By: Bobby Sweeney
BREWERTON, NY – Mike Maresca held off a late run by Jimmy Phelps to nab his second Brewerton Speedway win of the season in the 35-lap Modified feature, while Larry Wight dominated the second half of the ESS A-Main, taking his first Sprint Car win of the year in his second start.
Chad Phelps led the first laps of the Modified 35-lap main, but Maresca and Tim Sears Jr. quickly garnered attention in the opening stages, driving into the top five from seventh and thirteenth respectively. Lap 10 saw Maresca roll the cushion and take second, while Sears went to fourth. Five laps later, Maresca caught bottom-feeding Phelps, driving by to take the lead.
Sears reached the second spot on lap 20, but by this point, Maresca was long gone. Sears now had to content with a high-flying Jimmy Phelps, the fastest car on the track running a lane and a half higher than anyone else. After traffic temporarily halted the battle, Phelps took second from Sears with five laps left. While the gap from Phelps and Maresca shrunk in the late stages, it didn’t close fast enough, as Maresca held off a charging Jimmy Phelps for the second time this season to take the win. Sears came home third, with Chad Phelps and Larry Wight completing the top five.
“It got a bit hectic those first few laps, but you just have to keep your nose clean while picking off as many as possible,” Maresca noted. “I found the middle to top pretty early on, I like running up there here and this car was flawless. It was easy to drive, I got out and wasn’t even sweating. That’s usually a good sign, just let the car do the work and have some fun driving it. Not every race can be like that, so I’ll enjoy this one.”
A-Verdi Storage Containers July 2 Night at The Speedway Results
(Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds 35 Laps) – MICHAEL MARESCA, Jimmy Phelps, Tim Sears Jr., Chad Phelps, Larry Wight, Kevin Root, Ron Davis III, Tyler Trump, Jim Witko, Chris Hile, Willy Decker, Billy Decker, Tom Sears, Jack Lehner, Roy Bresnahan, Ben Bushaw, Pat Ward, Sean Beardsley, Jeff Taylor, Torrey Stoughtenger, Tim Harris, Nick Krause, Rocky Warner, DNS – Andy Noto
(DIRTcar 358 Modified Bonus $300, $200, $100) – Willy Decker, Ben Bushaw, Sean Beardsley.
(DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman 25 Laps) – CHRIS MACKEY, Zach Payne, Alan Fink, Zach Sobotka, Amy Holland, Tyler Murray, Dalton Rombough, Dale Caswell, Jeff Prentice, Tony Finch II, Willy Decker Jr., Max Hill, Dorian Wahdan, Earl Rudy, Brent Joy, Bucky Hayes, Dan Keyes, Riley Rogala, Rich Townsend, JJ Courcy, Quinn Wallis, Chris Bonoffski, Dan Rief, Matt Caprara, Jacob Dupra, Matt Kitts, Teddy Starr, Joe Sobotka, DNS – Brandon Carvey.
(NAPA Auto Parts Chase Elliott Award) – Jeff Prentice
(Fleet Repairs 4-Cylinders 15 Laps) – CHRIS BONOFFSKI, Damien Bechler, Chuck Powelczyk, Quinn Wallis, Justin Pope, Ray Bechler, Tony Frezzo, Clayton Koch, Corey Valade, Kenneth Evans, Jack Taskey, Justin Burns, Kevin Duffany, Tyler Bates, Tim Dunn, Dave Mills, Sam Curcie, Hannah Guerreri.
