Doug Hoffman Gets Second Win of Season – Kevin Nagy Unstoppable in Sprint Action

Bridgeport, NJ – Allentown, PA’s Doug Hoffman picked up his second win of the new season at Bridgeport Speedway, winning the twenty-five lap big block modified feature on Saturday night. Hoffman, the 2001 Bridgeport Modified Champion, started the race in tenth place, and had his Lincoln Auto Body Troyer #60over hooked up to the clay 5/8th mile oval, charging into the top five on just the second lap, and overtaking leader Stephan Durand six laps later. Bridgeport ¼ mile Speedway graduate, Kevin Nagy, continued his dominance over the Bridgeport Sprint field, winning the twenty lap A-Main for the second week in a row. Pedricktown, NJ’s Dan Cogdill picked up his third career win at New Jersey’s fastest dirt track, winning the twenty-lap sportsman feature for the first time since July of 1999.

Mahwah, NJ’s Stephan Durand, driving the Thornton’s Gulf #5, led the field to the start of the main event from his pole position start, and pulled out to the early lead. Chasing Durand around the speedway was the new driver of the Overhead Doors #0, Vineland, NJ’s Paul Weaver, who started the race on the outside pole. Weaver, who drove the Sal DeBruno #0 back in the eighties, had his hands full with Rick Laubach, who was right on his tail from the outset of the race. Lap four saw Weaver and Laubach run the whole lap door to door, with Doug Hoffman right behind them. On the next lap, the three came down the homestretch three-wide, with Hoffman completing the pass entering turn one to take the runner-up spot away from Weaver. Two laps later, Hoffman closed in on Durand and made the pass for the lead exiting turn two. While Hoffman was pulling away from the pack, former champions Jamie Mills and Jimmy Horton were picking their way through traffic to get to the front. Mills took third away from Durand on lap eleven, and two laps later Horton was right on the Milford, DE driver’s rear bumper. After running side by side for the better part of two laps, Mills finally got control of third place and tried to close in on the runner up spot being held down by

Richlandtown, PA’s Laubach, who had the Auger Machine #93 firmly in second place. With five to go, Laubach appeared to be gaining some ground on Hoffman, but at the finish Hoffman still had a comfortable lead, with Laubach, Mills, Horton, and Duane Howard filling out the top five. Talking about the racing surface after the race, Hoffman said, “This is the type of race track we were looking forward to. If it stays this way, it’s really easy on the race car. You’ve got to really calm yourself down and baby the throttle. You tiptoe through the corners and pick the throttle up real nice and easy. It really becomes a driver’s racetrack when it gets like this. It’s really good to be back in victory lane, we haven’t been here for a few weeks!” Mills, Laubach, and Brian Truppi won the qualifying heat races, while Mike Iles took the consolation event.

An eleven car pile up marred the start of the twenty-lap sportsman feature, which sent several cars to the pits on the back of a tow truck, including the winner of the last two races, Hurffville, NJ’s Richie Pratt. When the track was finally cleared and action resumed, Joe Masiado took the lead, with Dennis Price on his back bumper. Lap seven saw Dan Cogdill work his way past Price for the runner up spot, and he proceeded to chase down Masiado and the lead. Cogdill caught Masiado, but couldn’t make the pass for the lead, and these two drivers battled door to door for lap after lap. Lap eleven saw Newark, DE’s Steve Lindale get into the fray, and on lap fourteen, a three abreast charge down the front straight saw Cogdill slip ahead entering turn one, with Lindale and Masiado tangling in the high groove causing Lindale to spin out. Cogdill now had the lead to himself, and with five to go, two-time winner Billy Harris started to reel in the front runner, with Laurel DE’s Kevin Collins making a strong bid to get into the thick of the action. At the finish, Cogdill, Harris, and Collins were all within a few car lengths of each other, with Cogdill getting his first win since July of 1999. Tom Miller, who makes the weekly tow down to the South Jersey 5/8th mile oval from his Gilbertsville, PA home, had his best ever finish, coming home fourth, with point leader Bob Sarkisian filling out the top five. Masiado, Sarkisian, and Harris won the eight lap qualifying heats, while rookie of the year contender Judd Mills won the consolation race.

Pennsville, NJ’s Chip Brown, who has been having a tough luck season so far in 2002, charged out to the lead from his fourth starting spot at the beginning of the twenty-lap Bridgeport Sprint A-Main. Brown, who competed on the quarter mile oval in the micro sprints before switching to the sprints in 2000, has had one problem after another taking him out of contention, but on Saturday night, he had the Salem County Collision #22 flying around the speedway, and looked to be tough to beat as he led the field for the first eight laps. Lap nine saw one-time winner Shane Smith use the outside groove to close in on the leader, and after one lap with less than two car lengths separating Brown, Smith, and New Egypt, NJ’s Warren Durbin, Smith was able to charge past for the lead exiting turn four. At halfway, Smith had Brown, Durbin, and last week’s winner, Kevin Nagy hunting him down for the lead. Lap thirteen proved to be Durbin’s unlucky lap, when he was forced o retire from the race with mechanical woes, and one lap later Nagy pulled a beautiful slide job on Brown in turns one and two, diving under Brown and powering out of two in the runner up spot. Lap sixteen saw the caution flag come out for the #3J of Jeff Mueller, who looped his Precise Landscaping sprinter in turn one. On the restart of the race, Nagy again executed the same move on Smith that he used on Brown, and took the lead. Nagy pulled away from the pack to get his second win in a row, and third of the season, with Smith using his Central PA experience to try to catch up to the winner. Brown had his best finish of the season, coming home third, with veterans Gary Mondschein and Mares Stellfox completing the top five. Qualifying heats were won by Durbin and Brown for the Jasper Racing Engines winged Sprints.

NOTES: Three-time career winner, Wayne Weaver was back in action for the first time this season, driving the Joel’s Auto Technology #19. First time out bugs kept Paul Weaver’s younger brother out of the main event….Steve Strubble had the fans gasping for air, as he thrilled everyone with his daredevil driving style, running his Helget #94 sprinter about as close to the outer guard rail as anyone has ever been without going over it. He used this exciting driving skill in both his heat and the A-Main, before mechanical problems forced him out of the race…Wade Hendrickson, who had been unstoppable for the last three weeks, never really got going on the hard surface, and on the twenty-first lap the R10 actually lost about eight spots after a tangle in turn two. The hard slick race track appeared to be the kryptonite to Hendrickson, who looked like Superman for the last month…Mike Iles had a great run in the modified feature, coming all the way from 19th to finish in 6th place.

Bridgeport Speedway Results – Saturday May 11, 2002

MODIFIEDS

Heat 1 – Mills, Infante, Hendrickson, Durand, Hieber, B.Chester

Heat 2 – Laubach, Hoffman, Bottcher, P.Weaver, Adams, Stonebraker

Heat 3 – Truppi, Howard, Chester, Hirthler, Horton, Elliott

Consi – Iles, Lineman Sr, Radd, Schultz, Hatt, Franz

Modified Feature – 25 Laps

Doug Hoffman, Rick Laubach, Jamie Mills, Jimmy Horton, Duane Howard, Mike Iles, Paul Weaver, Carmine Infante, Danny Hieber, Jared Schultz, Steve Bottcher, Dave Adams, Jimmy Chester, Wade Hendrickson, Ben Hatt, Joe Dekutoski, Kevin Hirthler, Billy Joe Chester, Dave Stonebraker, Ricky Elliott, Stephan Durand, Brian Truppi, Bob Lineman Sr DQ- Don Radd

Lap Leaders – Durand: 7, Hoffman: 18

SPORTSMAN

Heat 1 – Masiado, Cogdill, Pratt, Lilick, Britt, Ottinger

Heat 2 – Sarkisian, Sadler, Wescott, Price, Pursell, Briggs

Heat 3 – Harris, Lindale, Forte, Pierce, Miller, Roberts

Consi – Mills, Klingmeyer, Horton, B.Hirthler, K.Collins, Lineman Jr, Malcolm, DeMedio

Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps

Dan Cogdill, Billy Harris, Kevin Collins, Tom Miller, Bob Sarkisian, Dennis Price, Bruce Hirthler, Ron Roberts, Rob Pierce, Judd Mills, Joe Masiado, Bill Klingmeyer, Jay Horton, Bill Briggs, Bob Lineman Jr, Court Ottinger, Mark Forte, Steve Lindale, Bob Lilick, Blaine Sadler, Sam Wescott, Richie Pratt, John Pursell, Jim Britt, Andy Burkhart

Lap Leaders – Masiado: 13, Cogdill: 7

BRIDGEPORT WINGED SPRINTS

Heat 1 – Durbin, Nagy, Mondschein, Smith, Donaghy, Stellfox

Heat 2 – Brown, Strubble, Wyers, Fleetwood, Karnbach, Mueller

Bridgeport Sprint A-Main – 20 Laps

Kevin Nagy, Shane Smith, Chip Brown, Gary Mondschein, Mares Stellfox, John Wyers, Steve Fleetwood, Matt Beasley, Bob Adams, Keith Anderson, David Brown, Jack Curtis, Jeff Mueller, Warren Durbin, Steve Strubble, Mike Piersig, Harry McConnell, George Coffin, Greg Lotosky, Mike Donaghy, Ron Karnbach DNS – John Bennett, Steve Schmidt

Lap Leaders: Brown: 8, Smith: 8, Nagy: 4