Nick Fillman: USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Delmar, DE, September 7th, 2019.
Steven Drevicki of Reading, Pennsylvania came into the Delaware International Speedway with one ultimate goal. To wrap up the 2019 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series Championship. Drevicki did more than just that, by winning his heat race, and pulling off the feature event win to put an exclamation point on his 2019 Season and collecting his 5th feature win.
Mark Bitner and Eddie Strada would lead the feature event to the green flag for the final feature event of the 2019 season. Strada would quickly jump up to the cushion and blast around Mark Bitner in turns one and two to grab the lead down the back stretch. Bitner fell into second, with Eric Jennings moving into third with Drevicki falling back to fourth. The first caution flag of the evening would fly as Austin Bishop would slow in turns three and four after lap one had been scored.
The green flag would fly for the field again off of turn four with the top five remaining the same as the field would work through the back stretch and onto the front stretch to complete lap two. The second caution of the evening would fly for Zach Berghof who would go for a spin in turns one and two and take his machine to the pit area ending his night.
On the ensuing restart Steven Drevicki would make a couple of important passes and work his way up to the second place position and look to reel in Eddie Strada for the race lead. The competition behind the top two was ferocious as Eric Jennings, Ryan Quackenbush, Joey Biasi and Mark Bitner would battle hard for positions within the top six. Unfortunately the caution flag would fly again on lap six of the feature event as Ryan Quackenbush would have a miscue in turns one and two and go for a spin.
When the green flag flew again the top five would feature Strada leading, Drevicki, Jennings, Allen and Biasi in the top five. Yet another caution flag would fly on lap nine as Christopher Allen would blow a right rear tire in the middle of turns three and four. Luckily Allen did not flip over as his car caught the cushion and went for a series of hops.
The field would have a quick restart followed by a quick caution for Larry Drake who would spin in the first turn on lap 11. In the short two lap dash Drevicki had begun to press the issue on Strada for the lead, looking to the inside at a potential slide job for the lead until the caution flag flew yet again.
Strada lead yet another restart with Drevicki, Biasi, Jennings, Leoffler, and Bitner in the top group of the field. The next few laps of the event would be some of the most intense as Drevicki hounded after Strada for the lead, before throwing a monster slide job entering turns one and two on Eddie Strada for the top spot on lap 14. Joe Biasi, Eric Jennings, Connor Leoffler, and Mark Bitner were locked in hard action for spots within the top five with no driver giving an inch. Ryan Quackenbush and Chris Allen had also begun to carve their way through the back half of the field and were closing in on the top ten positions.
While the action for the top five was intense, so was the battle mid pack between Jonathan Swanson, Steven Downs, David Swanson, and Craig Pellegrini who were trading positions just inside and outside of the top ten.
By lap 20 Drevicki had stretched his lead out to a very comfortable margin over Eddie Strada as the top two would work their way into the back of the field to begin the lapping process. The top five remained the same as they were nose to tail for most of the feature, but were unable to make any passes work at the end of the feature event.
Drevicki would cruise on to collect his fifth win of the 2019 season with Strada in second, Biasi third, Jennings 4th, and 14 Year old Connor Leoffler in a strong 5th.
His feature event win also guaranteed Drevicki to be the 2019 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series and go back to back as champion in the series first two seasons.
Rookie driver Connor Leoffler, out of South Carolina would also wrap up honors for Rookie of the Year after a season long battle with Craig Pellegrini Jr.
Former Big Block Modified regular, and winged 360 sprint car regular Steven Downs decided to give wingless racing a try, and would come away with an impressive 10th place finish from the 17th starting spot and collect the hard charger awards.
Austin Bishop would go for a major flip on the warm up lap of heat race number two as he caught the cushion in turns one and two. The car suffered major damage, but the team would be able to make it back out for the feature event before slowing with issues.
Heat races on the night were won by Steven Drevicki and Mark Bitner.
The entire staff of the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series would like to thank all of our sponsors, drivers, crews, and fans for a fantastic year of growth and support! We hope everyone enjoyed the season, and we can not wait to see what the 2020 season will hold, as we are sure it will be event better!
Heat 1 (8 Laps, All qualify, 3 redraw): 19 Steven Drevicki, 42e Eddie Strada, 5q Ryan Quackenbush, 85 Lee Nardelli, 17J Jonathan Swanson, 3H Heidi Hedin, 812 Zach Berghof, 67c Jason Cherry. DNS: 12D Steven Downs, 5G Curt Michael
Heat 2 (8 Laps, All qualify, 3 redraw): 15 Mark Bitner, B1 Joey Biasi, 32 Eric Jennings, 22 Connor Leoffler, 71 Christopher Allen Jr, 117 David Swanson, 11a Craig Pellegrini Jr, 8 Larry Drake, 96 Lee Kauffman. DNS: 11 Austin Bishop
Feature finish: 1. 19 Steven Drevicki, 2. 42e Eddie Strada, 3. B1 Joey Baisi, 4. 32 Eric Jennings, 5. 22 Connor Leoffler, 6. 15 Mark Bitner, 7. 71 Christopher Allen Jr, 8. 5q Ryan Quackenbush, 9. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 10. 12D Steven Downs, 11. 11a Craig Pellegrini Jr, 12. 67c Jason Cherry, 13. 117 Jonathan Swanson, 14 3H Heidi Hedin, 15. 96 Lee Kauffman, 16. 8 Larry Drake. DNF: 17. 85 Lee Nardelli, 18. 812 Zach Berghof, 19. 11 Austin Bishop. DNS: 20. 5G Curt Michael.
Scotty Signs Hard Charger $100: Steven Downs (17th to 10th) +7
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger $50 Certificate: Steven Downs
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger $50 Certificate: Steven Downs
Ultra-Shield Race Products 2nd Place $50 Certificate: Eddie Strada
Keizer Wheels 3rd Place $50 Certificate: Joey Biasi
Wilwood Brakes 4th Place $50 Certificate: Eric Jennings
ATL Fuel Cells 5th Place $100 Certificate: Connor Leoffler
King Racing Products 6th Place $25 Certificate: Mark Bitner
Ultra-Shield Race Products 8th Place $50 Certificate: Ryan Quackenbush