July 26th, 2021

By Jacob MacDonald

 

After a couple of brutal weeks of rain, mother nature stepped aside this past weekend and let racing action at the Ridge get back underway. When all was said and done, Garrett Poland brought home his first career 602 Crate Sportsman win while in Pro stocks, it was Beau Ballard getting it done.

 

For the Red Chair DIRTcar 602 Crate Sportsman, it was Ricky Quick and Travis Green leading the field to green. Green took the early advantage and began to open up the lead but a lap 9 yellow for Andrew Buff slowing would bunch the field back up. Green would take the lead off the restart but Garrett Poland wasn’t too far off his back bumper. However, Green appeared to have things wrapped up as he crossed the line first. However, in post race tech, the driver of the T69 was found to have steel axle tubes which is against DIRTcar rules. Therefore, Garrett Poland was declared the winner. This bumped Ricky Quick up to the second place position while Brian Calabrese, Ted Teal and Brendan Gibbons rounded out the top five.

 

Ken Griffin Jr and Luke Horning were slated to set the pace for the 20 lap Yurkewecz Auto Crushers DIRTcar Racing Pro-Stocks feature. However, Luke Horning lost a driveshaft before the green flag ever flew. This moved Chuck McSpirit up to the outside pole. Griffin was able to snag away the top spot early. However, it wasn’t long before he had company. Chuck McSpirit looked to the outside of the 25y but couldn’t make it work. Meanwhile Beau Ballard, Jay Fitzgerald and Andy Graves were all bearing down on the front duo. McSpirit was the one who came out of the battle best as he took the lead around lap ten. Ballard managed to stay right on McSpirits heels and as they were side by side, the caution came out. The margin at the line as the yellow came out was 0.001 with Ballard being the leader. Ballard took the lead off the restart and led the final five laps as he went on to pick up his fourth win at the ridge in 2020. Andy Graves would outduel Chuck McSpirit for the runner up spot. McSpirit would come home third while Jay Fitzgerald and Buck Gasner rounded out the top five.

 

The Street Stocks saw Ken Allen and Jason Barrett sit on the front row but it wasn’t long before Jason Samrov powered his way to the lead as he went from fourth to first in a lap and a half. However, Adam Tranka was on the move as well in his number 54. They were door to door for the lead shortly after and they were having an old western style shootout as one would take the lead and they swapped the top two spots. A red flag on lap nine for the 91 of Matt Mosher going up and over would allow the field to bunch back up but the same result would happen as Samrov and Tranka continued to swap spots for position. With two to go, it appeared Samrov had the field covered but Tranka made a last ditch effort on the outside of turn four and at the line, Tranka nabbed Samrov at the line by a bumper. Trankas last lap pass gave him his third win on the year. Samrov would have to settle for second while Barrett, Josh Samrov and Allen rounded out the top five.

 

Zach Buff took his outside pole starting spot and used it to take home his sixth win on the season in limited sportsman competition. Taylor Wason came home second while Mike Hill, Luke Horning and James Hinman Jr rounded out the top five.

 

Nick Millard sat on the pole for the 15 lap Northeast Paving & Sealcoating All Star Slingshot feature. However, Tavien Blowers took the lead early and appeared to have a comfortable lead. However, the man on a mission Dan Ballard was on the charge and erased that comfortable lead rather quickly. Blowers had the preferred line though so he was able to hold off Ballard in clean air. However, when they ran up on the 24 of Kristin Swartz, it forced Blowers to hesitate just for a moment on how to negotiate traffic. This gave Ballard all he needed to get by the 44 as Dan Ballard took home the win. Blowers would have to settle for the runner up spot while Kyle Dingman, Nathaniel Boesse and Jim Pollard completed the top five.

 

In the DIRTcar Mini Stocks, It was some familiar faces in victory lane as Billy Hillman made it three wins in the last four weeks while Dale Van Allen continued his own his streak as he made it four in a row.

 

Sloan Cherko went wire to wire in the junior slingshot feature to pick up win number one on the season. Braxton Martin and Hayden Ackernecht rounded out the podium.

 

Join us next Sunday on August 1st as it is NYSSCA Night. Also in action is the FantaSStic 4 Street Stock Series and the Wheels of Fury Enduro Series. Hot laps are at 5:30 and racing action follows at 6pm. Adults are just ten dollars while children ages seven and under are four dollars. We hope to see you at the fastest 1/4 mile on dirt!