MARTZ, JONES AND PALMAI ARE BIG WINNERS IN BRIDGEPORT ACTION

MARTZ, JONES AND PALMAI ARE BIG WINNERS IN BRIDGEPORT ACTION

Kemery Wins for Fifth Time in Rookie Competition

After a lot of effort and sweat and overcoming adversity and being close on previous occasions, Sam Martz, CJ Jones and Steph Palmai picked up feature wins in their respective divisions during Saturday night action on the 5/8 mile Bridgeport Speedway.

It has been a frustrating season for the popular Martz of Whitehouse Station, NJ. Martz and his Izzy Trucking & Rigging #3 have had to overcome weeks of mechanical issues. Then two weeks earlier, Martz was running second and challenging for the lead with just one lap to go in the Big Block Modified feature when he had a right rear tire go. But all that faded as Martz drove to his first win of the season over two time feature winner, Jamie Mills on Saturday night.

Scott Ambruster and Stan Frankenfield, Jr. led the field to the start with Ambruster jumping into the lead. Frankenfield held on to the runner-up spot until Martz made his way into contention from his fifth place start. Martz took over second on lap seven and then got by Ambruster to take the lead on the next circuit.

After starting in fourteenth, Jamie Mills raced his way into the top five, running in third behind Martz and David Hunt throughout the middle of the race. Mills took over second on lap eighteen and began to track down Martz but this race belonged to Sam Martz as he led the way to the checkered flag. Mills, Hunt with his best finish to date, Ryan Anderson and Delaware invader, Jordan Watson trailed Martz at the line. Watson came from deep in the field to collect a top five finish.

After many second place runs, CJ Jones put the Overhead Door #0 in Victory Lane for the Stewart Stainless Crate/Sportsman feature for the first time since the start of the 2015 track points. This feature event saw three different leaders. Dave Damiano led the first eight laps before Pat Wall took over on lap nine. Wall led through lap twelve before Jones took over on the next circuit. Jones raced to the win followed by Wall, Damiano, last weeks two race winner, Jim Britt and Jeremy Harrington.

With just two races remaining before Rookie graduation, Steve Kemery picked up win number five in the D.A.’s Auto Body & Repair Rookie feature event, winning over Bryan Olsen and Tom Holding.

For the first time in her career, Steph Palmai picked up the win in the Hilborn TSRS Sprint Car Feature event. The win gave Palmai an Ace in the Bethman Auto Center/Bruce’s Speed Shop/Thayer Performance Poker Series for the TSRS Sprint car.

Palmai led from the green to the checkered, leading every lap of the twenty lap main event but not without the pressure of multi-time TSRS Champion, Mike Haggenbottom in hot pursuit. Haggenbottom moved up to second on lap six but was unable to challenge Palmai as she drove to her first sprint car victory. Haggenbottom finished second followed by Jeff Geiges, John Barnett and Tim Tanner, Jr.

The Drive for Dylan 50 highlights Bridgeport Speedway action next weekend. The quarter mile racing gets underway on Friday night at 8pm as the 270 and 600 Micros, Open Mods and 4 Cylinder Enduros get the weekend started. On Saturday night, the Drive for Dylan 50 highlights a full night of racing as the Big Block Modifieds will compete in a full racing program plus their make-up feature from May 16th along with the Crate/Sportsman and Rookie divisions.

SPIRIT DODGE BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS (25 LAPS)

1. Sam Martz, 2. Jamie Mills, 3. David Hunt, 4. Ryan Anderson, 5. Jordan Watson, 6. Dominick Buffalino, 7. Rick Laubach, 8. Scott Ambruster, 9. Wade Hendrickson, 10. Joseph Watson, 11. Travis Hill, 12. Tommy Beamer, 13. Stan Frankenfield, 14. Kyle Hieber, 15. Howard O’Neal, 16. Ron Roberts, 17. Richie Pratt, Jr. , 18. Jesse Hill, 19. Matt Hawkins, 20. Bob Sarkisian, 21. Bobby Firth, 22. Mike Franz, 23. Scott Irwin, 24. Ray Drain

STEWART STAINLESS CRATE/SPORTSMAN (20 LAPS)

1. CJ Jones, 2. Pat Wall, 3. Dave Damiano, 4. Jim Britt, 5. Jeremy Harrington, 6. Matthew Peck, 7. Justin Lileck, 8. Chris Jenkins, 9. Jeff Bubori, 10. Gary Hieber, 11. David Crossman, 12. Cory Anderson, 13. Steve Kemery, 14. Scott Hulmes, 15. Chuck Potts, 16. Tom Holding, 17. Brad Roberts, 18. Jeff Sargent, 19. John Micek

D.A.’S AUTO BODY & REPAIR ROOKIES (8 LAPS)

1. Steve Kemery, 2. Bryan Olsen, 3. Tom Holding

HILBORN TSRS SPRINT CARS (FEATURE 20 LAPS)

1. Steph Palmai, 2. Mike Haggenbottom, 3. Jeff Geiges, 4. John Barnett, 5. Tim Tanner, 6. Adam Carberry, 7. Rick Stief, 8. Bob DeVault, Jr., 9. Eddie Wagner, 10. Joe Lord, 11. Tommy Carberry, 12. Jon Haegele, 13. David Bonner, 14. Karl Freyer, 15. Bryant Davis, 16. Zach Burd, 17. Jason Rochelle,