The weather cooled off nicely, but the racing was still hot at Airport Speedway Saturday night. All five classes had 25 lap points’ features, plus the added thrill of a wingless dash for cash in the 125 class.
The evening started off with the 125’s. Brett Estep in the 55 and Phil Durham in the 32 were on the front row due to their heat race wins. After a three car pile up on the start, Durham in the 32 jumped to the front and opened up a huge lead on the field. A caution on lap 9 would erase that lead. Estep in the 55 and Evan Krautwald in the 10 would give chase, but it was all Phil Durham as he went wire to wire from the outside pole for another feature win in the 125 class at Airport. Krautwald did get by Estep to take second in the 10 while Estep brought the 55 home in third.
Next up was the 250 stock class for its 25 lap feature. Phil Durham still trying for that elusive double win shared the front row with Marco Michetti in the 56. The start of the race was rocky as eight cars piled up between turns one and two to slow up the start of the feature. Michetti took the lead on the start and led Joe Stewart in the 52 and Barry Pollard in the 7 around the track. These same four would play follow the leader waiting for a chance to advance through four more cautions and restarts. Michetti would take his second win of the year with Stewart and Pollard finishing in second and third.
The 600 class was next for their fun in the bullring. Ricky DiEva in the 85 and points leader Stewart Carmichael in the 9 occupied the front row for the start of this race. Six caution flags would make the race a very interesting one and one of the best of the year in spite of the frequency of the yellow flag. DiEva took the lead at the green flag and showed the field he was set up perfectly for the track conditions. Cameron Bellinger in the speedy number 6 made his way from tenth starting spot to make a bid for the lead. He and DiEva battled each other hard for the last 10 laps or so, but DiEva held on for his first feature win in a 600. Bellinger finished a great run in second with Dean Seemans in the 3D finishing third.
The 270 open class was next. Luke Fogg in the 19 sat on the pole and pretty much checked out for the first 20 laps. After getting a good restart on lap 9 after a caution, it looked like Luke was going to cruise to a feature win. But, the caution came out at lap 20 as the leader came to a stop on the back stretch. Angelo Mercado in the 3 car unwrapped that early Christmas present and took his fifth feature win of the year. Point’s leader Ken Andreas in the 90 finished in second as Nick Walton in the 02 finished third.
The Juniors would come out next for our final point’s race of the night. Will Federowic in the 47 and Angelo Bianco in the 86 shares the front row for this race. It is never a good sign for the other drivers when Bianco starts up front. This night would be no exception. Angelo took the lead on lap 1 and never looked back. He took the checkered flag for the tenth time this season. Felisha Kirlin in the 2 car had a great run as she made her way up from the last spot in the 11 car field to finish second. Randy Burns in the 59 finished in third place.
The night ended with a wingless dash for cash using 125 cars. Seven cars signed up for the race which is a winner take all format with each car putting up $20 to race in the 15 lap event. Bill Sorey borrowed the 12 car of Dana Watkins and slid the car around for a first place finish. Ralph Parks had the 86 out there for a second place spot while Hannah Schrom brought the 08 home in third. Those races are a lot of fun to watch and I can imagine the drivers are having a ball.
There will be no racing at Airport Speedway this Saturday night due to the Labor Day holiday. We will see you in two weeks for more points racing. We hope to see you at the races.
Complete Finishes:
125: 32 Phil Durham, 10 Evan Krautwald, 55 Brett Estep, 66 T J Colbert, 8 Barry Pollard, 02 Zoe Mattis, 67 Heather Colbert, 20 Kyle Newkirk, 77 Brittany Whitesall, 08 Hannah Schrom, 12 Dana Watkins, 72 Vincent Nipe, 86 Ralph Parks. DNF: 95K Kylie Winkler.
250 Stock: 56 Marco Michetti, 52 Joe Stewart, 7 Barry Pollard, 07 Jeffery Wills, 32 Phil Durham, 12 Collin Milroy, 42 Kyle Melvin, 28L Justin Layton, 48 Jake Allen, 3 Ava Mercado, 5 Lew Schwander, 22 Patrick Milligan. DNF: 4 Alex Funari, 20 Nina McMillen, 12R John Reuter, 69 Andy Taccard, 18 Brett Estep, 4X Craig Martin.
600: 85 Ricky DiEva, 6 Cameron Bellinger, 3D Dean Seemans, 11 Tyler Tank, 7S Randy Oswald, 8 Bryan Radcliff, 87 Jimmy Carpenter, 81 Drew Richmond, 9 Stewart Carmichael, 12 Jerry Allen. DNF: 5 Ed Wilberg, 89 Kelli Matherly.
270 Open: 3 Angelo Mercado, 90 Ken Andreas, 02 Nick Walton, 7 Roland Saxton, 84 Bill Murphy, 07 Jeffery Wills, 15 Ryan Wozunk, 10 Evan Krautwald, 6X Matt Jarosz. DNF: 20 Kyle Newkirk, 19 Luke Fogg, 11 Alex Swift, 23R Rebecca LaMothe, 10A Keith Murphy. DNS: 55 Hank Stellar IV.
Juniors: 86 Angelo Bianco, 2 Felisha Kirlin, 59 Randy Burns, 4 Greg Seiverd, 27 Erin DeLong, 47 Will Federowic, 11X Matt Andrews, 23 Salvatore Tossona. DNF: 11 Zoe Ford, 8 P J Williams, 56 Lindsay Garrison.
