this season, Hughes took the advice of Dave Adams and had a 602 Crate Motor under the hood for Saturday’s race. Hughes led all fifteen laps but was chased to the checkered by Duncan Molesworth who resolved his own mechanical demons prior to Saturday’s competition. It was Molesworth’s best finish of the season. Spider Ensinger, Sr finished third followed by Nick Sandone and Kyle Saylor. Spider Ensinger, Jr. finished sixth followed by Darren Cox, Kevin Heckman, Jason Treat and Jeff Dirkes.
Brian Spencer has made up for a string of seconds earlier this season by taking his third consecutive win in the Victory Fuel Wingless Sprints. Matt Peck led the race for ten laps before Spencer took the lead on lap eleven. Chris Allen, Jr. took second in the closing laps with Peck finishing third for his best effort to date. Jonathan Swanson finished fourth with Stan Ploski III rounding out the top five after a heated battle with Shea Wills for the position.
DANNY’S PIZZA PIZZAZZ MODIFIED FEATURE (30 LAPS)
1. Roger Manning, 2. Sam Martz, Sr., 3. Frank Cozze, 4. Neal Williams, 5. Billy Osmun, III, 6. Billy Pauch, Jr., 7. Ryan Krachun, 8. Stan Frankenfield, Jr., 9. Dillon Steuer, 10. J.R. Fulper, 11. Thomas Prychka, 12. Mike Franz, 13. Cole Stangle, 14. Blain Bracelin, 15. Cale Ross, 16. Matt Stangle, 17. Rick Laubach, DNS – Jim Gallagher, Jr., Sammy Martz, Jr.
ICE LESS LLC 602 SPORTSMAN FEATURE (25 LAPS)
1. Brian Papiez, 2. Steve Kemery, 3. Steve Davis, 4. Joe Toth, 5. Mike Butler, 6. Matt Peck, 7. Craig Pellegrini, 8. Travis Hill, 9. Ethan Bill, 10. Billy Chester, 11. Trent Willey, 12. Howie Finch, 13. Brian Rogers, 14. John Scarpati, 15. Justin Newhard, 16. Robert Tete, 17. Michael Beckett, 18. Jim Wyers, 19. Anthony Sisco, 20. John Cameron, 21. Erik Mattson, 22. Ethan Young, 23. Ryan Simmons, 24. Jax Yohn, DNS – Pete Serra, Dave McElroy, R.J. Witcraft
DCB PLUMBING & HEATING MID-ATLANTIC SPRINT SERIES FEATURE (25 LAPS)
1. Dave Grube, 2. Christian Rumsey, 3. Troy Betts, 4. Ryan Stillwaggon, 5. Tim Iulg, 6. Dave Brown, 7. Jon Brennfleck, 8. Eddie Wagner, 9. Mark Bitner, 10. Phil Meisner, 11. Kevin Nagy, 12. Buddy Schweibinz, 13. Jeff Paulson, 14. D. J.Tanner, Jr., 15. Larry McVay, 16. Dan Leaper, 17. Rick Stief, 18. Tim Tanner, 19. Matt McAnally, 20. Jay Hartman, 21. Dirk Rimrott, 22. Andrew Turpin, 23. Cody West, 24. Bobby DeVault, 25. Shelby Kelly
ALLSTATE AUTO GLASS STREET STOCK FEATURE (15 LAPS)
1. Mike Hughes, Jr., 2. Duncan Molesworth, 3. Spider Ensinger, Sr., 4. Nick Sandone, III, 5. Kyle Saylor, 6. Spider Ensinger, Jr., 7. Darren Cox, 8. Kevin Heckman, 9. Jason Treat, 10. Jeff Dirkes, 11. Terry Chaney, 12. Scott Freed, 13. Spider Ensinger, III
VICTORY FUELS WINGLESS SPRINT FEATURE (20 LAPS)
1. Brian Spencer, 2. Christopher Allen, Jr., 3. Matt Peck, 4. Jonathan Swanson, 5. Stan Ploski, III, 6. Shea Wills, 7. Larry Drake, 8. David Swanson, DNS – Dan Leaper