Local Racing
Mark Smith Breaks Through at Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT, NJ (November 6, 2020): Mark Smith, the veteran racer from Sunbury, PA, raced to victory on the opening night of the High Banks Classic for the 360 Sprints Cars of the United Racing Club. Smith’s win, his first ever at the fast New Jersey oval, was his 29th with the club, which is one of the nation’s oldest sanctioning bodies.
“I said that I wouldn’t come back until they shortened it up (because) it was too hard on the wallet to race here,” Smith said. Over the off-season, new track management tore apart the old five-eighths mile oval and built a brand-spanking new, four-tenths high-banked track. Speaking of the new configuration at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Smith observed, “the track is really wide and we could race on it.” And, while the new surface has a reputation for being hard on tires, Smith commented, “heck, as good as the track was I can maybe get another night out of them.”
Smith did most of his racing in the heat. The random pill-draw used to set the line-ups had him starting ninth, with only four to qualify and two to go into the re-draw for the first ten starting spots. Smith ran hard to get into a transfer spot, but it looked as though he would miss out on the re-draw. However, he caught a break on the final lap when the second-place car did a wheelie coming off the second corner. That miscue was all that he needed to dart by on the inside. “That’s all part of it, I don’t get excited any more, it’s just what you draw,” he noted.
Ryan Taylor and Troy Betts paced the field for the start of the twenty-five lapper. Davey Franek and Smith were in row two, with Robbie Stillwaggon and Denny Peebles in the third. Austin Bishop and Adam Carberry were in the fourth row, followed by Briggs Danner and Lucas Wolfe. Josh Weller and Dallas Schott were in row six.
Smith got a tremendous start and led the field into turn one at the drop of the green. However, Taylor had more momentum in the first corner and he pulled ahead coming off the second turn. Before Smith could mount a counterattack, the caution flag came out.
On the restart, Taylor led the way, with Smith charging hard on the inside. Betts, Carberry and Franek were scrambling to keep up with the leaders, while Stillwaggon, Bishop, Weller, and Wolfe fought for positions.
Taylor opened a small lead over Smith while Betts and Carberry were trading the third position at will. Franek started drifting back in the running order while Weller was moving ahead. Also making advances was Ryan Smith, up from sixteenth on the starting grid.
Just as Taylor was approaching the backmarkers, the red flag came out. Bishop got up over the cushion and his car bounced a couple of times before it hit the wall in turn one and went upside down. He was unhurt in the tumble, but his night was over.
It took two tries to get the race going again. On the second, Smith made another bold move entering turn one. He took the lead coming off the second corner and never looked back. Taylor held the second spot until lap 22. He got a bit too wide coming off turn two and bounced the right rear tire off the concrete wall. That got the car cross-wise. While he saved it from spinning out, the damage was done and he soon came to a halt in turn four. That turned second place over to Betts.
Betts was unable to capitalize on his good fortune. Carberry came on in the final few laps to take second. “That was definitely important for us,” he said. Carberry entered the race in a tight battle with Weller for the series championship. “We were pretty good, but not good enough for Mark,” he added Betts held on for third at the finish.
Weller crossed in fourth minimizing the point loss to Carberry. Fifth was a fast-closing Ryan Smith. Sixth went to Wolfe, followed by J.J. Grasso, Tyler Ross, Alex Bright, and Robbie Stillwaggon.
The five heat winners were Wolfe, Peebles, Troy betts, Bishop, and Carberry. Andy Betts and Grasso took the checkers in the twon B Mains.
A twenty lap race was held for 602 Crate Sportsmen drivers who went winless in 2020. Tom Sherby got the nod over Joe Brown and Anthony Tramontana. John Micek was fourth in his first outing of the year. Payton Talbot was fifth. Travis Hill, Wayne Weaver, John Meyer, Ryan Grim, and Doug Snyder followed.
Consistent Lee Allen won a thriller in the Street Stock class. He finished every race but one in the top five at Bridgeport this season and, in that one, he placed sixth. Despite those outstanding performances, he lost the track title to the second place finisher this night, Rich Stinson, Jr. Mike Hughes, Shannon Mongeau, and T.J. Henry completed the top five.
Bridgeport Motorsports Park will host the URC Sprints, 602 Sportsmen, Big Block Modifieds, and more on Saturday night. Topping the card will be the 100 lap Danny Serrano Memorial race for the Modifieds. Action will conclude Sunday with a 50 lap race for the Modifieds, another Sportsmen go, Speedsters, and more.
SARVER, PA (April 26, 2024) AJ Flick picked up his first Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car win of 2024 at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night and Michael Norris made it back-to-back wins in the Late Model Division.
Flick started fourth on the grid and passed leader and pole-sitter Carl Bowser using the bottom side on lap 8 while Bowser worked the high side. Bowser wouldn’t go away easily, pulling side-by-side with Flick at the halfway mark. Flick eventually was able to hold Bowser at bay, building a three-second lead as he encountered lap traffic.
A caution flag with five-laps-to-go bunched up the field but Flick got an impressive restart and kept the field at bay to pick up the victory. Bowser finished second and Michael Bauer finished third after starting eighth.
“I didn’t expect it to slick off as much as it did,” Flick said about the track conditions. “It was odd because it wasn’t really wide but yet the actual racing groove was getting slick and starting to come in already. I missed it in the heat race, but come feature time it seems like we’re starting to dial it in a bit more.”
Norris started 10th and put on a clinic coming through the field to make it two straight at ‘The action Track.’
“Luck was on our side tonight,” Norris said. “I always seem to have late race cautions. Thanks to John Garvin for leaving me a lane, he got me pretty good on that last restart but I knew as long as I could be even with him going into turn one, the top was so good and it was.”
Erick Rudolph made the trip to Sarver from Ransomville, New York and it paid off. Rudolph took home the feature victory in the Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified main event.
“There’s something about Lernerville Speedway,” said Rudolph. “It’s one of my favorite tracks in the country and anytime we get a chance to come down here it’s always something we look forward to.”
Tyler Dietz proved to be the class of the field once again, garnering his first feature win in the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock main event. Dietz survived a late race restart and held off front row starter Tim Bish and a hard charging Chris Schneider to grab the checkered flag.
“I kind of thought that he (Bish) was going to take the bottom,” Dietz stated, remarking about the crucial restart. “I was hoping he would go high because I think I was better up high but I just never got the chance to go up there.”
PITTSBURGH, PA (April 24, 2025) The Historic Stock Car Racing Association (HSCRA) is joining the lineup of racing groups at this year’s Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (PVGP) Historics at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. This is the first time the HSCRA will race in the PVGP Historics 3-day weekend, July 26 to 28, 2024.
“We are thrilled to welcome the HSCRA to our 2024 event,” said Dan DelBianco, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. “Their participation not only broadens the appeal of the PVGP Historics but also aligns with our mission to celebrate all automotive history. This is a fantastic opportunity for race fans of all types to witness the power and beauty of historic stock cars in action.”
The HSCRA, renowned for its commitment to preserving and celebrating the history of stock car racing, will bring a new dimension to the PVGP Historics. The group is open to all stock cars that ran in one of the major NASCAR series.
“The HSCRA is anxious to bring NASCAR to Pittsburgh,” said Carlus Gann of HSCRA. “We look forward to making this a regular stop on our tour. Western Pennsylvania has deep roots in racing, and building a world-class track at Pitt Race in Beaver County makes it a perfect fit.”
The most popular class is Generation 4 Cup cars built for the 1992-2007 seasons. During this era, teams built a few cars for the two road courses on the schedule.
“We are hoping for a full field of meticulously restored stock cars,” added Chris Evans of the HSCRA. “Former NASCAR winners like Joe Nemechek and a competitive lineup of today’s top historic stock car drivers will be on hand.”
Gary Moore, a seasoned participant in over a dozen PVGP races, knows the intricacies and challenges of the Pitt Race track. Moore will be showcasing his 1969 Mercury Cyclone (right), victoriously driven by Cale Yarborough, exclaiming, “It’s quite the adventure behind the wheel!”
The HSCRA will have a practice session in the morning and a qualifying race in the afternoon on Friday, July 26. A morning and afternoon practice session on Saturday, July 27. Sunday, July 28 will see the HSCRA have a short morning warm-up prior to being one of the featured Sunday afternoon races.
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Motorsport Festival features two weekends of racing action. The first weekend is the PVGP Historics at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. The second weekend is racing through a 2.33-mile road course set on the streets of Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. In addition to the race weekends, the PVGP stages car shows, parties, road rallies, and a black-tie formal. The PVGP’s mission is to provide residential care, treatment and support for people with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities – donating $6.7 million to charity since 1983.
IMPERIAL, PA (April 20, 2024) Aliquippa’s Tim Shaffer started on the pole position and survived several caution flags and restarts to win the Herb Scott Memorial Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS).
“Boy I earned that one huh,” said Shaffer following the race. “These wins just keep getting better and better. Herb Scott won a lot of features and I have a long way to go to catch him, but my career went on the road and it became hard to win races. It’s kind of back home racing now for me and it’s a lot of fun.”
Brock Pinkerous and Dave Hess Jr. staged an epic battle over the last several laps with Pinkerous scoring an emotional runner-up finish.
“Congrats to Tim on the win,” said Pinkerous, who hails from Ellenville, NY. “He’s really good at this track. Him and Dave are legends around this area. It’s really cool to battle with them; they raced me clean and I raced them clean. Even though we didn’t win tonight, this is for my uncle tonight who passed away about a month ago. I hope he’s watching over us tonight, and I really love you uncle Chris.”
“We were really good on those restarts,” said Hess, the 39-year-old Waterford, Pa. driver. “A little tweak to the car and maybe a gear change and we could have had something for the leaders. Once those two (Shaffer and Pinkerous) got rolling, they were a little better than I was.”
Kyle Lukon finished fifth and Logan Roberson rounded out the Top 5.
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 45-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 555-Brock Pinkerous[4]; 3. 44-Dave Hess Jr[21]; 4. 184-Kyle Lukon[5]; 5. 17R-Logan Roberson[19]; 6. 10S-Joe Martin[16]; 7. 36-Cody Dawson[7]; 8. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[10]; 9. 42-Daryl Charlier[6]; 10. 184C-Justin Chance[13]; 11. 21J-Jim Rasey[24]; 12. 184P-Cole Petrelle[20]; 13. 77-Tom Klein[23]; 14. 57-Charlie Sandercock[11]; 15. 36B-Colby Beighey[15]; 16. 18-Mike Wonderling[25]; 17. 29-Ryan Hare[17]; 18. 60H-Brian Huchko[22]; 19. 9R-Mike Reft[14]; 20. 25-Zachary Kane[9]; 21. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[18]; 22. 75-Jared Miley[3]; 23. 60-Brandon Burgoon[2]; 24. 14AJ-AJ Miller[8]; 25. 14G-Jake Gunn[12]
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