STRADA CONQUERS BEDFORD FOR USAC EAST COAST VICTORY

By: Nick Fillman - USAC East Coast Sprint Cars

Bedford, Pennsylvania (August 16, 2019)………Eddie Strada of Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania was able to collect his first career win at the Bedford Speedway and his second win on the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car series season.

The Bedford Speedway has not been so kind to Strada over the past few events. Last year Strada had a crash in warm-ups during the USAC event in hot laps in this primary ride. Strada would run the family car as a backup car, and would take the checkers first, but would come up light on the scales.

Strada’s night would be off to a great start this year however, on the pole of his heat race and taking the win. In the redraw Strada would draw the pole for the feature event and never look back. Strada would jump out to the early race lead with Steven Drevicki quickly moving into second by lap two.

The first and only caution flag would fly on lap two as John Stehman and Lee Kauffman would make contact in turns one and two, leaving both drivers unable to continue the feature event. On the ensuing restart, Strada would again jump out to the early race lead with Drevicki, Perigo, Allen and Jennings in tow. The field, for the most part, would run the high side of the speedway on the cushion trying their hardest to make moves for position.

By the halfway point the top five would remain the same, with Drevicki only a few car-lengths behind Strada as the two leaders would begin to encounter lapped traffic at the back of the field. Perigo, Allen, and Jennings were all settled into their own positions inside the top five with the most contested position being for the lead.

After a few tense moments maneuvering through the lapped traffic, Eddie Strada would go on to collect his second feature event win of the season. Drevicki would come home second, with Carmen Perigo, Chris Allen and Eric Jennings rounding out the top five.

As the series moves into the final event at the Delaware International Speedway, Steven Drevicki and Eddie Strada will battle it out for the series championship in what will be a close race to the finish.

Ryan Quackenbush would have another solid night of competition collecting the heat one victory and having a solid finish in the feature event coming home in the 7th place position in the teams second ever start in their back up car.

Series rookie point leader, Connor Leoffler would also have another consistent night as he would come home in the 8th place spot at features end.

Rookie Mike Thompson would have an unfortunate accident as he would go for a big tumble in turns one and two. Thompson would be finished for the rest of the evening.

The next event for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series is the season finale at the Delaware International Speedway on September 7th.

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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 16, 2019 – Bedford Speedway – Bedford, Pennsylvania

FIRST HEAT: (8 Laps, All Qualify, Top-3 Redraw): 1. #5Q Ryan Quackenbush, 2. #71 Chris Allen, Jr., 3. #32 Eric Jennings, 4. #22 Connor Leoffler, 5. #23 John Stehman, 6. #86 Ron Aurand, 7. #96 Lee Kauffman, 8. #39 Mike Thompson. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 Laps, All Qualify, Top-3 Redraw): 1. #42E Eddie Strada, 2. #21 Carmen Perigo, 3. #19 Steven Drevicki, 4. #B1 Joey Biasi, 5. #11 Austin Bishop, 6. #15 Mark Bitner, 7. #11A Craig Pellegrini, Jr., 8. #3H Heidi Hedin. NT

FEATURE: (25 Laps) 1. Eddie Strada, 2. Steven Drevicki, 3. Carmen Perigo, 4. Chris Allen, Jr., 5. Eric Jennings, 6. Joey Biasi, 7. Ryan Quackenbush, 8. Connor Leoffler, 9. Austin Bishop, 10. Mark Bitner, 11. Craig Pellegrini, Jr., 12. Heidi Hedin, 13. Ron Aurand, 14. John Stehman, 15. Lee Kauffman.

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Eddie Strada.

Scotty Signs Hard Charger $100: Craig Pellegrini, Jr. (14th to 11th) +3

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger $50 Certificate: Craig Pellegrini, Jr.

Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger $50 Certificate: Craig Pellegrini, Jr.

Ultra-Shield Race Products 2nd Place $50 Certificate: Steven Drevicki

Keizer Wheels 3rd Place $50 Certificate: Carmen Perigo

Wilwood Brakes 4th Place $50 Certificate: Chris Allen, Jr.

ATL Fuel Cells 5th Place $100 Certificate: Eric Jennings

King Racing Products 6th Place $25 Certificate: Joey Biasi

Ultra-Shield Race Products 8th Place $50 Certificate: Connor Leoffler

NEW USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Steven Drevicki-736, 2-Eddie Strada-669, 3-Chris Allen, Jr.-609, 4-Chandler Leiby-589, 5-Eric Jennings-488, 6-Ryan Quackenbush-471, 7-Timmy Buckwalter-428, 8-Joey Biasi-428, 9-Carmen Perigo-406, 10-Bill Unglert-362.

NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: September 7, 2019 - Delaware International Speedway - Delmar, Delaware