Smith Claims Day 1 of URC High Banks Classic & Sherby Underdog 20 at Bridgeport

Night one of three for the “URC High Banks Classic / Wildcard Weekend“ at Bridgeport Motorsports Park had unseasonable warm conditions and 105 cars in the pits to compete in day 1 of URC High Bank Classic, the Crate Underdog 20 for non-winners and a Street Stock feature.  44 URC 360 sprint cars from CT, VT, NH, MA, CAN, NY, OH, NJ, PA & DE to compete for the final two races of the URC season and crown a points champion.

 The 25 lap feature saw Mark Smith make a strong move right off the start from 4^th to 2^nd behind leader Ryan Taylor.  After 4 yellows and one red it was Smith nailing the restart and catching Taylor off guard with a quick 8 car lead like off the restart.  Smith just extended his lead over the field as the next 14 laps went green.  One final caution and restart presented no problem for Smith as he cruised into victory lane with a 1.5 second lead over Adam Carberry in second place.

The top 10 was rounded out by Adam Carberry, Troy Betts, Josh Weller, Ryan Smith, Lucas Wolf, JJ Grasso, Tyler Ross, Alex Bright and Robbie Stillwaggon in 10^th.

URC 360 Sprint Cars – (25 lap feature 11-06-20):

1. Mark Smith, 2. Adam Carberry, 3. Troy Betts, 4. Josh Weller, 5. Ryan Smith, 6. Lucas Wolfe, 7. JJ Grasso, 8. Tyler Ross, 9. Alex Bright, 10. Robbie Stillwagon, 11. Jason Shultz, 12. Briggs Danner, 13. Dallas Schott, 14. Ryan Stillwagon, 15. Kyle Smith, 16. Derek Locke, 17. RJ Jacobs, 18. Davie Franek, 19. Tim Tanner, 20. Danny Pebbles, 21. Ryan Taylor, 22. Pauly Colagiovanni, 23. Ryan Cowan, 24. Matt Tanner, 25. Ed Aiken, 26. Austin Bishop

URC Pit Notes

Mark Smith had never been to the high banks at Bridgeport before and just unloaded his car and raced.  Right out the box it was clear that the M1 was going to be a factor.  He ran 2^nd in his heat race earning a re-draw spot from a 9^th place starting position in his heat race. 

The URC championship will be determined this weekend with the results of Friday and Saturday crowning a 2020 URC Champion.  Adam Carberry came into Bridgeport with a 1 point led and was able to extend his lead to 13 points with a second place finish while Josh Weller finished 4^th.

JJ Grasso qualified in the consolation B main and charged through the field to an 8^th place finish from a 22^nd starting position.

A total of 44 URC teams were in attendance from 9 eastern states and Canada producing the largest URC turnout at Bridgeport in recent years.

Dave Brown and Austin Bishop both flipped their cars during the qualifying races when they caught an edge and had front end and wing damage.  Both teams have their work cut out for them overnight to get their cars ready for URC day 2 tomorrow but certainly expect both to be ready to go tomorrow.

Jason Schultz lost a wheel before the heat race started sending him to the pits with a DNS and a last place heat race finish.  In the B Main the 35 entry started 10^th and made a solid move to 3^rd but only the top 2 qualified and the # 35 was on the DNQ list as first alternate.  Andy Best couldn’t make the call which put Schultz back in the program as an alternate.  Schultz made the best of it as he finished 11^th in the feature from a 24 starting position.

602 Crate Underdog 20

The 602 Crate Underdog 20 lap feature for non-winners was a battle of the front row starters with John Micek leading the first 6 laps until outside pole sitter Tom Sherby grabbed the lead off of the lap 6 restart and powered into victory lane with a solid 1.5 second lead for his first win of the season.

Tom Sherby timed 4^th quickest in the field of 31 qualifiers.  The faster 8 qualifiers earned a re-draw spot which Sherby turned into an 2^nd starting position.  Postrace at the trailer Sherby noted “heats have been good but we always manage to struggle in the feature.  First couple of restarts the motor stuttered and really think it was the November cold and damp night air and once the motor got warmer it cleared out and I got a run on the outside and never looked back.  It was wild coming through lapped traffic and not knowing how close the car in second place was.  Our luck has been bad this year in redraws until today and we’ve had bad luck in the features with being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  We’ve got two more races this weekend to keep this mojo going.  I can’t thank my sponsors enough – Aquatic Dock Supply; Surran’s Nursery; Precision Oil & Hydraulic and Boulevard Boat and Tackle.” 

The top 10 was rounded out by Joe Brown, Anthony Tramontana, John Micek, Payton Talbot, Travis Hill, Wayne Weaver, Jon Meyer, Ryan Grim and Doug Snyder.

602 Sportsman Underdog 20 – (20 lap feature) results 11-06-20:

1. Tom Sherby, 2. Joseph Brown, 3. Anthony Tramontana, 4. John Micek, 5. Payton Talbot, 6. Travis Hill, 7. Wayne Weaver, 8. Jon Meyer, 9. Ryan Grim, 10. Doug Snyder, 11. Chad Sandt, 12. Sean Metz, 13. Beau Drobot, 14. Chris Jenkins, 15. Joe Nappi, 16. Billy Chester, 17. Brad Roberts, 18. Anthony Raisner, 19. Pete Serra, 20. Aaron Weaver, 21. Matthew Martino, 22. Will Protinick, 23. Scott Maher Jr., 24. Daniel Morgiwetz, 25. Mike Baldwin

Crate 602 Underdog 20 Pit Notes

John Micek made his first appearance of the season and hadn’t seen or been on the new 4/10 high bank track at Bridgeport.  Despite never seeing the track Micek came out and timed quickest qualifier of the 31 cars taking timed hot laps.  His luck continued with a redraw of the pole position.  Micek lead the first 6 laps and the car faded back to a 4^th place finish.  Micek noted “This was an exceptional day for us and the new track feels faster than the old track.”

Doug Snyder finished 10^th from a 22^nd starting position in only the 2^nd time out in the 28 car that he recently purchased. 

Beau Drobot has added another car and number to his list of rides for the 2020 season and was seen wheeling the familiar 414 entry but this time with a 602 crate motor.  Beau managed to stay clear of the carnage and finished 13^th from a 24^th starting position.

Anthony Tramontana has been on a recent hot streak with a 5^th place last week in Georgetown and a 3^rd place finish tonight and two more nights of crate racing to see if he can keep it going in tomorrow’s $3,000 to win Invitational 602 crate race.  At tech Tramontana stated “I needed 5 more laps to get to first.  This was the best car I ever had here at Bridgeport.  It worked anywhere I put it.”

Day 2 of the “URC High Banks Classic & Wildcard weekend” with the conclusion of then Danny Serrano Memorial 100 lap modified race starts with hot laps at 2:00 PM on Saturday November 7 and racing at 3:00 PM.