by Jeff Bartlett
Ryan Pritt took the night off from his Virginia Racer to run the twin races in the UCAR class and it paid off to the tune of two wins in two tries. The two time UCAR champion has won more races in the division, 22, and he picked up right where he left off as a full time driver.
Most fans were paying attention to the fact that the points race is one of the tightest in any of the divisions this year with Mike Chapman holding a slim 18-point lead, but Pritt took the headlines. Pritt qualified only .048 off the pole behind Michael Frayser, but following the redraw, Pritt would start fourth. It only took him 8 laps to pick his way to the front where he would drive away in convincing fashion to take the win. Rounding out the top three were Frayser and Jimmy Parker.
Following the mandatory invert for the second feature, Pritt went off eighth. Three cautions later, and another 25 laps in the books, and Pritt was back in his usual place, victory lane. Rounding out the top three were Dallas Cosby and Chapman. Chapman lost four points in the first feature in his run for the championship, but more than made that up in the second feature when Cameron Ruggles finished a disappointing 15th after developing a mechanical issue. When asked about why he chose to race in his UCAR this week vs the Virginia Racer, Pritt said” This season has been one bump after another in my VA racer. After the last race when I hit the wall in turn two, we needed a new rear clip. We decided to add a front clip to the back up car instead and when we converted everything over, we found more parts that needed to be fixed or replaced. Even with all the hours put in, we weren’t able to get the car completed in time. I wanted to get a car out there and support my sponsors as they have been supporting me, so Friday night we got the UCAR back in running shape”.
The Alcova Mortgage Modifieds ran twin races and the father and son team of Jimmy and Chris Humblet split the feature wins. Once each of them got out front during the feature, neither was ever really challenged. The top three in the first feature were J. Humblet, C. Humblet and Mike Rudy. The second feature saw C. Humblet, Chris Johnson and Rudy finish one, two, three. Rudy was able to extend his points lead over Adam Medek.
The Truckin Thunder Virginia Racer Late Model division went 35 laps and it saw over half the field taken out in an incident with six laps to go. Mike Ganoe took the pole over Cameron Burke and Chris Donnelly and would start second on the grid following the redraw. Burke looked like the car to beat after getting past Ganoe on the initial start. Tight side by side action throughout the field helped to bring out three cautions, the last of which took out over half the field. Ganoe was halfway down the front stretch with most of the field tight behind him, then he was sideways into the outside wall, and everything piled up behind him. Richard Storm, Burke, Donnelly, Ganoe and Andrew Lang were some of the drivers that were either taken out or sustained considerable damage. Once racing resumed it set up a green, white checkered and Ryan Matthews was able to take the checkered flag for his sixth win on the year. Rob Almy came home second and Burke finished third.
Other action Saturday night saw Cameron Burke take the win in the eight cylinder division and Bradley Wilson take the four cylinder division in the Absolutely Amish Structure Any Car class and Tyler Warriner held off Zach Sprouse to win the mini cup feature.
This coming Saturday will have the Alcova Mortgage Modifieds running twin features, the Truckin Thunder Virginia Racers running twins, and the mini stocks making their first appearance in two months with a 25-lap feature. Gates open at 5 and green flag drops at 7.
