DREVICKI BOUNCES BACK AT GEORGETOWN
By: Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
Georgetown, Delaware (October 2, 2020)………Steven Drevicki of Reading, PA continued his winning ways on the 2020, Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series tour by winning his fifth feature event of 2020, and remaining the only multi time winner on the 2020 series trail.
Seventeen USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series teams entered the pit area for competition on Friday night at the fast Georgetown Speedway. Bill Unglert and Kyle Spence collected the heat race victories on the night leading into the feature event. Following the redraw, Bill Unglert, and July winner at Georgetown Ryan Watt, would share the front row for the 25 lap feature event.
On the initial start of the feature event Bill Unglert utilized the high line of the speedway to get the drop on Watt, who quickly settled into second with a hornets nest of activity behind the leaders. The caution flag would fly just after the completion of lap one for a spinning Jason Cherry in turn four.
When the green flew on the restart Steven Drevicki made his move going passed Briggs Danner to move into the third spot and begin to reel in Watt for second. Drevicki would move by Watt, and move into the race lead on lap four diving under Bill Unglert for the lead. Meanwhile, Alex Bright was on a tear from his 6th place starting spot trying to remain on Drevicki’s tail climbing to third before the caution flag would fly on lap six for a slowing Ryan Watt.
As the field restarted and completed lap seven, Drevicki Lead the field with: Unglert, Bright, Spence, and Briggs Danner rounding out the top five. As lap seven was completed, the yellow flag would fly again for Jonathan Swanson and Mike Thompson who would make contact and stop in turns three and four.
Drevicki would lead the field to green again on the ensuing restart, Bright quickly moved by Bill Unglert to take second, with Kyle Spence utilizing a unique diamond maneuver off of turn four to take third and try to run down the lead duo.
During the following green flag stretch, Drevicki would build his lead to about half a straight-away over Bright, with Spence settling into third, Danner fourth, and Unglert falling back to fifth with a number of drivers going after Unglert for a top five position. Further back, second place points driver, Christopher Allen was trying to hold off the advances of rookies Nash Ely, and Kenny Miller lll to keep as few of positions between himself and Drevicki as possible.
Bill Unglert would make a mistake on the top side of the speedway and drop off the banking, bunching up the back half of the top five and drivers just outside of the top five vying for positions.
On lap sixteen, Nash Ely would move by Unglert for fifth, with Kenny Miller lll following along with Ely into 6th. The two would begin an all out battle for the last nine laps of the feature event for the final spot in the top five.
With six laps to go, Drevicki began to encounter lapped cars at the back half of the field, with his lead beginning to evaporate as Bright would explore different lines entering into, and exiting the corners doing all he could to try and catch Drevicki.
As Drevicki’s lead continued to shrink, the battle for fifth remained intense with Nash Ely, and Kenny Miller lll continuing to throw slide jobs corner after corner for the fifth place position with Ely getting the better of Miller.
Even with masterfully moving through the lapped traffic, Bright was still all over Steven Drevicki as the leaders took the white flag, Bright attempted to throw a slide job for the lead on Drevicki in turns one and two on the final lap of the feature event. Drevicki held strong in his line around the speedway and went on to collect his fifth win of the season, and second career win at the Georgetown Speedway. Alex Bright finished a strong second, with Kyle Spence third, Briggs Danner and impressive 4th, and Nash Ely winning out in a drag race over Kenny Miller lll for the 5th position.
Last Week at Bridgeport, Steven Drevicki had what some drivers in the USAC East Coast Pit area call “A Human Weekend” after packing the right rear with mud and a number of parts breaking on the right rear, Drevicki was left with a DNF. The DNF and subsequent third place run of Christopher Allen, lead to a mere 80 point lead heading into Georgetown. Drevicki bounced back in a big way on Friday night collecting the feature event win and adding back to his championship points lead.
In back to back weeks Alex Bright has wound up in the second position once the feature event has come to a close. The Collegeville, PA driver has been remarkably fast since joining the series. Bright has moved solidly into the top five in points standings, and no doubt would have been a factor in this years championship battle had the team run with the series since the beginning. Bright will have two more chances to notch another win with the series and shake the runner up finishes.
Kyle Spence is another rookie driver who has been nothing but impressive since making his first start in a sprint car. Spence has steadily improved his finishing position in nearly every event he has started. Spence notched what was his career best fourth on Saturday at Bridgeport, but has since leaped that mark and now recorded a career best third at Georgetown. No doubt the talented driver will be one to watch next week in twin 20 competition at the Big Diamond Speedway.
The competition level with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series has been extremely high in 2020, but it has sky rocketed even more since the addition of nineteen year old Briggs Danner. The modified and USAC Speedstr regular collected his first career win in his first start last week at Bridgeport, and did not let the high speeds of the Georgetown Speedway phase him at all in his effort resulting in a fourth place finish. Danner has many laps in a modified around the Big Diamond Speedway where the series will venture next week in Twin 20 feature event competition, look for Danner to be a favorite to win one, or both features on Friday.
Rounding out the top five was yet another series rookie, Nash Ely. The micro sprint regular, made his series debut last week at Bridgeport, and smoothly moved his way from the 10th place starting position, to an impressive top five. Ely and fellow micro sprint graduate, Kenny Miller lll put on one of the fiercest battles of the evening with Ely besting Miller as they came to the line.
As the season winds down, only one race weekend remains on the series trail. The series finale next week at the Big Diamond will be a unique end, to a unique 2020 season. Twin 20 feature events, paying full points for each event, will cap off the 2020 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series season. Plans are already in the works, for a bigger, and event better 2021 season with a number of tracks requesting multiple dates next season. Stay up to date with series news, updates, and everything else USAC East Coast related by following our socials! On Twitter at: @USACecsc and on Facebook at: USAC East Coast Sprint Cars.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 2, 2020 – Georgetown Speedway – Georgetown, Delaware
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 redraw) 1. 33B-Bill Unglert, 2. 39-Ryan Watt, 3. 19-Steven Drevicki, 4. 117-David Swanson, 5. 17m-Christian Bruno, 6. 22B-Troy Betts, 7. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 8. 11 Mike Thompson, 9. 67 Jason Cherry. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 redraw) 1. 22-Kyle Spence, 2. 5G-Briggs Danner, 3. 20-Alex Bright, 4. 71-Chris Allen Jr., 5. 3BC-Nash Ely, 6. 23m-Kenny Miller lll, 7. 17J-Jonathan Swanson, 8. 51G-C.J. Faison. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Steven Drevicki, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Kyle Spence, 4. Briggs Danner, 5. Nash Ely, 6. Kenny Miller lll, 7. Bill Unglert, 8. Chris Allen Jr., 9. Troy Betts, 10. Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 11. Mike Thompson, 12. C.J. Faison, 13. Jason Cherry, 14. Jonathan Swanson, 15. Christian Bruno, 16. Ryan Watt, 17. David Swanson. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Bill Unglert, Laps 5-25 Steven Drevicki.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Steven Drevicki-772, 2-Chris Allen Jr.-670, 3-Bill Unglert-634, 4-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-495, 5-Kyle Spence-435, 6-Jonathan Swanson-382, 7-Christian Bruno-369, 8-Ryan Quackenbush-341, 9-David Swanson-337, 10-Carmen Perigo-316.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: October 9, 2020 – Big Diamond Speedway – Pottsville, Pennsylvania
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
ULTRA SHIELD PRODUCTS 2ND PLACE: Alex Bright
KEIZER WHEELS 3RD PLACE: Kyle Spence
KING RACING PRODUCTS 6TH PLACE: Kenny Miller lll
ULTRA SHIELD PRODUCTS 8TH PLACE: Chris Allen Jr.
