Jimmy Horton & Rick Laubach Split Modified Twin 20’s; Nagy Gets Fifth Sprint Win

Bridgeport, NJ – The popular Firecracker 4-20’s were held at the Bridgeport Speedway on Saturday night, with some familiar faces returning to victory lane in all divisions. The powerful big block modifieds had Twin Twenty lap features on the schedule, with Neshanic Station, NJ’s Jimmy Horton picking up win number 101 at the South Jersey 5/8th mile oval in the first feature, while Richlandtown, PA’s Rick Laubach grabbed win number three for the season in the nightcap. The Bridgeport Jasper Racing Engines Sprint twenty lap A-Main was won by Kevin Nagy, giving the Bridgeport ¼ Mile Speedway Micro Sprint graduate his fifth win of the 2002 season. The Bridgeport Sportsman twenty-lap feature was won by Dan Cogdill, who was declared the winner after Rich Stinson’s racer failed the post race tech inspection. It was Cogdill’s second win of the year, after being absent from victory lane since 1999.

The first modified twenty lapper saw Kevin Hirthler take the early lead from his pole position start, and pull out to a comfortable lead with Ricky Elliott steering the Trenton Mack #704 in second. By lap four Elliott had his hands full with 2001 champ Doug Hoffman, who was flying up from his eleventh place starting spot. These two spent the better part of the next three laps running door to door, before Hoffman was able to wrestle the spot away from Elliott. Yellow fever hit the track next, with at least six caution periods being called in the four laps before halfway. Hoffman retired to the pits on a lap seven restart, putting Duane Howard on the outside pole, after passing Elliott and Rick Laubach one lap earlier. After three more attempts were made to get the race going, a lap nine restart saw the field finally get away clean, with Howard being penalized two spots for jumping on the start. Hirthler faded back to eighth place in the next two laps, giving the lead to Jimmy Horton, after the penalty was imposed on Howard during a lap sixteen caution period. This tightened up the field, giving Hoffman, who had fought his way back from last place, and Howard a chance to battle Horton for the lead. With two to go, Howard worked his way past Hoffman in turn three, but could not mount any threat for Horton, who had modified win number 101 in his career at Bridgeport. Behind Howard and Hoffman, Wade Hendrickson and Elliott completed the top five.

The second modified feature, which was the last event of the night, saw some excellent racing action as two and three car battles for position were waged all around New Jersey’s fastest dirt track. Lap three had a three car race between Wade Hendrickson, Duane Howard, and Wayne Weaver which saw these three run three wide exiting turn two and down the backstretch. With Steve Bottcher holding down the front in the Buff Farms #24, Pennsy drivers Rick Laubach and Dave Stonebraker were fighting each other for second place, which had these two running at each other for the next six laps, when Laubach finally grabbed the runner up spot for good, after trading spots with Stonebraker numerous times. If this wasn’t entertaining enough, the Bridgeport 4-H Club was putting on a show of its own, as Doug Hoffman, Jimmy Horton, Howard, and Hendrickson were all running under a blanket fighting for fifth place. A caution flag on lap eight brought the field together, and on the restart, Bottcher drifted high in turn one, giving Laubach the opening he needed to take the lead. Howard took over second place one lap later, and at the halfway mark Laubach and Howard were one-two with Bottcher holding off Jimmy Horton for third. Horton had made his own daring move, using the bottom of the raceway to pass Hendrickson and Kevin Hirthler, who were fourth and fifth when he made the pass. With five to go, Laubach was still holding off Howard, who was having trouble gaining ground on Laubach’s Auger Manufacturing #93. Horton worked past Bottcher for third at the same time, and two laps later Hendrickson did the same thing, dropping Bottcher to fifth. At the finish, Laubach had his third win of the year, holding off the fast closing Howard, with Horton, Hendrickson, and Bottcher filling out the top five. Howard had a great night, even with the penalty imposed in the first feature, coming back to get two second place finishes, tying him with Jimmy Horton for the 2002 season point lead, with Hendrickson behind by just three points. Howard’s day was made even more complicated by the fact the Big Spring Car Wash #126 team had to change motors in the afternoon before leaving home for the track. Qualifying heats were won by Hendrickson, Elliott, and Howard, with Weaver grabbing the consolation race.

Rich Stinson Jr. started the twenty-lap Bridgeport sportsman feature on the pole, and had no trouble pulling away from the pack to build a comfortable lead. Lap four saw five-time 2002 winner Richie Pratt pull into the pits for a flat left rear tire, and a quick pitstop by the Klair #34 Team put the second generation driver at the rear of the field. Coming down the front straight to complete lap nine, rookie driver Judd Mills pulled along side runner up John Pursell to contest for the second position, completing the pass as the two entered turn one. With five to go, a torrid battle for fifth place was being waged by Bob Sarkisian, Mark Forte, and Pratt, who had charged up from last after his pitstop. With Starter Chris Burt ready to wave the checkered flags, Mills and Dan Cogdill came down the front straight side by side, with Cogdill edging Mills by just a few inches at the line for what appeared to be second place. After failing the post race tech inspection, Stinson’s car was disqualified and the win was given to Cogdill, giving him his second win of the season. Mills came home third, with Pratt, Pursell, and Kevin Collins completing the top five. Stinson, Billy Harris, and Bob Lineman Jr. won the eight lap qualifying races, with Collins taking the consolation race. At the end of the night, Harris still had a 31 point lead over Sarkisian for the 2002 point chase, with Cogdill just five points back in third place.

Mares Stellfox had the Comcast #56 on the pole for the Bridgeport Winged Sprint A-Main, and immediately pulled out to large lead in the opening portion of the race. At the end of the second lap, Kevin Nagy, who started twelfth, was already up in seventh place. Nagy was in fourth by lap eight after passing John Wyers and Dave Brown in turn two, and was using every inch of the track to put on some kind of show for the fans. Lap twelve saw Nagy use the bottom groove again to pass second generation driver Matt Beasley, coming down the front straight to complete lap thirteen. Now running in second place, Nagy pointed his winged racer towards the front and started to immediately cut into Stellfox’ lead. Nagy finally caught Stellfox on lap sixteen, and made his move in turn three to take over the lead. Beasley dropped out of the race with a flat right rear tire with just one to go, and at the finish it was Nagy followed by Wyers, who passed Stellfox for second place on the last lap. Warren Durbin and Joe Butts Jr. completed the top five, while Stellfox and Chip Brown won the qualifying heats.

BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS – SATURDAY JULY 6, 2002

BIG BLOCK MODIFEDS

Heat 1 – Hendrickson, Horton, Hirthler, Adams, Iles, J.Chester

Heat 2 – Elliott, Hoffman, B.Chester, Hatt, Infante, Bottcher

Heat 3 – Howard, Laubach, Stonebraker, Franz, Durand, Schweibinz

Consi – Weaver, Dekutoski, Ratoskey, Higbee, Vasquez, Daniels

1st Modified Feature – 20 Laps

JIMMY HORTON, Duane Howard, Doug Hoffman, Wade Hendrickson, Ricky Elliott, Rick Laubach, Wayne Weaver, Kevin Hirthler, Steve Bottcher, Dave Stonebraker, Mike Iles, Phil Vasquez, Rob Ratoskey, Carmine Infante, Bob Gibbons, Joe Dekutoski, Ben Hatt, Jimmy Chester, Mike Franz, Dave Adams, Dave Daniels, Bud Schweibinz, Billy Joe Chester, Stephen Durand DNS: Charlie Higbee

2nd Modified Feature – 20 Laps

RICK LAUBACH, Duane Howard, Jimmy Horton, Wade Hendrickson, Steve Bottcher, Doug Hoffman, Kevin Hirthler, Ricky Elliott, Carmine Infante, Mike Iles, Jimmy Chester, Joe Dekutoski, Billy Joe Chester, Rob Ratoskey, Dave Daniels, Dave Stonebraker, Phil Vasquez, Wayne Weaver, Dave Adams, Brian Truppi, Bob Gibbons DNS: Hatt, Franz, Schweibinz, Durand

SPORTSMAN

Heat 1 – Stinson, Burkhart, Pursell, Cogdill, Wilkins, Lilick

Heat 2 – Harris, Lozorak, Briggs, Wescott, Britt, Miller

Heat 3 – Lineman, Osmun, S.Lindale, Forte, Pratt, Hirthler

Consi – Collins, Mills, Masiado, Klingmeyer, Cook, Sarkisian, DeMedio, Price

SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20 LAPS

DAN COGDILL, Judd Mills, Richie Pratt Jr, John Pursell, Kevin Collins, Bob Sarkisian, Billy Harris, Bob Lineman Jr, Bob Lileck, Bill Klingmeyer, Dennis Price, Jim Britt, Beau Wilkins, Bob Cook, Mike DeMedio, Mark Forte, Tom Miller, Bill Briggs, Joe Masiado, Steve Lindale, Sam Wescott, Willie Osmun, Steve Lozorak, Andy Burkhart, Bruce Hirthler DQ: Rich Stinson

BRIDGEPORT SPRINTS

Heat 1 – Stellfox, D.Brown, Nagy, Andersen, Wyers, Howe

Heat 2 – C.Brown, Durbin, Donaghy, Beasley, Smith, Butts

BRIDGEPORT SPRINT A-MAIN – 20 LAPS

KEVIN NAGY, John Wyers, Mares Stellfox, Warren Durbin, Joe Butts Jr, Ron Karnbach, Matt Beasley, Mike Donaghy, Chip Brown, Joe Howe, John Barnett, Frank Stalfire, George Coffin, Keith Andersen, Shane Smith, Dave Brown, Jeff Mueller DNS: Jeff Foote, Mike Piersig, Doug Suiter