Bridgeport, NJ – The Spirit Auto Center Speedway celebrated the crowning of its 2021 Champions on Friday night, sponsored by Cassidy Painting.
Connor Gross had a break out season on the Bridgeport quarter mile. Gross strung together top five finishes earlier in the season and then came back to win two feature events in the Hyper Racing Evo Injection 600 Micro sprints, putting him on top of the points late in the season. Tommy Kunsman was the winner of the twenty-five lap feature event but Gross’s runner-up finish was more than enough to clinch the title for the Asbury, NJ driver.
Lee Reinhardt raced to his second win of the season in the 270 Micro Sprints with Alex Swift picking up his third 270 Micro Sprint title.
Ryan Harris was a first time winner in the All Star Slingshots but Amanda Angstadt’s third place finish gave the young driver her first All Star Slingshot Championship.
Gross led the first lap of the Hyper Racing Evo Injection 600 feature event before Bethlehem, PA driver, Tommy Kunsman raced to the front of the field. Kunsman was the winner in the fourth hand of the 2021 Poker Series, just two weeks earlier. At that time, Kunsman commented that he had never won a regular feature event at Spirit – his wins were always in special events like the Poker Series or the Skyscraper. But that came to an end on Friday night!
Kunsman led the way for the next twenty-four laps to claim the victory. Twelve different drivers have won 600 feature events so far this season.
Gross was able to hold off the challenges of Steven Snyder, Jr. to finish second with Snyder taking third. Jon Keller ended a string of bad luck to finish fourth ahead of Brandon Pavel. Luke Thomas, Jackson White, Gary Bozowski, Aidan Borden and Fred Heinly rounded out the top ten at the checkered.
Nick Skias took the lead at the green flag in the 270 Micro sprint feature event and led the first fourteen laps. Lee Reinhardt battled with Skias for two laps before he took the lead on lap fifteen. Swift was the next to challenge Skias, moving to the inside and taking over the runner-up spot with three to go.
With just one lap remaining, Skias spun in turn one. “I kind of hit the inside wall in turn four and didn’t realize that the tire was going down until I got into turn one,” Skias explained.
Reinhardt led the way on the single file restart and drove to the checkered ahead of Swift, Tommy Rinck, Lee Nardelli and track’s winningest 270 driver, Tyler Reinhardt. Nick Walton, Charles Chance, Jimmy Wagner, Jonathan John and Skias rounded out the top ten after twenty laps.
First time winner, Ryan Harris took the win in the All Star Slingshots on Friday night while Amanada Angstadt’s third place finish was just the icing on the cake for the 2021 All Star Slingshot Championship. Angstadt has been the Poker Series Champion for the All Star Slingshots on two separate occasions but has never before been on the top of the points.
Tim Franks led the way at the start but Harris quickly raced into the lead and then was able to pull away from the field. Michael Beckett raced Angstadt for second before halfway but on lap eleven, Beckett took over second and set his sights on the leader.
Beckett was able to erase some of Harris’ advantage but Harris raced to the checkered for his first victory. Beckett finished second followed by Angstadt, defending champion, Ryan Davey and Tomas Mowery who raced from last to fifth. Franks finished sixth followed by Scott Philipp, Nick Bilello, PJ Bozowski and Ashley Therien to complete the top ten.
Spirit Speedway will return to action for the Danny Serrano Skyscraper Micro Sprint Spectacular on the weekend of October 1 – 3. This weekend, the Monster Trucks will invade the Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Saturday and Sunday for the Monster Truck Throwdown. Tickets are on sale now and include a Family Pack Bundle – 2 Adult tickets and 2 Kids Tickets for $49.95!
HYPER RACING EVO FUEL INJECTION 600CC MICRO SPRINT FEATURE (25 laps)
- Tommy Kunsman, 2. Connor Gross, 3. Steven Snyder, 4. Jon Keller, 5. Brandon Pavel, 6. Luke Thomas, 7. Jackson White, 8. Gary Bozowski, 9. Aiden Borden, 10. Fred Heinly, 11. Frank Holmes, 12. Geordon Marrero, 13. P.J. Williams, 14. John Barnett, 15. Mason Peters, 16. Eddie Barber, III, 17. Rich Deck, 18. Jack Spence, 19. Mark Landwher, 20. Brian Hughes, 21. Steve Bracall, 22. Olivia Haworth, 23. Robert Pierce, 24. Brendan Hires, 25. Chris Turner, 26. Billy Koch, 27. Luke Fogg, 28. Jim Gallagher, Jr., DNS – Chris Fenimore, DNQ – Gabe Gerber, Billy Calvert, Amanda Onimus, Briggs Danner, Barbie Eichorn
2021 HYPER RACING EVO FUEL INJECTION 600CC MICRO SPRINT CHAMPION – CONNOR GROSS
270CC MICRO SPRINT FEATURE (25 laps)
- Lee Reinhardt, 2. Alex Swift, 3. Tommy Rinck, 4. Lee Nardelli, 5. Tyler Reinhardt, 6. Nick Walton, 7. Charles Chance, 8. Jimmy Wagner, 9. Jonathan John, 10. Nick Skias, 11. Dom Pomponi, 12. Jim Garrison, 13. Dana Watkins, 14. Trevor Waegel, 15. Hope Karlesses, 16. Dustin Dash, 17. Alex Lester, 18. John Wagner, Jr., 19. Charles Cobourne, 20. Billy Gray, 21. Tom Lanwher, DNS – Tyler Grau, Mark Landwher
2021 270CC MICRO SPRINT CHAMPION – ALEX SWIFT
ALL-STAR SLINGSHOT FEATURE (20 laps)
- Ryan Harris, 2. Michael Beckett, 3. Amanda Angstadt, 4. Ryan Davey, 5. Tomas Mowery, 6. Tim Franks, 7. Scott Phillipp, 8. Nick Bilello, 9. P.J. Bozowski, 10. Ashley Therien
2021 ALL-STAR SLINGSHOT CHAMPION – AMANDA ANGSTADT
Recent Comments