Bridgeport, NJ – Spirit Speedway action produced three new faces in Friday night‘s Victory Lane as Mike Rutherford, Alex Swift and Ryan Davey earned their first Friday night victories of the 2020 season on Hyper Racing Night at the quarter mile track.
2018 600 Champion, Mike Rutherford led from the green to the checkered to pick up his first win of the season in the Gary and Donna Spotts/Earl Fellin owned No. 2S.
Rutherford had plenty of company through the first half of the race and then benefited from the fierce competition for second as the laps counted down.
Joey Amantea was an early race challenger for the lead and then found himself in the thick of the battle for second as John Barnett, Kenny Miller and Bobby Butler entered the picture. A lap five restart saw the 600s race three wide for the lead as Rutherford held off Miller and Amantea. Damon Paul was racing for a top five spot before contact had the two time feature winner facing traffic and bringing out the caution.
Butler raced his way into third on lap seven as Aiden Borden took over fourth one lap later.
At half way, Rutherford led Amantea, Butler, Borden and Buddy Schweibinz. Butler was challenged by Borden while working on taking second from Amantea. Rutherford took advantage of the heated battle for second and distanced himself from the pack.
Amantea and Borden traded the third spot throughout the final laps.
Rutherford took the checkered followed by Butler, Amantea, Paul who raced his way back to fourth by just edging out Borden at the checkered.
Miller finished sixth followed by Schweibinz, Gary Bozowski, Mike Linderman and Brandon Pavel.
Defending 270cc Champion, Alex Swift picked up his first Friday night victory by warding off the challenges of Nick Skias and Lee Reinhardt throughout the twenty lap feature event. Swift has one Spirit victory from July when he won the Sunday Poker Series event.
Skias quickly raced into second and was Swift’s chief rival – especially on restarts. Skias and Reinhardt kept it interesting throughout the twenty lap event.
Swift led the way to the checkered with the John Blanda owned No. 15 over Skias, Reinhardt and 2019 270cc Rookie, Shea Wills. Tyler Grau rounded out the top five. Andrew Locuson finished sixth in his first Spirit race of the season, followed by Steve Coslop, Ken Andreas, Thomas Rinck and Jayson Conover.
Last season, Ryan Davey scored seven Slingshots victories on the Spirit quarter mile but two DNFs kept him out of the season championship title.
This year, Davey had three runner-up finishes before he put the No. 515 into Victory Lane on Friday night. Jason Kraycirik challenged Davey and took the lead on lap three. Davey raced behind Kraycirik until lap fifteen when he executed a run to the outside in turn four and came off the corner with the lead.
Davey took the checkered for the first time this season over Kraycirik, three time winner, Amanda Angstadt, Michael Beckett and Tomas Mowery. Dave Morrell finished sixth with Ashley Therien, Joseph Hansen, Ryan Harris and Shawn Mowery rounding out the top ten.
Racing returns to the Spirit Speedway on Friday night with the 600 and 270 cc Micro Sprints and Mini Late Models on the schedule. The Slingshots will race in their third Saturday afternoon matinee.
HYPER RACING/EVO FUEL INJECTION 600cc MICRO SPRINT FEATURE (20 laps) – 1. Mike Rutherford, 2. Bobby Butler, 3. Joey Amantea, 4. Damon Paul, 5. Aiden Borden, 6. Kenny Miller, 7. Buddy Schweibinz, 8. Gary Bozowski, 9. Mike Linderman, 10. Brandon Pavel, 11. Corey Andersen, 12. John Barnett, 13. Mark Landwher, 14. Jim Tippin, 15. Robert Pierce, 16. Dave Damaio, 17. Tommy Errico, Jr., 18. Jonathan John, DNS – Matt Smith.
270cc MICRO SPRINT FEATURE (20 laps) –
1. Alex Swift, 2. Nick Skias, 3. Lee Reinhardt, 4. Shea Wills, 5. Tyler Grau, 6. Andrew Locuson, 7. Steve Coslop, 8. Ken Andreas, 9. Thomas Rinck, 10. Jayson Conover, 11. Johnny Trendler, 12. Ed Tyres, 13. Tom Landwher, 14. Corey Waegel, 15. Joe Dopke, 16. Logan Diehl, 17. Jonathan John, 18. Deana Butler, 19. Mark Landwher, 20. Charles Chance, 21. Jimmy Wagner, DNS – Nick Walton, Barry Pollard, Alex Lester
ALL STAR SLINGSHOTS (20 laps) –
1. Ryan Davey, 2. Jason Kraycirik, 3. Amanda Angstadt, 4. Michael Beckett, 5. Tomas Mowery, 6. Dave Morrell, 7. Ashley Therien, 8. Joseph Hansen, 9. Ryan Harris, 10. Shawn Mowery.
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