Watson Captures First Win on Kingdom of Speed at Bridgeport & Pit Notes

The Kingdom of Speed held their 3^rd Saturday night Modified & 602 Crate racing program at Bridgeport Motorsports Park on the 4/10 mile high banked speedway.  This week drivers from DE came north to compete with the Bridgeport regulars.   Conditions were overcast, breezy and cool for a comfortable night of racing.

Stan Frankenfield led the modifieds to green with Jojo Watson taking the lead on lap 1.  Matt Stangle was running a strong second behind Watson when fuel issues retired Stangle to the pits for the night.  On lap 10 Billy Pauch Sr. moved into second while 16 year old Alex Yankowski moved into 3^rd from a 19^th starting position. On lap 11 the 4^th caution of the event came out for a Billy Pauch Sr.’s flat tire from contact with Yankowski.  From lap 12 to lap 19 Watson continued to lead Yankowksi but an intense battle of sliders and counter crossovers developed in turn 2 until Yankowski hit the wall in turn 3 allowing Watson separation and to open up a lead.  By lap 25 Horton and Pauch Sr had moved in on second place and as Yankowksi’s tires faded Horton and Pauch moved into 2^nd and 3^rd past Yankowski.   Nothing really matter to JoJo Watson as he had a 3 second plus lead and clean air as he drove right into the Bridgeport victory lane for his first Bridgeport win of the season.

Postrace JoJo Watson commented “The restarts here are something else and one minute you’re a hero and the next minute you’re a zero.  The wall come at you real quick here and we had some bad luck here and that why this win is so good to get tonight.  We had an adventure getting here when our truck and trailer broke down and had to turn around and go borrow my brother’s trailer. We didn’t get here until 15 minutes before hot laps.  Racing here is something else.”

The top 5 was rounded out with Jimmy Horton, Billy Pauch Sr., Alex Yankowski and Richie Pratt Jr.

Heat race winners were Stan Frankenfield, Neal Williams and JoJo Watson.

The 20 lap crate feature was lead to green by Ryan Godown Jr with James Hill and Joe Toth in pursuit early.  5 cautions waved during the feature but Godown Jr was able to maintain the lead throughout all the restarts and drive into victory lane for his first Bridgeport Motorsports win.

Back at the trailer Ryan Godown Jr reflected “We drew dead last in the heat but managed to qualify for the feature with the last redraw spot and then we drew the poll.  We made no changes or adjustments for the feature except for the required tire changes.  I ran the same line which was the top and the track came to us.  I’m still learning how to drive the car with what the car gives me and not be too aggressive.”

The top 5 was rounded out by Adam White, James Hill, Tom Moore, and Joe Toth.

Heat races were won by Steve Kemery, James Hill, Tom Moore and Tommy Errico.  The consolation was won by Brad Roberts.

Modified Pit Notes  

JoJo Watson had the thrill of a lifetime not only getting his first win on the high banked 4/10 of a mile but also being the first driver besides Billy Pauch to win a point race on the Kingdom of Speed.  In addition Watson had 2 legends on the podium with him – Jimmy Horton and Billy Pauch Jr.

Billy Pauch Sr. had a flat tire on lap 11 and still came back through the field for a 3^rd place finish in the feature.

Jimmy Horton has had a rough season which was capped off with a hard wreck at OCFG in July resulting in a back injury which kept Horton from coming to the SDS event on July 29 at Bridgeport.  Horton started to turn things around earlier in the week at Brett Deyo’s STSS race at Delaware International were he finished a solid 3^rd place.  So tonight’s 2^nd place finish from a 11^th starting position was exactly what Horton was looking for on only his second visit to the Kingdom of Speed.

Alex Yankowski had racing contact with Ryan Godown during his heat race which spun him out of 2^nd place to a 7^th place finish.  Yankowski subsequently started the feature in 19^th position but by lap 12 Yankowski was in 2^nd place behind leader JoJo Watson.  On the final 3 laps; the 16 year old Yankowski faded a bit and fell to a 4^th place finish.  Still a great run considering the two guys who past him have 1,204 feature wins between them and are considering racing living legends – Jimmy Horton in 2^nd and Billy Pauch Jr in 3^rd.  The 16 year old racing future and racing legends all on the track together at the same time.   In the pits back at the trailer Yankowksi noted “Yeah that fading in the end was my tires going away and it was all my fault and I didn’t use my head and used my tires up a bit early.  This race was my first time in our new Bicknell big block car and the 1^st time I have ever driven a big block.” 

Clay Butler was making his second appearance at Bridgeport and has decided to run Bridgeport for the remainder of the season.  Butler said “The 2 weeks off at Bridgeport gave use time to dissect the car and we found a couple of key issues inhibiting our program.”  The 4B team’s findings were evident in the heat race as they finished a strong 3^rd.   Their success carried over into the feature were Butler secured a 6^th place finish which was his best finish of the season.

Matt Stangle had a very strong run going in second place when fuel problems retired Stangle for the night.  It’s just been one thing after another for the Stangle team.  Friday night at Big Diamond Stangle was on a 3^rd place run only to fall out of contention due to a flat tire.  Earlier in the week at Brett Deyo’s Short Track Super Series race in Delaware Stangle had a top 10 run going only to have a flat tire take them out of contention.  

Tommy Beamer had electrical issues in the heat race and needed to be pushed back to the pits.  A crew member made a run to the local parts store to get a battery but unfortunately that still didn’t solve the problem.  The 31 team was running out of time to figure out the problem in time to make the feature so they opened up the second trailer and popped out the backup car which is also a big block.  The 31 team had no time to adjust the backup car; so they went into the feature with a completely baseline setup and started last on the field in 21^st starting position.  Beamer was able to get a clean run and brought home a 9^th place finish with the last minute backup car.

Neal Williams had a flat tire but was able to return to competition and drive back through the field to a 7^th place finish.  Ryan Godown Sr. was running in 3^rd when the ignition box died.   Godown Sr. had to be towed to the pits but made repairs and came back out for a 15^th place finish.

Three cars came north from Delaware to get a look at the Kingdom of Speed for the first time.  Jordon Watson and Trent Von Vorst qualified for the program.  Unfortunately for Matt Hawkins mechanical issues keep the 38 team from making the call for the feature.

Crate Pit notes

A total of 7 Delaware crates came north to race on the High Banked 4/10 mile.  Adam White and James Hill ran 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.  James Hill noted back in tech “This was our first time here and our gearing was off but now we know.”  Sean Metz continues to do well every time he comes north to Bridgeport and was able to get a 12^th place finish from a 24^th starting position.

The best back to front crate run of the night was Brad Roberts who finished in 9^th place from a 20^th place starting position.

Bridgeport is back in action on Saturday August 22 with Modifieds and a regular program of racing starting at 7:00 PM.