Nick Fillman/USAC ECSC
Delmar, DE. September 5th, 2020.
Kenny Miller lll, of Morgantown, Pennsylvania collected his first career Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series victory in his second full night of competition, and third time ever behind the wheel of a sprint car.
24 USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series teams entered the pit area on Saturday night to try their hand at collecting a feature event win as the season winds down. A stellar group of drivers were on hand in the pit area, with a number of drivers making their return to series action. Former Winners; Ryan Watt and Joey Biasi, along with Kevin Darling, and New York’s Danny Varin were pit side in addition to the series regular followers.
Heat race action would see Alex Bright, Christopher Allen, and Ryan Watt grab the checkered flags and set themselves up for the best possible odds at a great starting position inside the top nine during the redraw.
Bill Unglert and Alex Bright shared the front row for the 25 lap feature event, making the series return to Delaware International for the first time in 2020 following an early season cancellation.
The in start of the feature event saw absolute chaos as drivers dove high and low around the speedway searching for the best line early in the feature. As Bill Unglert, Chris Allen, and Billy VanInwegen were three wide for the lead in turns three and four, a jumble further back in the pack, saw JR Berry and Mark Bitner both spin.
The ensuing restart again featured more of the same with three wide action, before the caution flag would fly again. This time for a spinning Jason Cherry.
Finally on the third attempt, the feature event went green and stayed green. Bill Unglert lead the field into turns one and two with: Unglert, Allen, and Alex Bright three wide for the race lead. The trio would stay three wide through turns three and four, with Alex Bright nosing out front on lap one.
As the field entered turn two, Bright lost the handle on his number twenty machine and nearly spun out in front of the field. Christopher Allen and Billy VanInwegen narrowly avoided Bright, and continued on in the feature event.
Unglert would have control of the field, with heavy pressure coming from Billy VanInwegen aboard the Gallagher 5G entry. VanInwegen made his way to the race lead on lap four, passing Unglert on the low-side of the speedway, where the majority of the field had been running.
Kenny Miller was the only driver within the top five, not trying the middle or high line of the speedway, and utilized his reliance on the bottom to move into second place on lap seven. Steven Drevicki was methodically working his way into the top five from his ninth place starting position by lap ten, utilizing the top side of the speedway. Alex Bright also furiously and aggressively pounded the outer cushion of the Delaware International Speedway and continued his march toward the front of the field.
By the half way point of the feature event Billy VanInwegen had a sizable lead with Kenny Miller, Steven Drevicki, Chris Allen, and Bill Unglert rounding out the top five.
As the laps wound down, Miller, Drevicki, Allen, and Unglert would furiously battle for positions inside the top five with all drivers on the high side of the speedway, except for Kenny Miller. Alex Bright worked his way into the top six with a handful of laps remaining as the leaders began to catch heavy lapped traffic.
With only five laps to go, Billy VanInwegen found himself in the middle of three, and four wide battles with lapped cars, with the balance of the top five closing in on the leader. Utilizing the bottom of the speedway, Kenny Miller was able to sneak underneath VanInwegen on lap twenty-three, as VanInwegen was stuck in the middle trying to maneuver through the lapped cars.
Miller was glued to the bottom, with VanInwegen running the middle, Drevicki placing his car anywhere the lead two were not, and Alex Bright, now recovered to the fourth position, continuing to pound the cushion on the outside of the speedway as the field took the white flag.
Coming to the checkers Kenny Miller would grab the feature event win, with Steven Drevicki grabbing second from VanInwegen in a drag race to the line. Alex Bright fourth, and Bill Unglert rounding out the top five.
Kenny Miller is no stranger to wingless racing. The Millersville University student is the 2019 Action Track USA 600cc Micro sprint Track Champion, 2020 runner up in micro points, USAC Speedstr Rookie, and a former ARDC/USAC Eastern Midget regular. Miller piloting the former RT Racing, DRC Chassis, competed in his first ever events two weeks ago at Bedford and Port Royal. With Bedford rained out, Miller came into Saturday night with only one full night of competition behind the wheel of a sprint car, and came out on top with the checkered flag.
Steven Drevicki yet again, continued his streak of top five finishes, and never finishing outside of the top five in a USAC East Coast Series feature event. The two time and defending series champion, pulled the worst pill in the redraw of nine, but was not fazed and rallied to finish second.
Billy VanInwegen appeared to be well on his way to his first career victory on Saturday night as well. VanInwegen had at one point, almost a straightaway lead on the rest of the field before catching lapped traffic and falling to third. Billy V continues his strong runs aboard the Gallagher 5G entry, and hopefully returns to the series in 2021.
Alex Bright started on the outside pole of the feature event, but an unfortunate error buried Bright deep in the pack early on in the feature event. Bright drove aggressively back through the front half of the field to collect a fourth place effort for his troubles. An impressive run, for the series previous event winner at the Port Royal Speedway.
Rounding out the top five with yet another consistent run was Old Bridge, New Jersey driver Bill Unglert. While Unglert has not yet collected a feature event win in 2020, the team has been all over the front of the field. Currently in third place in the points standings, Unglert has four more chances to grab his first career series victory in 2020.
Hard luck of the night belongs to New York driver Danny Varin who made his return to series action following a vicious crash at the Big Diamond Speedway in July. The team made an over seven hour tow to the speedway, and battled engine issues all night never getting the opportunity to complete a lap under green flag conditions.
Ryan Watt collected the heat three victory and was looking to win his second series event of 2020 as well. Following the initial green flag incidents Watt, would put the Hogue 39 up on two wheels on the cushion in turns three and four nearly going over. Watt restarted, only to have a line on the power steering pump fail, ending the Boyertown, PA drivers hopes at a second victory.
Next up for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, is a rescheduled series debut visit to the Winchester Speedway next Saturday, September 12th, in Winchester, Virginia.
USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series at Delmar Results:
Heat 1: (8 Laps, 5 Qualify, 3 Redraw): 1. 20 Alex Bright, 2. 23m Kenny Miller, 3. 17 Christian Bruno, 4. 27c Craig Pellegrini, 5. 73JR Ed Aikin, 6. 9D Kevin Darling, 7. B1 Joey Biasi, 8. 00 Danny Varin DNS
Heat 2: (8 Laps, 5 Qualify, 3 Redraw): 1. 71 Christopher Allen, 2. 19 Steven Drevicki, 3. 5G Billy VanInwegen, 4. 22 Kyle Spence, 5. 15 Mark Bitner, 6. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 7. 3h Heidi Hedin, 8. 67 Jason Cherry.
Heat 3: (8 Laps, 5 Qualify, 3 Redraw): 1. 39 Ryan Watt, 2. 33B Bill Unglert, 3. 5Q Ryan Quackenbush, 4. 117 David Swanson, 5. 91 Mick D’Agostino, 6. 74JR JR Berry, 7. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 8. 96 Lee Kauffman
B Main: (10 Laps, 5 Qualify): 1. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 2. 74JR JR Berry, 3. 83 Bruce Buckwalter, 4. 9D Devin Darling, 5. 3H Heidi Hedin, 6. 67 Jason Cherry, 7. 96 Lee Kauffman, 8. 00 Danny Varin, 9. B1 Joey Biasi.
Feature Event (25 Laps) 1. 23m Kenny Miller, 2. 19 Steven Drevicki, 3. 5G Billy VanInwegen, 4. 20 Alex Bright, 5. 33B Bill Unglert, 6. 71 Chris Allen Jr, 7. 22 Kyle Spence, 8. 117 David Swanson, 9. 5Q Ryan Quackenbush, 10. 83 Bruce Buckwalter, 11. 15 Mark Bitner, 12. 91D Mick D’Agostino, 13. 73JR Ed Aikin, 14. 9D Kevin Darling, 15. 27c Craig Pellegrini, 16. 3H Heidi Hedin, 17. 74JR JR Berry, 18. 17 Christian Bruno, 19. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 20. 67 Jason Cherry, 21. 39 Ryan Watt.
Lap Leaders: Alex Bright (1), Bill Unglert (2&3), Billy VanInwegen (4-23), Kenny Miller (23-25).
Ultra Shield Products 2nd place: Steven Drevicki
Keizer Wheels 3rd Place: Billy VanInwegen
King Racing Products 6th Place: Chris Allen Jr
Ultra Shield Products 8th Place: David Swanson
Racing Optics “Starting From the Rear”: Heidi Hedin