SIX PACK! BRIGGS DANNER WINS SIXTH OF ’22 AT SELINSGROVE
By: Nick Fillman – USAC ECSC
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania (May 21, 2022)………Briggs Danner of Allentown, Pennsylvania continued his dominant start of the 2022 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series presented by Capitol Renegade Season by picking up staggering sixth win in eight races at the Selinsgrove Speedway.
Tommy Kunsman Jr. and Jason Cherry lead the field to green on the initial green flag of the feature event with Kunsman grabbing the early race lead as the field stormed down the backstretch and into turn three. Unfortunately for Kunsman, he got too high in the middle of turns three and four and caught the wall and went for a massive series of barrel rolls through the corner. Luckily Kunsman was ok and able to walk away from the nasty accident.
The ensuing restart saw Ed Aikin and Jason Cherry share the front row as the field returned to action, with Aikin taking the lead and being the official lap leader of the feature event. Alex Bright quickly moved into second and was gaining on Aikin down the backstretch on lap two.
Bright motored around the outside of Aikin on lap two to take the lead of the feature event, with Aikin, Amantea, Danner, and Carmen Perigo rounding out the top five.
Briggs Danner was quickly moving through the field as well trying to keep pace with the early leader Bright and was locked in a fight for a number of laps with Joey Amantea for second. Dinner eventually secured the second place position on lap five, before the second caution flag of the event flew on lap six for Steven Drevicki who slowed with issues in turns one and two.
Bright secured a perfect restart to put a few car-lengths between himself and runner up Danner and the two began to break away from the field following the restart. With Amantea holding strong in third, and a close three car battle inside the top five between Aikin, Perigo and Mark Smith.
The caution flag yet again flew on lap ten for David Swanson who slowed with issues and smoke showing from the 117 entry in turn one and two.
Danner, who was not by any means far behind Bright, again was drawn into the back bumper of the race leader for another restart. Bright was able to execute another perfect restart and pull away from Danner, but only slightly as the feature event drew closer to the halfway point.
The top three remained relatively unchanged as Danner was peddling hard trying to catch and pass race leader Alex Bright, with Amantea in third, and a back and forth battle for fourth between Carmen Perigo and Mark Smith who traded the position a number of times throughout the feature.
Around lap fifteen of the feature, Danner began to find himself gaining more and more on Bright for the race lead as it appeared Bright was having a more difficult time keeping the car straight off the corners. On lap eighteen Danner and Bright were side by side for the race lead with Bright holding off Danner, until Danner was able to gain a massive run down the backstretch to take the lead in turns three and four and officially take the lead on lap nineteen of the feature event.
Once out front, Danner never looked back as he began to stretch his lead out over the rest of the field and go on to collect his sixth win of the season, with his toughest two competitors in the series so far Alex Bright, and Joey Amantea coming home second and third, respectively.
The best battle on track for the bulk of the feature was settled in the closing stages with Carmen Perigo Jr beating out former Selinsgrove Champion and fellow veteran Mark Smith for fourth.
Joey Amantea tied his best run of the season on Saturday night at Selinsgrove, coming home with yet another top three run. The seventeen year old driver from Mount Pocono has been on a tear of top ten runs this season and is closing in on Steven Drevicki for third place in the series standings.
Speaking of Drevicki, the team who had been off to a marvelous start so far in 2022 suffered from Engine issues all night at Selinsgrove from the time the team pushed off for heat in the engines to feature event time. The team changed everything they could and were able to make some laps in the feature event before ultimately pulling in with issues.
Another driver who had an uncharacteristic night was the Hamilton Racing team and Colin White who suffered with brake issues all night and pulled off after the first lap of the feature event.
Unfortunately, two drivers went for big flips on Saturday night as Jonathan Swanson caught a wheel of Jason Cherry in his heat race and went for a big ride in turns one and two, and Tommy Kunsman on lap one of the feature event. Hopefully both drivers can make repairs and be back in action soon.
In lighter news, a pair of New York winged drivers made their series debuts on Saturday night in the form of two brothers. Aaron and Andrew Jacobus who are regulars with the Patriot Wing Sprints. Andrew unfortunately was caught up in the Swanson flip in heat one after looking right at home with the wings off and was unable to start the feature event. Meanwhile, brother Aaron ended up with a solid 11th place finish in his debut.
Next up for the series is the one and only stop of the season to the coal region of Pennsylvania at the Big Diamond Speedway in Minersville, PA on Friday the 27th, with the first of three stops to the New Egypt Speedway in New Egypt, NJ on Saturday the 28th.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: May 21, 2022 – Selinsgrove Speedway – Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 5G-Briggs Danner (3), 2. 21-Carmen Perigo (2), 3. 21K-Tommy Kunsman (7), 4. 67-Jason Cherry (4), 5. 117-David Swanson (6), 6. 12w-Troy Fraker (9), 7. 17J-Jonathan Swanson (8), 8. 7J-Andrew Jacobus (5), 9. 96-Lee Kauffman (1), 10. R17-Jason Wagner (10). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 20-Alex Bright (4), 2. 75-Mark Smith (2), 3. 88J-Joey Amantea (1), 4. 7-Ed Aikin (8), 5. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (5), 6. 23B-Preston Lattomus (3), 7. 2J-Aaron Jacobus (7), 8. 42-John Fraker (10), 9. 90-Colin White (6), 10. 19-Steven Drevicki (9). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (6), 2. Alex Bright (5), 3. Joey Amantea (4), 4. Carmen Perigo (7), 5. Mark Smith (8), 6. Ed Aikin (3), 7. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (10), 8. Preston Lattomus (12), 9. Jason Cherry (2), 10. Troy Fraker (11), 11. Aaron Jacobus (14), 12. David Swanson (9), 13. John Fraker (16), 14. Jason Wagner (20), 15. Steven Drevicki (19), 16. Tommy Kunsman (1), 17. Colin White (18). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Ed Aikin, Laps 2-18 Alex Bright, Laps 19-25 Briggs Danner.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-519, 2-Alex Bright-486, 3-Steven Drevicki-436, 4-Joey Amantea-435, 5-Ed Aikin-331, 6-Kenny Miller III-313, 7-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-251, 8-Jason Cherry-248, 9-Christian Bruno-234, 10-Preston Lattomu-232.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE: May 27, 2022 – Big Diamond Speedway – Pottsville, Pennsylvania
