8/7/2022
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Amantea Thrills Crowd for First Career USAC Victory
August 6th, 2022. Selinsgrove, PA. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
Joey Amantea of Mount Pocono, PA, prevailed in a thrilling four car battle for the win at the big half mile of Selinsgrove Speedway, to collect his first career Rapid Tire Services, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade victory.
Mike Thompson and Christian Bruno lead the field to the green flag for the twenty lap feature event at, with Thompson getting the early jump on Bruno for the race lead. As the duo ran nose to tail down the back straightaway, Christian Bruno’s car began to show more smoke than it did in the heat race, and would slow to a stop out of turn four and bring out the yellow at the completion of lap one.
As the field went back to green, Thompson lead over his close friend and fierce competitor Joey Amantea as they would begin their battle for the lead in the feature event. Behind the lead duo, Briggs Danner was quickly moving through the field from his sixth place starting spot, but locked in a heavily contested battle with Steven Drevicki for third, with Alex Bright following along battling with Ed Aikin for fifth.
Amantea threw his first slider attempt for the lead on lap five of the feature event in turns three and four, but Thompson was able to tap the brake, and cut underneath Amantea to retain the race lead as the leaders rocketed down the front stretch and back into turns one and two.
Danner competed the pass on Drevicki and moved into third on lap six of the feature event, but had a bit of distance to catch up to the lead duo of Thompson and Amantea. Alex Bright had moved by Ed Aikin to take fifth, and eventually by Drevicki to take the fourth place position, trying to stay in contact with Danner.
Just passed the half way point, Amantea would again make his attempt at a slider for the lead with Thompson getting back by, and now, Briggs Danner making his presence known as there was a three car battle for the race lead as the leaders began to catch a few lapped cars at the tail end of the field.
The three leaders were nose to tail as the laps wound down and the five to go signal loomed ever closer on the horizon. On lap fourteen, Amantea again threw the big slide job into turns one and two to try and take the lead away from Thompson. Amantea made contact, right rear to left front, and took the race lead away from Thompson. Thompson jumped on the brakes and slid above the cushion, allowing Danner to move into second with Thompson regaining his composure and holding onto third before Bright could get by.
With only a handful of laps to go, Preston Lattomus nearly made contact with the outside wall in turns three and four, forcing Amantea to check up slightly, and Danner as well missing his line through the middle, nearly spinning around in the middle of turns three and four. Amantea was able to establish a multi car-length race lead over Danner as the two to go signal was about to be thrown at the flag stand.
As the field took the two to go signal at the flag stand, it quickly turned to yellow as Mike Smith spun to a stop on the inside of turns one and two, drawing only the second caution flag of the night in the feature event.
The lead for Amantea was erased and gone, and the pressure was on with the most successful driver on the series trail in second vying for his eighth win of the season. Alex Bright unfortunately suffered overheating issues aboard his Hummer Motorsports entry and pulled off the speedway ending his night.
Amantea nailed the restart and pulled away from Danner, but only slightly as the duo came around to take the white flag. Danner remained in second, with Thompson solidly in third, with Steven Drevicki and Ed Aikin battling for fourth and fifth with only one lap to go.
Try as he might, Danner was never able to get close enough to attempt a pass for the race lead as “The Big Show” Joey Amantea went on to collect his first career USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series win over Briggs Danner, Mike Thompson, Steven Drevicki, and Ed Aikin.
The win for Amantea was not much of a surprise as the JPA Racing team has been incredibly fast all season long. The Amantea team, coupled with 2021 Championship winning crew chief Brian Zyck, has left the team with multiple top three runs this season knocking on the door of a win all year long. Amantea was strong on Wednesday night at Action Track USA, before unfortunately blowing an engine in the first feature event. Amantea and team made a last minute purchase of a 360 engine in PA, put it in the car Friday morning to race at Bloomsburg, and now found their way into victory lane. An impressive feat for any team, let alone to go on and collect their first ever win.
Briggs Danner came into Selinsgrove as the only winner with the series at the speedway in 2022, and on the heels of a second place, and first place run at Action Track USA on Wednesday. Danner and team dominated their heat race for the victory by nearly a straightaway. Danner yet again had a solid consistent run, but just didn’t have enough to get by Amantea for the win, a rarity for the Heffner Enterprises South team in 2022.
Hat shake of the night no doubt belonged to Mike Thompson. Thompson came into selinsgrove off of a fifth and sixth place run at Action Track USA where he was battling all night long inside the top five. Thompson lead the first fourteen laps of the feature event and came home with an extremely respectable third place effort. Thompson appears to be yet another driver who is knocking on the door of his first career USAC East Coast victory, possibly before the season is done.
Steven Drevicki is continuing his consistency season in 2022, with yet another top five run. An up and down pair of features at Action Track USA, with a better run in the second event, propelled Drevicki to a solid run at Selinsgrove to continue to solidify his place inside the top three in points. Drevicki was locked in a pair of intense battles during the feature event at Selinsgrove. First with long time competitor in the midget, and now sprint car ranks Alex Bright, and then late with Ed Aikin. While Drevicki has yet to find victory in 2022, there are plenty of tracks left where Drevicki has been a winner on the 2022 series trail.
Rounding out the top five with another great big track run was Ed Aikin. Akin was not quite up to his usual finishing spots on Wednesday night at Action Track USA, but Saturday night was more of what we have been used to seeing out of Aikin and team. Aikin has also now moved into fourth place in points, locked in competition with Joey Amantea for the las two positions inside the top five.
Hard luck on the night belonged to Bruce Buckwalter Jr as the team fought engine issues all night long. Buckwalter and close friend Steven Drevicki worked hard all night long, pushing off the car multiple times to try and remedy the engine/electrical issues they were battling. Unfortunately it was not to be on Saturday night as the team could not find, and solve the issue. Hopefully Buckwalter and team will have their issues figured out for their next event.
Up next for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series is a triple header of events in PA! Thursday August 18th a return trip to the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds Raceway, followed by the first ever series event at the Clinton County Fair Speedway on Friday the 19th. Finally the weekend will conclude with the second and final trip of the year to the always entertaining Port Royal Speedway on August 20th.
USAC East Coast at Selinsgrove Results:
Heat 1 (8 Laps, 3 Invert, All Qualifty): 1. 5G Briggs Danner, 2. 88J Joey Amantea, 3. 19 Steven Drevicki, 4. 20 Alex Bright, 5. 23B Preston Lattomus, 6. 87 Austin Graby, 7. 64 Rich Carnathan.
Heat 2 (8 Laps, 3 Invert, All Qualifty): 1. 7 Ed Aikin, 2. 17B Christian Bruno, 3. 11 Mike Thompson, 4. 67 Jason Cherry, 5. 76 Mile Smith, 6. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr
Feature Event 20 Laps : 1. 88J Joey Amantea, 2. 5G Briggs Danner, 3. 11 Mike Thompson, 4. 19 Steven Drevicki, 5. 7 Ed Aikin, 6. 23B Preston Lattomus, 7. 87 Austin Graby, 8. 67 Jason Cherry, 9. 76 Mike Smith, 10. 20 Alex Bright, 11. 64 Rich Carnathan, 12. 17B Christian Bruno. 13. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr (DNS)
Lap Leaders: Mike Thompson: 1-14. Joey Amantea: 15-20.
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger: Briggs Danner +4 (6th to 2nd), Austin Graby +4 (11th to 7th).
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman