Port Royal, Pennsylvania (April 27, 2024)………The USAC Rapid Tire Services East Coast Sprint Car Series Presented by Capitol Renegade picked up and moved north as the series headed to the always entertaining Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway for their first visit since the 2022 season as both events last year were canceled.
Once again, Briggs Danner scored the heat race win with Alex Bright also picking up a heat race victory, setting up what was sure to be another battle between the two titans of the series.
Bright quickly secured the race lead from pole sitter Christian Bruno as Danner moved into second just a few laps later and the chase was on. While Bright may have had clean air up front, Danner was rapidly closing in on the leader while the rest of the field was nearly a straightaway behind the battle for the lead.
Around the midway point, Danner was all over Bright for the race lead. As the duo dove into turn one on lap 15, the unexpected happened. Bright got just a bit too much into the cushion on the high side of the speedway and lost the handle on the Heffner Enterprises 27 machine, causing the front end to go airborne into a wheel stand, then onto the hood of the Hogue Racing Enterprises ride of Danner, sending both spinning to a stop at the exit of corner number two.
Somehow, neither driver went upside down nor suffered extreme damage from the incident. However, Danner did head to the work area and the damage sustained in the incident was more than it appeared, ending his night. Bright went on to tag the rear of the field and continued in the feature event.
The incident subsequently led to Christian Bruno inheriting the race lead from Joey Amantea with just 10 laps to go. Bruno and Amantea traded the lead lap after lap with slide job after slide job on both ends of the speedway before the caution flag flew again on lap 19 for a slowing Richy Carnathan on the front stretch.
A restart with six laps to go allowed Joey Amantea to take the race lead back from Bruno on lap 22 after a side-by-side battle with Carmen Perigo, Steven Drevicki, Bobby Butler and Bright quickly joining the fray at the front of the field. Meanwhile, Bruno, Perigo and Drevicki battled three-wide for the runner-up spot with just two laps remaining.
Despite the slider fest for the lead, Amantea pulled away from Bruno and went on to score his third career victory, his first ever at Port Royal. Perigo barely nipped Bruno at the line for second with Drevicki and Bright rounding out the top five.
A scheduled off weekend lies ahead for the series before three-straight weekends of action starting at the banked 1/3-mile Grandview Speedway on May 11 before a double dose of Delaware begins at Georgetown Speedway on May 17 and Delaware International Speedway on May 25.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: April 27, 2024 – Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 39-Briggs Danner (2), 2. 88J-Joey Amantea (4), 3. 17-Christian Bruno (1), 4. 5B-Bobby Butler (6), 5. 21K-Tommy Kunsman (8), 6. 7-Ed Aikin (7), 7. 64-Richy Carnathan (3), 8. 67c-Jason Cherry (5), 9. 12w-Troy Fraker (9). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 27-Alex Bright (5), 2. 19-Steven Drevicki (1), 3. 21-Carmen Perigo (4), 4. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (2), 5. 03-Matthew Swift (3), 6. 29-Dalton Herrick (8), 7. 76-Michael Smith (7), 8. 23m-Kenny Miller III (6). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Joey Amantea (3), 2. Carmen Perigo (5), 3. Christian Bruno (1), 4. Steven Drevicki (6), 5. Alex Bright (2), 6. Bobby Butler (7), 7. Tommy Kunsman (9), 8. Ed Aikin (11), 9. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (4), 10. Dalton Herrick (12), 11. Michael Smith (14), 12. Matthew Swift (10), 13. Jason Cherry (15), 14. Richy Carnathan (13), 15. Briggs Danner (8), 16. Kenny Miller III (16), 17. Troy Fraker (17). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Alex Bright, Laps 16-18 Joey Amantea, Laps 19-21 Christian Bruno, Laps 22-25 Joey Amantea.
HARD CHARGER: Carmen Perigo (5th to 2nd)
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Joey Amantea-145, 2-Alex Bright-140, 3-Carmen Perigo-133, 4-Steven Drevicki-132, 5-Bobby Butler-129, 6-Briggs Danner-119, 7-Ed Aikin-113, 8-Matthew Swift-90, 9-Jason Cherry-88, 10-Dalton Herrick-87.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE: May 11, 2024 – Grandview Speedway – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania
