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CHIC COSSABOONE CRUISES TO FIRST CAREER BRIDGEPORT BIG BLOCK WIN
Bridgeport, NJ… The mighty Big Block Modifieds competed in the fan favorite Twin Twenties on Saturday night at Bridgeport Speedway and while Doug Hoffman won for the second week in a row in the first feature, the real excitement came in the nightcap event when Petersburg, NJ’s Chic Cossaboone drove the Tuckahoe Turf Farms #7A into victory lane for the veteran’s first ever Bridgeport Big Block Modified win. Young Chuck Hopkins, a graduate of the GM Sunoco Sportsman division, won the 358 Sportsman feature with Jordan Watson taking home the checkers for the sixth time this season in the GM Sportsman event. Ken Watson collected his ninth win of the year in the Outlaw Stock feature.
After all the qualifying was complete, the first feature of the night was the initial twenty lapper for the Big Block Modifieds, and the event was a real barnburner. While the front row starters Mark Forte and Bob Sarkisian were running 1-2 for the first half of the race, the action behind them was electrifying with numerous battles through the pack providing three-wide racing all over the big 5/8th mile oval. Coming down the front straight to complete lap seven, Doug Hoffman pushed the Overhead Doors #0 to the outside of the raceway to charge from seventh to fourth before the first turn. One lap later, Hoffman and Chad James ran door to door for almost a complete lap, with Hoffman edging ahead to wrestle away the third spot from James. While it was hard to take your eyes off the front of the pack as Hoffman was closing in the leaders, back in the pack the current Modified point leader Billy Pauch was fighting a four way battle with Wade Hendrickson, Pete Visconti, and Chic Cossaboone. Hoffman was in second on lap eleven, and on lap fourteen he flew under Forte on the backstretch to take the lead. Meanwhile, Pauch never let up, passing cars on almost every lap of the second half of the feature, but now seventh-starting Jimmy Chester had his #44 cranking, passing Forte for the runner up position with three laps left. With Starter Ken Golden waving the double-checkered flags, Hoffman had his 92nd career Bridgeport Modified victory, with Chester a solid second. Pauch completed his crowd-pleasing charge taking third place by just inches over James while Sarkisian edged out Forte for fifth.
The second Twenty had Chic Cossaboone blast from his third starting spot to take the lead on lap two from pole-sitter Mike Franz. Cossaboone was driving around the speedway like a man possessed, but the cautions kept the field tight for the first two-thirds of the event. Wade Hendrickson had his #85 in second and it looked like he was sitting there waiting to make his move on Cossaboone, but on every restart Chic had the power to pull away to a comfortable lead. Again, Pauch had the fans on the edge of their seats this time swapping spots with Rick Laubach, who started dead last after having to bring out his back-up #14 for the second feature. With just two laps left, Hendrickson pulled into the pits, ending his night with mechanical woes, while Laubach snuck past Pauch to go into second place. At the finish, Cossaboone had almost a half-lap lead over Laubach and Pauch, with James and Chester filling out the top five. Now the real fun began, with the wild celebration in victory lane by the 7A crew and the Cossaboone Fourth turn Cheering section joining in the party. In Victory Lane, Cossaboone said “This has been a long time coming! I’d like to dedicate this win to Bill Brennan (who passed way last week). I owe a lot to that man and we miss him. We had a great car tonight, and with this crew and these great fans, we’ll probably still be here until tomorrow morning!” Qualifying heats were won by Cossaboone, Richie Pratt Jr., and Forte with Franz taking the consolation.
The 358 Sportsman feature was another event that had the fans on the edge of their seats, with veteran Dan Cogdill and 358 rookie Chuck Hopkins racing side by side for the lead for the first five laps of the race. These two swapped spots but never got more than a half car length apart until lap 6 when Williamstown, NJ’s Hopkins finally inched ahead for the lead. A scary crash on lap ten brought out the red flag for Jason Duppell, whose #10 slammed into the 1st turn wall, riding up the guardrail and flipping over before coming to a stop. Duppell was knocked unconscious in the hard hit, but was reported to only have a shoulder injury along with a possible concussion. When racing resumed, Sean Gunther went from fourth to second and began running down Hopkins, while holding off veteran Ron Roberts at the same time. After taking the white flag, Hopkins had Gunther all over his rear bumper, but held on to get his first Saturday night 358 Sportsman win, with Gunther, Roberts, Jesse Hill and 2006 358 Champ John Pursell rounding out the top five.
The third feature of the night was contested by the GM Sunoco Sportsman, and again the on track action was fierce, with an exciting battled waged by pole sitter Mike Barone and point leader Jordan Watson, who started in 12th place for the fifteen-lap race. Watson was trying every way he could to get under Barone’s D & R Boats #267, but for lap after lap Barone kept Watson right on his rear bumper. Coming down the front straight to complete lap eleven, the two drag raced down the long Bridgeport straightaway with Watson finally grabbing the lead. Barone faded with handling problems with just two laps left, ending his exciting battle with Watson, and at the finish it was Watson, Pat Hires, Matt Harrell, a fast closing Jon Haegele, and last week’s winner Travis Hill completing the top five.
The Outlaw Stocks put on another great show for the night, with repeat winner Ken Watson again outclassing the field. Joe Trumbetti pulled out to an early lead with point leader Watson charging into the second spot from his eleventh starting spot on just the second lap. On the fifth lap, Watson pulled past Trumbetti for the lead, and while it appeared that the race was over, Rich Reider was back on the track and had his own ideas about who should go home with the win. With five to go, Reider pulled into third place and started cutting into the lead built up by Watson and now runner up Bill Miller. Reider was now flying around the track and with two to go was one car length back. After getting the white flag, Reider went to the outside but could not make the move stick in turn one, but in three and four he shot under Miller to get second place right behind Watson, who just got his ninth win of the year. Trumbetti and Karl Wagner filled out the top five for the final event of the night.
BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS – Saturday September 1, 2007
BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS
Heat 1 – Cossaboone, D. Hoffman, James, Iles, Pannepacker, Irwin
Heat 2 – Pratt, Sarkisian, Bottcher, Laubach, B. Hoffman, Beamer
Heat 3 – Forte, Visconti, Chester, Pauch, Durand, Hendrickson
Consi – Franz, Acolia, Brown, Dixon, Schweibinz, Firth DQ: Myers
20 LAP FEATURE #1
DOUG HOFFMAN, Jimmy Chester, Billy Pauch, Chad James, Bob Sarkisian, Mark Forte Sr., Pete Visconti, Mike Iles, Wade Hendrickson, Chic Cossaboone, Steve Bottcher, Mike Franz, Richie Pratt Jr., Scott Irwin, John Dixon, Bryant Brown, Tommy Beamer, Rich Acolia, Steve Durand, Mark Schweibinz, Ed Firth, Doug Pannepacker, Rick Laubach, Brett Hoffman
20 LAP FEATURE #2
CHIC COSSABOONE, Rick Laubach, Billy Pauch, Chad James, Jimmy Chester, Mike Franz, Richie Pratt Jr., Bob Sarkisian, Scott Irwin, Mike Iles, Mark Forte Sr., Doug Pannepacker, John Dixon, Wade Hendrickson, Mark Schweibinz, Pete Visconti, Rich Acolia, Steve Bottcher, Tommy Beamer, Bryant Brown, Doug Hoffman, Ed Firth, Brett Hoffman DNS: Steven Durand
358 SPORTSMAN
Heat 1 – Yaple, Hill, Kelly, Gunther, Nicotra, M. Cogdill
Heat 2 – T. Miller, Pursell, Kormann, Horton, Lineman, J. Miller
Heat 3 – Roberts, D. Cogdill, Collins, Hopkins, Wyant, Scarpati
FEATURE – 20 LAPS
CHUCK HOPKINS, Sean Gunther, Ron Roberts, Jesse Hill, John Pursell, Eric Kormann, Jimmy Horton IV, Randy Yaple, Bob Lineman Jr., Kevin Collins, John Kelly, Nick Nicotra, James Morris, Robert Wyant, Bob Rambone, Scott Davis Jr., Dave Decker, Dan Cogdill, John Parker, John Scarpati Jr., Tom Miller, Jason Duppel DNS: Mike Cogdill, Jarrad Miller
GM SUNOCO SPORTSMAN
Heat 1 – Rivers, R. Forte, Joseph Watson, T. Hill, Hires, Bell
Heat 2 – Peters, Harrell, J. Haegele, Barone, Jordan Watson, Micek
FEATURE – 15 LAPS
JORDAN WATSON, Pat Hires, Matt Harrell, Jon Haegele, Travis Hill, Joseph Watson, Mike Barone, Forrest Peters, Ryan Forte, John Micek, David Bell, Rich Jackson, John Bilofsky, Tom Gibson, Bob Bartleson, Jason Rivers, Brett Ballard, Taylor Craik
OUTLAW STOCKS
FEATURE – 15 LAPS
KEN WATSON, Rich Reider, Bill Miller, Joe Trumbetti, Karl Wagner, Jim Honeker, Tom Wills, Joe Ecret, Dave Wilhelm, Ron Dirkes, Rick Haegele, Terry Griffin, Jim McLaughlin, Jeff Dirkes, Bucky Albright
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