NEW EGYPT, NJ – Davie “No Panek” Franek proved that he had the car to beat as he came out on top for the first time in 2019 during the Dirty Jersey 6 at New Egypt Speedway during a rare mid-week show on Tuesday, August 20.
After raining out at Delaware International Speedway on Saturday, twenty cars made their way to the pine barrens of New Jersey on a rescheduled Tuesday night to compete in the 25-lap main event for the Capitol Renegade United Racing Club. This was the club’s first and only trip to New Egypt Speedway this year and the club would like to send a special thanks to the Deyo family for including URC on the card with the Short Track Super Series.
Franek started the night in an interestingly strong way as he crossed the line second in his heat race, however, after the winner Steve Buckwalter failed to cross the scales after taking the win Franek was named the winner of heat 1. This put Franek in the re-draw with five other drivers where he would go on to pick the 3 pill as his feature starting position. Starting first would be Troy Betts, with JJ Grasso to his outside, both showing speed during their respective heat race as well.
When the green flag dropped chaos ensued going into turn one when Josh Weller collided with the back of Grasso’s car slowing them both and causing the cars behind them to check up. Shortly after, Franek got around Betts for the lead and appeared to be as good as gone. Grasso was able to gather his car up rather quickly and found himself in the second position chasing down Franek. The battle for the lead heated up as the leaders worked their way through lapped traffic. Though Grasso was able to show Franek the nose of his car several times, his hopes of winning would come to an end when damage from the first lap contact ended up resulting in a right rear tire exploding causing him to stop in turn 1. During the caution Troy Betts, who was running fifth stopped on the track-seemingly experiencing mechanical issues and would retire to the pit area as well.
This would be the only caution of the night and on the restart, Franek would now have Adam Carberry behind him with four laps remaining in the event. Franek would hold off the cars behind him and cruise to his first URC victory of 2019 with Carberry scoring a season-high second place finish, followed by Josh Weller, Tyler Ross, and Ryan Stillwaggon rounding out the top five. “The car was really good on the green flag runs,” Franek said in victory lane, “I could move around in traffic, it was good, it was fun.” Reflecting on his 2019 Franek said, “I’m racing a lot, having a lot of fun, the cars are staying together.” Davie Franek thanked his family, crew and sponsors including Rapid Tire for propelling him to victory lane.
The KSE Hard Charger award went to Steven Buckwalter who had to start at the rear due to missing the scales in his heat and advancing 11 positions to finish eighth. Heat wins went to Davie Franek and JJ Grasso.
The Capitol Renegade United Racing Club will kick off Labor Day weekend in action on Friday, August 30th at Williams Grove Speedway joining the 410 sprint cars for the Keith Kauffman Tribute Race. Chad Layton still holds the point lead – however Josh Weller is slowly inching closer with only 71 points separating the top 2. Keep up with all the races on the My Race Pass app by searching “United Racing Club”!
Photo Credit: Dave Pratt
RESULTS – AUGUST 20, 2019
HEAT 1 (10 LAPS): 1. 28F-Davie Franek, [4]; 2. 63-Josh Weller, [9]; 3. 47-Adam Carberry, [8]; 4. 5-Tyler Ross, [7]; 5. 10-Joe Kata, [2]; 6. 7-Ed Aikin, [3]; 7. 29-Jason Shultz, [10]; 8. 11A-Austin Bishop, [6]; 9. 5Q-Ryan Quackenbush, [5]; 10. 7X-Steve Buckwalter, [1]
HEAT 2 (10 LAPS): 1. 25-J.J. Grasso, [1]; 2. 22-Troy Betts, [4]; 3. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon, [8]; 4. 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [5]; 5. 35-Chad Layton, [2]; 6. 5G-Curt Michael, [3]; 7. 8C-Brian Carber, [6]; 8. 71-Chris Allen Jr., [10]; 9. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy, [7]; 10. 83-Arthur Liedl, [9]
FEATURE (25 LAPS): 1. 28F-Davie Franek, [3]; 2. 47-Adam Carberry, [5]; 3. 63-Josh Weller, [4]; 4. 5-Tyler Ross, [7]; 5. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon, [6]; 6. 5G-Curt Michael, [12]; 7. 35-Chad Layton, [10]; 8. 7X-Steve Buckwalter, [19]; 9. 8C-Brian Carber, [14]; 10. 11A-Austin Bishop, [15]; 11. 10-Joe Kata, [9]; 12. 29-Jason Shultz, [13]; 13. 7-Ed Aikin, [11]; 14. 71-Chris Allen Jr., [16]; 15. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy, [18]; 16. 83-Arthur Liedl, [20]; 17. 5Q-Ryan Quackenbush, [17]; 18. (DNF) 25-J.J. Grasso, [2]; 19. (DNF) 22-Troy Betts, [1]; 20. (DNF) 89-Robbie Stillwaggon, [8]
- Casey Robicheau on Aug 21, 2019
- Article Date: 8/20/2019 by Casey Robicheau