Strada Dominates USAC Return To Bedford

August 17th, 2019

Eddie Strada, who once lost a Bedford win at the scale, atoned in a big way with a dominating win Friday as the USAC sprint cars made a return visit. Strada led the distance and was never challenged in the 25 lap feature event. Other winners in the five event program were Donnie Farlling in the Limited event, Kyle Weyandt in Semi Late action and Josh Frankenberry, who swept two Pure Stock events, one a makeup of a July 21 rainout.

In the USAC event, slowed by only two quick early cautions,Strada drew the pole position. He got the jump on the field and never looked back. Steve Drevici took second early with Carmen Perigo third but they never closed on Strada, who effortlessly handled lapped traffic and won by a huge margin.

Drevicki and Perigo finished in that order behind the fleet Strada. Chria Allen was fourth ahead of Eric Jennings. Ryan Quackenbush and Strada won the heats. Mike Thompson excited the fans with a wild flip in turn one during warmups. The car was heavily damaged and he was a feature non starter.

Donnie Farlling was equally dominating in the 20 lap Limited event. He drew the pole based on his low point average and got the jump at the start He had a decent lead when the event was slowed on lap five by a violent crash on the front stretch as Robby Marhefka heavily impacted the wall in front of the stage.

After a lengthy yellow for the Marhefka removal, Farlling again took off from the field. Curtis Heath gave chase but never challenged, finishing a season best second at the line. Matt Parks rallied late to take third, followed by Devin Weyandt and Clinton Hersh. Parks and Brad Feight won the heats.

Kyle Weyandt got the jump on the Semi Late field and led lap one. By lap three Brian Weyandt Jr had taken second and he closed on Weyandt’s bumper, shadowing his every move. When Bill Replogle moved into third he quickly ran down the leaders and made it a three way battle.

But the Weyandts prevailed. With Brian working over Kyle’s back bumper, Replogle could only hang on. A big last lap rush much like last week when he snared second at the line came up short as Replogle trailed Kyle and Brian across the finish line. \

Jarrod Brown and Greg Hainsey completed the top 5. Chubby Childers and Travis Calhoun won the heats.

The Pure Stocks led off the evening with the annual Charlie Walter Memorial, rained delayed from Fair Week. Josh Frankenberry, used to starting deep in the field as the point leader, was blessed with a front row start in the pill draw event and he made use of his good luck by leading all 42 laps.

As the laps wound down, Dalton Ritchey seriously challenged Frankenberry a few times but settled for second at the line. Chuck Clise came from deep in the field to take third, ahead of John Howsare and Dalton Weyandt, who had started dead last in the field. Ritchey and Frankenberry had won the heats, completed on July 21.

The Pire Stocks completed the program with definitely the best race of the night. Ritchey took the early lead but he was joined at the front by Nick Bechtell and eventually Frankenberry. Quite a few cautions dotted the event allwing the top three to remain close. Several times Bechtell was able to pull up inside Ritchey but could not complete the pass.

Lap after lap while the top two battled, Frankenberry ran third and the three ran under a blanket. On the last lap as Bechtell made one more attempt on the inside of the leader, Frankenberry threw caution to the wind and swept around the pair on the outside, taking the lead and the win coming off turn four.

Ritchey held off Bechtell on the wild last lap to take second, Kyle Deneen came from ninth to take fourth ahead of Cheyenne Ranker. Bechtell and Bill Replogle won the heats.

USACE SPRINTS 25 LAP 1 Eddie Strada, Steve Drevicki, Carmen Perigo, Chris Allen, Eric Jennings Joey Biosi, Ryan Quackenbush, Connor Leoffer, Austin Bishop, Mark Bitner, Craig Pelligario. Heidi Hedin, Ron Aurand, John Steahman, Lee Kauffman, DNS Mike Thompson.

LIMITED 20 LAPS 1 Donnie Farlling, Curtis Heath, Matt Parks, Devin Weyandt, Clinton Hersh, Brad Feight, Taylor Farlling, Brad Maginnis, George Dixon, Bryan Benton, Dan Zechman, Jim McBee, Travis Wilson, Greg Cornell, Jordan Kauffman, Rob Marhefka, Chad Demmett

SEMI LATE 15 LAP 1 Kyle Weyandt, Brian Weyandt Jr, Bill Replogle, Jarrod Brown, Greg Hainsey, Bob Jay, Mark Patterson, Ryan Whitsel, Chubby Childers, Chris Wolfe, Travis Calhoun, DNS Lonnie Buttry

PURE STOCK 42 LAPS 1 Josh Frankenberry, Dalton Ritchey, Charlie Clise, John Howsare, Dalton Weyandt, Bill Replogle, Travis Group, Justin Rosenberger, Bruce Broadwater, Cole Stickel, Reed Stickel, Kyle Deneen, Tyke Musselman, Andrew Stough, Larry Foor, DNS Greg Moore, Tyler Alkine, Barry Weyandt, Delmar Donivan, Dominick Shipley

PURE STOCK 15 LAP 1 Josh Frankenberry, Dalton Ritchey, Nick Bechtell, Kyle Deneen, Cole Stickel, Charlie Clise, Bill Replogle, Mason Replogle, Larry Foor, Justin Rosenberger, Travis Group, Dalton Weyandt, Greg Moore, Reed Stickel, Cole Stickel, Tyke Musselman, Andrew Stough, DNS Bruce Broadwater, John Howsare