BRIGHT SWEEPS GEORGETOWN FOR FIRST USAC EC WIN OF ‘24
By: Nick Fillman – USAC ECSC
Georgetown, Delaware (May 17, 2024)………Alex Bright of Collegeville, Pa. scored a clean sweep of the USAC Rapid Tire Services East Coast Sprint Cars Presented by Capitol Renegade event at Delaware’s Georgetown Speedway by winning his heat race and the feature event.
Following the heat race redraw, Alex Bright and Bobby Butler shared the front row of the 20-lap feature event with Bright immediately securing the feature event lead. The top four of Bright, Butler, Bruno and Drevicki quickly tried to separate themselves from the rest of the field.
The best battle of the first half of the feature event was between Matthew Swift and Bruce Buckwalter Jr. who battled side-by-side, lap after lap, just outside of the top-five. Behind that battle, another occurred between Rookie driver Ronald Helmick and Jason Cherry who battled tooth and nail at the tail end of the field.
Up front, Alex Bright was on a Friday night cruise with nobody able to come near the former series champion as Bobby Butler, Christian Bruno and Steven Drevicki all ran within two car lengths of each other. As the laps wound down and Bright began to put drivers at the tail end of the event a lap down, including going three wide with Bruce Buckwalter Jr. and Matthew Swift, nobody could do a thing about Bright at the front of the field.
Alex Bright scored the feature event win, his first of the season, over Bobby Butler, Christian Bruno, Steven Drevicki and Ed Aikin completing the top-five.
The win for Bright was the first of the season, but easily could have been the team’s third or even fourth. Bright finished in the runner-up position at Bedford after starting in the worst redraw spot and was leading at Port Royal before spinning and making contact with Briggs Danner and was in third at Grandview when Bobby Butler spun and left Bright with nowhere to go. It was a welcome bounce back for the former series champion as he tries to rack up wins, and potentially, another championship.
Bobby Butler had a welcome rebound finish after leading feature event laps at the series’ last event at Grandview. Butler has had a plethora of speed through the first four feature events of the season and continues to challenge for wins.
Christian Bruno continued his fast beginning of 2024 with yet another podium run. The former 600 Speedweek Champion has been racking up the top-five finishes and scored a second podium effort in as many weeks.
Steven Drevicki also continued his speedy start to the new season. However, following his fourth place run at Georgetown, Drevicki lost the series point lead to Alex Bright, and now trails by just two points. Drevicki will lock and load and try to take the points lead back at Delaware International.
Rounding out the top-five was veteran driver Ed Aikin. Even though the series is only four races into the season, Aikin appears to have as much speed as ever in his DRC Chassis entry. With as much speed as Aikin has shown, perhaps when the series makes a stop at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, one of Aikin’s best tracks, the vet could potentially break through and score his first career win. Only time will tell!
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: May 17, 2024 – Georgetown Speedway – Georgetown, Delaware
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 27-Alex Bright (7), 2. 17B-Christian Bruno (1), 3. 5B-Bobby Butler (2), 4. 19-Steven Drevicki (4), 5. 7-Ed Aikin (9), 6. 03-Matthew Swift (5), 7. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (8), 8. 22R-Ron Helmick (10), 9. 67-Jason Cherry (6), 10. 3H-Heidi Hedin (3). NT
FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Alex Bright (1), 2. Bobby Butler (2), 3. Christian Bruno (4), 4. Steven Drevicki (3), 5. Ed Aikin (5), 6. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (7), 7. Matthew Swift (6), 8. Ron Helmick (8), 9. Jason Cherry (9), 10. Heidi Hedin (10). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Alex Bright.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Alex Bright-272, 2-Steven Drevicki-270, 3-Bobby Butler-244, 4-Ed Aikin-242, 5-Christian Bruno-213, 6-Briggs Danner-195, 7-Matthew Swift-183, 8-Jason Cherry-177, 9-Joey Amantea-145, 10-Carmen Perigo-133.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE: May 25, 2024 – Delaware International Speedway – Delmar, Delaware