Maresca Wins Modified at Final Day of Wild Card Weekend at Bridgeport Motorsports Park

The 3^rd and final day of the Wildcard Weekend and Bridgeport Motorsports Park Season Finale was again completed under sunny skies and warm and unseasonable temperatures but cool chilly conditions after sunset presenting changing track conditions throughout the day.  130 cars were on premises for 4 divisions bringing the 3 day weekend attendance to 350 cars.

The modified 50 lap feature was led to green Jack Lehnar who led for the first 12 laps.  Ryan Watt took the lead in lapped traffic on lap 13 with Mike Maresca moving into second place from his 9^th starting position.  On the lap 18 restart Mike Maresca charged to the lead and held off Ryan Watt through lapped traffic to his first Bridgeport win and trip to victory lane.

 In victory lane Maresca commented “I have always liked coming to Bridgeport for the 5/8’s and these 50 lap shows are a lot of fun.  I wanted to come to the 100 lapper and Danny was always cool to me and a good friend.  A couple days before he passed Danny texted me and it was great to hear from that guy and he was a good friend and always greeted me with a smile and a beer.  To get a win it’s only the right thing to do to dedicate it to Danny he was an awesome fan and good friend of mine and I’m happy for that.  It was a really good race and I had to hustle to get up there and it was fun with all the sliders and like racing on a video game. I saw Watt pick the bottom on the restart and been sitting in that corner just watching all day and I knew that outside would roll the momentum as long as I kinda timed it right and I was able to dictate the race from there.  It was pretty tricky getting through the lapped cars, I watched the race last night, me and Connor Marvin were talking about it and you have to make dicey moves quickly to get by the lappers and seal them off so you don’t get caught on the bottom because closing speeds are so high here. I had to use my head out there a lot and it was a lot fun.  Can’t thank Connor Marvin enough to come down with me he worked his butt off all weekend and wouldn’t be here without him.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Ryan Watt in second followed by Richie Pratt, Jimmy Blewett, Ryan Krachun, Billy Pauch, Dominick Buffalino, Billy Pauch Jr., Jeff Strunk and Ryan Godown.

Heats were won by Jack Lehnar, Jared Umbenhauer, Ryan Krachun, Mike Meresca and Davey Sammons.  Last Chance Consolations were won by Tyler Dipple and Danny Bouc.

Modified Results – Wildcard Weekend (50 lap feature) Bridgeport Motor Sports Park

1. Michael Maresca 2. Ryan Watt 3. Richie Pratt Jr 4. Jimmy Blewett 5. Ryan Krachun 6. Billy Pauch 7. Dominik Buffalino 8. Billy Pauch Jr 9. Jeff Strunk 10. Ryan Godown 11. Danny Bouc 12. Jack Lehnar 13. Mike Mahaney 14. Peter Brittan 15. Dillon Steuer 16. Matt Stangle 17. Frank Cozze 18. Brandon Grosso 19. Jim Britt 20. Tommy Beamer 21. Tyler Dippel 22. Joseph Watson 23. Davey Sammons 24. Jared Umbenhauer 25. Rocky Warner 26. Rich Rutski 27. Neal Williams 28. Roger Manning 29. Alex Yankowski 30. Eric Kormann 31. Rich Laubach 32. Jimmy Horton

DNQ –  Joe Toth, Sammy Martz, Cory Cormier, JoJo Watson, Cory Fleming, Gary Hager, Bruce Hooper, Brett Ballard, Bruce Gsell, Stan Frankenfield, Troy Ale, Mike Franz, Cale Ross, Ron Roberts, Dean Conk, Ryan Simmons, JR Heffner, John Willman,  Jim Gallagher

Modified Pit Notes

Mike Maresca made the 6 hour tow from Potsdam, NY and it turned out to be a good one with a win in the 50 lap feature.  Danny had convinced Maresca to stop on his way home from Charlotte in years past starting the tradition of the upstate New York team visiting Bridgeport every November.  Maresca adds the Bridgeport win to his Fonda 2020 track championship.  Maresca has always been strong at Bridgeport with top 5 finishes and added his first win this weekend.

Ryan Watt had a banner weekend with two 2^nd place finishes in star studded 30 plus fields on back to back days. 

Richie Pratt Jr. finished 3^rd in the 50 lap feature from a 7^th starting position.  Pratt finished 27^th from a 28^th starting position in the Danny Serrano 100 on Saturday.  But the 51 team made adjustments and was the quickest car in the hot lap session after the 100 lap feature on Saturday night earning them a guaranteed starting position for Sunday.

Jimmy Blewett & Ryan Krachun both turned their weekends around on Sunday with top five finishes of 4^th and 5^th respectively after a disappointing 17^th and 29^th place finish respectively on Saturday in the 100 lap feature.

Ryan Godown turned in a solid weekend of racing in his new DKM black # 26 with a 3^rd place finish on Saturday and a 10^th place finish on Sunday.  On Saturday his 3^rd place finish came from a 25^th starting position due to the change in cars from the original race date.  On Sunday Godown had a last place draw in the heat race which placed him 5^th in his consolation where he was able to squeak into the program in the last qualifying position in the 26^th starting spot.  Godown proceeded to go +16 positions and finished 10^th from his 26^th starting positon.

Godown also jumped into his speedster and collected a 5^th and 2^nd place in the double speedster features to round out a good weekend for the Godown 26 team.

A real strong back to front run during the 50 lap feature was turned in by Billy Pauch Sr. with a 6^th place finish from a 25 starting position.  Pauch found himself one place short of qualifying in the heats and in the unfamiliar confines of a last chance consolation which put him in the 25^th starting position.

Billy Pauch Jr driving was driving the Joel Boinske 19 entry to an 8^th place finish from a 21^st starting position.    

51 modifieds attempted to qualify for the 32 available positions in the 50 lap feature. 

Alex Yankowski won on Saturday but ended up with a small block entry too damage to continue racing on Sunday so they pulled out the backup big block and was one position away from qualifying on Saturday night as the quickest car in the timed hot lap session and missing quick time by only .027 to Richie Pratt.  But it went downhill from there on Sunday.  Yankowski had a contact flat in the heat race on lap 1 as the youngster tried to thread the needle between 2 cars coming out of turn 4.  Yankowski ended up 10^th in his heat race and 10^th in his last consolation and DNQ for the show.   By virtual of his 2^nd place in the 2020 Bridgeport points standing Yankowski was able to secure the first provisional position.  The 50 lap feature wasn’t much better for the 84Y with mechanical issues retiring Yankowski to the pits on lap 16 to end his night early.

Sammy Martz Sr. had a strong outing and just missed making the field.  In his heat race he moved forward to 5^th place from a 10^th starting position.  In the consolation Martz was again charging hard and finished 5^th of the 14 entries.  Sammy Martz Sr. is looking pretty comfortable on the new track at his old home.

In only his second outing in modified Joe Toth had another near miss qualifying for the 26 car field with 51 cars attempting to qualify.  Toth just missed qualifying for the field by one position in the consolation with a solid 3^rd place finish in the 14 car field with only 2 qualifying for the feature.  For both of his modified outings Toth ended qualifying in the 1^st Alternate position.  On Saturday Toth was able to cash in his first alternate position to start in his first modified feature which was the 100 lap Danny Serrano Memorial.  Despite a flat tire; Toth still finished 25 and completed 93 laps of 100.

Rick Laubach started smoking coming out of 4 and by turn 1 the car was emerged in flames from a loose oil line.  Laubach quickly stopped the car and the flames were extinguished by the fire crew.  Laubach had a solid 9^th place finish in the 100 lap Danny Serrano Memorial before his weekend ended on Sunday with the DNF.  Laubach will be back in action this weekend at Baps Speedway.