Ryan Stillwaggon Earns First Career Sprint Car Victory with TSRS at Bridgeport
Ryan Stillwaggon, of Burlington, NJ, earned his first career sprint car victory Friday Night with the Tri-State Racesaver Series at Bridgeport Speedway. Stillwaggon held off a hard charging Bob DeVault in a thrilling twenty lap feature event at the newly resurfaced South Jersey five-eighths mile. Adam Carberry, who was a close contender for the win as well settled for third, Mike Haggenbottom, who pitted early in the race, restarted twenty-second and came through the field and finished 4th, and Eddie Wagner round out the top five finishing fifth.
Three heat race events were presented for the field of twenty-two 305 Sprints with victories going to Brad Franks, Mike Haggenbottom, and Eddie Wagner.
Ryan Stillwaggon and Jeff Geiges led the field to the green with Stillwaggon taking strong control of the top spot over Geiges. The first caution was brought out on lap 1, with Tim Tanner clipping the inside wall of turns one and two, side lining Tanner with front end damage, prematurely ending his attempt to challenge for the win.
Restarting the field in double file fashion, Stillwaggon checked out once again with Eddie Wagner climbing up the ranks very quickly from his 5thstarting spot, obtaining two positions by lap 2, moving him up to third. Stillwaggon continued to show his dominance with a strong lead, followed by Jeff Geiges, Eddie Wagner, Adam Carberry and Bobby Devault who started back in 12th. Another caution was displayed on lap 5, with Samantha Lieberman spinning and coming to a stop in turn 3.
The green flag dropped to restart the race and Stillwaggon, Geiges and DeVault, who took advantage of the restart slicing and dicing his way to the 3rd spot, were the top three. Another caution was displayed on lap 6, with Dave Brown stopping in turn 3.
On the next restart, it was Adam Carberry and his green number 47 who took advantage of the very fast outside groove, jumping from 5th to 3rd, and then moving quickly to 2nd on the top by lap 10. Stillwaggon, showing the supremacy of his SEC Racing Engine power plant, continued to display his authority over the field with over a half a straightaway lead over the stout competition behind him. By catching up to lapped traffic, this allowed Carberry, DeVault, Haggenbottom and Wagner to reel him in. Bob DeVault, who started the feature back in 12th place, challenged Carberry for 2nd, defeating him and then set his eyes on the lead to which he conquered by lap 16. The caution was brought out for the final time due to a car stopping on the front stretch. Things were about to get interesting.
On the final restart, Bob DeVault lead the field to the final green flag, but Stillwaggon, who lost possession of the top spot a lap before, was not going to give it up without a fight. Stillwaggon challenged DeVault in a side by side dash down the back stretch, with the number 11 regaining the lead on lap 17. For the final laps, DeVault continued to challenge Stillwaggon, offering multiple runs at the lead, but Ryan prevailed. With the checkered flag in the air, Ryan Stillwaggon took his Quality Auto Body number 11 sprinter to victory lane with Bob DeVault finishing a close second, Adam Carberry third, Mike Haggenbottom fourth and Eddie Wagner finishing fifth.
RESULTS:
HEAT 1: BRAD FRANKS, ADAM CARBERRY, RYAN STILLWAGGON, DAVE BROWN JR., JAMIE KOSTIC, RANDY WILBERT*, BRENDON TOFF*, DAVID BONNER*
HEAT 2: MIKE HAGGENBOTTOM, CHRIS ALLEN JR., TIM TANNER JR, RICK STEIF, JOE LORD, HARRIS KOHEN, SAMANTHA LIEBERMAN*
HEAT 3: EDDIE WAGNER, JEFF GEIGES, BRYANT DAVIS, BOB DEVAULT, SCOTT FRACK, ZACH BURD, JOE KAY*
FEATURE: RYAN STILLWAGGON, BOB DEVAULT, ADAM CARBERRY, MIKE HAGGENBOTTOM, EDDIE WAGNER, JEFF GEIGES, RICK STIEF, CHRIS ALLEN JR., BRYANT DAVIS, DAVE BROWN JR., RANDY WILBERT*, SCOTT FRACK, JOE LORD, JOE KAY*, SAMANTHA LIEBERMAN*, DAVID BONNER*, JAMIE KOSTIC, ZACH BURD, HARRIS KOHEN, BRAD FRANKS, BRENDON TOFF*, TIM TANNER
HARD CHARGER: BOB DEVAULT
