By Paul Harkenrider (Sodus, NY) | In a first of its kind for the Patriot Sprint Tour and CRSA Sprints, Mike Emhof Motorsports held the Iracing Spring Nationals at the Virtual Dirt Track at Charlotte. A fine mix of actual dirt track competitors went up against several fans, crew members and media members participating in the Saturday night quarantine fun.
In the end, it was Brewerton and Fulton Speedway track announcer Adam Buchanan taking home the win over Woodhull Raceway Modified competitor, Dayton Brewer and former Patriot Sprint Tour series champion, Sammy Reakes.
CRSA and Land of Legends weekly competitor, Jesse Pruchnik brought the 26 car field to the green flag where he would jump out to the early race lead. Buchanan, who started alongside Pruchnik on the front row wasted no time to find a comfortable line on the outside lane of the race track.
On lap five, Buchanan capitalized on a near perfect slide job in the fourth corner and he solidified himself as the race leader.
Several cautions would occur throughout the event, one that involved second place runner Pruchnik who made contact with Kevin Loveys as they were battling for position within the top five. This allowed a pair of modified drivers in Dayton Brewer and Ryan Susice an opportunity to battle for the top spot against Buchanan.
Buchanan would hug the top lane during the entirety of the race and the only way Susice or Brewer would have been able to take over the race lead would be finding something on the bottom or middle groove. Both drivers would attempt but found little success on the bottom.
Susice would then exit the racetrack after a restart with just a couple laps left which put Brewer solidly in the second-place spot. Several drivers who were involved in early race incidents would work their way back up to the front. One of which was 2015 Patriot Sprint Tour series champion, Sammy Reakes. Despite being involved in an early race caution, the Honey Badger who started 18th would suddenly find himself avoiding several other cautions in the meantime.
Another hard charger is 305 competitor, Trevor Years who drove from 21st to fifth in the event as he basically followed Reakes up through the field.
When it was all said and done, Adam Buchanan secured the win over Brewer, Reakes, 2019 PST Mechanic of the year, Brian Zyck and Years.
The event kicked off with time trials and it was Sammy Reakes taking the fastest time at 13.577. Two qualifying heats that were won by Ryan Susice and racetrack photographer, Dave Biro. Former Patriot Sprint Tour racer, Don Adamczyk would take home the B-Main.
Some notable competitors that joined in on the fun included former PST Champions Jared Zimbardi and Davie Franek as well as PST Photographer, Curtis Berleue. 2019 PST race winners Josh Pienazek and Jordan Poirier also competed in the MEM Iracing Spring Nationals. Trevor Years, Jesse Pruchnik, and Peter Dance were among the CRSA competitors in attendance.
The Patriot Sprint Tour would like to thank Three- Nine Productions for the broadcast coverage and looks forward to working with their team once again in the near future. You can re-watch the event on the Patriot Sprint Tour Facebook page.
Fans are encouraged to continue to stick with PST Social Media and patriotsprinttour.com as it is likely a few more changes will be made to the beginning of 2020 schedule.
Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
Iracing- Dirt Track At Charlotte
A-Main: 1) 44- ADAM BUCHANAN (1) 2) 26- Dayton Brewer 3) 17- Sammy Reakes 4) 20- Brian Zyck 5) 13- Trevor Years 6) 10- Bruce Hilton 7) 24- Billy Richardson 8) 39- Ian Blanchard 9) 29- Kevin Loveys 10) 14- Brett Wright 11) 56- Peter Dance 12) 19- Mathew Windhausen 13) 27- Craig Pellegrini 14) 45- Kelly Hebing 15) 21- Don Adamczyk 16) 42- Jesse Pruchnik 17) 99- John Trenca 18) 28- Davie Franek 19) 35- Jared Zimbardi 20) 28- Jordan Poirier 21) 33- Ryan Nicoletta 22) 9- Josh Pienazek 23) 18- Ryan Susice 24) 17- Curtis Berleue 25) 22- Troy Betts 26) 2-Dave Biro
Lap Leaders: 42- Jesse Pruchnik (1-4) 44- Adam Buchanan (5-35)
Heat 1: 1) 18- Ryan Susice 2) 29- Kevin Loveys 3) 17- Curtis Berleue 4) 44- Adam Buchanan 5) 56- Peter Dance 6) 21- Don Adamczyk 7) 33- Ryan Nicoletta 8) 24- Billy Richardson 9) 14- Jim Huppunen 10) 22- Troy Betts 11) 45- Kelly Hebing 12) 17- Sammy Reakes 13) Brian Zyck 14) 35- Jared Zimbardi
Heat 2: 1) 2- Dave Biro III 2) 26- Dayton Brewer 3) 99- John Trenca 4) 42- Jesse Pruchnik 5) 27- Craig Pellegrini 6) 14- Brett Wright 7) 39- Ian Blanchard 8) 28- Jordan Poirier 9) 28- Davie Franek 10) 9- Josh Pienazek 11) 13- Trevor Years 12) 27- Howie Atherton 13) 10- Bruce Hilton 14) 19- Matt Windhausen
B-Main: 1) 21- Don Adamczyk 2) 14- Brett Wright 3) 28- Jordan Poirier 4) 39- Ian Blanchard 5) 20- Brian Zyck 6) 22- Troy Betts 7) 9- Josh Pienazek 8) 17- Sammy Reakes 9) 33- Ryan Nicoletta 10) 10- Bruce Hilton 11) 13- Trevor Years 12) 24- Billy Richardson 13) 45- Kelly Hebing 14) 35- Jared Zimbardi 15) 28- Davie Franek 16) Mathew Windhausen 17) 27-Howie Atherton (DNQ) 18) Jim Huppunen (DNQ)
Time Trials (2 Laps): 1) 17- Sammy Reakes (13.577) 2) 2- Dave Biro (13.711) 3) 44- Adam Buchanan (13.724) 4) 39- Ian Blanchard (13.747) 5) 18- Ryan Susice (13.780) 6) 28- Jordan Poirier (13.78) 7) 17- Curtis Berleue (13.794) 8) 42- Jesse Pruchnik (13.811) 9) 20- Brian Zyck (13.817) 10) 26- Dayton Brewer (13.822) 11) 29- Kevin Loveys (13.828) 12) 10- Bruce Hilton (13.843) 13) 56- Peter Dance (13.85) 14) 14- Brett Wright (13.856) 15) 33- Ryan Nicoletta (13.86) 16) 13- Trevor Years (13.91) 17) 14- Jim Huppunen (13.918) 18) 9-Josh Pienazek (13.921) 19) 21- Don Adamczyk (13. 958) 20) 99-John Trenca (13.989) 21) Billy Richardson (14.004) 22) 28- Davie Franek (14.052) 23) 22- Troy Betts (14.08) 24) 27- Craig Pellegrini (14.151) 25) 45- Kelly Hebing (14.200) 26) 19- Matt Windhausen (14.411) 27) Jared Zimbardi (14.619) 28) Howie Atherton (15.275)