Bridgeport 602 Crate Pit Notes – Joe Toth Takes Crate Win at Bridgeport’s Invasion of the Posse

Brandon Edgar took the early lead and was able to hold off Joe Toth’s assault until lap 6 when Toth’s slide job stuck and propelled him into the lead and he separated from 2^nd place Edgar and the rest of the field until caution flew on lap 20 for a broken Tom Sherby.  Despite two late restarts, Toth was able to hold off several sliders from Brandon Edgar and pickup his second trip to victory lane this season for the $2,000 win.  

602 Crate Pit Notes

In victory lane Joe Toth noted “We had a good car all night on a challenging track.  Once I found the curb about half a lane down we were good.  I messed up on that last restart allowing Brandon to throw some sliders and have a chance for the lead, but I was able to use my momentum to stay in front of him.  The cautions are a win-lose situation getting you out of lapped traffic and bringing you back to the field.  I like to fend off the people chasing from behind since I’ve been racing with all day instead of racing with lapped traffic that I haven’t seen or raced with and don’t know anything about.  There were a lot of good cars in this field tonight and almost every one of them is capable of winning.  The field may have been a little lacking in quantity tonight, but it had a lot of quality cars tonight.  We’ve had some bad luck so far this year but tonight is our second win and hopefully something we can build on.”

Joe Toth’s night started with an 8^th place pill draw for his heat race which he was able to overcome and drive through the field to a 2^nd place finish and a spot in the all-important redraw.

Postrace Joe reflected “In the heat race the race was good but the main thing was we were in the right place at the right time and able to find the holes to move through the field.  In the feature we changed our setup a little bit, and the car was really good.  I felt like the car was good enough to go wherever I needed it to go.” 

Big Diamond regular Brandon; picked up a 2^nd place finish in only his fourth time on the track at Bridgeport.   Brandon commented “Our car was good all night.  Worked our way forward in the heat only to have a little misfortunate and lose a few spots on the last restart.  Joe is really good and I think him starting 2^nd in the feature allowed him to move around a little and find the cushion before we did.  He tracked me down and was just flat out better.  Maybe the lack of experience on Bridgeport hurt us, but I think I’ve taken kindly to the track considering it was only the 4^th feature we ever ran here.  Really happy to come away with our first top five at Bridgeport.  I’m looking forward to get back to Bridgeport more as the year goes on.”

Craig Whitmoyer finished a strong 3^rd in only his second visit to Bridgeport.  The Grandview modified regular also runs his 2591 crate car whenever he can.  Postrace Craig noted “We were a little too tight in the feature.  This was only my second time at this new high banked track and I’m still learning my way around.  I think we can do better than 3^rd with a few more trips here.”

Joe Brown hopped in the Masker Family Racing 72 entry which is usually piloted by Steve Davis and turned in a 4^th place finish from a 7^th starting position.  Joe noted “It was great to have a good run with a very strong field of cars.  I’m really happy with our results and hope we can build off this run.  I can’t thank Steve Davis, Howie Finch, and the whole Master Family for all their help and support.   We had a contact incident with James Hill, and I just had no where to go.  Unfortunately, it ruined his night and I hate that it turned out that way.  You never want to be the guy put in that position.  Luckily nothing was bent on our car, and I was able to finish 4^th.  I’m looking forward to getting back into the Joseph Brown Racing 5j in the very near future.”

Sam Martz pulled out the old 602 crate after racing in the modified division for the past two weeks and posted a solid 5^th place finish from a 12^th starting position. 

Sam reflected “We were a little off in the heat race but blew the dust off and got it right for the feature.  Could have used a couple more yellows but we’ll take a 5^th and look forward to getting back in the modified this Saturday.”

Brian Papiez was off and leading his heat race when he broke the rear yoke and ended up as a DNF which placed him 19^th and dead last in the feature.  After some frantic work under the car and some parts and pieces from racing friends; the Dave Adams 37 was able to make the call for the feature.  In the feature Brian made a strong 8^th place run from 19^th with only two caution flags.  Postrace Brian noted “We broke the rear yoke while leading our heat race.  We were lucky that Sammy Martz had a spare.  We got to keep working as we have a long season ahead.”

A couple of guys with some bad luck and disappointing nights were Ryan Simmons and Tom Sherby.  Simmons bent a shock and pulled off early.  While Sherby was running in 5^th when he broke the rear to end his night.  

602 Sportsman Results – 4/20/22:

1. Joe Toth, 2. Brandon Edgar, 3. Craig Whitmoyer, 4. Joe Brown, 5. Sammy Martz Jr., 6. Travis Hill, 7. Steve Kemery, 8. Brian Paipez, 9. Steve Davis, 10. Matt Ellery, 11. Ryan Godown Jr., 12. Howie Finch, 13. Eric Kormann, 14. James Hill, 15. Brian Rodgers, 16. Tom Sherby, 17. Brad Brightbill, 18. Jon Swift, 19. Ryan Simmons

Next up at Bridgeport Motorsports is Modifieds, 602 Crates, Street Stocks and 4 Cylinders on Saturday April 23 with hot laps at 6:00.