Bridgeport Sportsman Pit Notes 4/23/22 – Papiez Claims Win at Bridgeport Motorsports Park

The 602-crate feature was led to green by Ethan Bill who led the first 7 laps until Brian Papiez used the bottom line to take the lead on a restart and never looked back as he made his first trip to victory lane for the 2022 season.

PRECISION HYDRAULIC & OIL 602 SPORTSMAN:

 1. Brian Papiez, 2. Ethan Bill, 3. Ryan Godown Jr., 4. Sammy Martz Jr., 5. Wayne Weaver, 6. Howie Finch, 7. Travis Hill, 8. Stephen Yankowski, 9. Jim Dallett, 10. Matt Ellery, 11. Sean Metz, 12. David Jenkins, 13. Pete Serra, 14. Billy Chester, 15. Deana Cogdill, 16. Erik Mattson, 17. Nick Desantis, 18. Will Protinick, 19. Brian Rogers, 20. Brandon Shipley, 21. Bryan Brobst, 22. Roger Gaskill, 23. Thomas Prychka, 24. Sean Weiss, 25. Ethan Young

PIT NOTES – Sportsman 4/23/22

Brian Papiez has had a strong car all season and was leading his first two races when attrition ended his night and sent him to the pits.  This week he continued to have a strong car and his luck turned for the better as he sailed to his first win of his 2022 season by a 2 second margin of victory.

In victory lane Brian Papiez reflected “We had a heartbreaker on opening night with a flat while leading the feature and then on Wednesday night broke the drivetrain while leading our heat race. The guys went through the whole car on Thursday, and it paid off tonight.  Ethan was a rookie last year and is a very good racer.  I had nothing for him in the beginning of the race.  When he took the top on the final restart; he kind of gave me a door but I would have taken the top too if I had the choice.  After that restart I found something in 3/4 and went above the hole and that was the money maker.” 

Postrace Brian noted “The win definitely helped the team and me with confidence.  Sometimes you need to take one step back to take two steps forward and that’s exactly what we did on Thursday and Friday when we when over every inch of the car.”   

Ethan Bill led the first 7 laps of the feature and finished a season best 2^nd place.  Last year’s Rookie champion had a disappointing opening night exiting the feature on lap 6 while running in 6^th place but rebounded this week with a strong 2^nd place performance to turn his season around in just one short week.

Postrace Ethan commented “Well to start off we came out of the box pretty strong in hot laps and I knew we were going to have a good car tonight.  I had my work cut out for me with starting 8th in our heat but was confident I could move through the field.  I worked to a 2^nd place finish in the heat which put us in the handicap and that was where we wanted to be.  With the handicap I landed on the pole since we dropped out early at the opener and I had a really good feeling about starting up front in the feature.  When we took the green the car was great in the early laps and I really though we had a shot at winning tonight.   But I had to deal with a few cautions and unfortunately on the last restart of the race I made a small mistake and with Brian’s experience once he got out front that it was going to be tough to catch him back.  But then Godown Jr arrived looking to pass me for second and it was fun throwing sliders back and forth with him. I was eventually able to get clear of him and keep 2nd right to the checkered flag. Overall, we had a great night and it showed that we have the speed to be able to run up front with really strong competition. I’d also want to give my respect to Brian and Ryan Jr. for clean hard racing.  It was fun and I can’t wait to get back out there this Saturday night.”

Ryan Godown Jr. continued his strong and consistent runs with a 3^rd place finish from his 11^th starting position and leads the early season points race with only 40 points separating the top ten.

 Ryan Godown Jr.  reflected “For the heat we started 4^th and I put on a used set of tires that were really old and stagger was way off, but I wanted to keep the new set for the feature. We finished 2^nd in the heat which put us in the handicap for the feature in 11^th.  In the feature the car was great for the first half of the race and really felt we had the best car on the track.  When the second half came around, we had a long green flag run and the stagger just kept growing and the car kept getting looser.  All that said, I was able to get up to third before the car fell off a little due to a mistake with my stagger.  I was really happy to take home a 3^rd behind two really good drivers.”

Sammy Martz Jr. finished 4^th from his 12^th starting position in his first 602 crate outing of the year since switching to a spec modified this season and racing with his father Sam Martz Sr.  The team is still waiting on parts for Sammy’s modified; so this week he jumped in his 602 crate to prepare for a STSS race at DIS. 

Sammy Martz Jr noted “We ran well in both the heat and the feature.  We handicapped to a 12^th starting position and could move forward with our crate all night.”

Wayne Weaver finished 5^th from his 9^th starting position and has found some top 5 consistency so far this season.  Wayne has a 5^th and 3^rd in points races and won a non-points race already this season.

 Wayne noted “The car was good in hot laps and we had good times.  In the heat race we had a good balance and made the handicap.  We missed the setup a bit in the feature as the track dried a little more than we anticipated but it was still overall a good night for us. We have been pleased with our results at this point in the season.  We had such a poor season last year and these top fives to start this season has been very enjoyable for us.  I am amazed at how the level of competition increases every year in the Sportsman division.  These guys keep getting faster and lap times are breaking into the low seventeens and high sixteen second range.  The competition is going to be fierce every week this season.”

Next up at Bridgeport is USAC East Coast Sprint Cars, 602 Sportsman and Street Stocks with hot laps at 6:00 PM on April 30.