New Egypt, NJ. .....“Showtime” Jimmy Blewett, of Howell NJ, brought his patriotic red white and blue number 76 to victory lane on Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway for their “Military Heroes 30” July 4th event. Blewett, who captured the lead on lap four, outsmarted Billy Pauch on numerous restarts by choosing the outside lane, proving that he was the man to beat. Sammy Piazza finished third, Neal Williams brought home a fourth place finish and Dominick Buffalino charged from his 18th starting position to round out the top five.

In his first race back after a vicious flip occurring a few weeks before, Blewett, who started in the sixth position, made a comeback that was just what he needed to build up the confidence that he was lacking due to the sour season he was experiencing.

“The flip was actually a blessing in disguise believe it or not. We had bought all new chassis this year and the comfort just wasn’t there. We did have one second place finish this year, but after that we could never just get the handle of the car the way that I wanted it. Even that night, the comfort just wasn’t there,” explains Blewett. “With that said, we had bought this car prior to flipping that other car, and it was already for us to use if we needed it. After the wreck, we took some parts off of the wrecked car and put it on this car, and we used the same set up that I used the last time I won here last year, and it actually ran better than the car I won with before!”

When Blewett took the lead over from Chuck Steuer on lap four, Billy Pauch, who started in 11th, was on the move advancing to second on lap six. Blewett held a five car lead over Pauch until lap ten when the caution came out for Andrew Krause who spun his number 27 in turns one and two.

“On the restart, I looked over and seen Billy alongside of me, and I was going to choose the bottom to restart in, but then I said to myself ‘Nah, I aint taking the bottom with him, he’s gonna go to the top!’ So I took the top, and we were able to get him on the restart, and then I realized where I can be better for the next one, and the next one after that. I feel like after every restart, I was able to get better and better jumps on him,” comments Blewett on the skill he acquired that ultimately won him the race.

When the green flag waved, Pauch and Blewett were side by side heading into turn one, and as they were exiting turn two, the number 76 had a better run off the top, pulling ahead of Pauch going down the backstretch.

Ryan Godown, who made moves early in the race moving forward from 16th, took third from PJ Oliver who appeared to have gotten out of shape coming down the front stretch on lap 11. By half way, it was Blewett, Pauch, Godown, Piazza and Williams running in the top five nose to tail, with Jimmy Horton also moving up from way back in the field, was looking to crack into the top five as well.

With five laps to go, Ryan Godown, who seemed as a threat to the leaders throughout the race, brought the final caution out due to a mechanical failure on his E&G Tire & Auto Center number 747 after running majority of the feature in third place. It was later found out that the failure was caused by a broken drive shaft.
The final restart of the night was executed in single file fashion, with Jimmy Blewett hitting his marks right pulling away just enough from Billy Pauch to claim his first victory of 2015.

“This win was good for me. You get to a point where sometimes you doubt yourself, you start to doubt what you’re doing, and right now I have a very small team compared to what I used to have. When the morale gets down with just a little bit of people around, you feel lost,” Jimmy indicated. “I really want to thank my crew, and everybody who came out tonight to support what we’re doing, Brent Tittle who plays a big role in helping me get the cars ready during the week, my buddy Ryan who came out to help me tonight, my nephew John, Kyle Reinhardt for running up north to pick up a car for me when we needed it, and especially my Grandpop. Without him paying the bills, I wouldn’t be able to drive nice cars like these.”

Eric Palmer won the shortened Crate Modified feature over Ryan Simmons, Adam Cox, Tom Princiotta, and Billy Osmun. The feature was cut short due to the class surpassing their time limit because of the numerous cautions that were displayed throughout the race. Palmer claimed his second feature win of the season, and was pressured all during the course of the race by fourth place starting Ryan Simmons.

“We were getting better as the race went on, Eric seemed to be pushing near the end and I drove under him on lap eight in an attempt to go for the lead. We drag raced down the straight away but he seemed to have more gear coming out the corner and he just got me,” commented Simmons, who is looking for his first win of the season.

Dave Brown Jr. brought his DCR’s Racing Racesaver number 44 305 sprint car to victory lane for the third time this season, winning two races at New Egypt and one at Grandview Speedway back in May. Brown started on the pole, took command of the lead over second place starting Jeff Geiges, and never looked back, leading Mark Bitner, Rick Stief, Adam Carberry and Mike Haggenbottom across the finish line of the twenty lap feature.

MODIFIED FEATURE (30 Laps): Jimmy Blewett, Billy Pauch, Sammy Piazza, Neal Williams, Dominick Buffalino, Jimmy Horton, David Van Horn, Billy Pauch Jr., Willie Osmun, Chris Grbac, PJ Oliver, Chris Esposito, Chuck Steuer, Chad Barney, Danny Bouc, Doug Oswald, Ryan Godown, Tad Cox, Andrew Krause, Tommy Farrell, John Stangle, John McClelland, Bryan Kuhl, Andrew Bohn

CRATE MODIFIED FEATURE (10 laps): Eric Palmer, Ryan Simmons, Adam Cox, Tom Princiotta, Billy Osmun, Joe Reid, Jordan Cox, Frank Dorry, Matt Carmen, Jeremy Martino, Jarett Rozycki, Brandon Grosso, Mike Carmen, Connor King, Heidi Heddin, Dan Fleming, Dakota Kessler, Scott Hyland, Aaron Weaver, Matt Stangle, George Gareis Jr., Brian Papiez

NERS SPRINT FEATURE (20 laps): Dave Brown Jr., Mark Bitner, Rick Stief, Adam Carberry, Mike Haggenbottom, Jeff Geiges, John Barnett, Ryan Stillwaggon, Jamie Kostic, Joe Lord, Gabe Fox, Karl Fryer, Ryan Cox, Harris Kohen, Erika Palmai Wagner, Zack Burd