Ryan Godown Wins Hoffman Memorial At Bridgeport To Open RoC Dirt Season

Ryan Godown Wins Hoffman Memorial At Bridgeport To Open RoC Dirt Season

BRIDGEPORT, NJ- April 6, 2015- The Ringoes Rocket Ryan Godown started off his 2015 racing with a bang as he won his second feature in as many days. On Easter Sunday at the Bridgeport Speedway Godown driving Bill Hewlett’s owned 901 Modified had some lady luck on his side during the 44 lap feature.

During the entire feature the motor was popping but that didn’t hamper his effort in his run to the front and he inherited the lead with 12 laps to go when leader Stewart Friesen who was driving the Petruska Racing 66 suffered a right rear flat tire.

Godown who just passed Rick Laubach for second in heavy lap traffic on lap 31 then held off Laubach over the final 12 laps to claim the $4,444.44 win. Godown was also signed up for the Gamblers Bonus portion and received an additional $350 in cash.

Outside pole sitter Dominick Buffalino ended up third just in time as he blew the rear end at the finish. Virtual unknown local driver Ryan Anderson came from 16th to end up in fourth with Richie Pratt, Jr. finishing fifth after starting 19th.

“ I would have never thought that I would start off the year with two wins on the weekend “ said the driver from Ringoes, NJ. “ The car was breaking up the whole race, going down the straightaways was the worse. All we did from the heat to the feature was change the jets in the carburetor, we’ll have to figure it out as the carburetors on Bill’s ( car owner Hewlett ) Hutters’ than my car. “

Ron Roberts and Dominick Buffalino brought the 24 car field to the green of Ken Golden, Jr. with Buffalino in the Michaels Brothers owned Modified taking the lead over Roberts, Dave Hunt, Mike Barone and Stewart Friesen. Buffalino opened up a big lead on the spacious Bridgeport newly installed black clay track surface.

Meanwhile the action and passing was hot and heavy behind the leader as Friesen quickly got to second by lap four. Hot on the heels of Friesen were ninth place starter Rick Laubach and seventh place starter Ryan Godown who were now in third and fourth. Further back in the field 11th place starter Craig Von Dohren moved into fifth on lap five.

Friesen got underneath Buffalino in turns three and four to grab the lead as the pack completed lap number six and once in front Friesen opened up a huge straightaway lead over Buffalino.

Back in the pack 22nd place starter Anthony Perrego was opening some eyes as he was using the extreme high outside groove at the track. Perrego moved into tenth position in just nine laps and one lap later disaster struck as Perrego spun exiting turn four to bring out the first caution of the feature. Tommy Beamer and Duane Howard were also involved and left the track via the wrecker ending their day, Perrego pitted and returned to the race before dropping out later on.

On the restart Friesen quickly moved back into the lead with Laubach now in second and Godown in third followed by Buffalino, Von Dohren, and 16th place starter Ryan Anderson.

With the next 21 laps going caution free Friesen kept increasing his lead and the heavy lap traffic kept Laubach and Godown boxed in and they had their own personal battle for second. Godown made a nifty inside turn one pass to grab second on lap 31 and this became a very important pass.

As coming down to complete lap 32 the right rear tire on the Friesen machine went flat and he slowed to bring out the yellow. During the yellow Friesen pitted and he was followed into the pit by a plethora of other cars who also suffered flat and or soft tires. Everyone ( all seven cars ) that pitted at this time all made their tire change and returned to the racing action.

“ I had nothing for Stewart “ said Ryan. “ He was good, that 66 car has the latest and greatest everything on it and then when you put a top shoe in it makes that car even stronger. I don’t know maybe later in the race I could have gotten him. I know on that one restart ( lap 11 ) he ran the top and I was on the bottom but he pulled away so quickly that I wanted to go back to the top and try it. But it was also early in the race and I wanted to conserve so I could get to the end. After I started to conserve that is when Rick got past me and I said to myself well I can’t conserve anymore, I gotta go. “

Ryan spoke about the battle for second with Laubach in heavy lap traffic. “ Yea we had quite a battle there, I went to go around him on the top the one time in the corner, he probably didn’t see me but he definitely came up the race track. You have to be aggressive because you never know what is going to happen. As if we had to restart behind him we would never gotten past him so when I did pass him there just before Stewart got the flat was huge. I have always raced with the never give up attitude and that is what we did today. “

On the single file restart Godown who inherited the lead when Friesen pitted jumped out to a big lead over Laubach, Buffalino, Anderson, and Jeff Heotzler.

As the laps wore down the popping noise from the Godown machine became more noticeable. This allowed Laubach to close the gap between him and the leader but Godown still had enough power to hold on to his lead.

Godown in for the very popular win over Laubach, Buffalino, Anderson, and Pratt.

“ The race track was fine for being the first race of the year “ said Godown when asked about the new racing surface. “ There was just a little dip going into one but after that it was fine, three and four you could run anywhere you wanted to. I like running on the top in the middle of the corners and then drive across the slick coming out of the corner and I could do that today with no trouble at all. This place will be ultra-fast when they get it smooth, it was fast today but when you can flat foot it around here it will be something. “

“ This is a big win for my car owner Bill Hewlett “ said Ryan. “ He’s trying the best he can by bringing the best equipment he can to the race track. I think it is an honor to drive and win for Bill as he loves Bridgeport Speedway. “

Laubach of Quakertown, Pa. ended up a very disappointed second. “ The lap cars were two wide for too long in front of me and that slowed me up enough to where Ryan got an opportunity to get around me “ said Rick. “ At the end his car his car was popping pretty good, I think something was fishy there. “

Laubach who races Bridgeport on a weekly basis was asked about the newly installed black clay racing surface. “ It will be good, it will be New York style and I like that type of race track. “

Qualifying action for the 27 car field saw Sunoco Race Fuels heat wins worth five bonus points being captured by Duane Howard, Laubach, and Buffalino while the American Racer Tire consolation was won by Anthony Perrego.

DOUG HOFFMAN MEMEORIAL 44 FINISH; Ryan Godown, Rick Laubach, Dominick Buffalino, Ryan Anderson, Richie Pratt, Jr., Jeff Heotzler, Mike Barone, Craig Von Dohren, Stewart Friesen, Howard O’Neal, Dave Hunt, Mike Franz, Jesse Hill, Jimmy Blewett, Dana Walker, Ron Roberts, Bob Sarkisian, Anthony Perrego, Sam Martz, Ricky Dieva, Jamie Mills, Tommy Beamer, Duane Howard. DNS; Erick Rudolph ( car, Iles 711 failed to fire ). DNQ’S; Scottie Armbruster ( blown motor in consi ), Wade Hendrickson ( scratched after hot laps motor issues ).