By Dane Simpson
Premier Series
Aptly named Surviving the Thunderdome, the boys of Core Premier series took to the high banks Bristol Dirt this week in the Pro 2 Lite. In the battle for top spot “two men enter, one man leaves” and that spot was claimed by Eric Andrews #9 after some exciting crossover action between him and Carl Handwerk #18. Last season Patrick Cooney #001 clawed his way through the alphabet soup of mains, falling just short of the feature. This season Cooney would redeem himself making the main, finishing 7th overall. Representing the D-Series Marc Gonzales #88 brought home a sold finish in 4th place, his 3rd start with the premier series. This Sunday Core takes the V8 Supercars to Daytona for some superspeedway action. Will the boys of Core be able to keep it clean in the draft, or will “The Big One” claim your favorite driver?
Andrews was the last man standing in the Thunderdome
Developmental Series
For a dirt guy Thaddeus Marshall #89 was able to show his driving skill at USA International Speedway in the asphalt Legends taking the top spot Tuesday Night. Marc Gonzales #88 would add to his points lead finishing in 2nd while Scoring full points for 0x. The battle for first was not the only one around the track, as many other drivers found themselves racing for 3-8th. Ricky Gonzales #7 would pick up the most spots of any D series driver landing 8th by nights end up from 12th. With the first half of the season in the books the top 4 spots are only separated by 37 points. Next weeks challenge will be to keep the fragile Radical SR8 in one piece around Oulton Park before heading into the double points portion of the season.
There’s a new Marshall in town
Late Model Dirt Series
Wednesday night from the Williams Grove Speedway was nothing short of a blood bath in the opening half of the 50 lapper. Along side the normal challenges of a dirt track, a peculiar jut in the outside wall gave numerous drivers trouble. Thaddeus Marshall #87 would qualify on the pole, but an incident would leave him with an EOL penalty rallying to finish 12th. The battle for the lead was a great show between Mario Perez #71 and Tyler Berry #500 leading a combined 37 laps before finishing 1st and 2nd respectively. Hard charger of the race would go to Travis D Miller #22m, starting 19th before rounding out the top 3. Miller maintains his spot in the championship standings after round 2 leading by 18 points heading into Weedsport.
Perez finds his groove at the Grove
TNT Late Model Series
Race #1
Adam Jones #46 may have taken the checkered flag race one from The Bullring, but possibly more impressive was Alex Bonsignore #51 clawing his way to 2nd from an 11th place start.
Jones says “ole” to the field to win race 1 at The Bullring
Race #2
The second race of the night would go to Kevin Foster #8 edging out Collin Murphy #09 and Jones.
Foster holds off a charging Murphy and Jones to win Race 2
Race #3
The last race of the evening would be a heartbreak for David Gargaro Jr #042 after leading 26 laps Internet problems would claim his night. Jones would scoop round three after putting on an absolutely brilliant performance all night. John Nobinger #44 had the most consistent evening placing 5th in all three of the nights races. Gargario Jr holds onto his spot atop of the standings despite the results of race three, but close on his heels is Brandon Mettler #15 with only 17 points separating the 2.
Adam absolutely jonesing with 2 out of 3 wins
