HAGGENBOTTOM WINS ONE FOR JAMES CAMPBELL JR. AT NEW EGYPT

New Egypt, NJ...... Mike Haggenbottom who hails out of Levittown, PA visited victory lane at New Egypt Speedway for the second time this season, and for the tenth time in his 305 sprint car career, making him the most winningest driver in the division at the speedway. Haggenbottom led all 20 laps of the co-sanctioned TSRS/NERS 305 sprint car feature surviving the multi-cautioned event over Adam Carberry, Eddie Wagner, Dave Brown Jr. and Jeff Geiges.

Haggenbottom dedicated his win to fellow racer and friend James Campbell Jr. who passed away Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway in an on track accident while racing his self-owned 410 Sprint Car.
“We lost a very good friend last night, and I just want to dedicate this win to Jim, his brother Sean and their families during this heart-breaking time,” a very emotional Haggenbottom stated.
There were 23 sprint cars signed in to the pits Saturday night, with three heat race wins rewarded to Bryant Davis, Rick Stief and John Barnett. The top ten cars who qualified out of the heat races were subjected to a 10 car invert, placing veteran drivers Kevin Nagy and Mark Bitner on the pole for the A-Main.
When the initial green flag waved, Kevin Nagy jumped out front and took control of the lead heading into turn one. Before the first circuit was completed, the first caution would be displayed for Samantha Lieberman, who came to a stop in turns one and two.
The field would be brought back to their initial starting positions with Nagy and Bitner restarting the field until another caution was displayed for a “false start”. Both pole sitters would be put back a row for jumping the start by TSRS officials.

Mike Haggenbottom and Adam Carberry would now acquire the front row, with Haggenbottom taking command of the lead heading quickly into the first turn, ultimately never looking back. As Haggenbottom led Carberry, who was soon to be passed by a determined Mark Bitner and Kevin Nagy on lap three, another caution would bring the field back together a lap later, closing the three-quarter straightaway length lead the Belmont Garage number 24 had on his competitors.
“We’ve been having a stumbling issue with our motor this year, and restarts are something that I don’t like to see right now,” commented Haggenbottom. “I knew Mark and Adam were behind me, and I was a little worried about them coming around me on the starts, so I just tried to hit my marks right to get the job done”.

As Mike maintained his lead, clearly showing that he was going to be unbeatable even with the engine issues he was dealing with, the battle in the top five was heating up, with cars going three wide at times to make advancements for positions.
Mark Bitner, who restarted fourth after being put back two spots for the faulty start in the begin of the feature, was on a mission after claiming his first 305 Sprint Car feature win of the season last week and was the only driver to give Haggenbottom a run for his money, making an attempted pass on the number 24 after the lap four restart.

“We weren’t the best car for the first few laps but as the track blew off the car came to us. We lost some momentum after we went low to pass Mike, so we lost it there, but battling for second with Adam was pretty good until our drive shaft broke,” explained Bitner. “I think the surface here has improved a lot, but the new shape does take away from the “racing” aspect. It’s just difficult to race hard with guys when there’s one groove to race on”.
At half way to go, and both Mark Bitner and Kevin Nagy now in the pit area after mechanical issues sidelined them, the top five consisted of leader Mike Haggenbottom, Adam Carberry, Dave Brown Jr., Rick Stief, and Eddie Wagner who made his way into the top five after starting back in fifteenth. Mike Haggenbottom would once again take grasp over his lead, with everyone else settling into position behind him.

“With seven to go, my motor started breaking up, even running by myself under the green flag runs, and I’m not sure if it was because my water temperature was hot, but it just wasn’t good. The cautions came out just in time before I would hit lapped traffic, but I started getting nervous when the motor started breaking up under power, coming out of the corners,” expressed Mike. “We’ve changed everything. Motors, fuel lines, fuel pumps, mags, we even changed the spark plugs before we went out for the feature! We just can’t figure it out, but thankfully, the car handles flawlessly so that it can make up for it”.
In final five laps remaining, Tommy Carberry went to the top groove to pass Rick Stief for fifth, and then attempted to take fourth from Wagner, but he could not make it stick, so he slipped back into line to try again in the next corner. Jeff Geiges would then take fifth from Carberry on the bottom of turns three and four, while Eddie Wagner pressured Dave Brown for third. Coming for the checkered flag, Wagner would come off of turn four low, drag racing Brown to the start-finish line to come home with a “photo finish” third place run.

“The track was really racy tonight, it was probably one of the best tracks I have ever raced on here at New Egypt and I am pretty happy with the new layout,” says Wagner, who owns three career feature wins at Bridgeport Speedway, but is still searching for his first New Egypt Speedway win. “My motor was running a little too hot for my liking, so I was trying to take it easy so that I would not over work and over heat the engine, but I feel that if I were to start in the top five I definitely would have had a shot of winning tonight. There was nothing different that I could have done to make my car run any better because it was on point tonight.”

Feature Finish (20 Laps): Mike Haggenbottom, Adam Carberry, Eddie Wagner, Dave Brown Jr., Jeff Geiges, Tommy Carberry, Rick Stief, John Barnett, Joe Lord, Gabe Fox, Karl Fryer, Scott Frack, Joe Kay, Samantha Leiberman, Harris Kohen DNF: Stefanie Palmai, Chris Allen Jr., Bryant Davis, Mark Bitner, Kevin Nagy, Ryan Cox, Tim Tanner, Keith Anderson

NOTES: James Campbell Jr. was honored in numerous ways Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway by drivers, fans, the Tri-State Racesaver Series as well as the Speedway officials all throughout the night. Drivers were gifted decals in memory of Campbell to place on their cars, courtesy of Bruce Bowen of Bowen Signs, and they also tied red, white and blue streamers to their cars bringing Campbell’s colors to the speedway for one last time. A missing man formation was carried out before the start of the feature, on the wave lap fans were asked to display a three and one using their hands in place of waving to the drivers to honor Jim and his number 31 Sprinter. Jim’s very close friend Sean Kirkpatrick was honored with the duty of waving the green flag at the start of the 305 Sprint feature event. A “sea of blue” took over the pit area, as drivers and crew members wore the color to represent and remember the “nice guy” whom they lost tragically the night before.