5/28/2023
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Redemption! Lattomus Scores Winchester Victory
May 27th, 2023. Winchester, VA. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
Preston Lattomus of Lewes, Delaware scored his second ever, Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade Series victory at the Winchester Speedway in dominating fashion. Lattomus finished second in the event last September, in a close duel with Briggs Danner, and was able to reverse the result on Saturday night.
Mike Thompsona and Preston Lattomus lead the field to green for the 25 lap feature event, with Lattomus getting the better of Thompson down the back straightaway, and taking the early race lead. Briggs Danner quickly dispatched of Ed Aikin and Joey Amantea in the opening circuit, and drew in on the rear of Bruce Buckwalter Jr for the runner up spot.
An extremely slick surface, with the bottom lane being the one and only lane for racing, left the field strung out quickly, with cars nose to tail battling for positions waiting for the driver in front of them to make a mistake and capitalize for position.
Preston Lattomus set a torrid pace quickly jumping out to a half track lead over the bulk of the field. Bruce Buckwalter Jr held strong for second over Briggs Danner and Joey Amantea early, with Amantea taking advantage of a slight bobble by Danner to move into second around the lap ten mark.
As the field closed in on the half way point of the feature event, Lattomus had begun to encounter lapped traffic, but still maintained his half track lead. Joey Amantea was trying every move he had to try and work to the underside of Bruce Buckwalter Jr for the runner up spot, with Briggs Danner not far behind. Ed Aikin lead the battle for fifth, ahead of Drevicki, Perigo, and Bobby Butler.
Lattomus continued to pick up lapped cars and keep his large lead over Buckwalter, when the first and only caution flag of the feature event flew on lap seventeen for a duel issue of a slowing Troy Fraker and Brett Rose. Fraker would be able to retire and rejoin at the tail of the field.
The ensuing restart for Lattomus was perfect as he shot away from Buckwalter and the rest of the field. With lap eighteen being completed at the line, Amantea dove to the bottom of the speedway and put the elbows up and out, and moved Buckwalter out of the for the runner up spot. Buckwalter regained his speed, but after losing another position to Briggs Danner, falling to fourth.
Amantea would try all he could to reel in Lattomus for the feature event lead, even drawing to within two to three car lengths with four laps to go, but Lattomus again, pulled away and put a large gap on the field.
Preston Lattomus would go unchallenged for the remainder of the event and score his second career victory over Joey Amantea, Briggs Danner, Bruce Buckwalter Jr, and Ed Aikin.
While Lattomus missed last weeks action at the Clinton County Speedway as they were rebuilding cars, and preparing a new Captiol Renegade trailer, the team opted to bring their 358 powered RPM chassis that they utilize for winged racing at Williams Grove and other area speedways. The lesser horsepower was certainly a help on Saturday night in the slick, but Scott McClaren had Lattomus hooked up and cruising for the teams second career win. Lattomus has been fast all season long, continuing the strength that the team showed to close out the 2022 season following their first career win at Lincoln.
Joey Amantea is a driver who is not a fan of slick tracks, but drove a very smart race on Saturday night at Winchester. The young and ambitious driver fought tooth and nail with both Briggs Danner and Bruce Buckwalter Jr throughout the feature event, and was rewarded with a strong runner up finish, and will continue to move back up the points standings following a DNQ at Williams Grove in April.
Briggs Danner entered the night as the most recent winner at the Winchester Speedway, and will leave the speedway at the series points leader, continue to top three and top five the rest of the field. Danner and team are still searching for their first series win, and have been all over the top five attempting to do so. There is no doubt that Danner and team will break through into series victory lane once again, and perhaps it will come at the biggest race of the season next week at Williams Grove.
Bruce Buckwalter is a small track specialist. Three great runs in the month of May for Buckwalter, culminated with a top four run at Winchester on Saturday. While were sure Bruce would have rather finished in the second position, possibly if not for the contact with Amantea, the veteran open wheel driver ended the month of May with a solid top five run.
Rounding out the top five was another veteran driver who has been on a tear of top five runs, was Ed Aikin. Coming off a top third place at Grandview, and a second at Clinton County, Ed came into the Winchester Speedway looking for another solid run. After nearly scoring a heat race win in a fierce battle with Carmen Perigo Jr, Aikin ran a solid race and came home with yet another top five. The first feature win for Aikin sure feels like its closer than ever for the veteran driver.
Up next for the series is the biggest event of the season at the Williams Grove Speedway on Friday, June 2nd. The second annual Bill Gallagher Memorial, paying $5,000 to the winner, in honor of the legendary car owner. A stop to the Bedford Speedway on June 9th, and the Delaware International Speedway on June 30th will end another busy month for the series, with the annual USAC National “Eastern Storm” sandwiched in the middle of the month.
USAC East Coast at Winchester Results:
Heat 1 (8 Laps, 4 Invert): 1. 39 Briggs Danner, 2. 88J Joey Amantea, 3. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 4. 11 Mike Thompson, 5. 19 Steven Drevicki, 6. 5B Bobby Butler, 7. 87 Austin Graby, 8. 45R Brett Rose, 9. 96 Lee Kauffman.
Heat 2 (8 Laps, 4 Invert): 1. 21 Carmen Perigo Jr, 2. 7 Ed Aikin, 3. 29 Dalton Herrick, 4. 23B Preston Lattomus, 5. 18J JT Ferry, 6. 117 David Swanson, 7. 67 Jason Cherry, 8. 12W Troy Fraker.
Feature Event (25 Laps): 1. 23B Preston Lattomus, 2. 88J Joey Amantea, 3. 39 Briggs Danner, 4. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 5. 7 Ed Aikin, 6. 19 Steven Drevicki, 7. 11 Mike Thompson, 8. 21 Carmen Perigo Jr, 9. 5B Bobby Butler, 10. 18J JT Ferry, 11. 87 Austin Graby, 12. 117 David Swanson, 13. 29 Dalton Herrick, 14. 67 Jason Cherry, 15. 12W Troy Fraker, 16. 45R Brett Rose, 17. 96 Lee Kauffman.
Lap Leader: Preston Lattomus 1-25
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman
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