Monday April 27, 2009 ILES HOLDS ON FOR THE WIN AT BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY BRIDGEPORT, NJ (April 26, 2009) - On a beautiful spring night for racing, defending Track Champion Mike Iles won the Big Block Modified feature. In the 358 Sportsman event, Rocco Infante took home the checkered flag. Neal Williams was the winner in the GM Sportsman race while Mike Starke took the Rookie GM Sportsman race. Pat Conaway was victorious in the Outlaw Stock main event.
In the 25-Lap Big Block Modified Feature, polesitter Stan Frankenfield grabbed the early lead. Mike Iles, who quickly drove up to second after starting the feature in fourth place, took over the top spot on lap 3. Front row starter Bryant Brown brought out the red flag on lap 4 as his car nearly flipped in turn three. Frankenfield dropped out of the race during the red flag and second place was taken over by Big Block Modified rookie Mike Barone. When action resumed, Chad James swung into second place and began to close the gap between him and Iles. Jimmy Chester moved up to third place on lap 6. The top three remained in close competition until Chester dropped out of the race on lap 11. With Chester’s departure from the race, Ryan Watt assumed the third position. On lap 16, Watt had just taken second place from James when Wade Hendrickson’s flat tire brought out the yellow flag. Before another lap could be completed, two more cautions occurred. With a clean restart on the third attempt, Iles continued to hold onto the lead but James took back second place from Watt with Jimmy Horton moving into fourth place. On lap 20, the caution flag came out again as Hendrickson’s car slowed upon exiting turn two. On the ensuing race resumption, Iles held off the hard charging James as Horton climbed into the top three on lap 21 with Richie Pratt taking fourth place. The yellow caution lights flickered for the final time as Andy Burkhart slowed down on lap 23. Iles kept his lead on the single file restart with only two laps to go. James fought hard in the final two laps and tried numerous times to wrestle the lead from Iles. In the end, Iles won his tenth career Big Block Modified Feature at Bridgeport Speedway. James wound up with a strong second place finish. Third place was decided on the last lap as Richie Pratt Jr. drove past Jimmy Horton. Wade Hendrickson rebounded from his late race caution to finish in fifth place. Matt Harrell, Mike Iles and Ryan Watt each won a Big Block Modified heat race.
In the 358 Sportsman feature, Kevin Collins took advantage of his front row start to take the lead with Rocco Infante, Brett Ballard, Jarrad Miller and Randy Yaple in tow. Collins had a sizeable lead by lap 2 which evaporated on lap 6 as Lou Farina’s car slowed on the speedway. On the restart, the top three positions remained the same but Yaple slipped by Miller for fourth place. Two more cautions on laps 7 and 8 occurred but Collins fought back the restart challenges from Infante. Infante continued to pressure Collins as the final 10 laps of feature began. Using the outside groove, Infante took the lead from Collins on lap 14. Shortly after losing the lead, Collins stopped in turn two on lap 14 to bring out the final caution of the feature. When the green flag waved, Infante drove away from the competition in the final six laps to capture his second career win at Bridgeport Speedway. Second place went to Yaple while third place wend to Jesse Hill. Jarrad Miller and Brett Ballard completed the top five. 358 Sportsman heat races were won by Sean Gunther, Jack Swain and Kevin Collins. Bob Lineman Jr. won the 358 Sportsman consolation event.
Polesitter Neal Williams led every lap of the 15-Lap GM Sportsman finale to gain his second career win. Chuck Buchman finished in second place with Bob Burgess taking third. Rounding out the top five was Michael Cogdill and John Micek. Micek and Cogdill each collected a victory in the GM Sportsman heat races. Mike Starke led wire to wire to win the Rookie GM Sportsman race.
Pat Conaway started on the pole and went to win the Outlaw Stock feature. Terry Griffith took second place after a spirited race for the runner up spot. Jeff Dirkes, Ron Dirkes and Russell Wurst Jr. rounded out the top five. Wayne Weaver won the Garden State Vintage Stock Car Club race.
Bridgeport Speedway Results - Saturday April, 25, 2009
Big Block Modifieds
Heat 1 – Matt Harrell, Jimmy Horton, Mike Barone, Wade Hendrickson, Chad James, Bill Klingmeyer
Heat 2 – Mike Iles, Richie Pratt Jr., Bryant Brown, Stan Frankenfield, Rusty Smith, Scott Irwin
Heat 3 – Ryan Watt, Mike Franz, Jimmy Chester, Ron Roberts, Ed Firth, Brian Truppi
BIG BLOCK MODIFIED FEATURE – 25 LAPS
MIKE ILES, Chad James, Richie Pratt Jr., Jimmy Horton, Wade Hendrickson, Ryan Watt, Mike Franz, Matt Harrell, Mike Barone, Bob Sarkisian, Rusty Smith, Andy Burkhart, Ron Roberts, Steve Durand, Scott Irwin, Jimmy Chester, Brian Truppi, Stan Frankenfield, Bryant Brown, Dave Howard
DNS: Ed Firth, Bill Klingmeyer
358 Sportsman
Heat 1 – Sean Gunther, Jarrad Miller, John Cavallaro, Chuck Hopkins, Rob Pierce, Gino Postarivo
Heat 2 – Jack Swain, Rocco Infante, Randy Yaple, Jesse Hill, Tom Miller, Tom Solderich
Heat 3 – Kevin Collins, Craig Whitmoyer, Travis Hill, Brett Ballard, John Kelly
Consolation – Bob Lineman Jr., Lou Farina, Ron Roberts, Frank Dorry Jr., Rick Beavers, Harry Marlin, Larry Lippincott
358 SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20 LAPS
ROCCO INFANTE, Randy Yaple, Jesse Hill, Jarrad Miller, Brett Ballard, Sean Gunther, Rob Pierce, Jack Swain, Ron Roberts, Tom Solderich, Travis Hill, Frank Dorry Jr., Harry Marlin, Rick Beavers, Tom Miller, Kevin Collins, John Cavallaro, Bob Lineman Jr., Gino Postarivo, Chuck Hopkins, Larry Lippincott, Lou Farina, John Kelly, Craig Whitmoyer
DNQ: Jimmy Horton IV, John Scarpati Jr., Jim McCallion, Sam Gangemi, Don Bogey, Steve Lindale, Jason Duppel, Bob Cook, Kevin Valavicek, Dan Cogdill
GM Sportsman
Heat 1 – John Micek, Kyle Borror, Tom Moore Jr., Erik Renninger, David Bell, Rich Jackson
Heat 2 – Mike Cogdill, Bob Burgess, Chuck Buchman, Neal Williams, Eric Kormann, Pat Conaway
GM SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 15 LAPS
NEAL WILLIAMS, Chuck Buchman, Bob Burgess, Michael Cogdill, John Micek, Eric Kormann, Pat Conaway, David Bell, Kyle Borror, Brittany Whitesall, Tom Moore Jr., Doug Urbano, Billy Martino, Rich Jackson, Erik Renninger, Bob Bartleson
DNS: Jimmy Anderson, Mike Starke
ROOKIE GM SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 6 LAPS
MIKE STARKE, Brittany Whitesall, Jimmy Anderson, Billy Martino
OUTLAW STOCKS FEATURE – 15 LAPS
PAT CONAWAY, Terry Griffin, Jeff Dirkes, Ron Dirkes, Russell Wurst, Jr., Jeremy Doerr, Bob Dooley, Jim Honeker
DNS: Bill Miller |
