SARKISIAN, BRITT & HAGGENBOTTOM COLLECT BRIDGEPORT

SARKISIAN, BRITT & HAGGENBOTTOM COLLECT BRIDGEPORT VICTORIES

     Woolrich, NJ driver, Bob Sarkisian conquered the 5/8th mile Bridgeport Speedway on Saturday night to gain a victory in the Spirit Auto Center Big Block Modified Feature event.  Current Stewart Stainless Crate/Sportsman point leader, Jim Britt, picked up his third Bridgeport Speedway win of the season while Mike Haggenbottom won his first of the season in Hilborn TSRS Sprint Car action to collect an Ace in the Bethman Auto Center/Bruce’s Speed Shop/Thayer Performance Poker Series. 

     Sarkisian drove his Superior Scaffolding #47 into the lead on lap four when he executed the pass for the lead by Stan Frankenfield, Jr. off of turn two.  Frankenfield took the lead at the start and led for the first three laps and through several complete restarts.  Sarkisian drove away from the field as Howard O’Neal took over second from Frankenfield, followed by Travis Hill and Ron Roberts. 

     Current point leader, Jamie Mills, powered his Blue Hen Special into a top five spot on lap six after starting back in sixteenth on the original start.  Mills was on the move as he took over fourth from Hill on lap eight and then drove past Frankenfield for third one lap later.  Rick Laubach joined the top five with ten complete as Richie Pratt, Jr. closed in. 

     With ten to go, Laubach was up to fourth and closing in on Mills while Pratt made his way past Hill and Frankenfield  to move into the top five. 

     With Sarkisian well out in front by a straightaway, Mills began to close in on O’Neal as the race approached the five to go mark but Laubach took advantage of lapped traffic and moved past Mills to take over third with five to go. 

     O’Neal, Laubach and Mills raced for position as they raced through lapped traffic in the final laps.  Sarkisian drove to his first win of the season on the 5/8 mile track after picking up a win on the quarter mile in June.  Laubach raced to the line in second followed by Mills, O;Neal and Pratt.

     Jim Britt made it look easy as he drove his C/L Underground Drilling & Utility #118 into the lead on lap five, taking the lead from Jeremy Harrington.  Scott Hulmes led the field for lap one with Harrington holding the lead on laps two through four. 

     Britt ran away from the competition as CJ Jones made his way from the back of the field after a spin on lap seven.  An issue with his brakes caused Jones to spin and bring out the caution on lap seven.  Two laps later, Jones had charged through the field to run fourth.  Britt took the crossed flags followed by Pat Wall, Jones, Harrington and Gary Hieber, Jr.

     While Britt raced ahead in his own zip code, Jones closed in on the second place car of Wall.  Rookie driver, Steve Kemery was making the moves as he raced by Hieber to break into the top five.  With five to go, Kemery moved ahead of Harrington to run fourth. 

     Jones raced into second on lap sixteen but Jones was unable to close the gap on Britt as he took the checkered flag for his third win of the season.  Trailing behind Britt and Jones was Wall in third with Kemery finishing fourth ahead of Harrington.

     Multi-year TSRS Champion, Mike Haggenbottom returned to Bridgeport’s Victory Lane for the first time this season after taking the lead from Ryan Stillwagon on lap ten.  Several early race incidents forced TSRS officials to shorten their main event to fifteen laps but John Barnett made good use of his time.  Barnett started picking off cars before the final caution on lap seven.  Barnett had moved ahead of Jeff Geiges and then Rick Stief before the caution waved for an incident in turn one.  Barnett then moved past Eddie Wagner for third and closed in on Stillwagon for second on lap thirteen.  Haggenbottom had a sizeable lead by the time Barnett moved into second but he was able to reduce the margin before the checkered flag. 

     Haggenbottom took the win over Barnett, Stillwagon, Wagner and Bob DeVault.