OH BROTHER: BRANDON WINS A PIASTKA BATTLE AT BEAR RIDGE
By: John DaDalt
Bradford, Vermont (May 7, 2022)………Brandon Piastka (West Suffield, CT) passed his brother Daniel Piastka with five laps remaining and went on to score his first career feature win with the USAC-DMA midgets at Bear Ridge Speedway on Saturday night. Justin Sheridan took third place giving the Ray Miller racing team a sweep of the top three.
The brothers started on the front row of the feature. Daniel used the inside line to get the jump on Brandon and take the early lead. Daniel looked strong throughout the race and appeared to be headed to victory but as the laps ticked off, Brandon began to gain ground. With five laps to go, Brandon made the winning move in traffic. From that point on he went un-challenged to nail down his first career win.
Third row starters Sheridan and Josh Sunn both got by Jeff Horn and Manny Dias to move into third and fourth, respectively. Sunn worked the outside groove trying to get by Sheridan but didn’t have enough grip to make the pass. Two-time defending series champion Seth Carlson made an early charge from 11th to 5th in the first five laps. Carlson and Sunn had a good battle for many laps with Sunn prevailing.
Brandon Piastka’s day began by hitting an infield tire during hot laps damaging the front end of the car, but the team repaired the Miller Racing #7 and Brandon drove it to victory on the weekend of car owner Ray Miller’s birthday. “It was a dream night to finish 1-2-3 for Ray Miller’s birthday. I want to thank my entire crew for thrashing to get the car fixed after hot laps. We changed pretty much everything in front of the engine. The car felt very good all night. In the feature, my brother was very fast, and I had to reel him back in and use lapped traffic to get by him with a few laps to go. What a great way to start the season!”
Daniel was equally as happy for his brother and the entire Miller team. “I am just so happy to be racing with the Ray Miller team. It is a great group of guys, and I couldn’t ask for it anything different. This was my first time in the Spike chassis, and it felt great. I wish I could have held off my brother for a few more laps but there is nobody I’d rather lose to than him. I’ve been watching him race for years and his time to win was due. Also, to finish 1-2-3 with Ray’s cars on his birthday weekend was just incredible. I hope we can keep the cars out front more this year.”
Rounding out the Miller Racing sweep was third place finisher Justin Sheridan. Sheridan ran third most of the race but was unable to make up ground on his two teammates. “It was tough to pass but I got a decent start to pick up off a few cars early. I wanted to get up there and race with the Piastkas, but they set a good pace. I’m proud of those guys and it was cool to see them have a 1-2 finish. I want to thank Ray and Zettie (Shookus). Between his birthday and Mother’s Day on Sunday, I’m sure we gave them a decent gift of three cars on the podium.”
Sunn applied pressure to Sheridan at times throughout the race but was unable to make a pass for the position and came home in fourth. Carlson finished fifth ahead of teammate Will Hull. Both Carlson and Hull were knocked out of the heat races after they both hit infield tires doing front end damage. Carlson was able to repair the Seals-It #4 but Hull had to step into the back up Seals-It car. The rest of the top ten were Mike Netishen, Manny Dias, Jeff Horn and Ralle Rookey.
The Piastka brothers split the two heat races. Daniel winning heat one and Brandon winning heat two.
The USAC-DMA midgets return to Bear Ridge Speedway on Saturday May 21.
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USAC DIRT MIDGET ASSOCIATION RACE RESULTS: May 7, 2022 – Bear Ridge Speedway – Bradford, Vermont
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Daniel Piastka (#1 Miller), 2. Jeff Horn (#A1 Horn), 3. Mike Netishen (#5$ Netishen), 4. Ralle Rookey (#5 Matczak), 5. Joey Chick (#5c Chick), 6. Todd Mable (#2K Mable), 7. Wayne Koehler (#91 Koehler). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Brandon Piastka (#7 Shookus), 2. Josh Sunn (#76m Mancini), 3. Justin Sheridan (#17 Miller), 4. Manny Dias (#42 Dias), 5. Seth Carlson (#4 Matczak), 6. Will Hull (#3 Matczak). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Brandon Piastka, 2. Daniel Piastka, 3. Justin Sheridan, 4. Josh Sunn, 5. Seth Carlson, 6. Will Hull (#4x Matczak), 7. Mike Netishen, 8. Manny Dias, 9. Jeff Horn, 10. Wayne Koehler, 11. Ralle Rookey, 12. Joey Chick, 13. Todd Mable. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: 1-20 Daniel Piastka, Laps 21-25 Brandon Piastka.
USAC DIRT MIDGET ASSOCIATION POINTS: 1-Brandon Piastka-78, 2-Daniel Piastka-75, 3-Justin Sheridan-70, 4-Josh Sunn-68, 5-Seth Carlson-62, 6-Will Hull-58, 7-Mike Netishen-58, 8-Manny Dias-54, 9-Jeff Horn-53, 10-Ralle Rookey-46, 11-Wayne Koehler-45, 12-Joey Chick-43, 13-Todd Mable-40
NEXT USAC DMA MIDGET RACE: May 21, 2022 – Bear Ridge Speedway – Bradford, Vermont