Sunday July 10, 2011 GRASSO, WATT, CONAWAY AND LYONS NET WINS AT BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY
BRIDGEPORT, NJ (July 10, 2011) – On Camera and Autograph Night at Bridgeport Speedway, JJ Grasso took the checkered flag in the Rislone URC Sprint Car main event. Ryan Watt was the victor in the Bridgeport Modified feature race. The Proformance Cuts Outlaw Stock Car race was won by Pat Conaway while Mike Lyons grabbed top honors in the 358 Sportsman contest.
At the start of the 25-lap Rislone URC Sprint Car main event, Rory Janney took the lead with Jonathan Swanson and JJ Grasso in his tracks. Grasso took over the runner-up spot on the second circuit and became the leader of the race on lap 3. One tour later, the caution flag came out as Swanson and Dave Ely tangled in the first corner. Following the ensuing restart, Randy West and Robbie Stillwagon, the third and fourth place runners, made contact in turn four and the red lights illuminated as West flipped. After an Ed Aiken spin, action did finally resume with Grasso continuing to set the pace over Curt Michael, Janney and Josh Weller. By the halfway mark, Grasso had a very comfortable advantage over Michael, Weller, Janney and Mark Bitner. On lap 15, smoke appeared from Michael’s ride and he pulled off into the infield. As Grasso was continuing to set a torrid pace, Ely was still roaring back from his earlier spin and he motored into third on lap 18. With the top three of Grasso, Weller and Ely in the midst of lap traffic with less than five laps to go, Ely was closing in on Weller. Ely took over second on lap 23 with Weller fighting back to gain the spot on the next revolution. As the checkered flag waved, Grasso crossed the finish line first for his third Rislone URC Sprint Car win of the year. Ely wrestled second place away from Weller on the last lap. Janney and Bitner completed the top five. The Rislone URC Sprint Car qualifying events were won by Ed Aiken, Chris Coyle and Dave Ely.
After the original start of the 25-lap Bridgeport Modified feature was scuttled by a caution flag, Jack Hartnett became the leader when action did get underway with Tom Miller, Dave Witte, Dan Cogdill, Sr. and Ron Roberts in the chase. Quickly, Hartnett began to pull away from the pack with positional battles happening throughout the rest of the field. On lap 5, the red flag was displayed as Witte, Cogdill, Sr. and Chad James were involved in a hard-hitting accident in turn four. When racing resumed, Hartnett was still on top and was followed by Roberts, Jordan Watson, Miller and Ryan Watt. With eight laps recorded, the yellow lights lit up the speedway for Keith Weber and Steve Durand. After Kenny Golden waved the green flag again, Watt zipped his way by three cars and into second place behind Hartnett. Only two laps were completed before another caution period occurred for a spin by Weber in turn one. On the ensuing restart, Watt scurried around Hartnett to take over the top spot. A five car accident on lap 11 brought out the final yellow flag of the event. When the green lights illuminated, Watt remained in front with Hartnett and Roberts as his closest pursuers. As the laps clicked off, Watt was in firm control of the race and he went unchallenged the remaining distance to chalk up his third win of the season. Hartnett finished second after missing a few weeks of racing. Roberts celebrated his birthday with a third place finish. The top five was rounded out by Watson and Travis Hill. Watt, Jesse Hill and Dan Cogdill, Sr. were winners in the Bridgeport Modified heat races.
Pat Conaway notched his fifth Proformance Cuts Outlaw Stock Car win of the season. Conaway led all fifteen laps after starting the race from fifth place. Nick Gargiulo came back from an early race incident to finish in second. Ken Watson, Jr. was third with Andy Whittaker taking fourth. Newcomer Richie Burns, Jr. ran a strong race to finish fifth.
After taking over the lead over on the fourth tour of the speedway from Rick Wegner, Mike Lyons rolled to his third consecutive victory in the 15-lap 358 Sportsman feature. Craig Whitmoyer came home in second while Dave Dissinger wound up in third. Fourth place was taken by Wegner and veteran Roy Wiest crossed the finish line in fifth.
Bridgeport Speedway provides a safe and secure family atmosphere, free parking, giveaways and fan participation games. Billed ‘The Fastest Dirt Track in the East’, Bridgeport Speedway is a banked 5/8th
mile dirt oval, featuring a dirt 1/4 mile oval embedded in the center, and is located in Southern New Jersey -- just minutes from Pennsylvania and Delaware at exit 14 off of I-295.
NOTES: On Camera and Autograph Night, the sponsors of the Saturday night race teams were rewarded with free admission to the speedway. Along with Burns, Jr., Joe Robinson, Cheri LaClaire, Brian Ludwig, and Carl Holcombe made their first starts of the year in the Proformance Cuts Outlaw Stock Car class.
BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS – SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011
Rislone URC Sprint Cars
Heat 1 - 1. Ed Aiken 2. Rory Janney 3. JJ Grasso 4. Curt Michael 5. Josh Weller 6. Troy Betts
Heat 2 - 1. Chris Coyle 2. Jonathan Swanson 3. Mark Bitner 4. Andy Best 5. Jeff Fithian 6. Jimmy Stizel
Heat 3 - 1. Dave Ely 2. Robbie Stillwagon 3. Randy West 4. Kramer Williamson 5. Jason Clauss 6. Ryan Maisenhalter
RISLONE URC SPRINT CARS FEATURE - 25 LAPS
1. JJ GRASSO 2. Dave Ely 3. Josh Weller 4. Rory Janney 5. Mark Bitner 6. Andy Best 7. Jason Clauss 8. Troy Betts 9. Art Leidl 10. Ryan Maisenhalter 11. Tim Hogue 12. Jimmy Stitzel 13. Dave Martin 14. Jeff Fithian 15. Curt Michael 16. Chris Coyle 17. Ed Aiken 18. Robbie Stillwagon 19. Randy West 20. Jonathan Swanson 21. Kevin Nagy
DNS: Chris Weiss, Kramer Williamson
Bridgeport Modifieds
Heat 1 - 1. Ryan Watt 2. Tom Miller 3. Jack Hartnett 4. Dave Damiano 5. Ryan Wozunk 6. Matt Budd
Heat 2 - 1. Jesse Hill 2. Chad James 3. Travis Hill 4. Ron Roberts 5. Neal Williams 6. Dan Cogdill, Jr.
Heat 3 - 1. Dan Cogdill, Sr. 2. Jordan Watson 3. Brett Ballard 4. Dave Witte 5. Brett Kressley 6. Corey Andersen
Consolation - 1. Ryan Anderson 2. Steve Durand 3. Keith Weber 4. Jimmy Anderson 5. Sean Gunther 6. Dan Opdyke
BRIDGEPORT MODIFIED FEATURE - 25 LAPS
1. RYAN WATT 2. Jack Hartnett 3. Ron Roberts 4. Jordan Watson 5. Travis Hill 6. Neal Williams 7. Sean Gunther 8. Corey Andersen 9. Ryan Anderson 10. Jesse Hill 11. Tom Miller 12. Brett Ballard 13. Keith Weber 14. Dave Damiano 15. Dan Cogdill, Jr. 16. Ryan Wozunk 17. Brett Kressley 18. Jimmy Anderson 19. Matt Budd 20. Steve Durand 21. Dave Witte 22. Chad James 23. Dan Cogdill, Sr. 24. Dan Opdyke
DNQ: Joe Langshaw, Wayne Groover
PROFORMANCE CUTS OUTLAW STOCKS FEATURE - 15 LAPS
1. PAT CONAWAY 2. Nick Gargiulo 3. Ken Watson, Jr. 4. Andy Whittaker 5. Richie Burns, Jr. 6. Joe Robinson 7. Anthony DiBenedetto 8. Josh Denny 9. Cheri LaClaire 10. Jeff Dirkes 11. Joe Meron 12. Brian Ludwig 13. Terry Griffin 14. Carl Holcombe
358 SPORTSMAN FEATURE - 15 LAPS
1. MIKE LYONS 2. Craig Whitmoyer 3. Dave Dissinger 4. Rick Wegner 5. Roy Wiest 6. John Scarpati 7. Bill Lester 8. Pete Serra 9. Kevin Brady
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