Wade Hendrickson Continues His Dominance Over Bridgeport Modified Field

Bridgeport, NJ – The question going around the Bridgeport pits should be how to stop the Rio Brothers #R10 with Lawrenceville, NJ’s Wade Hendrickson aboard the TEO chassied big block modified. For the third week in a row, Hendrickson mastered one of the better modified fields on the East Coast, winning the twenty-five lap big block modified feature event. Hendrickson hooked up in a classic battle with Brian Truppi and Duane Howard, with the lead swapping between the three throughout the race. Richie Pratt Jr, son of 1987 small block modified champion Rich Pratt Sr, took the twenty-lap sportsman feature for the second week in a row. Sewell, NJ’s Pratt, driving the Klair #34, swapped the lead with 2000 sportsman champion Mark Forte in the early stages of the race, before controlling the front and going on for the win. Rookie sprint driver Kevin Nagy, a graduate of the micro sprints that compete on the Bridgeport ¼ Mile Speedway, picked up his second win of the season in the Bridgeport Winged Sprint A-Main.

Brian Truppi, in his TK Motors #02, blasted out from his outside pole starting spot to take a commanding lead in the opening of the big block modified feature race. By the second lap, the former Sportsman Champion had almost a full straightaway lead on the field and showed no signs of letting up, but a lap four red flag for a four car accident on the front straight chewed up the huge lead Truppi had built up. Truppi again was able to control the front and held on to the lead while the track’s big guns were working their way to the front. Lap five saw Oley, PA’s Duane Howard take over the runner up spot, while two laps later Wade Hendrickson worked his way by the Hooter’s #37 of Dave Adams for third place. This set up some of the most exciting displays of driving seen at the South Jersey 5/8th oval, as Truppi, Hendrickson, and Howard battled each other lap after lap, running three-wide for much of the time. At Starter Dennis Weir’s halfway sign, Truppi was still leading, with Howard and Hendrickson in tow. With ten to go, Howard tried to wrestle the lead away from Truppi, sliding the Hyneman #126 under Truppi in turn two, but Truppi powered off the corner to hold Howard off and regain first place. Howard tried the same move two laps later, this time making the pass stick, grabbing the lead from Truppi. The three-car dogfight continued and on the next lap Hendrickson moved past Howard exiting turn two to take the lead for himself. While Hendrickson had the lead, he never was able to build any kind of comfortable lead, as Howard and Truppi stayed right with the 2000 modified point champ. With two to go, Hendrickson let the #R10 go to too high in turns three and four, and Howard actually pulled even for the lead, but Hendrickson charged down the front straight to pull back ahead. At the finish, Hendrickson had his third win in a row, with Howard in second and Truppi shaking off his bad luck of 2002 to come home third. 2001 champ Doug Hoffman finished fourth, with seven-time champion Jimmy Horton finishing inches ahead of Jimmy Chester for fifth place. Adams, Horton, and Truppi won the eight lap qualifying heats, with Kevin Hirthler taking the consolation.

The sportsman feature was also a real barn burner, as 2000 champion Mark Forte, who has been having a tough early season, charged from his fourth starting spot to the lead on just the first lap. Blue Anchor, NJ’s Forte had the lead with Steve Lindale in second and Richie Pratt, who started twelfth, now in third, and on the third lap the three were running side by side, with the three trading paint down the front straightaway, with Pratt taking the lead. Forte dove low in turn one and retook the lead for lap four, but Pratt stayed right with the #40, and these two charged down the backstretch door to door. Pratt powered through the high groove in three and four, rim riding the new clay surface to regain the lead. At the halfway mark, Pratt was building himself a comfortable lead, and went the rest of the twenty-lap feature for his second win in a row. Ron Roberts, winner of his first Bridgeport feature two weeks ago, came on strong in the second half of the race to come all the way from his twenty-first starting spot to finish in third place, with Bob Lilick having his best ever finish at Bridgeport, coming home fourth. Bill Klingmeyer completed the top five. Lilick, Pratt, and Willie Osmun won the qualifying heats, while Sam Wescott, driving the Clark #026, won the consolation race.

The twenty-lap Bridgeport Sprint A-Main had a rough time getting going, with a yellow flag and red flag being displayed before one lap could be entered into the books. The red flag had to be used for the two car flip of Joe Howe and Joe Butts Jr in turn four coming down to complete the first lap. Both drivers walked away uninjured, and on the restart Greg Lotosky charged out from the pack to take the lead. Lap six saw Mares Stellfox and Shane Smith, who were battling for the runner up spot, come together on the front straight, with Smith taking a wild ride off the banking of the ¼ mile speedway. To the delight of the crowd, Smith only lost one position after regaining control of the winged sprinter. This allowed Kevin Nagy to take over third place, and two laps later, Nagy charged past Stellfox for the lead, after Lotosky lost control in turn two, hitting the marker tire in the corner. Nagy pulled away from the field, charging to his second win of the season, and with five to go, Smith got past Stellfox for second place. Steve Strubble had everyone on the edge of their seats for the last five laps, as he had the Helget #94 riding up by the outer guardrail through the turns. At the finish, Strubble was closing in on Smith for second, but had to settle for third place, with Steve Schmidt and Stellfox completing the top five. Lotosky and Howe won heats for the Jasper Racing Engines Sprints.

BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS – Saturday May 4, 2002

MODIFIEDS

Heat 1 – Adams, Hendrickson, Dekutoski, Schultz, Mills, Schweibinz

Heat 2 – Horton, Howard, Infante, Elliott, Hughes, Stonebraker

Heat 3 – Truppi, J.Chester, Hoffman, Radd, Lineman, Bottcher

Consi – Hirthler, Weaver, Barone, Iles, Hieber, Laubach

Modified Feature – 25 Laps

Wade Hendrickson, Brian Truppi, Duane Howard, Doug Hoffman, Jimmy Horton, Jimmy Chester, Dave Adams, Don Radd, Mike Iles, Carmine Infante, Rick Laubach, Ricky Elliott, Joe Dekutoski, Bob Lineman Sr, Mike Hughes, Dave Stonebraker, Jamie Mills, Jared Schultz, Danny Hieber, Steve Bottcher, Bud Schweibinz, Paul Weaver, Don Barone, Kevin Hirthler

Lap Leaders: Truppi-17, Howard-1, Hendrickson-7

SPORTSMAN

Heat 1 – Lilick, Sarkisian, Lozorak, K.Collins, Burkhart, Klingmeyer

Heat 2 – Pratt, Forte, S.Lindale, P.Collins, Pursell, Miller

Heat 3 – Osmun, Briggs, B.Hirthler, Christ, J.Lindale, Williams

Consi - Wescott, Tinnes, Roberts, Kormann, Britt, Mills, Sadler, DeMedio

Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps

Richie Pratt, Mark Forte, Willie Osmun, Bob Lilick, Bill Klingmeyer, Andy Burkhart, Ron Roberts, Sam Wescott, Kevin Collins, Eric Kormann, Judd Mills, Jim Britt, Joe Tinnes, Blaine Sadler, Steve Lozorak, Tom Miller, Mike DeMedio, Christopher Christ, Jim Lindale, Bob Sarkisian, Paul Collins, Bruce Hirthler, Steve Lindale, Jeremy Williams, Dennis Price, John Pursell, Billy Harris DQ- Bill Briggs

Lap Leaders: Forte-3, Pratt-17

BRIDGEPORT WINGED SPRINTS

Heat 1 – Lotosky, Stellfox, Smith, Butts, Nagy, Anderson

Heat 2 – Howe, Strubble, Schmidt, Mondschein, Mueller, Wyers

Sprint A- Main – 20 Laps

Kevin Nagy, Shane Smith, Steve Strubble, Steve Schmidt, Mares Stellfox, Jeff Mueller, Keith Wetzel, Ron Karnbach, Matt Beasley, Gary Mondschein, Steve Fleetwood, Jack Curtis, Bob Adams, Chip Brown, Greg Lotosky, Warren Durbin, Joe Howe, Joe Butts Jr, Mike Donaghy, Keith Anderson, John Wyers

Lap Leaders: Lotosky-8, Nagy-12