Swedesboro, NJ, October 29th, 2022. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
2022 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade series Champion Briggs Danner, and Lebanon, PA’s Austin Graby picked up the twin 15 qualifier wins at the Bridgeport Speedway on night two of Sprintoberfest.
29 cars registered for action on Saturday night, a season high for the series. Those drivers were split by a random draw at sign-in, into two separate 15 lap qualifying events, which served as heat races for the weekend before Sundays, 40 lap feature event.
Aidan Borden and Briggs Danner lead the field to green for qualifying race number one, with Borden getting the initial lead for the first two laps of the event. Danner worked his way by Borden for the race lead, and worked his way to a commanding distance over the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Alex Bright and Christian Bruno were making their way through the field from the back row of the qualifier. The Caution flag few with only a handful of laps remaining, as fifth place runner Preston Lattomus spun and pulled a 360 in turns three and four.
The caution brought the field together, with Bright working his way by third place runner Kyle Spence, and eventually Aidan Borden for second, trying to catch the leader of Danner. Unfortunately for Bright, time ran out as Briggs Danner collected the qualifier win. Bright, Borden, Spence, and Jonathan Swanson debuting a new DRC Chassis, rounded out the top five. Sixth went to Colin White, while Preston Lattomus stole the seventh and final transfer spot from Christian Bruno who slowed with issues coming to the line out of turn four.
Lee Kauffman and Austin Graby drew the front row of qualifier two, with Graby taking the race lead and never looking back. Bobby Butler, Chris Allen Jr, and Joey Amantea followed suit in the top four, with a raging battle behind the top four as Kenny Miller lll, Steven Drevicki, Eric Jennings and Mike Thompson battled it out for the final transfer spot.
Amantea hounded after third place driver Chris Allen Jr for multiple laps, before the caution flew with only four laps remaining as Rich Carnathan made contact with the outside wall and slowed to a stop on the front stretch. Intense action followed the caution with Kenny Miller working to the high side of Amantea and Allen taking the third spot away, battling with Butler for second but falling just short. Amantea was able to take the fourth and final inversion spot from Chris Allen Jr, with Eric Jennings holding off Steven Drevicki for sixth, and Drevicki besting a late rally from Mike Thompson for the seventh and final transfer spot.
With fourteen cars locked into tomorrows event, and the top eight set for the points inversion, only six spots for the 40 lap, $3,000 to win main event remaining to be settled. Sunday’s event will feature a semi feature event transferring six cars to the feature event, along with the feature event. The winged 360’s of URC will also have a B Main, and feature, along with another full program for the winged 410 sprint cars.
USAC East Coast at Bridgeport Qualifier Results
Qualifier 1 (15 laps, 7 Transfer, 4 Handicap): 1. 5G Briggs Danner, 2. 20 Alex Bright, 3. 7B Aidan Borden, 4. 22 Kyle Spence, 5. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 6. 90 Colin White, 7. 23B Preston Lattomus, 8. 17B Christian Bruno, 9. 91D Mick D’Agostino, 10. 67 Jason Cherry, 11. 73 Al Cheney, 12. 117 David Swanson, 13. 97k Gary Bozowski, 14. 74 Duane Nixon.
Qualifier 2 (15 Laps, 7 Transfer, 4 Handicap): 1. 87 Austin Graby, 2. 5B Bobby Butler, 3. 23M Kenny Miller lll, 4. 88J Joey Amantea, 5. 71 Chris Allen Jr, 6. 14 Eric Jennings, 7. 19 Steven Drevicki, 8. 11 Mike Thompson, 9. 7 Ed Aikin, 10. 2 Brenden Hires, 11. 96 Lee Kauffman, 12. 45R Brett Rose, 13. 64 Rich Carnathan, DNS: 16 Charles Weslowski, 3H Heidi Hedin.