“THE NATURAL” ADAM CARBERRY WINS SECOND OF THE SEASON AT GRANDVIEW
“THE NATURAL” ADAM CARBERRY WINS SECOND OF THE SEASON AT GRANDVIEW
BECHTELSVILLE, PA
By ERIKA PALMAI WAGNER
Second generation driver Adam Carberry won his second Tri State Racesaver Series feature of the year on Saturday, June 13th at Grandview Speedway. Carberry’s first win of the season came a few week back at New Egypt when he won the May 9th make-up feature event. The Bensalem PA resident began the race in the sixth starting spot, and quickly took the lead over from Eddie Wagner on lap six, never looking back from that point on. Rounding out the top five was Mike Haggenbottom, Eddie Wagner, Rick Stief and Ryan Stillwaggon.
“We got a win here last year, it seems that we either wreck or win here, but tonight we chose to win,” said Carberry about his usual fortune at Grandview.
There were 26 sprinters on the card for the 25 lap feature event. Three qualifying heat races went to Ryan Stillwaggon, Mike Haggenbottom and rookie racer Joe Kay. This was the second of four appearances made so far that the TSRS sprints are slated to make this season at Grandview, with this being their first ever time being added to the regular Saturday night program.
Eddie Wagner and Tim Tanner Jr. started on the front row with Tanner taking the lead after blasting into turn one and two on the high side. The Bethmann Auto Body number 18 continued to lead Wagner, Carberry, Stief, and Geiges for the first four laps, pulling away by a straight away margin until he came into contact with Samantha Lieberman who spun in turn three and four. Tanner flipped after making contact with Lieberman’s left front tire, bringing the red flag out. Both drivers were okay, but they were unable to continue.
“She just spun, and she didn’t really hold her line. When you spin, you lock you brakes up so you don’t coast down. I don’t know if her engine was still running or what, but she came down about a lane in half, two lanes and I just had now where to go,” described a frustrated Tanner on the situation. “When I realized that she was spinning, I was entering three and I just braced myself because I knew I had nowhere to go”. Tim, who made the transition from Big Block Modifieds to Sprint Cars two years ago, has been a competitive asset to the TSRS series, but this season has been a struggle for him. “I haven’t been able to put it together yet. When my car is good, I can’t seem to get into the redraw to get that good starting spot. And when my car is bad, I end up getting a good starting spot and struggle. What are you going to do though, that’s racing!”.
A single file restart was applied, with Wagner back on the pole leading Adam Carberry, Stief and Brown into turn one. Wagner went to the bottom and Carberry who was making his moves on the top, attempted to pass Wagner coming out of turn two but was unsuccessful due to the number 70 unintentionally shutting the door on Carberry.
“You don’t know anyone’s there until you feel them, I wasn’t far enough next to him (Wagner) anyway so I got out of it and tried it again the next lap and it worked that time,” commented Carberry on the contact with Wagner.
The halfway point was approaching, as was lapped traffic, and Adam Carberry continued to expand his lead by over a straight away over the rest of the field. Two more cautions would challenge Carberry, who perfected his restarts time and time again and after running much of the race on the top of the high banked oval, the bright green number 47 began to work the bottom, continuing to dominate the race.
“To get up to the front I used the top and then I figured at about half way the track would take rubber, and once the track takes rubber that’s pretty much where you got to be to be fast,” he explained.
With the top four cars maintaining their positions, “Mr. Excitement” Mike Haggenbottom made his way to the front, breaking into the top five by lap 15. The fourth and final caution of the night came out for Jeff Geiges, who made contact with the number 70 of Eddie Wagner, jumping his left rear tire after getting a good run going into the first turn, resulting in the Stellitano Heating and Air Conditioning number 77J to spin and hit the turn one wall. Geiges, who made hard contact with the steel outside wall, remained uninjured, but his car could not say the same.
“Two people were going for the same real-estate, that’s all I’m going to say.” Geiges commented shortly.
On the fourth and final restart, Adam Carberry took the green flag and ran away once again, driving in his own time zone for the remaining ten laps of the race. Haggenbottom advanced two spots on the restart after powering hard into turns one and two, now placing him into second over Wagner, Stief and tenth place starting Ryan Stillwaggon. The Belmont’s Garage number 24 was on a mission to catch the leader who was now approaching and dicing in and out of lapped traffic, but was unable to hook on to him for the win.
“This second place is a win for me at Grandview. I probably have about 15 second or third place finishes here. I have never won here, so it would have been nice, but we’ll take the second,” said Haggenbottom. “I liked the top, it was there for the most part of the race, but it went away with about six or seven laps to go. Turn one was not bad, and that helped me on the restart when everyone went to the bottom, but I had to go to the bottom in turns three and four because the top just went away over there”.
Adam Carberry took the checkered flags for the second time at Grandview in his short, but successful racing career. Carberry comes from a large and well known racing family, with his Grandfather Tom being a mechanic on many modified teams back in the 60’s and 70’s, his father Kenny and uncles Tom and Chuck Carberry all former Modified and Sprint car drivers, as well as his cousin Tommy Carberry who also races with Adam in the 305 ranks. He began his career in the 305 sprints four years ago when he was 18 and has won at nearly every track that the TSRS series has raced at.
“I want to thank my crew, my dad, Phil Meisner, Kyle Koellner and my girlfriend Jill for helping me out every week and getting me into victory lane,” thanked Carberry.
NOTES:
Thayer Performance once again provided an added incentive to the customary Bruce’s Auto Body Hard Charger award. The Mercerville, NJ based parts trailer, which is stocked and loaded with Hoosier racing tires, TiLube products, and everything else in-between presented Jamie Kostic with the “Rubber Burning Bonus” right rear Hoosier Racing tire for advancing the most positions in the feature. Kostic advanced eight spots after starting 17th, and finishing ninth.
Adam Carberry set fast time of the feature with a 14.592 lap time, occurring on lap 21.
FEATURE (25 laps): Adam Carberry, Mike Haggenbottom, Eddie Wagner, Rick Stief, Ryan Stillwaggon, Tommy Carberry, Scott Frack, Joe Kay, Jamie Kostic Jon Haegele, Stephanie Stevens-Dodson, John Barnett, Bryant Davis, Brad Franks, Jason Rochelle, Dave Graber, Pat U’Selis, Zack Burd, Jeff Geiges, Dave Brown Jr., David Bonner, Tim Tanner, Tony Smolenyak, Samantha Lieberman
DNQ: Joe Lord
Bruce’s Auto Body & Thayer Performance Hard Charger Award: Jamie Kostic (+8)
Fast Time: Adam Carberry, 14.592
