PHOTO PROVIDED
Bobby Butler wins at Clinton County Speedway.
MILL HALL — Bobby Butler of Milford, New Jersey, earned his first career victory on Friday night at the Clinton County Speedway in the USAC East Coast Sprint Car division. Other winners included Andrew Yoder with an exciting turn four pass in the limited late models, while Cory Long won the pro stocks, Corey Stabley and Nathan Bacon won the 270 micros and Zak Kline won the four cylinders.
The front row of the USAC East Coast Sprint Car consisted of a determined Bruce Buckwalter and a hungry Ronald Helmick, setting the table for the start of the 25-lap main event. When the green flag waved, Buckwalter wasted no time finding speed and quickly distanced himself from Helmick. But behind them, a charge was brewing from Jason Cherry, Ed Aikin and Drevicki.
A caution on lap nine involving Brett Rose and a slowing Mike Haggenbottom brought the field back together, playing into Buckwalter’s hands just as he was approaching lapped traffic. On the restart, Bobby Butler’s No. 5B machine came to life. Running an innovative lower line, Butler surged to fourth, then third, then second–reeling in Buckwalter with every lap.
With just seven laps remaining, Butler made the move that changed everything–ducking low off Turn 2 and driving past Buckwalter’s No. 83. Moments later, Buckwalter’s stellar run came to a dramatic end as he clipped the inside wall in turn one and flipped, ending his night prematurely.
That crash set up a six-lap dash to the checkered flag, with Butler leading the charge ahead of Helmick, Aikin, Drevicki, Cherry, and Olivia Thayer, all gunning for a podium.
Butler was not to be denied claiming his first-ever USAC East Coast Sprint Car victory. Drevicki came home second from 8th, while Aikin charged from 10th to finish third followed by Jason Cherry and Ronald Helmick. Sixth through tenth were Joe Kata, Dale Schweikart, Olivia Thayer, Jordan Fulton and Lee Kauffman.
In limited late model action, Jim Yoder and Nick Botteicher brought the field to the green flag. Yoder took early command of the field with Botteicher running second and Cody Lear and Joe Lusk battling for third. The first caution occurred when Botteicher spun in Turn 3. JR Toner who started ninth, found his way up to fourth following the restart and was marching toward the front.
Yoder began to pull away from the field as Lusk was running in second. Toner and Andrew Yoder began to surge toward the front when they both passed Lusk to move into the top 3. Toner was closing in on Jim Yoder, when Yoder suffered a mechanical issue and slowed on the speedway to bring out the caution. With only a few laps remaining, Toner restarted the race with Andrew Yoder and Lusk bunched up on his rear bumper.
Toner brought the field to life and appeared to be on his way to his first victory of the season.
Denny Fourney and Larry Knight led the pro stock field to the green flag. Fourney led the field into turn number one. Third place starter Cory Long quickly moved to the front and took the lead from Fourney. Long managed to slightly pull away from the field as the battle for second through fifth became contested with Brandon Moser, Larry Knight, Tommy Dawson and AY Schilling. Dawson, who charged from the eighth starting position was on a mission and drove his way forward to the runner up position.
In the closing laps, Knight passed Moser for the third spot. Long was the first to see the checkered flag to win his second feature of the season. Dawson, Knight, Moser and Schilling completed the top five.
The 270 micro sprints had double feature events on Friday night. Colten McAndrew and Cory Stabley started on the front row of feature event number one. Stabley quickly took the lead. Fourth place starter Logan Hammer moved into second place as Mason and Colten McAndrew battled for third and fourth positions.
In the second feature event, Nathan Bacon led flag to flag for the win. Bacon started on front row with Mason McAndrew. Mac Wert who started third, and Stabley who started fifth tried to chase down Bacon.
Zak Kline took the lead at the start of the four cylinder feature event. Matt Weaver and Larry Beachel were running in a close second and third. Weaver brought out the caution when his car caught on fire and stopped on the front stretch. Beachel and Coty Maines chased Kline to the finish line, as Kline won his second event in consecutive weeks.
The Clinton County Speedway will be back in action Friday featuring RaceSaver sprints, plus East Coast Legends 270 micros and four cylinders.
USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CARS: 25 LAPS (Starting spot in parenthesis): 1. Bobby Butler (7); 2. Steven Drevicki; 3. Ed Aikin (10); 4. Jason Cherry (6); 5. Ronald Helmick (2); 6. Joe Kata (12); 7. Dale Schweikart (11); 8. Olivia Thayer (3); 9. Jordan Fulton (13); 10. Lee Kauffman (9); 11. Brett Rose (16); 12. Mike Haggenbottom (17); 13. Rich Carnathan (4); 14. Mark Connoly (14); 15. Gary Huston (15). DNF: Bruce Buckwalter (1); Dakota Schweikart (5); Dirk Rimrott (18)
LIMITED LATE MODELS: 1. Andrew Yoder; 2. JR Toner; 3. Joe Lusk; 4. Cody Lear; 5. Jennifer Lesher; 6. Tim Luben; 7. Jim Yoder; 8. Maddox Smith; 9. Nick Bottecher.
PRO STOCKS: 1. Cory Long; 2. Tommy Dawson; 3. Larry Knight; 4. Brandon Moser; 5. AY Schilling; 6. Noah Kissinger; 7. Marc Bitler; 8. Denny Fourney; 9. Kris Orwig; 10. Jesse Farley; 11. James Bilger; 12. Jim Farley; 13. Ronald Ergott; 14. AJ Hoffman; 15. Rich Fye.
270 MICROS (FEATURE 1): 1. Cory Stabley; 2. Logan Hammaker; 3. Mason McAndrew; 4. Colton McAndrew; 5. Mac Wert; 6. Lester Stabley; 7. Matt Dixon Sr;. 8. Blade Myers; 9. Coton Guiher; 10. Mark Snyder; 11. Mathew Dixson Jr.; 12. Nathan Bacon; 13. Michael Petock; 14. Alex Lukacs; 15. Tyler Clowes; 16. Jeffrey Weaver; 17. Jillian Maurer; 18. Paris Hewes.
270 MICROS (FEATURE 2): 1. Nathan Bacon; 2. Mac Wert; 3. Cory Stabley; 4. Mason McAndrew; 5. Zachary Glass; 6. Logan Hammaker; 7. Logan Hess; 8. Colten McAndrew; 9. Ben Stoltz; 10. Andrew Petock; 11. Michael Petock; 12. Jillian Maurer; 13. Blade Myers; 14. Matt Dixson Sr.; 15. Lester Stabley; 16. Mathew Dixson Jr.; 17. Garrison Zook; 18. John Roberts; 19. Cameron McClure; 20. Colton Guiher.
FOUR CYLINDERS: 1. Zak Kline; 2. Larry Beachel; 3. Coty Maines; 4. Tim Teneyck; 5. Andrew Rickets; 6. Alyssa Snook; 7. Kevin Trimpey; 8. Conner Cupp; 9. Ian Heaps; 10. David Cioffi Jr.; 11. Garrett Lucas; 12. Matt Weaver; 13. Anthony Potter; 14. Eric Deitrick.