From Marty Czekala
SUSQUEHANNA, PA (September 13, 2024) — Billy VanInwegen took the lead early and didn’t look back to record his first win of the 2024 season after three runner-ups to begin the year Friday at Penn Can Speedway.
The win extends his points lead in the Joe’s Garage Southern Tier Series over Kyle Pierce and Dalton Herrick. It is also the seventh of his CRSA career.
“What a racecar,” said VanInwegen. “Tip of the hat to Mike VanDusen [car owner] for turning the motor around. We’ve been second so many times and got this thing to take off on starts and it ripped.”
Defending series champion Jordan Hutton and 2022 King of the Can winner VanInwegen made up the front row. Hutton would throw a slidejob at the drop of Tyler Groescup’s green flag. Still, VanInwegen would counter back to lead the opening lap.
“Billy V” would open the lead up on Hutton as big as 3.2 seconds before the race’s first yellow for Ed Kelley’s spin in turn four.
On the restart, VanInwegen held serve, but 2021 King of the Can Kevin Nagy moved up to the runner-up past Hutton. VanInwegen continued to increase the lead until 10 to go when the No. 56V was in heavy lapped traffic, allowing Nagy to cut the gap down to as little as a car length.
“Absolutely brutal,” VanInwegen said on lapped traffic. “I kept showing myself and those guys showed their nose even harder. I figured someone would be coming. That last caution I didn’t expect but gave me a chance to reset and get back to work.”
VanInwegen opened the gap a little by using some backmarkers as picks. Then, with two to go, Thomas Radivoy spun, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
The finish would be no issue for VanInwegen as he led every lap to be crowned King, sit on the Golden Can and take home the lion’s share of $1500.
“Lot of fun to still come out and race with Mike [VanDusen],” said VanInwegen. “He talked me into it and it’s so much fun to race with him.”
In his first CRSA race since Oct. 2021, Kevin Nagy came home one spot short and wasn’t too sure if he wanted the final caution or not to get one last shot at VanInwegen.
“Traffic was tough to get through,” said Nagy. “You never know what could happen. I would probably say no. I might’ve been better in traffic.”
After two straight DNFs, Hutton piloted his No. 66 to a third-place finish, the fifth top-five of the season for “J-Hutt.”
“We learned a lot and tried a new rim tonight, but didn’t work,” Hutton said. “The biggest positive is if you want to go backward from one to third, it’s gonna be to those two guys you want it to be.”
Approaching the night, Tomy Moreau led Kyle Pierce in overall points by 31. Unofficially, Pierce’s fourth-place run to Moreau’s ninth-place run trimmed the lead to 17.
VanInwegen came in with a narrow three-point lead for the Joe’s Garage Southern Tier Series championship on Pierce. Unofficially, the lead increases to 12 points on the driver of the No. 9K, but a handful of drivers will contend for the miniseries title next Frida
For an incredible final restart to finish fourth in the end, Kyle Pierce was awarded the Maguire Family of Dealerships Magnificent Move of the Race.
Zach Sobotka was the Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger of the Race, gaining nine spots and finishing 11th.
CRSA Sprint Car Series
Penn Can Speedway
Susquehanna, Pennsylvania
Friday, September 13, 2024
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 66-Jordan Hutton[1]
2. 77-Bob Hamm[2]
3. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy[3]
4. 21B-Blake Warner[4]
5. J27-John Cunningham[8]
6. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[5]
7. 10-Nathan Pierce[6]
8. 19C-Mark Connoly[7]
9. D9-Dustin Sehn[9]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[2]
2. 9K-Kyle Pierce[1]
3. 45-Kevin Nagy[5]
4. 99-Adam Depuy[4]
5. 25G-Tyler Graves[6]
6. 22M-Aaron Shelton[8]
7. 38-Zach Sobotka[7]
8. 20K-Ed Kelly[3]
9. 55-Michael Hart[9]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 8-Dillon Paddock[4]
2. 18-Timmy Lotz[1]
3. 4-Cliff Pierce[2]
4. 29-Dalton Herrick[3]
5. 22-Tomy Moreau[5]
6. 33-Scott Landers[7]
7. 3-Bailey Boyd[9]
8. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[6]
DNS: 28-Ron Greek
B-Main (8 Laps)
1. 3-Bailey Boyd[1]
2. 38-Zach Sobotka[2]
3. 10-Nathan Pierce[3]
4. 20K-Ed Kelly[8]
5. D9-Dustin Sehn[6]
6. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[5]
7. 28-Ron Greek[9]
8. 19C-Mark Connoly[4]
DNS: 55-Michael Hart
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[2]
2. 45-Kevin Nagy[6]
3. 66-Jordan Hutton[1]
4. 9K-Kyle Pierce[12]
5. J27-John Cunningham[3]
6. 18-Timmy Lotz[8]
7. 77-Bob Hamm[10]
8. 29-Dalton Herrick[13]
9. 22-Tomy Moreau[16]
10. 99-Adam Depuy[5]
11. 38-Zach Sobotka[20]
12. 25G-Tyler Graves[14]
13. 33-Scott Landers[17]
14. 8-Dillon Paddock[9]
15. 4-Cliff Pierce[11]
16. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy[4]
17. 22M-Aaron Shelton[15]
18. 3-Bailey Boyd[19]
19. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[18]
20. 28-Ron Greek[23]
21. 20K-Ed Kelly[22]
22. 10-Nathan Pierce[21]
23. 21B-Blake Warner[7]