Matt Stangle Snags Bridgeport’s Hoffman Memorial Modified Season Opener

Matt Stangle ran a near perfect storm of a race with two front row draws leading to a heat win and a 40-lap feature win with a perfect car that ran away from the field on each of the 8 restarts finishing with a 5 second margin of victory over 2^nd place Alex Yankowski.

The 40-lap race had a life of its own starting in a drizzle with about a 15-minute run-in, two red flags, 8 cautions and a fuel stop extending the 40-lap race to an hour and 16 minutes of on track time.

Stangle took the lead over polesitter Frank Cozze who battled for the lead until a flat tire sent him to the pits.  The first incident of the night saw Mike Gular roll his 2A entry in turn 3 to end his night and draw the first red flag on lap 4.  Only two laps later Roger Manning ended up in the infield with Ryan Krachun’s car was stuck on top of Danny Bouc just past the flag stand to bring out the 2^nd red flag and an on track fuel stop.  But neither drizzle, red flag delays, nor fuel stop changed anything for Matt Stangle who just maintained his dominance from green flag to checkered.

 Matt Stangle reflected “We were good right out of the box today and ran 3^rd quickest time in hot laps.  We encountered a break problem in the heat but still was able to take the heat race win, so we changed the brakes around for the feature and took a shot in the dark at it and got lucky and nailed it for the feature.”

Matt Stangle at Bridgeport’s Doug Hoffman Memorial. Photo Credit: Rick Sweeten Images

“Well, that was a 40 lapper that seemed like 200 with the rain drizzle, red flags and fuel stop not to mention the 8 caution flags.  The track improved as laps counted off and we were able to get through ruts better.  In the feature I had a perfect car and could go & pass anywhere on the track, and I would like to thank Bicknell & DIG Products.”

“It was not looking good early in the day to get this race in with a lot of rain, and it was a day show so it was great to get this race in and post a win at the points season opener.”  

Alex Yankowski leading the field during heat race at Doug Hoffman Memorial. Photo Credit: Scott Philipp

Alex Yankowski made a rare appearance outside of Pennsylvania in the 2rs entry and posted a strong 2^nd place finish from his 7^th starting position.

Alex stated “The car was alright in the heat but the 81 was ripping and smoked us.  We made a shock adjustment for the feature which put us where we needed to be for the feature.  The guys in the shop did a great job and we a very good motor for this track.  Today was a weird day but we didn’t get excited and just roll with the punches.  The track was moving around, and we tore the track up as the race went on.  Got to say Doug Rose was dealt a tough hand today by the weather and he did a good job dealing with a no win situation.”

Billy Pauch Jr. finished 3^rd from a 19^th starting position.  Billy drew dead last for his heat race and was only able to move forward to 7^th from his 10^th starting position on a heavy heat race 1 track.

Billy noted “This was the first time out with our brand new spec car, and we just put ourselves behind the eight ball with our heat race setup.  We put our heads together after the heat and figured out what we needed to do to make this new car work.  Once we did that the thing really came to life in a weird feature with all the rainy drizzle and how it played out.  We had a great weekend of racing with a 3^rd place finish tonight and a 2^nd place finish last night at Georgetown.”

Dominic Bufalino made his first appearance since 2013 in his family’s 2B entry and posted a 4^th place finish from his 16^th starting position.

Dominic commented “There was a lot to deal with out there with the rain, heavy track and fuel stop but we came through it all with a solid outing in our first time out in eleven years in my Uncle Jack’s family 2B car.”

“The heat race was a heavy hero track, and everyone had speed so pretty much stay was you started.”

“Early on in the feature the track was one lane but in the last 20 laps it was a slick track with patches, and you could drive and do some racing.  I saw Gular hop an edge and take off and just clipped him.  I had a flat and had to go in and return to the back of the 27 car field.  We had 37 laps and 8 cautions to run back through the field to a 4^th place finish.”

“For the first race of the year that was quit a workout, and it was the first time out on a brand new frame, and it’s broken in now for sure.  We plan on running our family 2B throughout the season at some specials and I will continue to run Kevin’s 3V at New Egypt weekly this season.”

Ryan Watt debuted his Troyer car for the 2024 season and finished 5^th from a 22^nd starting position.

Ryan stated “We were free in warmups, drew 10^th in tough heat, and ended up battling with Billy Jr for 7^th.  We made some changes for the feature and started 22^nd .   After the fuel stop, the car got tight but as we burned the fuel off the car just got better every lap.  I wish it was a 60 lap race because we were getting better and better at the end.”

“We got shuffled back on some of the restarts just being in the wrong lane at the wrong time.  It seemed like there were 108 restarts not just 8.”

Modified Pit Notes – Doug Hoffman Memorial  

Defending 2023 modified champion Jordan Watson posted a solid start to his 2024 title defense with a 6^th place finish from a 17^th starting position.

Cale Ross started 23^rd  after a heat race driveline failure but was able to get the car back together for the feature and drive forward to a solid 7^th place finish in the feature.

Neil Williams had a top three car all day and ran in second place for nearly half of the feature until he caught a rut late the final laps of the race dropping him back to an 8^th place finish.

Billy Osmun posted a 9^th place finish from a 9^th place starting position after running the whole race between 6^th and 9^th and having some racing luck getting through two early wreck incidents and surviving after getting the rear of the 81 airborne early in the feature.

JR Fulper finished 10th from his 24^th starting position to post a solid start to his 2024 bid for a top 5 points finish.  JR posted his first Bridgeport win last October and has two career modified wins and is looking for three and beyond this season.

Postrace JR noted “We were fast out of the box.  We changed our shock setup over the winter and early results are encouraging that we have found what we were looking for.  We had a good heat run going until I overshot turn and ended up in the wall losing our momentum which placed us starting 24^th in the feature.”

“After the rain I knew there would be a lot of bite on the bottom, and I could probably make up some positions down there and it all shook out for us in a long action filled feature.  I made light contact around lap 25 which caused a leak on the left rear tire which slowed us in the final ten laps.”

Danny Pizza Pizzazz Modifieds – Doug Hoffman 40

1. Matt Stangle (2)

2. Alex Yankowski (7)

3. Billy Pauch Jr. (19)

4. Dominic Buffalino (16)

5. Ryan Watt (22)

6. Jordan Watson (17)

7. Cale Ross (23)

8. Neal Williams (4)

9. Billy Osmun (9)

10. JR Fulper  (24)

11. Frank Cozze (1)

12. Joseph Watson (14)

13. Sam Martz Sr. (27)

14. Sam Martz Jr. 11)

15. Mike Franz   (21)

16. Rick Laubach  (10)

17. HJ Bunting  (5)

18. Brad Roberts (26)

19. Mike Barone (15)

20. Cole Stangle (6)

21. Ryan Krachun (18)

22. Danny Bouc  (13)

23. Roger Manning (3)

24. Mike Gular (12)

25. Bryan Kuhl  (25)

26. Jim Gallagher (20)

27. Paul Mancini (27)

Rick Laubach (7); Cole Stangle (20c) and Frank Cozze (44c) at Bridgeport Motorsports Park. Photo Credit: Scott Philipp.

Next up at Bridgeport on Saturday April 6 is the USAC East Coast Sprints along with 602 Crates, News Sprints, Street Stocks, Vintage and Rookies.  Then on Sunday April 7^th it’s the Invasion of the Posse with the 410 Sprints, Modifieds and 4 Cylinders.