Princeton May 9 Recap

Temperatures were warm, tempers were high, and the racing action was hot for the second event of the 2015 season at Princeton Speedway. We saw 52 cars signed in for the nights racing action. Plus a lot of great entries for the AMRA School Poster Contest! Congratulations to all the winners!

The Mother’s Day weekend racing was headlined by the AMRA Open Wheel Modifieds where we would see 8 cars signed in. Tate Hughes blistered the track in qualifying and took the pole as well as the heat race win. After being spun in the feature last week Hughes came out looking like a man on a mission, but last weeks winner Mike Duncan showed that he wanted to make it a race. Duncan who had a slow time in qualifying worked his way up in the heat race, but still had to start fourth in the feature event. He made quick work of the second and third place starters Steve Stover and Jason Cochran and set sail for Hughes, but had lost a little ground passing the other two drivers. Lenny Stafford would spin bunching the field back up. On the restart Hughes would choose his usual low side and Duncan would be up to where he likes to run. Both drivers got a good restart, but Hughes would hold the lead. Duncan was searching all over the track low, middle, and high to try to find a line to get around Hughes. It would seem he could pull right next to him, but never make the pass in a couple different grooves. Michael Moore would then have troubles bringing out the caution and it would cut his night short also retiring from the race at that time was Jason Cochran. This time on the restart Hughes would catch Duncan off guard and pull away from him. Duncan would also get passed by Steve Stover and Eric Feuchtenberger giving Hughes the advantage he needed to sail to victory easily. Stover would come home second holding off Duncan who made a hard charge back to the front after the bad restart. Duncan would take third followed by Feuchtenberger in 4th. We only had one AMRA Sport Modified again this week, so bringing home 5th was Lowell, Ohio’s Cole Perine in his AMRA Sport Modified.

The FASTRAK Pro Late Models were also on the card where we would see 13 cars signed in to do battle. Henry Hornsby III would continue his domination taking the pole in qualifying and winning his heat race. Kennie Compton would take the win in heat race two. As the feature kicked off Hornsby jumped to the early lead in his Henry’s Radiator #39 followed by Eddie Hambrick making quick work of Kennie Compton for second. The race saw many battles throughout the event from 2nd on back. Hambrick had several opportunities on several restarts to take a shot at Hornsby, but never could get around him with Hornsby just opening a lead back up. Hornsby would take the win with Hambrick bringing home second. Compton would take thrid with Aaron Barley finishing fourth. Maybe our most improved driver so far in 2015 Ashely Brewster brought home a very strong fifth place finish.

The Outlaw Modified had 7 cars sign into do battle for the nights racing action. One of the usual front runners in the class Freddy Mooney broke in hot laps putting what looked like an early end to his night. Doug Fuechtenberger would win the heat race for the Outlaws. In the feature Captain America David Ferrerira would take the early lead and had no intentions of looking back. Captain America would not be denied on his first win of the season. Fuechtenberger would bring home second. Miki Murphy in his 37M ride cruised to a third place finish followed by Booty Flickins Kevin Woodall who ran the high line to a fourth place finish. Freddy Mooney who we though was done for the night borrowed Pete Stump’s #00 ride and brought it home to a 5th place finish.

The Street Stock class which was down from it’s usual numbers only saw 5 cars signed in to do battle. The rookie driver to the class Brandon Adkins would win the heat race. In the feature all five cars would take the green flag, but early problems to Robert Mooney’s #9 side lined him. Brandon Belcher and Brandon Adkins battled hard throughout the event, but Adkins inexperience in the class would hurt him. Two times he had a chance to pass Belcher who was leading, but would spin out. Belcher would come out victorious with Adkins bringing home second. “The Rookie” Zachery Lilly would bring home a strong thrid place finish. Rounding out the top 5 were #19 Bobby Mooney and #9 Robert Mooney.

The ever exciting and growing Outlaw Mini’s saw some great racing and even more cars! 12 cars signed in to battle it out in the Outlaw Mini class. Tyler Meadows would win heat one and Mike Sorrels would take heat two. In the feature we had a hard time getting started with several cautions flying in the first three laps. After a warning though the drivers would go caution free to the end. Mike Sorrels would lead the whole event, but lightning would strike for him at the tech shed. He was disqualified for being light at the scales and having no right front brakes on his car. This would cause tempter to flare temporarily, but diligence from the track staff quickly extinguished any issues. This would hand Tyler Meadows the win ahead of a hard charging Jeremy Finley. Timmy McBride who started the feature way back in the 7th position raced his way to a very respectable third place finish in the first time out in his #47 Toyota. Tim Black brought home the fourth place finish. Grottoes, Virginia’s Matt Sorrels brought home the fifth place finish in his first ever visit to the race track.

The U-Car class car count was still down, so they again would run a feature only with only two cars signed in. The veteran of the class Buckshot Blake Ellis would dominate the caution free event over the rookie Ryan Dunn.

The Mini Wedge feature would again be an exciting one with five cars signed in. One of the favorites Blake Basham had early problems sidelining him from the event. Logan Brant and “Mad” Max Price put on an exciting show for the victory. Brant would take the win followed by Price in second. Third would go to the improving Trent Salango followed by Blake Basham in fourth. Rounding out the top 5 and the field was Logan Collins.

Princeton Speedway would like to thank all the fan, drivers, and teams who came out to support the second event of 2015. We’d like to give a special thanks to the folks from AMRA: Angie and Mike Haught as well as Jenni Fussell who make the long haul to support the event and put on the AMRA School Poster Contest. We’d also like to thank all of our sponsors who make racing possible each and every week.