Day Three Of East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals Builds On Two Days Of Sensational Qualifying Racesl; Finale Tonight; Racing Starts At 5PM
TRENTON, NJ – When the green flag waves tonight to start the Second Annual East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals 50-lap, $5,000-t0-win main event, 24 of the top 600 Micro Sprint drivers and cars will barrel into turn one.
The field was trimmed from nearly 120 original entries after two days of unpredictable qualifying races, run on a meticulously prepared clay surface.
In Thursday qualifying, Brian Carber, Billy Covert, Whitey Kidd III, Doug Snyder, Erick Rudolph, Brett Altemose, Collin White, and Ryan Greth who earned their ways into the Saturday race by placing first and second in the four Thursday Night 20-lap -Main Qualifiers.
Friday night’s qualifiers were race winners Billy Pauch, Jr., Jim Radkey, Kyle Spence and Steve Buckwalter. Michael Carber, Tim Buckwalter, Lee Nardelli and Sean Brierly finished runner-up to the respective winners.
Action Friday was at times sensational. Tim Buckwalter marched from last to second off the final turn in the second 20-lap Qualifier. Buckwalter’s car had suffered a mechanical problem in an earlier race that determined Qualifier starting spots.
And Kyle Spence, winner of heat three, gained, lost, and regained the lead three times over the final five laps to win it. Scott Kreutter, one of the late race leaders, bounced off the backstretch wall twice to take the lead but wound up spinning on the last lap.
Steve Buckwalter wowed the audience in the final heat, taking a 13-year old car, running it on the extreme bottom of the speedway and held off all rivals to win that race.
Throughout the night, the track changed dramatically both after track touch up work and even during some of the races, leaving competitors – and fans – to wonder what to expect during the 50-lap East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals
The Dirt Nationals for Wingless 600 Sprints on Saturday will feature all of the 120 Wingless 600 Micro competitors who raced Thursday and Friday – less the 16 who have already earned their starting spots in the A-Main – joining to compete for remaining eight starting spots. Racing starts at 5 PM.
The 600 Sprints on hand will run through a series of ‘Alphabet Mains’ with racers having the opportunity to advance from G, F, E, D, C, and B races, that will precede the 50-lap headliner. Each race will advance only the top four finishers to the next round.
The two B-Mains will transfer the top 4 finishers to the A-Main, for a total of 24 starters.
Tickets are also available all day Saturday at the CURE Insurance Arena box office.