By T.J. Buffenbarger
BRIDGEPORT, N.J. (August 25, 2022) – Justin Peck continued his hot streak with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 scoring an emotional victory Thursday night at Bridgeport Speedway. The win was Peck’s third consecutive and sixth of the year with the All Stars along with being his seventh overall victory during the 2022 season.
Peck, from Monrovia, Indiana, drove from 10th starting position, overcoming multiple challenges for the lead from Anthony Macri and Brent Marks for the lead. Peck’s drive was inspired by Jason Leffler, who lost his life at Bridgeport driving for the same Tom Buch owned races team Peck now drives for. That significance was not lost on Peck.
“It’s kind of what we came into the night, that was the goal, win was one for Leffler” Peck stated in victory lane.”
After being off in preliminary action, Peck credited his crew for getting the car back on track in time for the feature.
“We were just kind off a little bit off all night it seemed like. Then right there at the feature times is really when we finally started getting pretty good. I wasn’t really doing what I need to do on a racetrack especially during a heat race. I just made a bunch of bad movements and just kind of kept getting hung up there, but Sean and Kurt frickin’ dialed me in again, man, it’s just, it’s nice that we’ve kind of hit on something right now. It’s not just one specific thing that we’re doing it’s a whole array of different stuff that we do for different track condition, how much wing speed you got, what engine we got in and what kind of tires we have on. It’s pretty cool man.”
Brent Marks and Chris Windom started on the front row for the 30-lap main event. The first attempt to start the feature was short lived after Cole Macedo got sideways between turns one and two and left Danny Dietrich and Cap Henry nowhere to go. Devon Borden also got into the wall in turns one and two.
Only Hernry and Borden were able to restart at the tail of the field.
Marks took the lead with Macri and Courtney driving around Windom for second. Macri and Courtney then swapped second before Macri retained the position on lap two.
The second caution flag came out when Giovanni Scelzi was sideways while racing close with Hunter Schuerenberg while running seventh going into turn three. The entire field missed Scelzi and he was able to restart at the tail of the field.
Macri tried to pass Marks in turns one and two with a slide job but could not make the pass. That allowed Courtney to drive by Macri in turns three and four to take over second. Behind them Justin Peck took over the fourth spot from Windom on lap four.
Marks passed slower traffic on lap seven, allowing Courtney to close quickly.
Peck slides by Macri on lap 10 in turns three and four. Macri countered in turns one and two on the following lap before Peck shut the door and took over third.
One lap later the caution appeared for Zeb Wise slowing in turn four. Wise was unable to continue.
Marks pulled away as Courtney, Peck, and Macri raced three-wide for second with Peck taking the spot while Courtney and Macri continued to swap third. Three laps later they were joined by Schuerenberg to create a three-car race for third.
With 17 laps complete Peck quickly closed in on Marks for the lead. Peck looked under Marks for the lead on lap 18, but Marks was able to change his line and hold off Peck’s challenge.
Peck closed back in on Marks on lap 21 and took the lead off turn four. Peck was held up in slower traffic in turns one and two and Marks took the lead, only to have Peck retake the lead through turns three and four.
Over the final five laps Peck’s advantage shrunk in slower traffic as Marks was able to quickly close in when the caution appeared on lap two when Tyler Ross stopped in turn three. Brent Marks also slowed with a flat right rear tire while running second.
This setup a green/white/checkered finish with Macri on Peck’s back bumper. Macri tried to slide Peck in turns one and two, but could not make the pass, allowing Peck to drive to victory. Behind him a scrum was taking place with Tyler Courtney drove from sixth to third coming to the white flag, and then drove by Macri for second. Macri held on for third with Schuerenberg, and Lance Dewease rounding out the top five.
Courtney was congratulatory in victory lane and glad to see one of the top challengers to his All Star Circuit of Champions point lead directly in front of him.
“If the 13 card is going to keep winning races I got to make sure I at least run second,” Coutney remarked after the race. “Congrats to Justin, Sean, Kurt, and Tom Buch home. They’ve really turned it on here the last few races and really all year, they are a heck of a team and it’s been fun racing them. We were good there early in the race and I started getting a real bad shake. I got racing with (Macri)and then kind of when he got by me a couple guys got by me when I lost momentum there and I just I wanted to make it to the end.”
Macri continued his role as “super sub” for the injured Parker Price-Miller in the Sam McGhee Motorsports entry earning his second podium finish in two starts with the team.
“We were a little snug in the beginning of the feature, but I knew the car would probably come to us,” said Macri. We had that long run there and I was kind of getting close to Marks and Peck there. Then the caution came out it almost seemed like the tires sealed over and we just weren’t as good the last two laps. I feel bad for these guys. I mean, we definitely should have finished second but I hazed the tires off of the coming to the checker there. I feel like I made some mistakes and ultimately let Peck and Courtney back by us, so I’ll try to clean up my act and I know these guys will still give me a fast car and we’ll go into the grove tomorrow.”
Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
Bridgeport Speedway
Bridgeport, New Jersey
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Dixie Vodka Qualifying
1. 11-Anthony Macri, 12.803[3]
2. 19-Chris Windom, 12.831[1]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 12.842[4]
4. 19M-Brent Marks, 12.888[8]
5. 55X-Cole Macedo, 12.910[9]
6. 48-Danny Dietrich, 12.919[2]
7. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 12.976[12]
8. 13-Justin Peck, 13.049[18]
9. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.067[26]
10. 26-Zeb Wise, 13.104[10]
11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 13.117[25]
12. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.181[19]
13. 10X-Ryan Smith, 13.184[6]
14. 5-Tyler Ross, 13.206[7]
15. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 13.283[27]
16. 44-Dave Brown, 13.366[11]
17. 67-Justin Whittall, 13.402[15]
18. 69K-Lance Dewease, 13.428[20]
19. 5G-Briggs Danner, 13.442[24]
20. 17-Jordan Thomas, 13.462[23]
21. 4-Cap Henry, 13.472[22]
22. 24T-TJ Greve, 13.688[21]
23. 28F-Davie Franek, 13.731[17]
24. 85-Ricky DiEva, 13.768[14]
25. 23-Devon Borden, 13.820[13]
26. 3-Denny Peebles, 14.169[16]
27. 99-Cameron Nastasi, 14.413[5]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 19M-Brent Marks[1]
2. 11-Anthony Macri[4]
3. 51-Freddie Rahmer[2]
4. 5G-Briggs Danner[7]
5. 10X-Ryan Smith[5]
6. 23-Devon Borden[9]
7. 44-Dave Brown[6]
8. 24T-TJ Greve[8]
DNS: 26-Zeb Wise
CSI Shocks Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 55X-Cole Macedo[1]
2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]
3. 13-Justin Peck[2]
4. 19-Chris Windom[4]
5. 28F-Davie Franek[8]
6. 17-Jordan Thomas[7]
7. 67-Justin Whittall[6]
8. 3-Denny Peebles[9]
9. 5-Tyler Ross[5]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]
2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]
3. 48-Danny Dietrich[1]
4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[5]
5. 4-Cap Henry[7]
6. 69K-Lance Dewease[6]
7. 17B-Bill Balog[3]
8. 85-Ricky DiEva[8]
DNS: 99-Cameron Nastasi
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash (6 Laps)
1. 19M-Brent Marks[1]
2. 19-Chris Windom[2]
3. 55X-Cole Macedo[3]
4. 11-Anthony Macri[4]
5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[5]
Classic Ink USA B-Main (8 Laps)
1. 17B-Bill Balog[2]
2. 26-Zeb Wise[1]
3. 67-Justin Whittall[4]
4. 5-Tyler Ross[8]
5. 44-Dave Brown[3]
6. 24T-TJ Greve[5]
7. 85-Ricky DiEva[6]
8. 3-Denny Peebles[7]
DNS: 99-Cameron Nastasi
Tezos A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 13-Justin Peck[10]
2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[5]
3. 11-Anthony Macri[4]
4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[6]
5. 69K-Lance Dewease[16]
6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]
7. 19-Chris Windom[2]
8. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[11]
9. 17B-Bill Balog[19]
10. 10X-Ryan Smith[13]
11. 28F-Davie Franek[15]
12. 4-Cap Henry[14]
13. 5G-Briggs Danner[12]
14. 17-Jordan Thomas[17]
15. 19M-Brent Marks[1]
16. 44-Dave Brown[23]
17. 24T-TJ Greve[24]
18. 5-Tyler Ross[22]
19. 23-Devon Borden[18]
20. 26-Zeb Wise[20]
21. 51-Freddie Rahmer[9]
22. 55X-Cole Macedo[3]
23. 48-Danny Dietrich[8]
24. 67-Justin Whittall[21]