WB James Wins Underdog 20 for First Modified Victory at Bridgeport Speedway

With the focus on Speed week in New York State everyone thinks there is no modified racing in New Jersey this weekend and in seasons past that has been true.  But this year; Doug Rose has added a modified Underdog 20 at Bridgeport Motorsports Park in New Jersey for drivers who have raced this season without a win.  A field of 13 modifieds were in attendance looking for that elusive first win of the season.

WB James moved to the front from his 5^th place starting position and survived 4 cautions and a red flag.  When racing went green WB broke away from a field of veteran competitors to take a commanding 4 second margin for the win and his first trip to the Bridgeport modified victory lane.

Roger Manning took the early lead which then turned into a 4 way battle for the lead with David Hunt, Brian Kuhl and a forward charging WB James.  On lap 7 WB James moved past Roger Manning into the lead.  On the next lap Manning rode up onto the turn 3 wall and damaged both his car and the track fence bringing out caution 5 & the red flat.  On the lap 8 restart; WB jumped back out into the lead and proceeded to check out on the final 12 green flag laps to take a 4 second margin of victory into his first modified victory lane at Bridgeport.

In victory lane WB James reflected “In the beginning of the season we wanted to come up here to run with the best to make us better and on a faster learning curve.  Next year we look forward to being on the big boy stage.  We try to load up and be the best we can every time we come out.  We have had a good piece all year and have been tweaking the car to our liking and here we are in victory lane.”

The top ten was rounded out by Rich Rutski in second followed by David Hunt, Brian Kuhl, Brad Arnold, Frank Cozze, Brett Kelly, Blaine Braclin, Chris Jenkins and Roger Manning in 10^th place.

Modified Underdog 20:

1. W.B. James, 2. Rich Rutski, 3. David Hunt, 4. 4. Brad Arnold, 5. Frank Cozze, 6. Brett Kelly, 7. Blaine Braclin, 8. Chris Jenkins, 9. Roger Manning, 10. Mike Franz, 11. David Crossman, 12. Troy Ale, 13. Brian Kuhl

Modified Pit Notes

WB James has been hitting their goals in the final weeks of the season.  In the final points race of the season the 119 entry recorded its best finish of the season with a 7^th place finish.  At the Danny Serrano Memorial their goal was to qualify which they did and as a bonus they also completed all 100 laps and finishing 18^th.  The goal for the underdog 20 was to win the race and that’s exactly what they did.  WB noted “I knew we would get to the point where we can win races because we put the time and effort in behind the scenes so we expect good results.  But we honestly didn’t think we would be able to have success in this short amount of time.”

David Hunt has returned to racing after a 2 year break.  David is shaking down the car and preparing for the 2022 season.  In his first outing of the season at the Bridgeport regular season finale in September; David finished 9^th place and picked up right where he left off two years ago.  David continued to get seat time this week and finished 3^rd in the modified Underdog 20. He also did double duty in the # 70 street stock entry were he finished in 9^th place in the 100 lap Street Stock Nationals feature. Back at the trailer David commented “I missed the setup with the modified in the feature and just need to make adjustments for later in the night. I feel our baseline is already close in just our 3rd outing on the car. All of it is coming back…..slowly but surely.”

Bryan Kuhl paid a visit to Bridgeport for the Underdog 20 fresh off a 4^th place finish at New Egypt’s All Star Cup which was Bryan’s best finish of the season and an extremely strong 4^th place finish from a 22^nd starting position and after getting in a tangle and put back to the tail of the field.  Bryan added another 4^th place finish in the underdog 20 only to be scored as 13^th because he had the wrong tire compound on his first visit to Bridgeport Motorsports Park.

Grandview regular Brad Arnold made his first visit to Bridgeport and turned in a 4^th place finish in the Underdog 20.  Brad noted “This track was a lot of fun and I think I could be way better next time now that I know what the track is like.”

Next racing action at Bridgeport Motorsports Park is the High Bank Classic Weekend on Friday November 5 to Sunday November 7.