Bridgeport, NJ – Mother Nature gave it her best shot but Doug Rose and Spirit Auto Center Speedway were up to the challenge. In spite of a heavy downpour that dumped an inch of rain on the track before the start of Friday night’s action, the track crew shifted into overdrive and Friday night’s program sponsored by Rodota Trucking and Excavating, got the green flag.
Richie Keller made his first visit to Spirit’s Victory Lane since the 2013 season when he captured the flag to flag victory in the Hyper Racing Evo Injection 600 Micro Sprint feature event. Nick Skias continued his winning ways in the 270 Micro Sprint feature event after a very dubious start to the night. Ryan Davey defended his title in the All Star Slingshots to earn his first win of the 2021 season.
Keller drew the pole for his first start at Spirit this season. The green flag waved and Keller never looked back as he raced to the win in the twenty-five lap feature event. Keller withstood the challenges of a persistent Brandon Pavel who gave the eventual winner a run for his money on a lap three restart but Keller switched his lane choice to the outside on the next restart and drove to the win.
Pavel was able to hold off the challenges of Matt Jarowicz and later, Connor Gross to pick up the runner-up finish – his best finish to date. Gross added another top five finish by racing home in third over Jarowicz. Dom Hinrichsen raced to the checkered flag in fifth. Rich Deck, Stephen Fleetwood, Frank Holmes, Jim Gallager, Jr. and Amanda Onimus rounded out the top ten.
It was Gallagher’s first attempt in a micro sprint – a switch from his Saturday night Modified – as he piloted the Bruce Davis owned entry. Gallagher raced in the top five for most of the race until he was involved in an incident that he was unable to avoid.
Skias raced to his third Spirit victory of the season in the 270 Micro Sprints after overcoming several hurdles during the course of the night. Skias had a rear suspension failure early in the night and the team ran out of time preparing the car for the feature. They discussed set-ups and threw a bunch of changes at the car, not knowing what they would have when the green flag waved. It didn’t take long for Skias to put their fears to rest.
Skias raced to the twenty lap win over Alex Swift, Nick Walton, Tommy Rinck and Ken Andreas who wheeled the Weiss No. 5w.
Ryan Davey was able to pick up his first win of the 2021 season in the All Star Slingshot feature event than ran straight through its twenty lap duration. Tim Franks chased Davey to the finish line for his best finish to date. Amanda Angstadt finished third with Scott Phillipp and Michael Beckett completing the top five. Tomas Mowery, Ryan Harris, PJ Bozowski, Dave Morrell and Wayne Neher rounded out the top ten.
HYPER RACING EVO FUEL INJECTION 600cc MICRO SPRINTS (25 laps)
1. Rich Keller, 2. Brandon Pavel, 3. Connor Gross, 4. Matt Jarowicz, 5. Dom Hinrichsen, 6. Rich Deck, 7. Stephen Fleetwood, 8. Frank Holmes, 9. Jim Gallagher, Jr., 10. Amanda Onimus, 11. Olivia Haworth, 12. Gary Bozowski, 13. Jonathan John, 14. Steve Bracall, 15. Ed Barber, III, 16. Jon Keller, 17. T.J. Greve, DNS – Luke Fogg
270cc MICRO SPRINTS (20 laps)
1. Nick Skias, 2. Alex Swift, 3. Nick Walton, 4. Tommy Rinck, 5. Ken Andreas, 6. Jimmy Wagner, Jr., 7. Lee Nardelli, 8. Dom Pomponi, 9. Shea Wills, 10. T.J. Greve, DNS – Tyler Grau, John Wagner, Jr.
ALL STAR SLINGSHOTS (20 laps)
1. Ryan Davey, 2. Tim Franks, 3. Amanda Angstadt, 4. Scott Phillipp, 5. Michael Beckett, 6. Tomas Mowery, 7. Ryan Harris, 8. P.J. Bozowski, 9. Dave Morrell, 10. Wayne Neher, DNS – Dan Biggs, Mike Sommers, Zach Merola
Recent Comments