SPRINT: BOSS Bridgeport report 96-07-16

• "Russ Gould"
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Tue Jul 23 22:51:21 EDT 1996

SPRINTS: Bridgeport Open Sprint Series
Bridgeport, NJ
July 16, 1996

Greetings Sprint Car Fans!

Although this is a little slow in getting out I thought I would share it with
you since there was some great action.  This was the first of the BOSS
(Bridgeport Open Sprint Series) shows with the other two scheduled for Monday,
August 26, 1996, and Sunday, October 20, 1996.

Bridgeport is a 5/8 mile clay oval located just off Rt. 295 from exit 13 (south
bound) or exit 11B (north bound) until the regular construction is completed at
the normal exit of 14.  Grandstand seating is all outside but it does have
boards in place to prevent your cooler from falling to the ground.

The show was set up with time trials and eight lap heats with the top six
getting their time back.  The top six finishers in the consi got their time. 
Quick time for the night got to pull a pill for inversion purposes and for this
show it resulted in the top eight getting inverted.  $5,000 to the winner.

Signed into the pits were 31 sprint cars.  During hot laps the #85 of Glenn
Clarke took a nasty ride out over the turn one wall.  Glenn climbed from his
car but was examined by the medical crew and had a "bad bump on the leg." 

Top Ten In Time Trials 
1.)  #1   Billy Pauch		17.23
2.)  #19  Steve Smith Sr.	17.39	17.65
3.)  #77  Fred Rahmer		17.53	17.58
4.)  #461 Lance Dewease		17.57	17.58
5.)  #12  Keith Kauffman	17.63	17.78
6.)  #92  Kevin Gobrecht	17.91	17.91
7.)  #88  Todd Shaffer		18.33	18.12
8.)  #59  Todd Gracey		18.01	18.23
9.)  #29  Dave Calaman		18.37	18.25
10.) #16C Cliff Brian		18.39	18.39

Information for the heat races list the qualifying position, car number,
driver, and starting position in brackets.

HEAT ONE
1.)  #16  Bill Brian Jr. [4]		2.)  #77 Fred Rahmer [7]
3.)  #1  Billy Pauch [8]		4.)  #59 Todd Gracey [6]
5.)  #555 Mike Wells [1]		6.)  #53 Tom Caby [3]
Bill Brian Jr. and Fred Rahmer swapped the lead a few times on the last lap
with Brian taking it back in turn three.


HEAT TWO
1.)  #10  Len Thompson [2]		2.)  #19 Steve Smith Sr. [6]
3.)  #12 Fred Rahmer [5]		4.)  #88 Todd Shaffer [4]
5.)  #2C Will Cramer [3]		6.)  #3 Bob Bennett
The #88 of Shawn Weaver and the #08 of Jason Clauss scratched from the event.

HEAT THREE
1.)  #49 Bob Howard [3]			2.)  #461 Lance Dewease [8]
3.)  #92 Kevin Gobrecht [7]		4.)  #16C Cliff Brian [5]
5.)  #29 Scottie Ausherman [6]		6.)  #4H Robin Johnston [1]

CONSI
1.)  #11A Tim Kuhn [1]			2.) #85 Scott Cahill [2]
3.)  #65 1/2 Cristine Cairns [3]	4.) #17T ? [4]
5.)  #3  Troy Snell [9]			6.) #40 Mike Kostic [6]

Three cars scratched: #121 Judi Bates, #08 Jason Clauss, and the #88 Shawn
Michael.  The #17T (this was either a KARS or ESS entry since it had the small
top wing) hit the wall hard in turn one after taking the checkered flag in a
qualifying spot.  The driver was removed from the scene via an ambulance. 
Reportedly the steering was going on the car during the consi and finally let
go at the checkered so the car drove straight into the wall.

25 LAP FEATURE
Bridgeport showed that they are angered by the loss of their WoO date by
running a four wide parade lap.  It did take a while for the cars to get lined
up prior to that parade lap since the line up had been incorrect and the
officials had to adjust it as the cars circled under caution.

With the top eight inverted the #59 of Todd Gracey took the lead and lead for
the first five laps until the red was brought out by a hard flip in turn one by
the #4H of Robin Johnston.  The wing on his car actual bent back up while
entering turn one after running full throttle down the front stretch.  The wing
came off and the car hit the wall and flipped hard landing on all four wheels
extremely hard.  Top five at this point were: #59, #12, #77, #88, #19.

On the restart the #77 of Rahmer challenged the #12 of Kauffman for second and
in the process of trying to defend his position Kauffman rubbed his right rear
tire on the wall by the start finish line as Rahmer completed the pass. 
However, on the back stretch Kauffman took the position back from Rahmer.

The two cars on the move were the #19 of Steve Smith Sr. and the #1 of Billy
Pauch who were making their way towards the front.  At this stage of the race
it appeared that Smith had the better handling car and that Pauch was having
trouble staying with Smith.  On lap eight the #3 of Troy Snell spun and brought
out the caution.  Top five at this point were: #59, #12, #77, #19, #1.  Just
prior to the restart the #40 of Kostic catches the cone used for restarts and
had to stop on the back stretch and have it removed by track officials.

On the restart Kauffman pressured the leader Gracey however Rahmer soon was
pressuring Kauffman and in turn three Rahmer dove low and took over the second
position.  A few laps latter, lap ten, Cristine Cairns spun and brought out yet
another caution.  The top five at this point were:
#59, #77, #12, #19, #1.

On the restart Rahmer went low and passed Gracey for the lead and the #19 Of
Smith passed Kauffman on the inside going down the back stretch.  By lap twelve
Smith was closing on second place Gracey and on the next lap Smith went low in
turn one and took the second position. while the #1 of Pauch passed Gracey
going down the back stretch. Pauch began to close on Smith and on lap fifteen
with Smith protecting the low side Pauch swung to the outside in turns one and
two and came away with second position.  Pauch then started to ever so slowly
reel in Rahmer and on lap twenty-one Pauch passed Rahmer on the back stretch to
take the lead.

TOP THREE FINISHERS
1.)  #1 Billy Pauch
2.)  #77 Fred Rahmer
3.)  #19 Steve Smith Sr.