(WEEDSPORT, NY) – They call him “Billy V” but on a beautiful Weedsport afternoon and evening, they may as well have called him “Superman.” A record-tying 33 cars signed in for the opening round of the Pit Stop Convenience Stores “I-90 Pit Stop Challenge” which will see a healthy point fund paid to the Top 10 points earners in CRSA’s tour stops along the New York State Thruway (Weedsport, Fonda and Utica-Rome).
Port Jervis, NY second-generation pilot Billy VanInwegen got the night off to a great start by advancing from eighth to third, gaining crucial passing points to put him in the redraw. He would redraw sixth for the 25-Lap A-Main.
The race got off to a scary start in Turn 1 as Tucker Donath got high and clipped the sand barriers and flipping his No. Z28. Tyler Chartrand entered the accident as well, getting upside down in a big way. Both drivers climbed from their cars with Chartrand getting out a bit more gingerly and getting a check over from the Weedsport Speedway safety team.
On the restart VanInwegen sliced through the middle to go three-wide off Turn 2 and then went to the high side through Turns 3 and 4 to secure fourth on the opening lap.
Dalton Herrick led the field to Tyler Groescup’s green flag to set the early pace. The defending series champion previously had mixed results at “The Port” with an eleventh place, ninth place and third place finish in three attempts in Cayuga County’s showpiece facility.
Amsterdam sprint shoe Chad Miller made his presence known early in the going as he battled with Herrick for the lead as they approached the back of the field. Just before the leaders got to traffic, Miller executed an inside pass of Herrick off the second turn and secured the lead as the fourth lap was scored.
Billy V closed in fast on Miller as the No. 88c struggled with the first cars to go a lap down to the field. The Van Dusen-owned ride was quite maneuverable for VanInwegen and was able to diamond off Turn 4 to get the lead officially on Lap 9.
A long green flag run ensued which really shook up the Top 10 in the running order as some drivers didn’t have the long run speed. Others, like Savannah, NY rookie Dillon Paddock, found the green flag run to be at their benefit. Paddock started ninth on the field and was one of the two talks of the races at the checkered flag.
Paddock started running the outside line against the concrete wall with wreckless abandon. Fans in the main grandstand were fist-pumping Paddock along as he dispatched of driver after driver in his wild march to the front. At the race’s midpoint Paddock was the fastest car on the racetrack by a great margin but VanInwegen had built up such a large lead, Paddock needed a yellow flag to close the gap completely.
That yellow would come with just three laps remaining as Ware, MA’s Alex Adamsky, making his first CRSA start of 2023, spun in Turn 2 coming to rest up against the inside retaining wall. Another quick yellow involving damage to the No. 9k of Kyle Pierce again put Paddock back in reach of VanInwegen for the final restart.
VanInwegen not only held on, but gapped Paddock in the final two laps to secure his second Weedsport Speedway CRSA checkered flag in as many years. Paddock didn’t back down from ripping the outside on the final restart but it proved to be too far a distance to go to get close enough to make a move on the leader. Paddock’s heroic Memorial Day Weekend efforts did earn him the Maguire Family of Dealerships “Magnificent Move of the Race.”
Land of Legends winner Jordan Hutton quietly diced through the field to gain nine positions to finish on the podium and collect the Powertech Powdercoating Hard Charger of the race.
VanInwegen became the first driver to score multiple CRSA wins at Weedsport as well as the first to do it consecutively.
“This is just a testament to Mike and Debbie Van Dusen and our crew chief Kent giving us a great piece to come here with,” noted VanInwegen.
“I obviously love coming here to Weedsport, we’ve got a lot of family here tonight, my girlfriend is here which makes it that more special.”
VanInwegen had nothing but praise for Paddock’s efforts, while being happy to have held him off for the win.
“I kept an eye on him in the heat race. I don’t really know who he is but he has got a bright future. I know he was burning the fence down in the heat and figured he was up there again so I started running high in three and four to take his line away.”
The CRSA Sprints will now head to Fonda Speedway June 3 for Round 2 of the Pit Stop Convenience Stores “I-90 Challenge Series” followed by Round 3 the next weekend on a Friday night June 9 at Utica-Rome Speedway. Stay tuned as well for updates this week on the reschedule date for Thunder Mountain Speedway.
A-VERDI STORAGE CONTAINERS CRSA SPRINTS POWERED BY SUPER GEN PRODUCTS @ WEEDSPORT SPEEDWAY OFFICIAL RESULTS- Sunday May 28th, 2023:
A-MAIN RESULTS (25 Laps): 1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[6]; 2. 8-Dillon Paddock[9]; 3. 66-Jordan Hutton[12]; 4. 80-Bobby Parrow[7]; 5. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[5]; 6. 29-Dalton Herrick[1]; 7. 99K-Mike Kiser[11]; 8. 22-Tomy Moreau[2]; 9. 88C-Chad Miller[3]; 10. 17E-Ethan Gray[10]; 11. 13T-Trevor Years[8]; 12. 99-Adam Depuy[21]; 13. J27-John Cunningham[14]; 14. 14-James Layton[18]; 15. 121-Steve Glover[13]; 16. 98-Alex Adamsky[15]; 17. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[16]; 18. 21B-Blake Warner[17]; 19. 22M-Aaron Shelton[4]; 20. (DNF) 9K-Kyle Pierce[19]; 21. (DNF) 23-John Smith[23]; 22. (DNF) Z28-Tucker Donath[20]; 23. (DNF) C12-Tyler Chartrand[22]; 24. (DNF) 4T-Ray Preston[24]
Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger Bonus: 66 Jordan Hutton +9 Spots
Maguire Family of Dealerships “Magnificent Move of the Race”: 8 Dillon Paddock
Heats (8 laps)
#1: 1. 8-Dillon Paddock[2]; 2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[7]; 3. 21B-Blake Warner[1]; 4. 121-Steve Glover[6]; 5. 9K-Kyle Pierce[3]; 6. 23-John Smith[5]; 7. 4T-Ray Preston[8]; 8. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[9]; 9. 77-Matt Rotz[4]
#2: 1. 66-Jordan Hutton[2]; 2. 17E-Ethan Gray[5]; 3. 98-Alex Adamsky[3]; 4. 22-Tomy Moreau[7]; 5. J27-John Cunningham[8]; 6. C12-Tyler Chartrand[6]; 7. 18C-Dan Craun[4]; 8. (DQ) 66T-Tanner Emmons[1]
#3: 1. 80-Bobby Parrow[2]; 2. 99K-Mike Kiser[1]; 3. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]; 4. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[5]; 5. 14-James Layton[7]; 6. 99-Adam Depuy[6]; 7. 18-Timmy Lotz[4]; 8. 28-Ron Greek[3]
#4: 1. 88C-Chad Miller[2]; 2. 29-Dalton Herrick[4]; 3. 13T-Trevor Years[5]; 4. 22M-Aaron Shelton[7]; 5. Z28-Tucker Donath[3]; 6. D9-Dustin Sehn[6]; 7. (DNF) 51-Jeremiah Munson[1]; 8. (DNS) 1Q-Thomas Radivoy
B-Main Results (10 Laps), 4 Qualify:
1. 99-Adam Depuy[2]; 2. C12-Tyler Chartrand[1]; 3. 23-John Smith[4]; 4. 4T-Ray Preston[5]; 5. 18-Timmy Lotz[7]; 6. 66T-Tanner Emmons[9]; 7. 18C-Dan Craun[6]; 8. 77-Matt Rotz[10]; 9. D9-Dustin Sehn[3]; 10. (DNF) 28-Ron Greek[8]; 11. (DNS) 30-Kirsten Dombroski; 12. (DNS) 51-Jeremiah Munson; 13. (DNS) 1Q-Thomas Radivoy