Mid-Atlantic Modified Report Week 23

BRIDGEPORT MOTORSPORTS PARK

11/07/20 (Danny Serrano Memorial 100 Makeup) – 34 starters took the green with pole sitter Ryan Krachun taking the early lead until broken a shock on lap 3 sent him to the pits for repairs.  Jo Jo Watson took command of the lead from his 6^th starting position only to have Danny Bouc take over the front spot as Watson’s tires faded and he fell through the field.  On lap Ryan Godown took over the lead from his 25^th starting position.  Alex Yankowski charged from his 24^rd starting positon to take the lead on lap 78 were he would stay until the 84Y took the checkered flag.  After taking the checkered flag Yankowski was involved in an incident while trying to evade a spinning lapped car and made contact with another car sending the 84Y straight into the front stretch wall and into a wheel stand down the front stretch until the car grabbed the catch fence sending the car into a series of barrel rolls ending with a fire directly in front of the starters stand.  Yankowski’s first words as the safety crews got him out of the car were “Did we win” and despite all the damage the 16 year old youngster showed great poise and composure and was able to truly enjoy the moment of his first win despite what had just happened.  He may only be 16 years old but showed the composure of a veteran and he earned quite a few fans for a lifetime of racing in that moment for sure.

In victory lane Yankowski noted “We had a good car but obviously it’s not too good now.  I think this win will pay for a new fame and body and hopefully we will be alright.  Not too happy about this but it’s the way it happen.  We had a good car but it was slimy and I just wanted to ride around and keep it in one piece when I saw Krachun hit the wall. Doesn’t get more exciting than that and not too happy about it but it was a way to do it.”

Danny Serrano Memorial Results – 11/07/20 @ Bridgeport Motorsports Park

1. Alex Yankowski, 2. Ryan Watt, 3. Ryan Godown, 4. Danny Bouc, 5. Jeff Strunk, 6. Frank Cozze, 7. Mike Mahaney, 8. Matt Stangle, 9. Rick Laubach, 10. Billy Pauch, 11. JR Heffner, 12. Dominick Buffalino, 13. Jimmy Horton, 14. Peter Britten, 15. Dillon Steuer, 16. Tommy Beamer, 17. Jimmy Blewett, 18. Jared Umbenhauer, 19. Davey Sammons, 20. Wade Hendrickson, 21. Jim Britt, 22. Neal Williams, 23. Eric Kormann, 24. Mike Franz, 25. Joe Toth, 26. Tommy Scheetz, 27. Richie Pratt Jr., 28. Briggs Danner, 29. Joseph Watson, 30. Brandon Grosso, 31. Duane Howard, 32. Ryan Krachun, 33. Roger Manning, 34. Justin Grim

Danny Serrano 100 Pit Notes – Modified

Alex Yankowski got the biggest payday of his career and his 3^rd win of the 2020 season.  He has added his first Bridgeport win to two wins at Big Diamond this year.  Yankowski methodically moved through the field from his 23^th starting position and took the lead and command of the race on lap 78.  From there he was able to break away from Ryan Watt and take the checkered flag for the win.  Unfortunately the post-race incident sending Yankowski into the wall and barrel rolling down the front stretch caused his car to be towed into victory lane.

Yankowski started in 23^th position and was able to move forward to 1^st place and win by a margin of victory of 1.5 over Ryan Watt which he has added to two wins this season at Big Diamond and a second place in Bridgeport points only 32 points behind one of his idols Billy Pauch Sr. and also a 4^th place finish in points at Big Diamond.

Ryan Watt has quietly seen his program change from Big Block dominated to equally as dominate for either his big block or small block.  The 2^nd place finish in the 100 lap Danny Serrano Memorial with his small block spec 358 indicates that Watt is an equal threat to win these days with either small block or big block entry as his small block program has come a long way in the last couple of years.

Ryan Godown had a great outing in his brand new DMK black #26 taking a podium 3^rd place finish from a 26^th starting position.  Godown actually lead the race for 16 laps but around lap 74 his softer tire selection started to wear and he got passed by Yankowski and Watt falling to a solid 3^rd place podium finish.

Danny Bouc lead for 17 laps from 41 to 58 but his selection of a softer compound caused him to fade a bit but the 32 entry managed to stay in the top 5 with a 4^th place finish in the 100 lapper.  Bouc won the 100 lap race at New Egypt earlier this year and was going for his second 100 lap win of the season.

The race had only 5 cautions and had green flag runs of 45 and 28 laps with 6 different leaders.

Matt Stangle continued his strong runs this falls fall with another top ten 8^th place finish from the 22^nd starting spot.  Stangle said he was hanging on for the last 30 laps as his tires were beginning to fade around lap 70.

Joe Toth started 33^rd on the field and finished 25^rd in his first modified feature.  Toth has put the Belmont small block in his crate car for the Danny Serrano Memorial Race and qualified for the tough field as well as running 93 or 100 laps.

Duane Howard’s bad luck streak in 2020 continues as the 357 was in the top 5 for 56 laps and had to retire to the pits due to mechanical issues on lap 57 ending his day and chance for the 100 lap win.

WILDCARD WEEKEND MODIFIED 50 LAPS

11/08/20 – Modified Wildcard Weekend 50 laps – 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.”

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

11/08/20 – Modified Pit Notes – 50 lap feature

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. 

SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES –

Next up for the Short Track Super Series is the inaugural ‘Cajun Swing’ through Louisiana November 11-14 with two nights of racing at Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La., (Wednesday, Nov. 11 and Thursday, Nov. 12) and Qualifying Night for the ‘Mods in the Marsh 75’ paying $20,000 to win on Friday, Nov. 13 at Chatham (La.) Speedway followed by the main event on Saturday, Nov. 14.

BAPS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – Next event is 410 Sprints and Modifieds on Saturday November 14 with racing at 3:00 PM.

GEORGETOWN SPEEDAY

11/07/20 –

Georgetown’s next scheduled event is the Gobbler on Saturday November 28 with modified and a full card of racing starting at 2:00 PM.

PENN CAN SPEEDWAY

2020 Racing season has been completed.  2021 schedule to be announced.

NEW EGYPT SPEEDWAY

2020 Racing season has been completed.  2021 schedule to be announced.

BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY

Big Diamond has concluded their extended 2020 season.  2021 schedule to be announced.

DELAWARE INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Delaware International Speedway has concluded their 2020 racing season.  2021 schedule to be announced.