HENDRICKSON DRIVES TO SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON IN BIG BLOCK FEATURE

Bridgeport, NJ – Lawrenceville, NJ’s “The Flying Farmer,” Wade Hendrickson, drove his way from his tenth place starting position to win the twenty-five lap big block modified feature at Bridgeport Speedway on Saturday night. Hendrickson, driving the Rio Brothers #R10, took the lead on lap seven and went the rest of the way for the $2500 first place prize money at New Jersey’s fastest dirt track. Veteran Ron Roberts, who after competing at the South Jersey 5/8th mile clay oval for many seasons, finally made his first trip to victory lane, winning the twenty lap sportsman feature. Roberts, from Wilmington DE, passed some the hottest drivers at the track, getting by hot shoe Billy Harris and last week’s winner, Bob Sarkisian to get the win. In winged sprint car action at the track, two divisions of the high speed racers were in competition, with Kevin Nagy, a graduate from the micro sprints that run the Bridgeport ¼ mile, took the twenty lap Bridgeport Jasper Racing Engines Sprint A main, while in United Racing Club action, Trevor Lewis had everyone on the edge of their seats driving the extreme top groove of the big 5/8th mile, to get his first win of the 2002 season.

Perkiomenville, PA’s Kevin Hirthler jumped out from his pole position start to take the early lead in the big block modified main event, with third place starter Don Radd right behind. These two young drivers took off for the first two circuits around the fast 5/8ths, until Mike Iles, in the Active Environmental Technologies #711, wrestled away the runner up spot from Radd. Iles, the 1991 Bridgeport Street Stock Champion, was only able to hold down second place for one lap, as Jimmy Horton, who was on the move from the initial green, had charged up from eighth to take away second on lap four. Horton, gunning for his 100th win at the South Jersey oval, drove the first laps like a man on a mission, using the high and low grooves to work his way to the front. While Horton was trying to catch up to Hirthler, he had his own problems as tenth starting Wade Hendrickson was also making his move towards the leaders. Hendrickson was on Horton’s bumper on lap five, and these two ran side by side for almost a full lap, before a caution period for a turn two wreck involving Iles, Don Barone and Ben Hatt slowed the field. On the restart, Hendrickson stayed right behind polesitter Hirthler to grab the runner up spot, and on the backstretch of the same lap vaulted by to put the Van’s Lock Shop #R10 into the lead. By lap ten, Hendrickson was flying around the speedway and had built up over a five second lead over Hirthler and Horton, who were waging a battle of their own for second place. A couple of laps later, Oley PA’s Duane Howard was now moving in on Horton, and with ten laps to go, Howard and Horton charged down the front straight in front of the main grandstand side by side, with Howard taking over third place entering turn one. The mighty modifieds went the rest of the way non-stop, with Hendrickson easily getting his second win of the new season. Hirthler had his best finish of the year, coming home second, with Howard right on his bumper for third. Horton had his hands full with last week’s winner, Doug Hoffman, but held on for fourth with the 2001 champ finishing fifth. After the race, Hendrickson said, “I wanted to make sure I stayed clean, some people are talking about rough riding, so I made sure I didn’t touch a car! I’m normally a ‘yahoo’ type driver, but with the track getting hard we changed everything on the car. I’m just trying to adapt. My neck feels good, and as long as my neck feels good I can drive hard. “ Talking about the new track surface, Hendrickson commented, “The track changed but it was not abrasive at all. We ran soft tires while other guys ran hards, but it’s really racy, with bottom, top, and middle grooves. I just want to thank the Lincolns (track owners) for getting this show in. I can’t believe they got it in, with it raining all over the place, I give them a lot of credit!” Qualifying heats for the thirty-four modifieds were won by Horton, Jamie Mills, and Howard, with Jared Schultz taking the consolation race.

The twenty-lap sportsman feature was a real crowd pleaser, with lots of side by side racing and plenty of passing. 2002’s hottest driver, Paulsboro NJ’s Billy Harris, blasted from his tenth starting spot to grab the lead coming out of turn four for lap three. Harris had the Haldeman Ford #3 moving, but he couldn’t put any daylight between himself and the pack, with last week’s winner, Bob Sarkisian, putting the pressure on Harris. After a couple of laps, Harris finally got himself a car length or two lead, and Sarkisian now had his hands full with Ron Roberts, who was driving the Array of Monograms #Z14 like a man possessed. Roberts was right on Sarkisian’s bumper, and on lap nine he dove low in turn four to move into second place. Lap thirteen was Roberts’ lucky lap, as he pulled even with the leader as the two ran door to door for the better part of the lap. Once again, Roberts powered out of turn four to make the pass, pulling down the front straight to grab the lead. Roberts, a long time campaigner at Bridgeport, went the rest of the way for his first career win at the track, with Harris holding off Sarkisian for second place. Andy Burkhart had his second top five finish in a row, finishing fourth, while New Castle DE’s Steve Lindale, drove his NuCar Performance #54 from twenty-second starting spot to a fifth place finish. Richie Pratt, Sam Wescott, and Sarkisian won the qualifying heats, while Burkhart and Rich Stinson took the consolation races.

Twenty-three winged-sprinters took the green in the Bridgeport Jasper Racing Engines A-Main, and polesitter Kevin Nagy flew out to a commanding lead early in the race. Lap four saw Chip Brown avoid a potential disaster when he was able to do a complete 360 degree spin on the backstretch, and keep the #22 pointed straight without stopping. 2001 champ Jeff Foote, who started in nineteenth place, pulled into the top five by the fifth lap and at the halfway mark was running third. 2001 two-time feature winner, Mares Stellfox, was holding down the runner-up spot and was trying to catch up to the leader, when she spun out in turn four when coming down for the two to go signal from Starter Dennis Weir. This put Foote on Nagy’s rear bumper for the finish, but Nagy had the champ covered and went on to his first ever sprint car win. Foote was right behind for second, while John Wyers, Steve Schmidt, and Matt Beasley completed the top five.

The United Racing Club sprinter A-Main saw Upper Black Eddy, PA’s Trevor Lewis use the high groove of the raceway to go from tenth to first, in a race that went non-stop from start to finish. Lewis’ win, his first of the new season, was especially exciting as he ran almost the whole event within inches of the outer guardrail. The race was completed in less than nine minutes, with the average speed for the event at 105 miles per hour.

NOTES: Again this week the pits were jammed, with 140 racers signed into the pits….The first modified heat was unbelievable, with the top three all time modified winners starting in the race. Jimmy Horton, Doug Hoffman, and Billy Pauch made the eight lap qualifier an event to remember!…Jared Schultz is quietly having a good year, as he is consistently getting his #66 into the top ten at the track.

BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS – SATURDAY APRIL 20, 2002

MODIFIEDS

Heat 1 – Horton, Hoffman, Pauch, Adams, Laubach, Durand

Heat 2 – Mills, J.Chester, K.Hirthler, Radd, Infante, Elliott

Heat 3 – Howard, Bottcher, Hendrickson, Iles, Hieber, Ratoskey

Consi – Schultz, Hatt, Barone, Lineman Sr, Stonebraker, Carberry

Modified Feature – 25 Laps

Wade Hendrickson, Kevin Hirthler, Duane Howard, Jimmy Horton, Doug Hoffman, Steve Bottcher, Rick Laubach, Jamie Mills, Don Radd, Jared Schultz, Danny Hieber, Jimmy Chester, Carmine Infante, Dave Adams, Ricky Elliott, Stephan Durand, Rob Ratoskey, Tom Carberry, Dave Stonebraker, Bob Lineman Sr, Mike Iles, Billy Pauch, Ben Hatt, Don Barone

Lap Leaders: Hirthler-6, Hendrickson-19

SPORTSMAN

Heat 1 – Pratt, Britt, Harris, Pursell, Osmun, Price

Heat 2 – Wescott, Roberts, Lozorak, Masiado, McDonnell, Briggs

Heat 3 – Sarkisian, Cogdill, K.Collins, Mills, Kormann, Horton

Consi 1 – Burkhart, Klingmeyer, Beamer, Lindale

Consi 2 – Stinson, Miller, Tinnes, Parker

Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps

Ron Roberts, Billy Harris, Bob Sarkisian, Andy Burkhart, Steve Lindale, Eric Kormann, Sam Wescott, Rich Stinson, Bill Briggs, Willie Osmun, Frank McDonnell, Tom Beamer, Bill Klingmeyer, Kevin Collins, Richie Pratt, Joe Tinnes, Joe Masiado, Jay Horton, Tom Miller, Dan Cogdill, Steve Lozorak, Dennis Price, John Parker, Jim Britt, John Pursell

Lap Leaders: Lozorak-2, Harris-11, Roberts-7

BRIDGEPORT JASPER SPRINTS – A Main – 20 Laps

Kevin Nagy, Jeff Foote, John Wyers, Steve Schmidt, Matt Beasley, Steve Fleetwood, Gary Mondschein, Ron Karnbach, Steve Strubble, Keith Anderson, Mares Stellfox, Keith Wetzel, Chip Brown, John Barnett, Joe Puzzella, Mike Donaghy, Joe Howe, Mike Piersig, Warren Durbin, Shane Smith, Duane Lawlor DQ – Joe Butts Jr, Jeff Mueller

Lap Leaders: Nagy-20

UNITED RACING CLUB SPRINTS

Heat Winners – Coverdale, Brian, Lewis, Haggenbottom

C Main – Jason Hagenbuch

B Main – Danny Massey

A Main – 25 Laps

Trevor Lewis, Pete Green, Mike Haggenbottom, Greg Coverdale, Jeff Busby, Scott Pursell, Bill Brian, Chris Coyle, Midge Miller