BRIGGS DANNER CAPS OFF WITH BRIDGEPORT WIN IN USAC EAST COAST FINALE

By: Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC

Swedesboro, New Jersey (November 5, 2021) ………Briggs Danner of Allentown, Pennsylvania capped off a great 2021 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, presented by Capitol Renegade by winning his ninth feature event of the season, worth a series historic $3,000 pay day.

Davie Franek and Alex Bright lead the field to green for the final twenty-five lap feature event of the 2021 season at the Bridgeport Speedway, with Franek getting the jump on Bright for the race lead into turn one and two. Franek maintained his lead for the opening circuit of the feature event before Bright would work to the outside of Franek for the race lead at the completion of lap two.

Bright was looking to put a massive exclamation point on his historic 2021 season by picking up the final win of the season, but fifth starting Briggs Danner was foot to the floor fast and quickly worked his way into the third-place position by the completion of lap three. A pair of laps later, Danner had moved by Franek into the runner up position and began to close in on the tail tank of the Hummer Motorsports number twenty of leader Alex Bright.

Meanwhile behind the battle for the lead, Franek ran by his lonesome in third, but an absolute war was just beginning to form for positions four and five, with Damon Paul and Kenny Miller lll trading multiple slide jobs for position lap after lap. While, even further behind them a host of drivers like Nash Ely, Colin White, Joey Amantea, and more were three and sometimes four-wide for position early on in the feature event.

By lap seven, Danner was all over Bright for the race lead, and would work his way by to assume the race lead on lap eight of the feature event. Danner began to put some distance between himself and second place Alex Bright as the next handful of laps would go on, before the caution flag flew on lap twelve for a spinning Thomas Radivoy.

The lap twelve restart saw Danner, Bright, Franek, Miller lll and Paul nose to tail once again with one lap shy of half the race to go. As the green flag flew on the restart, the battle for the lead was absolutely ferocious as over the next four laps, Danner and Bright would exchange the race lead lap, after lap, after lap before Danner established a couple car length lead again over Bright as the field raced toward the conclusion of the feature event.

Just as before the caution flag flew, Kenny Miller lll and Damon Paul continued their incredible side by side battle at the tail end of the top five. Further behind them, Nash Ely, Joey Amantea, Colin White, and from the semi feature: Christian Bruno and Brenden Bright were putting on an amazing show trading positions inside the top ten with each and every lap that went by.

While battling hard for position just outside of the top five, Nash Ely and Joey Amantea would make contact heading into turns three and four, leaving Amantea with a collapsed front end and unable to continue in the feature event.

A seven-lap shootout would take place to cap off an exciting feature event with the top five remaining the same from the previous restart. Christian Bruno and Brenden Bright continued to be the stars of the top ten as they battled up from the Semi feature, bringing Bruce Buckwalter and Eric Jennings along with them, making the middle of the pack some of the most exciting racing of the whole season.

Danner again nailed the restart, but Bright would not let him get too far away. Danner showed no signs of slowing down as he set his sights on victory lane one more time in 2021. Bright held strong for second, with Franek again impressive in third. Kenny Miller and Damon Paul continued to wage their race long war for fourth and fifth as the laps went on as well.

Christian Bruno continued his march to the front of the field and had worked his way up into the seventh-place position and tried to reel in Nash Ely for sixth. Brenden Bright, Bruce Buckwalter Jr and Eric Jennings all from the semi feature, were rounding out the top ten in what was a tremendous battle for position.

But out front it did not matter, as Briggs Danner went on to collect the $3,000 paycheck, and his ninth win of the season over 2021 Points Champion Alex Bright, Davie Franek, Kenny Miller lll, and Damon Paul in what was easily a top five race of the year.

The win for Danner was his ninth of the season and helped to cap off a great year for the Gallagher Racing 5G Entry. While it may have turned into a rough season through the middle of the year with the untimely passing of car owner Bill Gallagher, and a freighting crash at the Selinsgrove Speedway, the team never lost their focus on winning races and trying to secure the championship. While they may have come up short in the championship hunt, the team, with driver, Briggs Danner were able to capture the 2021 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade, Rookie of the Year honors, as Danner was in a league of his own as far as rookie drivers were concerned.

While Alex Bright and Hummer Motorsports were not doubt hopping to end their 2021 season with a massive walk off win, back-to-back runner up finishes, 22 of 23 events finishing inside the top five, and eleven wins left the team with a historic run on their way to being crowned the 2021, Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade Champions. Bright and team were night in and night out the most dominant car of the season, showing up every week with the mindset of winning each and every time the car hit the speedway. While we will probably not see too much of the Hummer Motorsports team in 2022, we certainly wish them all the best, and a massive congratulations on their dominant championship run.

Coming home in the third-place position in a very impressive run was veteran winged 360 sprint car driver Davie Franek. Franek has made two previous starts with the series at Orange County and Port Royal in 2020, and made his first, and final start of the year Friday at Bridgeport. The former Patriot Sprint, and URC Champion started on the pole of the feature event by virtue of making the redraw, lead lap one of the feature event, and held his own against the entire field of regular wingless drivers. We certainly hope to see Davie a few more times on the series trail in 2022.

While Kenny Miller lll was unable to grace victory lane in 2021, Miller was one of the most consistent cars whenever the team was pit-side. An early season internship for most of the season kept Miller from running full time with the series, but once the team returned in the late summer swing, the top ten and top five runs were rattled off week after week. While plans are not completely worked out for the team in 2022, we are hopeful to see one of the most exciting up and coming drivers in the series return to action and battle for victories, and possibly the 2022 championship.

Rounding out the top five, backing up his third place points run, was Stony Point, NY driver Damon Paul. The micro sprint veteran was a rookie on tour in 2021 with car owner Lou Cicconi Jr. and impressed many throughout the season. Paul was able to find victory lane one time in 2021 at the Winchester Speedway but put on many impressive runs from start to finish. As is the case with all our drivers and teams, we hope that Cicconi and driver Damon Paul will return next season as Paul continued to develop night after night behind the wheel of a sprint car.

One of the most impressive runs of the night belonged to a driver making his series debut in the form of Brenden Bright. The former micro sprint and midget regular, made his series debut in a second Hummer Motorsports entry as a teammate to brother Alex Bright. Brenden won the semi feature, and led the charge of Christian Bruno, Bruce Buckwalter and Eric Jennings through the field to the top ten, before Bruno ultimately got by him late in the race, earning him hard charger honors. Perhaps Bright has opened some eyes for 2022 and could possible find himself behind the wheel of a sprint car with the series a handful of times next season.

All of us here with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series would like to that everyone that has made the 2021 season possible. Without all our sponsors, the incredible tracks that have allowed us to come into their facilities and put on our events, our amazing drivers and teams who may have supported us all season long, or just on a part time basis, and of course all of the amazing fans who have supported us through this journey none of this would be possible, and we thank you!

As the 2022 series schedule begins to take shape, stay tuned to our social media pages as always for all the latest news and information regarding the 2022 racing season!!

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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE RACE RESULTS: November 5, 2021 – Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Swedesboro, New Jersey

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 5G-Briggs Danner (8), 2. 3BC-Nash Ely (5), 3. 23m-Kenny Miller III (4), 4. 88J-Joey Amantea (2), 5. 62-Brian Spencer (1), 6. 20x-Brenden Bright (7), 7. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (10), 8. 22B-Troy Betts (9), 9. 16CW-Eric Jennings (3), 10. 12-Blaine Emery (6). NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 20-Alex Bright (1), 2. 57-Damon Paul (3), 3. 28F-Davie Franek (2), 4. 32K-Kyle Smith (4), 5. 7-Ed Aikin (6), 6. 17-Christian Bruno (9), 7. 67-Jason Cherry (8), 8. 96-Lee Kauffman (7), 9. 71-Chris Allen Jr. (5). NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 21-Carmen Perigo (9), 2. 32-Colin White (2), 3. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy (7), 4. 73-Al Cheney (4), 5. 56-Jermain Godshall (6), 6. 8-Larry Drake (8), 7. 3H-Heidi Hedin (3), 8. 8B-D.J. Hunt (5), 9. 74JR-J.R. Berry (1). NT

SEMI: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 20x-Brenden Bright (1), 2. 17-Christian Bruno (2), 3. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (4), 4. 22B-Troy Betts (7), 5. 16CW-Eric Jennings (10), 6. 74JR-J.R. Berry (12), 7. 12-Blaine Emery (13), 8. 96-Lee Kauffman (8), 9. 67-Jason Cherry (5), 10. 8B-D.J. Hunt (9), 11. 3H-Heidi Hedin (6), 12. 8-Larry Drake (3), 13. 71-Chris Allen Jr. (11). NT

FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (5), 2. Alex Bright (2), 3. Davie Franek (1), 4. Kenny Miller III (6), 5. Damon Paul (7), 6. Nash Ely (3), 7. Christian Bruno (17), 8. Brenden Bright (16), 9. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (18), 10. Eric Jennings (20), 11. Colin White (9), 12. Kyle Smith (11), 13. 7-Ed Aikin (14), 14. 62-Brian Spencer (13), 15. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy (8), 16. 56-Jermain Godshall (15), 17. 73-Al Cheney (12), 18. 21-Carmen Perigo (4), 19. 88J-Joey Amantea (10), 20. 22B-Troy Betts (19). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Davie Franek, Laps 2-7 Alex Bright, Laps 8-25 Briggs Danner.

FINAL USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE POINTS: 1-Alex Bright-1689, 2-Briggs Danner-1549, 3-Damon Paul-1255, 4-Nash Ely-1151, 5-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-1051, 6-Kenny Miller III-981, 7-Steven Drevicki-954, 8-Joey Amantea-880, 9-Ed Aikin-870, 10-Tommy Kunsman-832.