Dundee, New York (September 13, 2024)………For the first time ever, the Rapid Tire Services USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series Presented by Capitol Renegade tour made its way to the banks of Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, New York as part of the Ted Siri Memorial with a $4,000 payday on the line.
At the conclusion of heat race action and the redraw procedure, Christian Bruno and Bruce Buckwalter Jr. led the field to the green for the 25-lap feature event. Bruno secured the early race lead and tried to run away from Briggs Danner and the rest of the field in an attempt to claim his second series win of the season.
Steven Drevicki and Danner, who started third and fourth respectively, went to their routine lines right away as Drevicki immediately went to the bottom in his quest for the lead. Danner, on the other hand, tried the middle before jumping up to the top side and ripping the very thin cushion.
Danner quickly and methodically reeled in Bruno for the lead before completing the pass on lap six. Bruno held strong in second over a hard charging Drevicki, Buckwalter and Perigo. Drevicki closed in on Bruno, and eventually, moved by the young New Jersey driver for the runner-up spot later on. Up front, however, it was all Danner as he rallied to a 3/4-track lead, lapping up to sixth place.
Late in the event came a huge run from Fultonville, New York driver Chase Moran who copied the line of Danner and picked off Perigo for fifth. He then worked on Buckwalter for fourth, and finally moved by Bruno for third in the closing handful of laps before ultimately coming up just short of mounting a charge on Drevicki for the runner-up spot.
Up front, it was a dominating win for Danner as he became the first ever USAC East Coast winner at Outlaw Speedway, scoring a $4,000 payday in the process. Drevicki finished as the runner-up and added to his points lead with Moran, Bruno and Buckwalter completing the top-five.
Danner picked up his fifth win of the series season, and his second with elevated pay as he was also the $5,000 Gallagher Memorial winner at Williams Grove Speedway in June. Danner joins drivers Eddie Strada, Drevicki, Billy VanInwegen and Danny Varin as USAC East Coast Sprint Car winners in the state of New York. Despite missing a number of shows this season, Danner now finds himself within the top-five of the points with only one points-paying event remaining.
Drevicki is known for his slick track specialties and came into the night at Outlaw not only with eyes on him as the points leader, but also as a potential feature winner. Try as he might, Drevicki was unable to catch up to Danner’s blistering pace. With the events at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Motorsports Park in October now canceled, Drevicki will clinch his fourth career series championship at Georgetown Speedway on September 27.
The most impressive run of the evening came from Fultonville, New York’s Moran. Moran discovered the high side that Danner had been running late and was able to mount a charge through the field to grab the final podium position. During post-race in the pit area, Moran explained that it was one of the most fun experiences that he has had in a sprint car and with wingless racing. He now intends to potentially run even more races with the series in the future.
Bruno has been red hot this season with both their family-owned sprint car program and the 600 Sprint team that he competes regularly with. Bruno has been on a career-best stretch with a win at Port Royal Speedway, a runner-up result at Action Track USA and now a fourth at Outlaw. Look for Bruno to contend for more victories to close the season and into 2025.
Despite losing a car at Port Royal in August and moving to last year’s machine, Buckwalter has had a banner 2024 season. While it was unfortunate that Ed Aikin was unable to make the tow to New York, Buckwalter was able to capitalize on his absence, and coupled with a great result, he has now taken over the third position in the series points standings.
Up next for the series is a trip south to the Georgetown Speedway on Friday, September 27th for the series points finale.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: September 13, 2024 – Outlaw Speedway – Dundee, New York
HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 17-Christian Bruno (3), 2. 39-Briggs Danner (10), 3. 19-Steven Drevicki (11), 4. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (5), 5. 21-Carmen Perigo (4), 6. 4p-Chase Moran (8), 7. 78-Dale Schweikart (1), 8. 51-Mike Haggenbottom (6), 9. 44-Gary Huston (2), 10. 51u-Shelby Kelly (7), 11. 2-Brendan Hires (9). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (3), 2. Steven Drevicki (4), 3. Chase Moran (6), 4. Christian Bruno (1), 5. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (2), 6. Carmen Perigo (5), 7. Dale Schweikart (7), 8. Mike Haggenbottom (8), 9. Brendan Hires (11), 10. Shelby Kelly (10), 11. Gary Huston (9). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Christian Bruno, Laps 6-25 Briggs Danner.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Steven Drevicki-828, 2-Christian Bruno-695, 3-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-607, 4-Ed Aikin-602, 5-Briggs Danner-566, 6-Alex Bright-536, 7-Bobby Butler-457, 8-Carmen Perigo-443, 9-Jason Cherry-415, 10-Matthew Swift-272.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE: September 13, 2024 – Outlaw Speedway – Dundee, New York
