INAUGURAL USAC EAST COAST IRON COWBOY CLASSIC BELONGS TO DANNER
By: Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
Kutztown, Pennsylvania (July 7, 2021)………Briggs Danner of Allentown, PA utilized his knowledge of Action Track USA, to score the first ever Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade feature event win at the speedway.
Chris Allen Jr. and Nash Ely would share the front row for the feature event, with Chris Allen Jr. jumping out to the early race lead. Ely would initially hold onto the second position, until the completion of lap three as Briggs Danner would move into the runner up spot and begin his charge toward the leader Allen.
Allen quickly found the back of the field on lap seven, with Danner all over Allen for the race lead, and multiple times, alongside the leader challenging for the top spot. While Allen and Danner would battle for the top spot, an all-out war would rage on between Nash Ely, Damon Paul, Tommy Kunsman, and Colin White for positions three through six. The four-pack of former and current micro sprint drivers utilized their experience to battle among themselves for position, many times being three wide with multiple slide jobs in each corner.
The intense racing action would come to a halt on lap ten as Jason Cherry and Mike Meyers would make contact, followed by Steve Wilbur riding the turns one and two wall before ending up, upside-down with the red flag displayed.
Allen lead the field to the lap ten restart over Danner, Kunsman, Paul, and White with twenty laps to go. Allen got off to a great start putting a bit of a gap over Danner as the field went back into action. Allen held the lead, with Danner again reeling the leader back in and again, pulling side by side with Allen for the lead of the feature event. While Danner and Allen fought side by side for the race lead, Alex Bright was flying through the field and was just outside the top five as the field drew in on the half way point of the feature event. Bright cracked into the top five on lap fifteen and joined the still furious battle for positions inside the top five.
On lap fifteen, Danner utilizing a major drive off the high side of turn four, got the necessary drive to finally work passed Allen for the race lead. As Danner took the lead, the action inside the top five remained incredible. Damon Paul, Tommy Kunsman, Alex Bright, and Nash Ely continued to throw slider after slider for position as the laps wound down in the feature event.
On lap twenty-one, Bright threw a slide job on Kunsman for the fourth spot, on the field. Bright’s car would stall out some, with Kunsman turning back down to the inside of Bright for position. Kusman would make contact with the left front of Alex Bright, collapsing the front end of the Hummer Motorsports 20 car, leaving point leader Bright stopped on the exit of turn four. As Bright’s car was coming to a stop, Nash Ely was left with nowhere to go, and was collected with Bright in turn four. Bright and Ely would unfortunately be unable to restart the feature event.
On what would be the final restart of the event with nine laps to go, Danner nailed the restart and pulled away from Allen and the rest of the field. Yet again, the battle for the top five was incredibly intense with Paul, Kunsman, White, and Bruce Buckwalter Jr. heavily contending for positions. Eventually, the top five would settle in with Paul, Kunsman, and White holding down positions in the top five as the bulk of the field rode the cushion around the high side of the speedway.
As the laps wound down, Briggs Danner again found himself in USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series Victory Lane for the fifth time of the 2021 season, and regained the points lead following the incident involving Alex Bright.
For the fifth time of the season, and sixth time of his career, Briggs Danner parked the Bill Gallagher owned 5G entry in victory lane. Danner has been lights out so far in the 2021 season, with only a blown tire to blame for the teams only blemish on the season thus far. Danner and team have been on another level so far in 2021, with Alex Bright and Hummer Motorsports being the team’s closest competition so far. Due to the finish of Bright, Danner regained the points lead by only eleven markers over Bright, with plenty of racing left to go.
Chris Allen Jr. appears to have found his stride again as the New Jersey native has rattled off back to back podium finishes in his last two starts. Allen has missed two events so far but remains solidly within the top ten in series points. While a shot at the title may not be possible for the team, they are well on their way to being able to compete for series victories once again.
Damon Paul of Stony Point, NY found himself on the podium for the very first time in 2021 on Wednesday at Action Track USA. The twenty year old driver has plenty of laps around the Pennsylvania oval, competing first in slingshots, before moving to USAC SpeedSTRs, and 600cc Micro Sprints. Paul utilized his knowledge of the speedway, along with the rest of the top five, to put on a show and win the battle for third in the back half of the top five. Paul and the Lou Cicconi Racing team have had plenty of speed with their rookie driver and have now notched their first of what may be many, podium finishes.
Coming off of a career best second place on Friday night, Tommy Kunsman looked to keep his momentum rolling on Wednesday at Action Track USA. Kunsman scored a fourth place run in the heat race from his eight place starting spot, earning him a redraw spot for the feature event at the front of the field. Kunsman was involved heavily with the best battles on track many times over the course of the future event in the middle of three wide action and giving and receiving many slide jobs for position. Kunsman has worked his way to third in series points and has established himself as a fixture at the front of the series field.
Rounding out the top five, scoring back to back top five runs was Colin White. It should come as no surprise that White would have a solid run at Action Track USA as the young driver is the defending 600cc Micro Sprint Champion at the speedway. While not getting to run the series full time in 2021, White has impressed in limited runs, most recently scoring a fourth at Big Diamond and a fifth at Action Track. While White is not done with his races behind the wheel of the Hamilton 32 entry, hopefully White can join the tour full time in 2022.
Up next for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by: Capitol Renegade, is the first ever trip for the series to the newly redesigned and reopened Bloomsburg Fairgrounds! A handful of our drivers made the first ever trip to the speedway in June as a part of the USAC National Series annual “Eastern Storm.” The Friday, July 16th program will also feature the first of two double header programs with the URC 360 sprint cars, offering fans the “best of both worlds” in one night at the same track.
As always, stay up to date with all the latest series news, results, photos, points, and much more by following along on our social media pages! On Twitter at: @USACecsc, or on Facebook at: USAC East Coast Sprint Cars.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE RACE RESULTS: July 7, 2021 – Action Track USA – Kutztown, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. 5G-Briggs Danner [3], 2. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. [1], 3. 71-Chris Allen Jr. [2], 4. 21K-Tommy Kunsman [8], 5. 10m-Mike Myers [4], 6. 12-Blaine Emery [7], 7. 88J-Joey Amantea [9], 8. 7B-Aidan Borden [5], 9. 2-Chris Allen Sr. [6]. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. 3BC-Nash Ely [3], 2. 57-Damon Paul [6], 3. 11-Mike Thompson [2], 4. 32-Colin White [8], 5. 59-Steve Wilbur [9], 6. 3H-Heidi Hedin [7], 7. 57x-Ricky Rutt [5], 8. 67-Jason Cherry [1], 9. 20-Alex Bright [4]. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. Briggs Danner [3], 2. Chris Allen Jr. [1], 3. Damon Paul [6], 4. Tommy Kunsman [5], 5. Colin White [4], 6. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. [7], 7. Mike Myers [9], 8. Joey Amantea [13], 9. Blaine Emery [11], 10. Mike Thompson [8], 11. Aidan Borden [15], 12. Heidi Hedin [12], 13. Ricky Rutt [14], 14. Alex Bright [18], 15. Nash Ely [2], 16. Steve Wilbur [10], 17. Jason Cherry [16], 18. Chris Allen Sr. [17]. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Chris Allen Jr., Laps 16-30 Briggs Danner.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-720, 2-Alex Bright-709, 3-Tommy Kunsman-595, 4-Steven Drevicki-523, 5-Nash Ely-518, 6-Damon Paul-477, 7-Joey Amantea-451, 8-Chris Allen Jr.-426, 9-Kenny Miller III-422, 10-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-411.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE RACE: July 16, 2021 – Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Penske Shocks $100: Briggs Danner
Penske Shocks $50: Chris Allen Jr.
Penske Shocks $25: Damon Paul
Ultra Shield 3rd Place: Damon Paul
Ultra Shield 6th Place: Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger: Joey Amantea