Danny Serrano Memorial Day 2 – Sam Martz Sr. wins Modified Cash Dash and Ethan Bill wins 3rd  Bridgeport Crate Feature of the season

The modifieds ran timed hot laps and their triple 20 qualifiers to determine the first 18 positions for tomorrow’s Danny Serrano 100 lap modified feature.  Long time Bridgeport veteran modified driver Sam Martz Sr. won the cash dash and earned the pole position for Sunday’s 100 lap modified feature.

The modified triple 20 heat races were won by Sam Martz Sr, Ryan Godown and Neil Williams.

The 602 Prelude to the American 40 feature was won by Ethan Bill for his 3^rd win of the season at Bridgeport Motorsports .

The 6 lap cash dash was won by Sam Martz Sr who led from green to checkered to take the pole position for Sunday’s Danny Serrano 100 Memorial with Billy Pauch in second and Wade Hendrickson in 3^rd.

In victory lane Sam Martz Sr. noted “Hopefully we can keep it running tomorrow in the 100 lap feature.  It helps being up front but there are still all good guys there.  It started to get a little tight on me as the track started to take rubber and right front started sticking.  I started to get worried, but it all worked out.   It’s a lot of work keeping two cars going with my car and my son’s car.”

MODIFIED CASH DASH:

1. Sam Martz Sr.  2. Billy Pauch Jr.  3. Wade Hendrickson, 4. Matt Stangle, 5. Ryan Godown, 6. Dominick Buffalino, 7. Neal Williams, 8. Danny Bouc, 9. Cale Ross (Sets the top 9 starting positions for the Danny Serrano 100 Memorial on Sunday September 25, 2022.)

The first 20 lap heat race was won by Sam Martz who led all 20 laps green to checkered from his pole position.

The second modified triple 20 saw Wade Hendrickson take the early led for the first 3 laps only to have Ryan Godown take over the lead on lap 4 and then pull away from the field and take the win by nearly a 2.5 second margin of victory.  The only caution was on lap 11 for a fire on Alex Yankowski’s 84Y entry.

The 3^rd and final modified triple 20 heat was won by Neal Williams who lead from green to checkered despite cautions on lap 11.  Williams held off Rick Laubach & Billy Pauch Jr. to take  the win.   Laubach was later disqualified and Pauch moved into 2^nd while Cale Ross moved into 3^rd.

MODIFIED TRIPLE 20 #1 (top 6 qualify 3 to cash dash):

1.Sam Martz Sr., 2. Dominick Buffalino, 3. Danny Bouc, 4.Jeff Strunk, 5. H J Bunting, 6. Dillion Steuer, 7. Richie Pratt, 8. Roger Manning, 9. Stan Frankenfield, 10. Ron Roberts, 11. Justin Hoffman, 12. Cole Stangle

MODIFIED TRIPLE 20 #2:

1.Ryan Godown., 2. Matt Stangle, 3. Wade Hendrickson, 4. Brandon Grosso, 5. Ryan Krachun, 6. W.B. James, 7. Mike Gular, 8. James McClelland, 9. Anthony Tramontana, 10. Justin Grasso, 11. Kevin Vaclavieck, 12. Alex Yankowski

MODIFIED TRIPLE 20 #3:

 1. Neal Williams, 2. Billy Pauch Jr, 3. Cale Ross, 4. Frank Cozze, 5. Jim Gallagher, 6. Sam Martz Jr., 7. DJ Hunt, 8. Ryan Forte, 9. Tommy Beamer, 10. Rick Laubach, 11. Mike Frantz (DNS)

602 Crate Sportsman

The 602 Crate feature was led to green by Logan Baumann and Dylan Swinehart who are Baumann racing teammates.  Dylan Swinehart took the early lead, but mechanical issues took him out of the race on lap 14 and gave the lead to Matt Ellery.  A series of cautions saw several cars retire to the pits which included Ryan Godown Jr who went from 6^th to the pits to end his night early.  On the lap 19 restart Ethan Bill took the lead from Matt Ellery only to see the caution fly again for a lap 20 single file restart.  Ethan Bill took the lead on the restart and cruised away from 2^nd place Matt Ellery and drove into victory lane for his 3^rd Bridgeport win of the season.

In victory lane Ethan stated “This car is really good on the bottom for restarts and then when I got up to the top this thing was a rocket.  I was surprised when I got 2^nd and then was able to throw a slider for the lead.  Tomorrow for the 40 lap race I need to be patient and not over drive the car and hurt the tires.  I just have to be cautious and preserve the tires to the end of the night.”

Back at the trailer Ethan commented “We started off the night feeling pretty good in warmups and like usual this season I didn’t draw too hot for the heat.  I rolled off 8^th in the heat and we were able to get up to the 3rd and get the final redraw spot. The feature came around and we started 6th and early on I dropped back a few spots.  As the race went on the car just got better and better and I was able to start picking them off one by one.  I got up to 2nd and got a caution with 7 to go.  My restart was very good and was able to throw a slider on Ellery and pretty much didn’t look back after that.  The car has been a rocket for the last 6 or so races with 3 wins; two 3^rd place finishes and a 6th. We have really good momentum into heading tonight’s 4k to win so I’m looking forward to see what happens.”

The top ten was rounded out by Matt Ellery in second followed by Steve Davis, Steve Kemery, Stephen Yankowski, Logan Bauman, Tommy Beamer, Brain Papiez, Joe Toth and Louden Reimert in 10^th.

602 SPORTSMAN (25 Laps): 1. Ethan Bill, 2. Matt Ellery, 3. Steve Davis, 4. Steve Kemery, 5. Stephen Yankowski, 6. Logan Bauman, 7. Tommy Beamer, 8. Brian Papiez, 9. Joe Toth, 10. Louden Reimert, 11. Skylar Sheriff, 12. David Miloszar, 13. Ryan Simmons, 14. James Hill, 15. David Jenkins, 16. Eric Kormann, 17. Brian Rogers, 18. Dan Hulmes, 19. Pete Serra, 20. Cody Higbie, 21. Sean Metz, 22. Travis Hill, 23. Ryan Godown Jr., 24. Thomas Prychka, 25. Dylan Swinehart

Did not Qualify: Billy Chester, Tom Sherby, Bryan Brobst, Johnny Bangs, Brian Rodgers, Shane Kassekert, Mike Loney, Eric Matson, Danny Hulmes, Rich Van Orden, Sarah Napora, Mike Toth, Joe Brown

Heat winners for the 38 car Crate Sportsmen field were Tommy Beamer, Travis Hill, Louden Reimert and Steve Davis.   The last chance consolation was won by Brian Papiez.

Racing continues today at Bridgeport Motorsports Park for day 3 of the Danny Serrano Memorial 3 day event with hot laps starting at 5:00 for modifieds, 4 cylinders and 602 crate sportsmen.