DREVICKI DOUBLES UP AT BIG DIAMOND

By: Nick Fillman - USAC East Coast Sprint Cars

Minersville, Pennsylvania (July 19, 2019)………For the second time this season at the Big Diamond Speedway, and the third time overall, defending Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series Champion Steven Drevicki was able to grab the checkered flag and head to victory lane.

The night started out on a good note for Drevicki who had a great pill draw for the heat race that would see him start third in the first heat event. Drevicki would eventually go on to win his heat event, sending him to the redraw for the feature. Drevicki would again have a great pill draw for the feature event that would see him start alongside fellow heat winner Austin Bishop.

The initial green flag would see a quick yellow follow, as Jake Winters would go for a spin in turns three and four, collecting Connor Leoffler, who had nowhere to go. The field would bunch back up for a complete restart of the feature event.

Once the field went green, rookie Austin Bishop would jump out to the early event lead with Drevicki falling into second place. The battle for second would quickly be on, as Eric Jennings would battle hard with Drevicki and take the second-place spot away. Another caution flag would fall on lap seven for the spun car of Craig Pelligrini Jr in turns one and two. Bishop was out front in a comfortable margin over Eric Jennings, Steven Drevicki, Carmen Perigo and Joey Biasi. The field would go back to green flag action, but only for a lap, as John Stehman would go for a spin on lap eight.

As the race went back green again, yet another caution would take place on the restart as Ryan Quackenbush and Connor Leoffler would tangle entering three and four. Both drivers would be done for the night with front end damage.

When the field finally got restarted again Drevicki had taken back the second-place position from Eric Jennings and was quickly closing in on race leader Austin Bishop by lap 12. Drevicki was able to keep his car in the small moisture strip on the bottom of the track, about a half a lane lower than Bishop and would work his way by and into the lead on lap 15. Bishop, Perigo, Jennings, and Biasi would be the top five at the time.

One final caution flag would fly on lap 24 as Lee Kauffman would spin in turns one and two and be tagged by another car leaving him with front end damage ending his night. Bishop would be left with one final chance to get by Drevicki, with Perigo, Biasi, and Eddie Strada rounding out the top five. When the field took the green and white flags, Drevicki had a solid lead and would hold off the last attempt to grab his third win of the season.

The win for Drevicki comes off of a second place run at the last completed event at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park on June 30th. Drevicki is the only driver who has placed inside the top five positions of every feature event in 2019. The feature couldn’t have ended at a better time for Drevicki and a number of other drivers in the field, as the heat had lead to dry track conditions with many drivers having little to no tread left on their rear tires. Drevicki said in victory lane that he had felt the car begin to shake with a handful of laps left because of the warn out tires and did not want to see the last yellow flag.

Rookie 360 sprint car driver Austin Bishop had a solid run in what was only his second wingless sprint car start. Bishop ran the previous show at Big Diamond, where he also collected his first career 360 sprint car win with the URC winged sprint series. Bishop ended up with a strong run and hopefully will attend some more wingless shows to close out 2019.

Joey Biasi was back in action with the USAC East Coast Sprint cars after what has been a bit of an up and down season. Biasi was going to miss the last scheduled show at the New Egypt Speedway in order to rebuild their sprint car program following an extremely hard flip at the Lernerville Speedway. Biasi was able to make some moves from 6th to 4th and have a solid top five run.

Eddie Strada was the hard charger of the night moving from the 15th place position, to finish in the top five. Strada had suffered a flat right front tire in the heat race which lead to a DNF. Strada methodically worked his way through the field working on the bottom side of the speedway.

Connor Leoffler had quite the rough night after being collected in a number of incidents. Leoffler was caught up in a caution in the heat race which broke the front ent out of his DRC Chassis entry. The team would change front ends and start at the rear of the feature before ultimately being caught up in two more incidents ending his night on the back of a tow truck.

Up next for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series is the first ever trip to the Georgetown Speedway, in Georgetown, Delaware on Friday July 26th.

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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 19, 2019 – Big Diamond Speedway – Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Heat 1: (8 Laps, all qualify, 3 redraw): 19 Steven Drevicki, 8 Kyle Lick, B1 Joey Biasi, 21 Carmen Perigo, 5q Ryan Quackenbush, 117 David Swanson, 11 Craig Pelligrini Jr, 42e Eddie Strada, 3h Heidi Hedin, 22 Connor Leoffler.

Heat 2: (8 Laps, all qualify, 3 redraw): 11a Austin Bishop, 32 Eric Jennings, 119 Chandler Leiby, 71 Chris Allen Jr, 14 Trevor Kobylarz, 5g Tim Buckwalter, 17j Jonathan Swanson, 1j Jake Winters, 23 John Stehman, 96 Lee Kauffman.

Feature Finish: 1. 19 Steven Drevicki, 2. 11a Austin Bishop, 3. 21 Carmen Perigo, 4. B1 Joey Biasi, 5. 42e Eddie Strada, 6. 32 Eric Jennings, 7. 14 Trevor Kobylarz. 8. 8 Kyle Lick, 9. 71 Chris Allen Jr, 10. 119 Chandler Leiby, 11. 17j Jonathan Swanson, 12. 3h Heidi Hedin, 13. 117 David Swanson, 14. 1j Jake Winters, 15. 23 John Stehman, 16. 96 Lee Kauffman, 17. 11 Craig Pelligrini Jr. 18. 5g Tim Buckwalter, 19. 5q Ryan Quackenbush, 20. 22 Connor Leoffler.

Lap Leaders: 1-14: Austin Bishop. 15-25: Steven Drevicki.

Scotty Signs Hard Charger $100: Eddie Strada (15 to 5th) +10

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger $50 Certificate: Eddie Strada

Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger $50 Certificate: Eddie Strada

Ultra-Shield Race Products 2nd Place $50 Certificate: Austin Bishop

Keizer Wheels 3rd Place $50 Certificate: Carmen Perigo

Wilwood Brakes 4th Place $50 Certificate: Joey Biasi

ATL Fuel Cells 5th Place $100 Certificate: Eddie Strada

King Racing Products 6th Place $25 Certificate: Eric Jennings

Ultra-Shield Race Products 8th Place $50 Certificate: Kyle Lick