8/23/2022
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Bright Doubles Up! Collects Second Win of Weekend at Port Royal
Port Royal, PA. August 20th, 2022. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC.
Alex Bright of Collegeville, PA picked up his sixth win of the season, and second on the weekend Saturday night at the Port Royal Speedway over a season high field of twenty-six competitors.
Lou Cicconi Racing teammates; Bobby Butler and Mark Smith lead the field to green for the initial green flag on the twenty-five lap feature event, but immediately the caution flag was displayed as Bruce Buckwalter Jr spun to a stop in turns one and two.
Butler and Smith again lead the field to the second attempt at a full restart, with Smith getting the drop on Butler as the duo dove into turns three and four, as Smith worked his way by Butler to take the race lead at the completion of lap one. The biggest mover of the event was that of Alex Bright who utilized the extreme high side of the speedway in turns one and two and three & four to advance into the fourth place position with only one lap in the record books.
Bright began to pressure Mark Smith for the race lead down the back straightaway, and took the lead out of turn four to lead at the completion of lap two. Bright immediately began to pull away from the field, with Steven Drevicki who had been utilizing the extreme low side of the speedway trying to keep pace with Bright and move through cars inside the top ten as well.
Drevicki and Smith ran side by side for a number of laps with Mark Smith running the middle side of the speedway, and Drevicki diving to the bottom lane of the Port Royal Speedway. As Smith and Drevicki dueled for position, Mike Thompson threw his hat into the ring early on in the feature event, and was right with the duo, taking third away from Drevicki early on in the feature event with only five laps down.
Drevicki eventually was able to work the bottom side of the speedway to perfection and move by both Thompson and Smith and assume sole possession of the runner up spot on lap nine. Drevicki could now focus on leader Alex Bright who had assumed a massive lead over the rest of the field. Smith held strong in third, with Thompson, Kenny Miller, Aikin and Briggs Danner battling for position as the field searched for grip around the surface of the speedway.
Around the half way point of the feature event, Kenny Miller lll worked his way to the inside of Mike Sith to take over the fourth place spot and try to catch Smith for third. Meanwhile, Briggs Danner had moved into the sixth place position, but was lacking speed and not able to do anything with the Thompson machine directly in front of him lap after lap.
While most drivers ran the bottom or middle side of the speedway, Alex Bright kept the car straight as an arrow against the top side of the speedway setting a torrid pace over Drevicki and the rest of the field. Bright did make contact with the outside guardrail on more than one occasion, even making heavy contact in the middle of turns one and two. But Bright was able to maintain his massive advantage over Drevicki who continued to work on the bottom side of the speedway.
As the field came too, and eventually passed the ten to go mark of the feature event, Briggs Danner found the outside of the speedway to his liking, in a similar line to that of race leader Alex Bright. Danner immediately began picking up a ton of momentum and quickly drew in on the back bumper of Mike Thompson for fifth, working by Thompson after a few slide jobs were exchanged, on lap nineteen.
Danner continued his march throwing caution to the wind as he also began to slap the right rear of the Heffner Racing 5G off the outside guardrail of the speedway, drawing in on Kenny Miller lll and Mark Smith who battled for position four with only a handful of laps remaining. Danner worked to the outside of Miller lll on lap twenty-three and tried to mount a charge on Mark Smith for third.
Bright held a commanding lead over Drevicki for the race lead. Drevicki had a comfortable lead over Smith for second, with Danner hunting the Cicconi 75 on the top side of the speedway at the white flag. Miller held onto the fifth place position over Mike Thompson who had lost contact with the top five of the field.
Try as they might, nobody had anything for Alex Bright as he cruised to his second win of the weekend, over Drevicki, Mark Smith who held on for third, Briggs Danner who blew a right rear tire coming off of turn four to the checkered flag, and Kenny Miller lll to close out the top five.
The three race weekend for Alex Bright and the Hummer Motorsports team was more of what the series saw from the team last year, and the pairing ended the weekend with a runner up finish, and two victories. Afterwards, Bright explained that he has “never felt more comfortable in a sprint car” since getting behind the wheel of the teams new Triple X chassis on Thursday night at Bloomsburg. Perhaps a concerning notion for the rest of the field as Bright and team head to the Kokomo Speedway for Sprint Car Smackdown. Staying fresh before returning to the East Coast to round out the season.
Steven Drevicki is definitely known as a slick track specialist, and that was proven once again this weekend at Clinton County and Port Royal. With both surfaces being extremely slick, Drevicki was able to power his way to a pair of runner up finishes, and a top five at Bloomsburg. Drevicki explained that the team is still struggling some with their “In between” set ups. Meaning, when the track is not quite slick, and not hammer down and tacky, the team is lacking a bit more speed than they would hope. Look for Drevicki and team to keep digging as the season winds to a close.
Mark Smith came away from USAC East Coast competition yet again with another top five run aboard the Lou Cicconi 75 machine. Smith took a short break from the Cicconi team to pilot his own M1 entry, but since the pair have re-united, they have been as fast as ever. If not for a flat right rear tire on Friday night at Clinton County, perhaps the team could have had three straight top fives, or perhaps even a spot on the podium.
While Steven Drevicki may be one of the best the series has on slick tracks, Briggs Danner and the Heffner Racing team are still looking to pad their notebook for the young driver as the speeds slow down and the tracks go away. A pair of top five runs, in the slick, may seem like a great way to end the weekend for any driver, but after amassing eight wins so far in 2022, the Heffner Racing team no doubt will be hungry to get back to victory lane.
Kenny Miller lll was scheduled to compete in all three events over the weekend, but a changing work schedule forced the family owned team, and young engineer, to only be able to attend Saturdays show at Port Royal. Miller and team picked up where they have all season long, with speed from start to finish, just not quite enough to pick up a podium or challenge for a win like the team found at the tail end of the 2020 season. Perhaps with the slower, weekend only schedule as the season rounds out, Miller and team will be able to hit a few more shows before the season concludes, and challenge for career victory number three.
Up next for the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade is a return trip to the First State, on Friday September 2nd, to the Delaware International Speedway. The series makes its furthest trip south of the season on Saturday September 17th at the Winchester Speedway, before heading back to Delaware to the Georgetown Speedway for the series one and only appearance on September 30th.
USAC East Coast at Port Royal Results:
Heat 1 (8 Laps, 5 Transfer, 3 invert): 1. 11 Mike Thompson, 2. 23M Kenny Miller lll, 3. 7 Ed Aikin, 4. 19 Steven Drevicki, 5. 87 Austin Graby, 6. 64 Rich Carnathan, 7. 117 David Swanson, 8. 12w Troy Fraker, 9. 74 Duane Nixon
Heat 2 (8 Laps, 5 Transfer, 3 invert): 1. 20 Alex Bright, 2. 5G Briggs Danner, 3. 75 Mark Smith, 4. 39 Joe Toth, 5. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 6. 21K Tommy Kunsman Jr, 7. 57 JT Ferry, 8. 96 Lee Kauffman, 9. 42 John Fraker
Heat 3 (8 Laps, 5 Transfer, 3 invert): 1. 67 Jason Cherry, 2. 75x Bobby Butler, 3. 88J Joey Amantea, 4. 7B Aidan Borden, 5. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 6. 23B Preston Lattomus, 7. 16cw Eric Jennings, 8. 83s Billy Ney
Semi (10 Laps, 5 Transfer, 3 Invert): 1. 21K Tommy Kusman Jr, 2. 16cw Eric Jennings, 3. 64 Rich Carnathan, 4. 23B Preston Lattomus, 5. 117 David Swanson, 6. 96 Lee Kauffman, 7. 57 JT Ferry, 8. 12w Troy Fraker, 9. 42 John Fraker, 10. 74 Duane Nixon, 11. 83s Billy Ney
Feature Event (25 Laps): 1. 20 Alex Bright, 2. 19 Steven Drevicki, 3. 75 Mark Smith, 4. 5G Briggs Danner, 5. 23M Kenny Miller lll, 6. 11 Mike Thompson, 7. 7 Ed Aikin, 8. 88J Joey Amantea, 9. 67 Jason Cherry, 10. 7B Aidan Borden, 11. 75B Bobby Butler, 12. 23B Preston Lattomus, 13. 16cw Eric Jennings, 14. 87 Austin Graby, 15. 21K Tommy Kunsman Jr, 16. 83 Bruce Buckwalter, 17. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 18. 39 Joe Toth, 19. 64 Rich Carnathan, 20. 117 David Swanson, 21. 83s Billy Ney.
Lap Leaders: Mark Smith: (1), Alex Bright (2-25).
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger: Steven Drevicki +8 (10th to 2nd)
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman
