ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Briggs Danner inherited the lead when Andy Jankowiak and Tommy Catalano got together in turns three and four seven laps from the finish before holding off fellow USAC Sprint Car star Justin Grant and multi-time Gambler’s Classic champion Anthony Sesely to win Friday night’s thrilling BlackJack 21 NAPA Auto Parts Atlantic City Indoor Races at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
The victory, worth $3,600, was the Allentown, PA driver’s second with the Indoor Auto Racing Series Championship following his first triumph just weeks before inside the PPL Center.
“I think we had a second-place car to Andy (Jankowiak). But at the same time, the track changed a little bit so it’s tough to say how he would’ve been if we could’ve raced him for it,” the 25-year-old said post-race. “I felt pretty good and was happy to show the same speed he did. I guess we had a little bit of luck with that yellow coming out at the end, but the racing definitely got a little chaotic there. The win at home was cool, but it’s special to win in this historic building.”
Danner started the 21-lap affair in fourth and hovered in and around the back half of the top five before he managed to dodge a spinning Shawn Nye off turn two on lap 13 to propel himself into the runner-up spot.
On a restart three laps later, Danner was nearly taken out of contention when third-place running Catalano got into the back of leader Jankowiak in the center of turns one and two, sending Jankowiak up the speedway and into the left side of Danner’s No. 78.
Although sparks went flying and he was seeing most likely seeing red through the visor, Danner kept his machine out of the outside wall, and luckily for him, things fell into his lap as he watched Catalano give Jankowiak the boot around in turn three.
Since the lap wasn’t completed, Danner was scored the new leader. However, it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk to the checkered flag as he had two hungry drivers breathing down in Grant, searching for his first win Indoors, and Sesely, who started last in the field and was in his first race since injuring his back in last year’s Gambler’s Classic.
But Danner kept his cool under pressure and stormed off into the NJ night to take down the victory. Grant settled for second with Sesely, Scott Kreutter and Nye completing the top five.
To qualify for the BlackJack 21, TQ drivers did battle in a pair of 21 car, 20 lap qualifiers with the top ten transferring into the main event. Andy Jankowiak outraced Matt Swanson to win the first one. In the second one, Tommy Catalano edged out Briggs Danner by a nail-biting 0.033 seconds at the checkered flag to win the slugfest.
At the start of the racing program, a pair of E. Schneider & Sons sponsored 11 lap, ‘7 Come 11’ qualifiers transferred the top seven into the 21-car qualifiers. Mike Netishen and Nick Ladyga were victorious.
Cody Kline paced the 46-car Slingshot field in Bagel Rack time trials by blasting around the speedway in 9.398 seconds. Don Boonstra sponsored the three division qualifiers, which were claimed by Jon Laureigh, Jared Silfee and Cody Bleau.
Doug Stearly topped the field of 31 Champ Karts in E. Schneider & Sons time trials with a speedy 8.695 second lap. Chase Keister, Quentin Graham Jr. and Chase Williamson were victorious in the fast-paced Champ Kart qualifiers.
James Roselli breezed his way to the top of the leaderboard in the Dirt 600 Micro time trials by turning a lap of 8.166 seconds. Tim Buckwalter and Kyle Lick captured the two qualifiers.
The finish:
Feature (21 Laps) — 1. Briggs Danner 2. Justin Grant 3. Anthony Sesely 4. Scott Kreutter 5. Shawn Nye 6. Matt Janisch 7. Joey Bailey 8. Andy Jankowiak 9. Tyler Wagner 10. Tommy Catalano 11. Mason Hanel 12. Jonathan Reid 13. Cory DiMatteo 14. Matt Roselli 15. Tanner VanDoren 16. Stephen Kemery 17. Trevor Catalano 18. Ryan Flores 19. Jeremy Haudricourt 20. Matt Swanson 21. Kyle Lick 22. Kyle Herve
