Krachun Wins Bridgeport Modified Season Opener & Pit Notes

The heavy rains past on Friday and the skies were clear and weather conditions were mild for the opening day of the 2021 championship points season at Bridgeport Motorsports Park.  30 modified teams were in attendance all with hopes and getting their season started with a trip to victory lane at the Kingdom of Speed.

Ryan Krachun started on the pole position and was in the lead with Sammy Martz in second and Dominick Buffalino in 3^rd when the red flag onb lap 11 stopped the race due to Frank Yankowski and Troy Ale being locked together in turn 4.  Krachun went back to a comfortable lead while Buffalino moved into 2^nd place on lap 13.  Krachun held the lead continuing to run the high line while Buffalino continued to run the bottom.  On lap 22 the third and final caution flew but on the restart Krachun, Buffalino and Godown broke away from the rest of the field.  On the next lap it was Krachun breaking away from Buffalino and Godown using the high groove to open up a ½ straightaway lead and cruise into the victory lane for his first career Bridgeport win.

In victory lane Ryan Krachun reflected “The last 3 races we have been so close; 2^nd last time with the battle with Dom, we lead some of it but Dom came out on top.  I saw Dom down there again this time and happy I came out on top.  Dom & Glen are great guys and I have tremendous respect for them.  This one has to be for Danny; my first win at Bridgeport and he was always trying to get me to come down here.  We have always tried to support him as much as possible and to win down here at his track is an incredible feeling.”

“I didn’t want to see the late yellows and the restarts were tricky and we were lucky we came out of the top of most of them.  The last one had me worried but we had enough drive in the middle to get back around Dom.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Ryan Godown in 3^rd followed by Sam Martz Sr.; Frank Cozze, Ryan Watt, Billy Osmun III, Tim Buckwalter, Billy Pauch Sr. and Jim Gallagher

The heat races were won by Billy Pauch Sr., Ryan Watt and Ryan Godown.

The consolation was won by Matt Stangle.

 MODIFIEDS (30 laps) @ Bridgeport Motorsports Park – 4/10/21

Winner – 1. Ryan Krachun, 2. Dominick Buffalino, 3. Ryan Godown, 4. Sam Martz, Sr., 5. Frank Cozze, 6. Ryan Watt, 7. Billy Osmun, III, 8. Tim Buckwalter, 9. Billy Pauch, Sr. 10. Jim Gallagher, Jr., 11. Alex Yankowski, 12. Brandon Hightower, 13. Jim Britt, 14. Joe Toth, 15. Billy Lasko, 16. Mike Franz, 17. Troy Ale, 18. Matt Stangle, 19. Neal Williams, 20. Brett Ballard, 21. Tommy Beamer, 22. Frank Yankowski, 23. Brad Roberts, 24. Joseph Watson, 25. Clay Butler

DNQ – Tommy Errico, Jr., Tom Macherrone, Art Liedl, Justin Eason, Ron Roberts

Bridgeport Modified Season Opener –Pit Notes

It all started for Ryan Krachun on Friday night at the Danny Serrano Memorial in September when Ryan was the timed hot laps quick timer with 40 cars on track and he has had good speed at Bridgeport ever since.  So it was no surprise this winter surprise when Krachun announced that Bridgeport would be his new weekly home for the 2021 season.  Even Ryan had to know this is too good to be true when he drew the pole with his long history of bad draws suddenly coming to an end.  The script could not unfold better with the two new guys at Bridgeport flip flopping wins in the same week and Krachun winning his first Bridgeport opening night.           

Dominic Buffalino had another strong outing with a 2^nd place finish from a 10^th starting position.  Buffalino has amassed two straight wins, a 6^th and a 2^nd after just a month of the racing season.

Sam Martz Sr. has returned to Bridgeport for his first opening night in three years and landed back home with a bang.  Sam was one of a handful of big blocks in attendance but representative the group well and finessed his big block to a 4^th place finish in the feature from a 2^nd starting position.  Sam and his big block was strong all night long as he started 10^th in his heat and finished 3^rd earning the redraw position which setup the outside pole position for the feature.  Sam noted “The track had some bite in it, which was an advantage to the big blocks.  The car felt good and we’ve been trying some different things and they seem to putting us in the right direction.”

Camp Martz had a good night all around with Sam Sr. and the modified collecting a strong 4^th place finish while Sammy Martz Jr finished a solid 3^rd in the crate division.  Team Martz has high hopes they will be able to continue to have many double podium and top 5 finishes to come this season for the father son duo.  

Billy Osmun III finished 7^th in a strong field of modifieds which he adds to a second place finish last week at New Egypt.  Billy Osmun looks to forward to his second season of racing and is off to an outstanding start.

The Martz’s aren’t the only father son combo in town at Bridgeport this season as the Godowns may have been here last year but both Ryan Sr. and Ryan Jr. have made it clear today that they are in contention for father and son championships this year.  Ryan Sr. finished 3^rd from an 8^th starting position in modified while Ryan Jr. took his first 602 crate win of the season.

Jimmy Gallagher Jr. made his modified regular season debut after moving up from the Bridgeport 602 Crate division.  Jimmy finished 10^th in his first modified feature points race from a 14^th starting positon.

Jim Gallagher Sr. team owner, manager and dad of the 31J driver noted “Our success today started with being on the track this past Tuesday night at the Invasion of the PA Posse.  We got 45 laps of track time thanks to a provisional positon and were able to make a lot of changes and corrections before we arrived tonight.”  In the heat race the 31J finished 5^th from a 9^th starting position.  Jimmy noted “We couldn’t have done this tonight without all the changes we made from last Tuesday night.  We have come a long way already but have a long way to go.  I plan on learning with the modified all season.  This thing is like night and day from the 602 crate.”

Joe Toth also made his modified debut with a 13^th place finish from a 22^nd starting position.  The CJS Racing # 9 will be running Bridgeport modified division weekly and Toth will also continue running his crate entry in the STSS South and North divisions.  Toth is currently 2^nd in STSS South points and also has a 2020 Georgetown crate point championship to defend.

An oldie but goodie returned this week after nearly a two year absence from modified racing.  Tom Maccherone returned to modified racing with his 29 big block modified and missed qualifying by only two positions.  Tom commented “The car was OK today but a lot has changed since the last time I raced on the 5/8’s a few years ago.  I hope to run weekly this year.  I really like the new track but it’s going to take some getting used to.”

The next event at Bridgeport Motorsports Park a four division show on Saturday April 17^th with modifieds, 602 Sportsman, Street Stocks and MASS 305 sprints with warmups starting at 6:00 PM.