Buckwalter & Anderson Claim Wins on Sunday Night Racing at Bridgeport

The old and new traditions come together with the annual “All American 40” modified event at the new Bridgeport Motorsports Park on the Kingdom of Speed high banked 4/10 track.  The modifieds and crates returned to see if Ryan Godown or Steve Kemery can be the first to win two races on the multi groove 100 foot wide racing surface.

Ryan Godown had the good fortune of drawing the pole for the second week in a row with Billy Pauch Sr. on the outside pole.  Godown lead the first 25 laps with Tim Buckwalter & Ryan Watt in hot pursuit and all three drivers were throwing sliders, cross overs and using a variety of lines low, middle and high too numerous to count.   Sparks were flying off of Buckwalter and Watt several times as they made wall contact and battled each other to track down the leader Godown.  Buckwalter assumed the lead on lap 25 but Watt and Godown were still in pursuit.  Watt may be in a small block but he is still a beast on the high side and took over second from Godown.  The only yellow of the 40 lap feature was on lap 13 for a Danny Bouc flat tire.  Rich Laubach and Bill Pauch pulled off on lap 33 but without caution.  The 3 cars of Buckwalter, Watt and Godown checked out from the rest of the field.  On lap 40 it was a red hot Timmy Buckwalter winning on his first visit to the new Kingdom of Speed at Bridgeport Motorsports.

The top ten was rounded out by Strunk, Von Dohren, Cozze, Pratt, Danner, Stangle and Krachun.

Heat race winners were Tommy Beamer, Danny Bouc, and Dominic Buffalino.  Consolation win went to Richie Pratt Jr.

Tim Buckwalter noted in victory lane “Our hard work paid off this weekend with a win at Diamond; 4^th at Grandview; and our second win of the weekend here at Bridgeport tonight.  It was our first time ever on this track at Bridgeport and I lost track of how many times I made contact with the wall while running the high line.” 

Long time Bridgeport driver Wayne Weaver looked like he was going to run away from the field but the second place car came changing as driver after driver made their run after Weaver.  Weaver was able to hold off Toth, Kemery and Godown, Jr.  All the time Ryan Anderson was picking his way through the field one car at a time from his 9^th place starting position.  Anderson was the only car staying low lap after lap but it was working.  With two to go he moved up on the leader Wayne Weaver and on lap 19 Anderson took the lead from Weaver using the low line of the track.

Rounding out the top 10 were Steve Kemery, Joe Toth, Ryan Godown Jr, Tom Moore, Sean Metz, Brad Roberts, Kris Lillick and Matt Peck.

Heat winners were Ryan Godown, Jr, Tommy Moore Jr, and Brad Roberts.  Sean Metz from Delaware won the consolation.

Crate winner Ryan Anderson is now racing crates until his modified motors get repaired from damage during last season.  Anderson has vast modified experience and has raced at many different tracks rather then just one home track like many drivers.  Last year Anderson raced on BAPS, Port Royal, Georgetown, Grandview, Big Diamond and Bridgeport which appears to have prepared Ryan well for the new high banks 4/10 of a mile at Bridgeport Motorsports Park.  Anderson came into this race off of a 3^rd place finish last week at Bridgeport and he ran high on the track during the entire feature.

Back at the trailer postrace Ryan recalled “I did run the top last week and I made a lot of setup changes this week after the heat race. I started 9^th and really was not planning on running the low grove but the car stuck low and had good momentum down low so I just decided to stay there.  I was slow picking cars off and got 2 or 3.  I knew the hard tires would come in as the race went on.  I wasn’t sure if I had enough to get Wayne.  I twisted Wayne on the bottom and showed him my car and he went hot and slide up the track and I had enough momentum in the low groove to take the lead on the final lap.”

Modified Pit Notes

Tim Buckwalter is emerging as one of the hottest modified drivers in the NJ, PA & DE tristate area.  His first appearance as a top contender was his second place finish at BAPS at first PA area modified race after the Covid-19 lockdown was lifted.  Buckwalter is now a contender for the win every night anywhere he goes with the 23X modified which is what he has done for many years with his sprint and micro sprint car racing.  Buckwalter is quick to thank Norm Saxton Motorsports, Pat Morrison race engines, Ryan Watt and PJ1 Motorsports and his entire crew at the track and back home at the shop.  Buckwalter has wins at Grandview, Big Diamond and Bridgeport already this season.  The Grandview win was the Money Maker with 54 cars in attendance.

Dominic Buffalino came off of a good run at New Egypt with a 4^th place finish Saturday in a 40 lap feature at New Egypt.  Things started out good for Buffalino on Sunday at Bridgeport as he won the heat race but his car starting smoking on the way to the scales and went up in smoke right on the scales after the heat.  So with a broken motor it looked like Buffalino was done for the night and would be a DNS in the All American modified feature.  But Kevin Borden and the 928 crate team graciously offered the 928 car for Buffalino to take the green.  Kevin jumped back in the 928 for the crate feature and drove to a 16^th place finish in the crate feature.

The modified 40 lap feature ran with only one yellow.  Some solid back to front runs on the nearly green to checkered 40 lap run were:

Craig Von Dohren in the # 30 – 5^th place finish from a 17^th place starting position (+12)

Richie Pratt – 7^th finish from an 18^th place starting position (+11)

Matt Stangle – 9^th place finish from a 21th starting position (+12)

Jordan Watson – 11^th place finish from a 20^th starting position (+9)

Matt Stangle was the highest finishing big block with a 9^th place finish in the feature.

DNQ’s – Scott Ambruster, Mike Frantz, Ron Roberts and Jimmy Britt and Bob Lillick

Crate Pit Notes

Sean Metz was the only crate car from Delaware and had a bad pill draw for the heat race.  He started 9^th in heat race and just struggled and couldn’t get out of the back of the field.  But things started rolling for Sean in the consolation and he was able to run from a 7^th starting position to a 1^st place finish in the consolation.  He started 19^th in the feature and moved forward 12 positions to a 7^th place finish.  The week before Sean qualified at Bridgeport in the 24 car field that had 20 DNQ’s.  He ran from 16^th to 4^th last week and 19^th to 7^th this week.  “These two weeks at Bridgeport are by far the best runs I’ve had in while.  We still are figuring out the coil over stuff so the car doesn’t bounce as much when the track is rough but even so the car the car has been great on the bottom and I can almost go where ever I want the car to go.”