BACON COLLECTS INAUGURAL SELINSGROVE USAC EAST COAST SPRINT VICTORY
By: Nick Fillman
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania (August 9, 2020)………“Macho Man” Brady Bacon, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was able to hold off late race challenges from Steven Drevicki in a thrilling finish to capture the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series inaugural feature event at the Selinsgrove Speedway.
Twenty-two ultra-talented drivers checked into the pit area of the Selinsgrove Speedway with an interesting mix of series veterans, rookies, and a handful of USAC National Tour drivers. Some of the drivers who were in action, recently competed in USAC Eastern Midget Week, and others in town for the Silver Crown series event that was the headline of Sunday’s show at Selinsgrove.
Steven Drevicki, Robert Ballou, and Carmen Perigo would pick up the victories in the three heat races and set themselves up for a great shot at the feature event victory by virtue of the redraw procedure. Rookie driver Alex Bright, making his series debut would draw the pole for the 20-lap feature event, with Brady Bacon sharing the front row.
The initial start would see Bright move to the race lead, with Bacon, Drevicki, and Ryan Quackenbush pushing hard for the top spot early on in the feature. Unfortunately for Quackenbush, and shock pin would break on the right rear of the 5Q machine, sending Quackenbush for a series of hops and slight contact with the wall.
On the ensuing restart, Bright would again be the leader with Brady Bacon in second, and Robert Ballou utilizing the high side of the speedway to quickly move into third. Brady Bacon would dive underneath of Bright on the exit of turn four to take the race lead on lap number three, before Robert Ballou would move by Bacon for the lead on lap four.
The top five drivers in the field would all utilize the high side of the speedway early on with Ballou leading the way over: Bacon, Drevicki, Mark Smith, and Alex Bright.
Ballou and the Hogue 39 entry were out to a sizable lead by the halfway point of the feature event and began to encounter lapped cars around the same time. Bacon still held strong in second and began to reel in the leader as Ballou maneuvered through the lapped cars.
Unfortunately, as Robert Ballou entered turn one on the high side of the speedway on lap 14, something broke sending the car straight into the wall and flipping upside down ending his bid for the feature event win.
The restart would see Brady Bacon leading the way over Steven Drevicki, Mark Smith, Kevin Thomas Jr, and Alex Bright. With Chris Allen Jr. methodically working his way up to the sixth position from his sixteenth place starting position.
On lap fifteen, Lee Kauffman would go for a spin in turns three and four, once again bunching the field up with the top five remaining the same. As the field went back to green Bacon maintained his lead with Drevicki not letting the 5G get too far out front. Kevin Thomas Jr and Alex Bright would battle for fifth, and Steve Buckwalter utilizing the high side of the speedway to gain a handful of positions.
Once again, the caution flag would fly on lap nineteen for a spinning Lee Kauffman, bringing Drevicki back to the rear bumper of Brady Bacon with a green, checkered restart coming for the field. Bacon would hold the lead at the green with Steven Drevicki diving under Bacon for the lead in turns one and two but could not get by Bacon with the momentum carried on the high line. As the field entered turns three and four for the final time, Drevicki dove to the bottom one last time to try and grab the victory, but Brady Bacon would go on to collect the checkered flag in the feature event.
Drevicki, Mark Smith, Kevin Thomas Jr, and Alex Bright would be the top five. Steve Buckwalter used the high side of the speedway to move from eighth to sixth on the final lap.
The win for Bacon would come in his first career start in the Bill Gallagher 5G entry, filling in for the injured Tim Buckwalter. Bacon was scheduled to make another start in the car next week at the Williams Grove Speedway, but Bacon will be busy dialing in the Hoffman 69 entry for USAC National Series competition. The win for Brady Bacon comes off of an unfortunate crash and early ending to the team’s week at the 360 Knoxville Nationals.
Steven Drevicki came home in the second position collecting yet another top five feature finish. The Reading, PA driver continued to keep his points lead over Chris Allen Jr. intact, and put on an impressive showing being the first series regular across the line. Drevicki collected the heat one victory on the night which was the most talent laden heat race of the night. Drevicki also received props from feature winner Brady Bacon for his run in the feature.
Sunbury, PA driver Mark Smith was back at the Selinsgrove Speedway on Sunday, but in a vastly different form of race car. The veteran driver has an abundance of victories at the speedway in a winged 360 but made his return to wingless action on Sunday for the event at his home track. Smith started in the top five of the feature event and remained competitive throughout the feature event.
Kevin Thomas Jr. made his first ever start aboard the Chris Dyson owned number 20 machine on Sunday, in addition to competition in the teams Silver Crown car. Thomas finished second in his heat race but pulled the seven pill for the feature event. Kevin Thomas Jr would remain inside the top five the majority of the feature event, but unfortunately couldn’t get into the top three during the feature event.
Rounding out the top five was Alex Bright, making his series debut. Fresh off running the micro sprint “Month of Money”, Eastern Midget week starts, and PA Micro Speedweek, Bright was impressive in his debut. Making the redraw of the feature event, and leading a handful of laps, Bright would fall backwards to the sixth position before the unfortunate ending for Ballou. Bright challenged Thomas Jr, a number of times, but would have to settle for fifth.
Steve Buckwalter and Chris Allen Jr. were the big movers of the night, with Buckwalter being a last-minute sub for Austin Nemire aboard the Lesko/Flammer 16 machine just hours before action began at the speedway. Second place points driver Chris Allen Jr. had a tough heat race result, starting him 16th on the feature field. Allen charged hard on the bottom of the speedway and wound up 7th after Buckwalter passed him coming to the line for 6th.
Up next for the series is another inaugural debut as the series is scheduled to make their first ever appearance to the legendary half-mile, Williams Grove Speedway for a triple header sprint car program. General admission is $16 with gates will opening at 5:30pm and racing underway at 7:30pm.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 9, 2020 – Selinsgrove Speedway – Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all cars transfer) 1. 19-Steven Drevicki, 2. 20-Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. M1-Mark Smith, 4. 32-Eric Jennings, 5. 16-Steve Buckwalter, 6. 71-Chris Allen Jr., 7. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 8. 96-Lee Kauffman.
SECOND HEAT: (8 Laps, all cars transfer) 1. 39-Robert Ballou, 2. 5G-Brady Bacon, 3. 20B-Alex Bright, 4. 17-Christian Bruno, 5. 23-John Stehman, 6. 35-Andrew Layser, 7. 07-Colby Womer.
THIRD HEAT: (8 Laps, all cars transfer) 1. 21-Carmen Perigo, 2. 33B-Bill Unglert, 3. 5Q-Ryan Quackenbush, 4. 7-Alex Yankowski, 5. 27c-Craig Pellegrini Jr., 6. 3H-Heidi Hedin, 7. 67-Jason Cherry.
FEATURE: (20 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Steven Drevicki, 3. Mark Smith, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr, 5. Alex Bright, 6. Steve Buckwalter, 7. Chris Allen Jr., 8. Carmen Perigo, 9. Alex Yankowski, 10. Bill Unglert, 11. Bruce Buckwalter, 12. Eric Jennings, 13. Andrew Layser, 14. John Stehman, 15. Jason Cherry, 16. Craig Pellegrini Jr., 17. Heidi Hedin, 18. Lee Kauffman, 19. Robert Ballou, 20. Christian Bruno, 21. Colby Womer, 22. Ryan Quackenbush.
**Robert Ballou flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Alex Bright, Lap 3 Brady Bacon, Laps 4-13 Robert Ballou, Laps 14-20 Brady Bacon.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Steven Drevicki-362, 2-Chris Allen Jr.-324, 3-Bill Unglert-283, 4-Ryan Quackenbush-227, 5-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-220, 6-Alex Yankowski-206, 7-Joey Biasi-174, 8-Jonathan Swanson-166, 9-Christian Bruno-160, 10-Ryan Watt-146.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: August 14, 2020 – Williams Grove Speedway – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
