EAST IN BLOOM: USAC EASTERN STORM FINALE SUNDAY AT BLOOMSBURG

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania (June 18, 2022)………The finale.  The championship decider.  The Bloomsburg Fair Raceway.

The newest addition to USAC Eastern Storm’s lineup of racetracks now comes in as a veteran of the annual eastern mini-series and plays a pivotal role as the closer for the weeklong annual tour for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship in the east on Sunday night, June 19.

The 3/8-mile Pennsylvania dirt oval served as the finale for last year’s Eastern Storm which saw an official return to form for Robert Ballou as he clinched the Eastern Storm title with a sixth-place finish result and collected a subsequent second career Eastern Storm title after earlier doing so in 2015.  Ballou also holds Bloomsburg’s 10-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record of 2:45.324.

The track has hosted USAC Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Car competition on multiple occasions, and the top collection of the series’ talent has and will attempt to continue to hold their own at Bloomsburg on Sunday.

Defending USAC East Coast champ Alex Bright (Collegeville, Pa.) captured a victory with the series there this past April and finished 5th during Eastern Storm 2021.  Current USAC East Coast point leader Briggs Danner (Allentown, Pa.) racked up the second leg of April’s series doubleheader at Bloomsburg and did so for the first time in August of 2021.  Danner took 8th during Eastern Storm of 2021 at Bloomsburg.  Three-time USAC East Coast champ Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pa.) collected a 2nd with the USAC EC series at Bloomsburg earlier this April while Joey Amantea (Mount Pocono, Pa.) bagged a 3rd.

A number of drivers return to the lineup after solid top-tier, top-ten results in the Eastern Storm round at Bloomsburg in 2021.

Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.), the 2014 USAC Eastern Storm titlist, won his heat and raced to a third-place finish while Jake Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.) finished his first Eastern Storm with a solid 4th place result.

C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.), the Eastern Storm champ of 2019, was the hardest charger in June of 2021 at Bloomsburg when he went 21st to 7th.

Local modified and open wheel stand out Timmy Buckwalter (Douglassville, Pa.) went 9th and one-time Eastern Storm feature winner Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) chimed in with a 10th.  All will return on Sunday.

Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) set the fastest qualifying time and established a new one-lap track record for the USAC National Sprint Cars at Bloomsburg’s 2021 debut with a time of 15.936 before going on to a 12th place feature finish.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) took a 14th place result during Eastern Storm and, later, finished 7th in USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition later that August at Bloomsburg.

Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) finished a distant 21st in his USAC National Sprint Car run at Bloomsburg in 2021, but later that season, picked up a runner-up result with the USAC National Midgets.

Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) will be making his sprint car debut at Bloomsburg, but he did make an impressive run with the midgets there in August of 2021, finishing 5th.  Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.), meanwhile, led a race-high 13 laps during his Bloomsburg midget showing.

They’ll be joined by Brandon Mattox (Terre Haute, Ind.), the 2020 USAC National Most Improved Driver, who found trouble in qualifying during the 2021 Bloomsburg debut, which prevented him from starting the feature.  Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.) will make his first ever appearance period at the track on Sunday.

Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) scored a 15th a year ago at Bloomsburg while Carmen Perigo (Stoystown, Pa.) was 18th.  Perigo also earned a runner-up finish with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car series in August of 2021.  The USAC Southwest Sprint Car champion of 2018, Charles Davis Jr. (Buckeye, Ariz.) notched a 19th that same night while Michael Markey (Hanover, Pa.) was 23rd.

Sunday’s Eastern Storm finale at Bloomsburg features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, All Pro SpeedSTRs and the NY Penn IMCA Modifieds Series.

Pits open on Sunday at 3pm Eastern with spectator gates opening at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:45pm and cars on track at 6:15pm followed by qualifying and racing.

Adult admission tickets are $30, students are $20 and children 12 and under will be admitted free. Pit passes are $35 for members and $40 for non-members.

All Eastern Storm events will be streamed live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.

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2022 USAC EASTERN STORM SCHEDULE:

June 14: Grandview Speedway | Bechtelsville, PA

June 15: Bridgeport Motorsports Park | Swedesboro, NJ

June 17: Williams Grove Speedway | Mechanicsburg, PA

June 18: Port Royal Speedway | Port Royal, PA

June 19: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway | Bloomsburg, PA

BLOOMSBURG FAIR RACEWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINS:

1-Kevin Thomas Jr.

BLOOMSBURG FAIR RACEWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS:

2021: Kevin Thomas Jr. (6/20)

TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT BLOOMSBURG FAIR RACEWAY:

1 Lap - 6/20/2021 - Chase Stockon - 15.936

10 Laps - 6/20/2021 - Robert Ballou - 2:45.324

PAST RESULTS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT BLOOMSBURG FAIR RACEWAY:

2021 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 2. Tanner Thorson (5), 3. Brady Bacon (6), 4. Jake Swanson (4), 5. Alex Bright (9), 6. Robert Ballou (7), 7. C.J. Leary (21), 8. Briggs Danner (2), 9. Timmy Buckwalter (11), 10. Shane Cottle (3), 11. Paul Nienhiser (13), 12. Chase Stockon (10), 13. Chris Windom (20), 14. Logan Seavey (12), 15. Matt Westfall (16), 16. Mark Smith (8), 17. Nash Ely (15), 18. Carmen Perigo (18), 19. Charles Davis Jr. (17), 20. Alex Banales (19), 21. Justin Grant (14), 22. Richy Carnathan (23), 23. Michael Markey (22). NT

USAC EASTERN STORM CHAMPIONS:

2007: Levi Jones

2008: Cole Whitt

2009: Cole Whitt

2010: Levi Jones

2011: Levi Jones

2012: Bryan Clauson

2013: Bryan Clauson

2014: Brady Bacon

2015: Robert Ballou

2016: Bryan Clauson

2017: Chris Windom

2018: Chris Windom

2019: C.J. Leary

2020: Not Held

2021: Robert Ballou

USAC EASTERN STORM FEATURE WINS: (2007-2022)

6-Bryan Clauson, Levi Jones & Chris Windom

5-Robert Ballou

4-Brady Bacon

3-Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr. & Cole Whitt

2-Tyler Courtney, Thomas Meseraull

1-Chad Boat, Chad Boespflug, Daron Clayton, Shane Cottle, Dave Darland, Bobby East, Damion Gardner, Jesse Hockett, Jason McDougal, Hunter Schuerenberg, Logan Seavey, Jon Stanbrough, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. & Chase Stockon