HENDRICKSON WINS EIGHTH

WHILE DUANE HOWARD TAKES 2002 MOD CROWN

Bridgeport, NJ – On a night when Mother Nature had a major effect on the racing at South Jersey’s Bridgeport Speedway, Lawrenceville, NJ’s Wade Hendrickson picked up his eighth win of the season in the big block modified feature, while Duane Howard brought the Glen Hyneman owned Big Spring Car Wash home in seventh, winning the 2002 Modified Point Crown. With almost two days of rain soaking the speedway and grounds, Track Owner Bill Lincoln and his crew worked tirelessly to get the Saturday night racing program in the books, with the show getting started late and the track prep crew working all night to keep the racing surface usable. While the qualifying heats went into the books without a hitch, the feature events were delayed by numerous cautions and red flag periods due to the shifting clay, causing the sportsman and enduro features to be postponed due to the approaching curfew. The United Racing Club sprinters did get their show in, with Scott Pursell winning his second feature of the season.

When the evening started, point leader Duane Howard needed to finish the modified feature in at least twenty-second position if runner-up Wade Hendrickson won the event. Both these hard charging drivers came through, with a show that had the large crowd on hand cheering for both drivers. While Hendrickson was making his typical march through the pack, making high and low groove passes to get to the lead and win the battle, Howard was driving conservatively to make sure he finished high enough to win the war and take the 2002 Modified Point Championship. This is when the evening really got interesting, and the heavy, damp clay oval played a large part in the way the point raced played out. Young Bud Schweibinz, in his first full season running with the big block modifieds, started the race on the outside pole and took the early lead in the event. Hendrickson started in sixth and left no doubt what he wanted, flying into second place on just the third lap. When Schweibinz dropped out of the race on the fifth lap with mechanical problems, Hendrickson took over the lead and never looked back. Howard, meanwhile, was hovering around fifteenth position, more than good enough to guarantee the point crown, until a wild accident on the front straight saw the Big Spring Car Wash #126 flip just past the start-finish line. The eight car melee, which saw three cars flip, occurred right in front of the main grandstand full of fans, bringing the large crowd to their feet in amazement at what had just occurred. With the red flag flying, Howard climbed out of his overturned racer, and after looking the mangled car over, determined that the damage was mainly cosmetic. With this, the track crew righted the #126, which stopped on its roof, and Howard climbed back in, fired up the big block motor, and drove off to the pits to have the modified checked by its crew! Though the car looked to be in bad shape, only some of the radius rods appeared to be bent, and when racing resumed after the delay, Howard began working his way back up through the field. Lap fourteen saw Jimmy Horton, driving the Miles Concrete #901, pull off the track on the front straightaway while running in second place, when the drive shaft broke, bringing out the yellow when it appeared that the seven-time champ needed medical attention. Horton was checked out by the track EMT’s, led by Dave Weber, and while the all-time feature winner’s night was over, he was okay and walked away from the damaged racer. This put Delaware’s Ricky Elliott and the Trenton Mack #704 on Hendrickson’s rear bumper, with young charger Kyle Strickler within striking distance in third place when the action resumed. With the local township curfew looming and just moments away, the field was given the two to go sign at lap eighteen, and at lap twenty Hendrickson had his eighth win of the year, making him the leading feature winner at the track for the year, while Howard rebounded from the flip to amazingly finish seventh and become the 2002 Bridgeport Speedway Modified Champion. Elliott continued his strong end of the season streak, finishing in second, with Strickler, whose father Randy has four Sportsman feature wins at the track, coming home third. Stephan Durand and Steve Bottcher completed the top five. After the race, the new champion said, “This season is a tribute to the hard work the crew did all year. We were strong and consistent all year long and the team has to take the credit for that. They gave me a racer that was ready and competitive every week, and I want to thank owners Glen and Bonita Hyneman for that along with the whole crew. I really love racing here, and I’m proud to be the Bridgeport Modified Champion with the level of talent that competes here every week!” Howard ended the point season with four wins and only finished out of the top ten once all season on the way to the championship.

The sportsman feature race, which was lost due to curfew, has been added to next Sunday afternoon’s Big Show 2, which features two Central PA 410 sprint A-Mains along with a complete program of big block modified and sportsman racing. The Enduro Stock fifty lapper has been added to the Saturday October 12th program. Information on all Bridgeport Speedway events may obtained by calling the track office during regular business hours at 856-467-4408 or on the Internet at www.bridgeportspeedway.com.

BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS SATURDAY - SEPTEMBER 28, 2002

MODIFIEDS

Heat 1 – J.Chester, Horton, Strickler, Dekutoski, Puzzella, Howard

Heat 2 – Kerr, Hendrickson, Schweibinz, Bottcher, Laubach, Weaver

Heat 3 – Elliott, Stonebraker, O’Neal, Durand, Davis

Consi – Truppi, Hoffman, Adams, Simpson, Jarrell, B.Chester, Vasquez

MODIFIED FEATURE – 30 LAPS

WADE HENDRICKSON, Ricky Elliott, Kyle Strickler, Stephan Durand, Steve Bottcher,

Bud Schweibinz, Duane Howard, Dave Stonebraker, Gary Simpson, Howard O’Neal,

Joe Puzzella, Phil Vasquez, Jimmy Horton, Brian Truppi, Billy Joe Chester, Rick Laubach,

Joe Dekutoski, Dave Adams, Adam Jarrell, Jimmy Chester, Ryan Kerr, Wayne Weaver,

Bruce Davis, Doug Hoffman

SPORTSMAN

Heat 1 – Mills, Briggs, Sarkisian, Roberts, Wyant, Stinson

Heat 2 – Lilick, Miller, Burkhart, Harris, Cogdill, Lineman

Heat 3 – Forte, Pierce, Wescott, Collins, Pursell, Klingmeyer

Consi – Lindale, Young, Duppel, Schultz, Horton, Britt, Pratt, DeMedio

SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20 LAPS

Postponed – Curfew – to be run Sunday Oct 6

UNITED RACING CLUB SPRINTS

Heat 1 – Brian, Emery, Midge Miller, Darling, Wyers

Heat 2 – Gollub, Parker, Trout, Anderson, McGough

Heat 3 – Welsh, Lewis, Massey, Parlett, Bates

Heat 4 – Pursell, Michael, T.Hogue, Clauss, Mike Miller

B Main – Ely, Coyle, Coverdale, Clarke

URC A MAIN – 25 LAPS

SCOTT PURSELL, Curt Michael, Bill Brian Jr, Tim Hogue, Chris Coyle