HENDRICKSON GETS SEVENTH WIN AFTER HOFFMAN BREAKS WITH ONE TO GO

Bridgeport, NJ – Lawrenceville, NJ’s Wade Hendrickson picked up his seventh win of the 2002 season on Saturday night at Bridgeport Speedway, capitalizing on the bad luck suffered by Doug Hoffman. Hoffman had been leading the twenty-five lap main event, but coming down the front straight to get Starter Dennis Weir’s one to go signal, the Lincoln Auto Body #5 had engine problems, forcing Hoffman to the infield. Hendrickson, who had been in second, inherited the lead and led the last lap to get the $2500 first prize money. A phenomenal Bridgeport Sportsman feature saw Bob Sarkisian win for the second week in a row, in a twenty-lap race that had twenty-seven of the twenty-eight starters still running at the finish. Prospect Park, PA’s Mares Stellfox picked up her second victory of the season, winning the twenty-lap Jasper Winged Sprint A-Main.

Carmine Infante and Danny Hieber paced the modified field to start the big block feature, with Hieber sliding the Bucks County International #11 out front after a full lap of side by side racing with Infante. On the second lap, a three-car tangle in turn two took Ryan Kerr out of the race, while sending Ricky Elliott and Jimmy Horton to the rear after both made pit stops. On the fifth lap, Hieber still had control of the front spot, while Dave Adams had the Hooters #37 in the runner up position holding off Infante and Doug Hoffman. Hoffman had the Lincoln Teo #5 flying, and in less than a lap he used the high groove to get past Infante, and then took over second place when Adams jumped the groove in turn two. While Hoffman was charging in on Hieber, Jimmy Horton was working his way up from the back, and was in ninth place by the seventh lap, when the caution had to be displayed for Rick Laubach, who stopped in turn two. On the restart, Hoffman blew past Hieber for the lead as the two race down the backstretch, while two laps later, Horton had charged into the top five. At the halfway mark, it was the “5-H Club” gang speeding around the raceway, with Hoffman, Hieber, Wade Hendrickson, Duane Howard, and Horton filling out the top five. Lap seventeen saw Hieber’s great run come to an end, as the left rear suspension broke on the Scrappy’s #11, bringing out the yellow flag. With five to go, Hoffman had a commanding lead over Hendrickson and Howard, who were running within inches of each other for the better part of a couple laps. With Starter Dennis Weir getting ready to wave the white flag signaling one lap to go, Hoffman slowed exiting turn four, puling off the track and ending his night one lap short of the win, after the oil pump belt broke on his racer. Hendrickson then took over the lead, and held off Duane Howard, who made a couple of daredevil moves in the turns to try and get the Big Spring Car Wash #126 into the lead. Time ran out on Howard though, and Hendrickson and his Simons Builders #R10 had their seventh win of the season. Finishing behind Howard in third place was fast closing Ricky Elliott, who seems to have the Trenton Mack #704 really set up on the big 5/8th mile oval. Jimmy Chester, who appears to be more comfortable in the Overhead Doors #0 every week, finished fourth, while Brian Truppi did a great job to bring the Speed Palace TK #02 home fifth.

Twenty-eight Bridgeport Sportsman took the green in their twenty lap main event, with Billy Harris and Judd Mills using their top five provisional status to join the field, after both drivers suffered through mechanical problems in their qualifying events. Jim Robertson took the early lead from his outside pole position starting spot, and held on for the first five laps until fifth starting Richie Pratt Jr. worked his way past on the backstretch to take over the front spot. While Pratt, who has five wins this season, slowly built up a lead, last week’s winner of the Labor Day 30, Bob Sarkisian, was making his way through the pack to contend for the lead. Sarkisian and his Superior Scaffolding #47 started the race in twelfth position and was in the top five by lap four. Sarkisian was on the move, and passed one car in front of him per lap for the next three laps, so that by lap eight he was bearing down on leader Pratt, after getting by Robertson in turn two. At the halfway mark, Pratt was holding off Sarkisian’s advances, while on lap thirteen, Blue Anchor, NJ’s Mark Forte put himself into the fray by taking over third place. The 2000 Bridgeport Sportsman champ closed in on the front two and made it a three way battle for the lead until lap fifteen, when Craig Ott spun in turn one in front of Pratt, who had to spin himself to avoid contact with Ott’s stalled racer. This development turned the lead over to Sarkisian, who went the rest of the way to get his fifth win of the season, padding his 2002 season point lead in the process. Forte brought the Cingular Wireless #40 home second, with Rich Stinson, Robertson, and Sam Wescott completing the top five. Robertson had his career best finish, but after failing the post race tech inspection, he was disqualified, advancing Dennis Price into the top five. An amazing outcome of this excellently run event was the fact that twenty-seven of the twenty-eight starters finished the race, which was slowed only by two caution flags. The tight racing and close competition made this race a real treat for the large crowd that was on hand for the night’s events. Pratt, Bill Briggs, and Robertson won the qualifying heats, with one-time feature winner Kevin Collins taking the consolation race.

The Jasper Winged Sprint A-Main saw Mares Stellfox, driving the Comcast Team #56, charge out from her pole position starting spot to pull out to a comfortable lead in the twenty lap event. By the fifth lap, the “Lady Outlaw” had a half straightaway lead over, which she had stretched to a full straightaway lead at the halfway mark over runner up Steve Fleetwood. With Stellfox having a big lead over the pack, all eyes turned to Kevin Nagy, who was making his usual run to the front in his exciting rim-riding style that has yielded five wins in his rookie season. Second-generation driver Steve Schmidt worked his way by Fleetwood for second place on lap twelve, and started cutting into Stellfox’ lead right away. With two to go, Nagy’s night ended as the car exited turn four, when the winged sprinter had to be pushed back to the pits after suffering engine problems. This move gave Schmidt the chance that he needed to try for his first win, and the youngster made every inch count, as he pressured Stellfox right to the finish line. Stellfox had her second win of the season, with Schmidt just .28 of second behind for the runner up spot. Fleetwood held off a fast charging Warren Durbin for third, with Greg Lotosky filling out the top five. Fleetwood and Stellfox won the eight lap qualifying heats for the flying sprinters. Point leader Shane Smith dropped out of the race with mechanical woes and a nineteenth place finish, when combined with Durbin’s fourth place finish saw the lead trimmed by twenty-six points, giving Smith an eighty-three point lead for the championship.

In a real barn-burner of a race, Pat Hires won the fifty lap Enduro Stock feature after a crowd pleasing duel with Curtis Nichols that saw these two drivers swap the lead back and forth for the last ten laps. Former street stock champion, Frank Blauvelt, dominated the early portion of the race, until a four car battle for the lead had the large crowd on the edge of their seats for the middle of the race. Blauvelt had to hold off the threesome of Nichols, Hires and Steve Haegele as the four full bodied racers all ran under a blanket going for the lead. With ten to go, Nichols and Hires pulled away from the others, and a caution with two to go set up a last lap shoot out between the two. After exchanging the lead back and forth, Hires finally grabbed the lead as he and Nichols exited turn four, and Hires pulled ahead by a few feet at the checkered flag, which was being waved by guest starter, Judy Snyderman, who worked the race with Bridgeport Assistant Starter Chris Burt.

BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS – SATURDAY 9-7-02

MODIFIEDS

Heat 1 – Adams, Horton, Howard, Infante, Weaver, Iles

Heat 2 – Durand, Hoffman, Durand, Kerr, Bottcher, Dekutoski

Heat 3 – Hieber, Laubach, J.Chester, Stonebraker, Truppi, Franz

Consi – Elliott, Davis, B.Chester, Vasquez, Puzzella, Firth

MODIFIED FEATURE – 25 LAPS

WADE HENDRICKSON, Duane Howard, Ricky Elliott, Jimmy Chester, Brian Truppi, Dave Adams, Jimmy Horton, Carmine Infante, Mike Illes, Dave Stonebraker, Wayne Weaver, Mike Franz, Joe Dekutoski, Billy Joe Chester, Scott Davis, Stephan Durand, Phil Vasquez, Joe Puzzella, Steve Bottcher, Doug Hoffman, Ed Firth, Danny Hieber, Rick Laubach, Ryan Kerr

SPORTSMAN

Heat 1 – Pratt, Schultz, Sarkisian, Stinson, Roberts, Masiado

Heat 2 – Briggs, Wyant, Wescott, Cogdill, Britt, Forte

Heat 3 – Robertson, Price, Lilick, Mills, Burkhart, Pursell

Consi – Collins, Lindale, Klingmeyer, Miller, Sadler, DelNero, Cook, Fowler

SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20 LAPS

BOB SARKISIAN, Mark Forte, Rich Stinson, Sam Wescott, Dennis Price, Judd Mills, Dan Cogdill, Daryl DelNero, Andy Burkhart, Ron Roberts, Jim Britt, Kevin Collins, Steve Lindale, Bill Briggs, Bill Klingmeyer, John Pursell, Billy Harris, Jay Horton, Richie Pratt, bob Lilick, Blaine Sadler, Robert Wyant, Bob Cook, George Fowler, Tom Miller, Craig Ott, Steve Schultz

DQ- Jim Robertson

JASPER WINGED SPRINTS

Heat 1 – Fleetwood, Schmidt, Karnbach, Wyers, Andersen, Romano

Heat 2 – Stellfox, Smith, Nagy, Durbin, Lotosky, Beasley

JASPER WINGED SPRINTS A-MAIN – 20 LAPS

MARES STELLFOX, Steve Schmidt, Steve Fleetwood, Warren Durbin, Greg Lotosky, Ron Karnbach, John Wyers, Don Smith, Matt Beasley, Brett Romano, Jeff Mueller, Steve Strubble, Jimmy Stitzel, Mike Piersig, John Barnett, Jeff Foote, George Coffin, Kevin Nagy, Shane Smith, Keith Andersen, Jack Curtis, Doug Suiter DNS: Mike Donaghy, Al DeAngelis

ENDURO STOCK FEATURE – 50 Laps

Pat Hires, Curtis Nichols, Frank Blauvelt, Steve Haegele, Bob Hopely, Rich Franchetti, Robert Benz, Tracy Rocap, Bob Dooley, Bill English