Maresca Claims Modified Win at BAPS Motor Speedway & Pit Notes

The final visit to BAPS for the northeast spec 358 mods were under sunny but breezy and cool conditions.  The mods opened their season at BAPS and are now at the final BAPS race of the season.

Frank Cozze and Ryan Watt led the field to green but it was Billy Pauch Jr in his #15 entry taking the lead from 3^rd starting position on lap 3.  After a restart on lap 11 it was Cozze taking the lead back from Pauch.  Cozze held the lead until entering lapped traffic on lap 23 when Mike Maresca made an underneath pass on both Pauch and Cozze and filled the open spot and closed the door on Cozze who went from 1^st to 3^rd while Pauch stayed in 2^nd.  It was Maresca checking out to a 2.5 second margin of victory in the final 7 laps for his second win in a row in the past week.

In victory lane Maresca commented “Track was really racey top to bottom.  I had some bad restarts and the berm was tricky but after that everything went right and I was able to get to the hole first before Cozze.  I was running top side and moved to the bottom to make my passes.  I passed two of my racing hero’s (Frank Cozzo & Billy Pauch Jr) on one move for the lead.”

The top ten was rounded out by Billy Pauch, Frank Cozze, Ryan Watt, Danny Bouc, Kevin Hirthler, Louden Reimert, Jared Umbenhauer, Ryan Krachun and Rick Laubach.  

Heat races were won by Danny Bouc, Mike Maresca and Cale Ross.  The consolation race was won by Brad Brightbill.

30 Lap Modified Feature Results – BAPS Motor Speedway – 11/14/20

1. 7MM-Michael Maresca [7]; 2. 15-Billy Pauch Jr [3]; 3. 401-Frank Cozze Sr [1]; 4. 32-Danny Bouc [8]; 5. 14W-Ryan Watt [2]; 6. 117-Kevin Hirthler [14]; 7. 16-Louden Reimert [11]; 8. 1H-Jared Umbenhauer [15]; 9. 29-Ryan Krachun [10]; 10. 7-Rick Laubach [4]; 11. 126-Dominick Buffalino [16]; 12. 118-Jim Britt [5]; 13. 19-Brad Brightbill [19]; 14. 112-Cale Ross [6]; 15. 99-Craig Whitmoyer [13]; 16. 704-Kory Fleming [9]; 17. 19A-Troy Ale [21]; 18. 81-Dylan Swinehart [20]; 19. 14RR-Joe Funk [23]; 20. 64-Wayne Witmer [22]; 21. 31-Cody Schantz [17]; 22. 3L-Billy Lasko [18]; 23. (DNF) 88K-Mark Kratz [24]; 24. (DNF) 3-Ronald Kline [12]

DNQ – Eric Kormann, Kenny Bock, Richie Hitzler, Marc Berzowski, Trent Van Vorst

Modified Pit Notes

Mike Maresca made an appearance from Potsdam, NY and once again he made the 6ish hour drive worthwhile with picking up his second win in row out of his home state of New York with consecutive wins at Bridgeport, NJ and BAPS in PA.  Both were strong runs with Maresca passing some of the best in the business and coming from 9^th and 7^th starting positon to victory lane.

Billy Pauch Jr. is back in the saddle and in a big way since he had the throttle stick during the 200 lap feature at Port Royal.  Pauch Jr came right back the next week in the #96 with a strong 2^nd place finish to Matt Sheppard at Georgetown.  Last week at Bridgeport Pauch Jr. had an 8^th place finish in Joel Boinske’s # 19 at Bridgeport’s season finale.  And this week he’s back in his familiar family owned # 15 entry at BAPS and finished a strong 2^nd.  Three top ten or better finishes in three different cars – 2^nd, 8^th and a 2^nd.  The Gobbler is coming up on November 28^th and with Billy Jr.’s strong history and consistency at Georgetown that final finale in the northeast could easily be a win for Pauch Jr finish 2020 and setup for a strong move toward the 2021 season.

Billy Pauch Jr. left his hometown of Frenchtown, NJ traveling with an old school open trailer and pickup truck to BAPS Motor Speedway.  Pauch Jr got a strong second place finish so there might just be something to it with these old trailers.  In early October Danny Bouc broke the axle on his enclosed trailer and had to use an open trailer out of necessity and not choice.  That was the night Danny Bouc won the 100 lap all-star race at New Egypt Speedway.  It looks like opting for an old school travel might not be a bad ideal after all. 

Frank Cozze got passed for the lead by Pauch Jr but a few laps later he passed Billy Jr back for the lead which does not happen often.  Cozze finished with a solid 3^rd place.  Last week in the 100 lap Danny Serrano Memorial Cozze finished 6^th after starting 16^th and falling back to 24^th due to an early flat tire.  Cozze is finishing the season strong with an eye on 2021.

Kevin Hirthler’s 6^th place finish from a 14^th starting position was the best finish of the year in this car which is his 2019 and his primary car.  With the twists and turns of the 2020 pandemic season Hirthler has only had his primary car out three times this years.  Yep, the three wins at Grandview this year all came in his backup car and his 2012 backup to the backup car.  The 2019 car is a coil suspension and had a solid outing and made a positive move forward to get back on the track for the 2021 season.

Another sidebar about Hirthler’s car at BAPS is it had a guest driver at this year’s 76er and yes it was the same Michael Maresca who won tonight.

Jared Umbenhauer also had a strong back to front runs with an 8^th place finish from a 15^th place starting spot.

Louden Reimert just continues to rip off top 10’s anywhere he goes adding a 7^th place finish to a track he has only been on once before.  Matter of fact he had a 2^nd and 5^th last week at Bridgeport in speedster.  Looks like his hot streak is beyond just his modified.

Brad Brightbill made his debut in modified with his #19 entry and finished 13^th from a 19^th starting position in the 30 lap feature.  In addition he won the consolation event after missing qualifying in the heat by one position.  Brightbill got some first-hand modified experience by driving the Breitenstein Motorsports #14 entry for August and September at Grandview Speedway & Big Diamond.  Definitely a solid first outing for Brightbill in his family owned #19 entry gaining an early start on the 2021 season.

Dominic Buffalo was in the #126 as a substitute for Jeff Strunk who is in Louisiana driving the one of Mike Gular’s cars at the Short Track Super Series.   Buffalino finished 11^th from a 16^th starting position.

Cody Schantz recently purchased his first sportsman car from Mike Mammana and in only his 3^rd outing in his new car he added a larger carburetor to be able to run in the modified division and to get some seat time.  Schantz was scheduled to start 3^rd in his heat but made the prudent move to opt to the back and start in 10^th but nonetheless secured the 6^th and final qualifying spot in his heat and made the modified feature with his 31 sportsman entry.  Schantz completed 29 of 30 laps in the feature and got the seat time he was looking for.  All in all a great outing for the sportsman 31 entry in the modified division.

Eric Kormann made the trip from Carney’s Point, NJ only to have his rear break during the heat race and ended his day early.

Kenny Bock made his modified debut in preparation for the 2021 season.  Bock broke the right rear hub and got that fixed and then broke the left rear hub.  But Bock saw the racer’s code kick in and had friends he didn’t even know come to assist him with his mechanical troubles.  Ron Kline provided a loner rear hub, JR Berry (forever known as the sprint car guy on the catch fence), Frank Cozze, Tom Umbenhauer, Gary Butler and Steve Ondrusek all provided assistance in getting the car back on the track.  Racing at its finest.