HOWARD TOPS OFF WEEKEND WITH POKER SERIES WIN AT BRIDGEPORT

UPCOMING EVENTS
Friday, May 30 - Twin 15s for 600cc Micros, 270cc Micros & 4 Cylinders - racing at 8pm
Saturday, May 31 - $$Kids Money Scramble$$ - Big Block Modifieds, Crate/Sportsman, Rookies and Twin 12s for the Outlaw Stocks plus the held over Big Block Modified Feature from May 3rd- racing at 7pm
Friday, June 6 – 600cc and 270cc Micro Sprints and Four Cylinders – racing at 8pm
Saturday, June 7 – GARDEN STATE VINAGE CUSTOM CAR SHOW – Big Block Modifieds, Crate/Sportsman, TSRS 305 Sprints and Rookies

HOWARD TOPS OFF WEEKEND WITH POKER SERIES WIN AT BRIDGEPORT
Lyons & Frees Pick Up Aces in Pokers Series Competition

It was a big weekend for Duane Howard who broke his winless streak by picking up two wins at two different tracks and for two different car owners over the Memorial Holiday weekend as he picked up the win in the Bridgeport Speedway's Wingate Classic - a race dedicated to the memory of former Bridgeport promoter, George Wingate.

Mike Lyons earned an Ace with his win in the 811 Dig Safely Crate/Sportsman feature while Ron Frees earned his second ace in Poker series competition with his win in the Pete Ellis 'Lucky Teter'/John Blewett Inc Poker Series Hand #2 for the Outlaw Stocks.

Howard picked up the win in the 40 lap main event for the Spirit Dodge Big Block Modifieds. After winning his qualifying heat, Howard drew the outside pole to start the feature event. Polesitter, Jimmy Blewett led the first lap before Howard took over on lap two. Dominic Buffalino moved up to third one lap later as Blewett, Jeff Heotzler in a Ron Roberts entry and Rick Laubach completed the top five.

With Howard out in front, Laubach took over third on lap eight as Matt Harrell followed to take over the fourth spot. Laubach took over second on lap twelve. The running order remained unchanged until Harrell left the race with a smoking car on lap nineteen. At the half way mark, Howard led Laubach, Buffalino, Blewett and Heotzler when the first caution flag waved for last week's winner, Richie Pratt who headed to the pits for a tire change.

Jimmy Horton ran outside the top ten prior to the caution but drove into fourth on lap twenty-one.

Laubach drove to the outside of Howard to challenge as the leaders raced into turn three on lap thirty-eight. Howard was able to pull away, however, when Laubach was unable to make the outside work to his advantage.

Howard drove to his first Bridgeport win of the season for car owner, Glenn Hynneman followed by Laubach, Buffalino, Horton and Heotzler. It was Howard's 41st win at the Bridgeport Speedway.

"I always love coming to Bridgeport and racing here," Howard noted in Victory Lane. "The entire staff down here does an excellent job in keeping this place alive," Howard continued. "The track had multiple grooves of racing the first 20 laps - before it started to take rubber the last 20 laps which can be expected with this many cars and races."

Mike Lyons only led the final laps of the 811 Dig Safely Crate/Sportsman Feature event but they were the most important laps to lead. 2013 DA's Auto Body & Repair Rookie Champion, Ian Humphreys took the lead on the first lap after starting fourth on the grid. Lyons ran in second from lap four but it wasn't until Humphrey's was caught behind a lapped car with less than two laps to go, that Lyons was able to make the pass for the lead. Humphreys finished second with invader, Clay Butler finishing third. Steve Davis, winner of the first Poker Series race, finished fourth with Matt Budd rounding out the top five.

Ron Frees was the winner of the Pete Ellis 'Lucky Teter'/John Blewett Inc Poker Series Hand #2 but it was a rough twenty laps for the four time feature winner. Contact with former track champion, Pat Conaway, did a lot of sheet metal damage to Frees' Camaro but Frees fought his way to the checkered for his second Ace of the season. The lead was exchanged between Frees and Conaway several times during the twenty lap event. Conaway was the race leader when Doug DuBray spun out in turn four on lap nineteen, bringing out the caution. DuBray had raced his way up to third after starting 15th.

The restart had Conaway on the inside with Frees on the outside. The leaders raced side by side - first through turns one and two, then down the backstretch but Conaway spun in front of the field as they entered turn three. There was one lap left to run as Jeramy Doerr became the challenger. But Doerr faded on the final lap and Frees raced to the checkered flag for the win.

Gary Klimeczak finished second while Scott Dugan crossed the finish line in third. Tom Wills Jr. led Billy Wroble at the checkered to finish fourth. Jeramy Doerr, Scott Dugan and Ron Frees picked up the $50 heat win bonuses from Carl Thomas Racing.

Spirit Dodge Modifieds Poker Series (40 laps)
1. 126-Duane Howard, 2. 7-Rick Laubach, 3. 51m-Dominick Buffalino, 4. 5-Jimmy Horton, 5. 14H-Jeff Heotzler, 6. 76-Jimmy Blewett, 7. 14w-Ryan Watt, 8. 1-Billy Pauch, 9. 1jr-Rocco Infante, 10. 29-Sammy Piazza, 11. 31-Tom Beamer, 12. 16s-Eric Kormann, 13. z14-Ron Roberts, 14. 0-Richie Pratt, Jr., 15. 28f-Stan Frankenfield, 16. 7-Dan Cogdill, III, 17. 7w-Dave Witte, 18. z28-Mike Franz, 19. 47-Bob Sarkisian, 20. 3-Sam Martz, 21. 35-Matt Harrell, 22. 29m-Tom Maccherone, 23. 27-Dave Hunt, 24. 267-Mike Barone. DNQ:66-Kyle Hieber, 5b-Brett Ballard, 11-Scott Ambruster, R10-Wade Hendrickson

811 Dig Safely Crate/Sportsman (25 laps)
1. 21L-Mike Lyons, 2. 90-Ian Humphreys, 3. 4b-Clay Butler, 4. 13-Steve Davis, 5. 4m-Matt Budd, 6. 98-Jesse Hill, 7. 43-Jesse Bonaduce, 8. 04-Mike Butler, 9. 19-Travis Hill, 10. 99-Brian Papiez, 11. 14B-Brad Roberts, 12. 80-Mike Hendershot, 13. 56-Gary Heiber, 14. 85-Rick Dieva, 15. 0-CJ Jones, 16. 26-Steve Searock, 17. 640-George Nardelli, 18. 10s-Chuckles Stone, 19. 8.5-Steve Desmelyk, 20. 28-Bob Bracall, 21. 12-Kevin Belmont, 22. 53-Kris Lilick, 23. 28-Jim Spellmon, 24. 94m-Mike Mongiello, 25. 3h-Marc Hermann, 26. 5b-Brett Ballard, 27. 10-Jason Duppel. DNQ:80d-David Cressman, S2jr-John Scarpatti, 34-Scott Hulmes, 39-Matthew Peck

Pete Ellis "Lucky Teter"/John Blewett Inc Poker Series for Outlaw Stocks (20 laps)
1. 43-Ron Frees, 2. 11-Gary Klimeczak, 3. 54-Scott Dugan, 4. 856-Tom Wills, Jr., 5. 23w-Billy Wroble, 6. 16-Jeramy Doerr, 7. 44-Terry Griffin, 8. 39-Art Avery, 9. 52-Dennis Seely, 10. 7-Doug DeBray, 11. US1-Pat Conaway, 12. 94-Brian Ludwig, 13. 171-Jeff Dirkes, 14. 76-Jimmy Avery, 15. 38-Ed Tinsman, 16. 191-Jack Beaumont, 17. 9-Jim Neely, 18. 69-Cleve Reihl, 19. 60-Ron Dirkes, 20. 57H-TJ Henry, 21. 24-Mick Search, 22. 44j-David Kramer, 23. 49-Spider Ensinger, Sr., 24. 73-Ken Moren, 25. 444-Pete Ellis