From Bob Miller, image courtesy of Mudclodbob
A big crowd turned out for URC’s 63rd season opener on Saturday night at the Bridgeport Speedway and at the end of the night, Trevor Lewis of Upper Black Eddy, PA was in victory lane. For Lewis, it was his first win of the season and his seventeenth career win under the URC banner. A field of thirty URC sprint cars turned out for the season opener with heat race victories going to Davey Sammons, Chris Coyle and Trevor Lewis as Nick Schlauch won the “B” Main.
The twenty-five lap Rislone URC Sprint feature was a thriller as pole sitter Davey Sammons gunned into the lead at the drop of the green flag. Chris Coyle followed in second until lap three when Curt Michael powered the Bill Gallagher owned sprinter into second, quickly attempting to reel in the leader. Defending URC Champion JJ Grasso was on a charge after starting tenth, Grasso was in the top five by lap five.
Sammons used lapped traffic to his advantage and extended his lead over Michael who was staging a challenge to the leader on lap seven. Trevor Lewis hauling his way into the hunt was in chase of the leaders at the same time.
The red flag was displayed on lap nine for a spectacular crash involving Art Liedl and Chris Coyle. Liedl’s car broke heading into turn one and Coyle had nowhere to go. The Dave Bett’s owned #22 driven by Coyle flipped violently in turn two. Coyle of Wilmington, DE walked away uninjured.
On the restart, Sammons retained the lead spot with Curt Michael, Trevor Lewis and JJ Grasso moving in ever so closely with Randy West in fifth. The top five remained unchanged through the halfway point, but then things started to get real interesting.
Lewis moved the Scott McClaren owned #21 into second on lap fifteen, using the inside lane and went to work on chasing down the leader. On lap fifteen, the yellow was displayed for Nick Schlauch Jr who stopped on the track.
The restart triggered an awfully crowded first turn as Sammons, Lewis, Grasso and Curt Michael were in chase of the lead. With all the challenges, Sammons held on like a seasoned pro.
Mechanical problems with the Scott Pursell sprinter brought out the final caution of the feature event on lap twenty-one. The shootout to the finish was set and things got interesting. Lewis took to the inside lane to take the lead on lap twenty-one. Grasso passed Curt Michael for third and immediately began to challenge Sammons for second. Grasso took the inside lane and three quarters of the way down the backstretch, with the cars at top speed, Sammons and Grasso came together. As a result, the Palladino #99 shot to the infield. The entire time, Grasso maintained control of this sprinter, driving across the infield and re-entering the speedway between turns three and four. Grasso lost just one spot and left the crowd totally amazed with his outstanding recovery of what could have been a very scary crash.
For the final two laps, Lewis remained the leader with Sammons second. Curt Michael advanced one spot as a result of the Grasso near crash, finishing third. JJ Grasso finished an impressive fourth with Kevin Nouse in the Elmer Stoltzfus #00 finishing a solid fifth. Making up the top ten were Randy West, Kevin Darling, Kyle Purks, Justin Collett and Robbie Stillwaggon.
FEATURE FINISH: Trevor Lewis, Davey Sammons, Curt Michael, JJ Grasso, Kevin Nouse, Randy West, Kevin Darling, Kyle Purks, Justin Collett, Robbie Stillwaggon, Josh Weller, Kramer Wiliamson, Kenny Meisner, Eddie Wagner, Rory Janney, Tim Iulg, Kevin Welsh, Jimmy Stitzel, Scott Pursell, Nick Schlauch Jr., Jonathan Swanson, Chris Coyle, Art Liedl, Mike Kostic. DNQ- – Tim Hogue, Bill Urglert, Tim Higgins, Jack Conover, Chris Weiss, Mark Bitner.
Brad Penn Oil 1st Heat–Davey Sammons
Engler 2nd Heat- – Chris Coyle
Bar’s Leaks 3rd Heat- – Trevor Lewis
LikeWise Stables Fast Time: Davey Sammons
Fred’s Trailer Parts Hard Charger: Kevin Darling/advanced 9 spots