Jeff Champagne Wins in USAC Dirt Midget Association Race at Vermont’s Bear Ridge Speedway
Ellington, CT: Under cloudy skies and rain showers, nineteen USAC Dirt Midget Association teams made the trip to Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, Vermont for this past Saturday nights race action. After waiting out Mother Nature and track preparations, the teams were able to practice then move right into the feature race with no heats.
The feature race started with the 11V of Vince Lucca on pole and the 09 of Amanda Habel starting second. The lineup was based on past race efforts. When the green flag was flown, the 09 of Habel had issues with the start and dropped back so by the end of lap one the 11V of Lucca was leading, closely followed by the 77 of Jeff Champagne and the 1W of Ray Miller rounding out the top three positions. While the top three continued to run in order for several laps, the 29 of Anthony Nocella was moving up quickly from his sixteenth starting spot. On lap ten the yellow came out for the 06 of Seth Carlson whose racecar had stopped running in turn two. This was Carlson’s first race the series and his racecar quickly restarted. When the green came back out it was the 11V of Lucca still leading followed by Champagne in the 77, Miller in the 1W, Adam Whitney in the 12 now running fourth and Nocella in his 29 now in fifth. Miller in the 1W was able to get around Champagne in the 77 taking over second and it was not long before Nocella in the 29 moved past Champagne for third now moving the 77 of Champagne back to fourth. Just as the action was heating up, the caution flag came out for the 33 of Tim Gallant spinning on the front stretch. Back to green with tight racing all around the track and three wide passes taking place in turns one and two. The race would stay green for only a few laps with the 11V of Lucca first, 1W of Miller second, 29 of Nocella third and Champagne in the 77 running fourth. The caution was displayed for the 5 spinning which was being driven this night by Joe Krawiec. When the racing action went green, the top four would have a change before getting back to the start/finish line. The 29 of Nocella would go wide in turns three and four causing the racecar to get out of the grove and allowing the 11V of Lucca to keep the lead followed by Miller in his 1W and now the 77 of Champagne back to third with the 12 of Adam Whitney in the fourth position. While the leaders where working hard to maintain position, the 07 of Frank Malec was moving towards the front after starting in the eighteenth spot. This was Malec’s first race with the series. The race would remain green for the remaining laps with the 77 of Champagne charging hard to the lead and getting around Lucca in the 11V. With two laps to go, Scott Viets in the 2 was now within striking distance of the leaders and Miller in the 1W was starting to fade back. As the teams crossed the start/finish line under the checkered flag, it was the 77 of Jeff Champagne from Westfield, MA taking down the win followed by the 07 of Frank Malec from Foster, RI for second and the 11V of Vince Lucca from Granby, CT rounding out the top three positions. This was Champagne’s first win of the 2014 season. The 76M of Adam Pierson still retains the points lead even with his 18th finishing position.
The RacingJunk.Com Hard Luck Award went to Anthony Nocella who drives the 29 in the series. Nocella looked like he had a chance to win the race but a late mishap caused him to drop back and out of contention for the win.
The series will be back in action on Saturday September 20th at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, VT. This will be Media Appreciation Night II and Bike Giveaway Night which is the collection of new and slightly used bikes for children in need.
To learn more about the USAC Dirt Midget Association, please visit the series website at www.dmaracing.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DirtMidgetAssociation.
For additional information regarding this press release please contact Mark J. Hann, USAC DMA Public Relations & Marketing, at (860) 256-5574 or [email protected].
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Feature Race Results from 9/6/14:
1st- Jeff Champagne (77)
2nd- Frank Malec (07)
3rd- Vince Lucca (11V)
4th- Scott Viets (2)
5th- Ray Miller (1W)
6th- Adam Whitney (12)
7th- Mike Chaffee (18C)
8th- Scott Holcomb (47)
9th- Dean Christensen (9)
10th- Joe Krawiec (5)
11th- Anthony Nocella (29)
12th- Josh Sunn (76)
13th- Tim Gallant (33)
14th- Jeff Horn (1R)
15th- Lauryn Burb (21B)
16th- Stephen Morsillo (20)
17th- Amanda Habel (09)
18th- Adam Pierson (76M)
19th- Seth Carlson (06)