BEDFORD, Pa. – Just one night after his incredible 19 position rally from 21st to finish second at Port Royal Speedway, Anthony Macri did one better and secured his first FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of the season during Bedford Speedway’s Johnny Grum Classic.
The victory on Sunday, which earned Macri a $6,000 payday, was accomplished from the outside of row two. He utilized a restart with eight laps remaining to work by race-long leader and California invader Rico Abreu.
“These guys gave me one hell of a car all weekend long and it finally paid off,” Anthony Macri explained. “I don’t know what to say, I’m out of breath. I just tried to pace myself there at the end and not do anything stupid.”
Abreu, who started on the pole by way of his dash victory, led the first 22 circuits of the 30-lap contest. Setting sail around the topside of the speedway, Abreu seemed uncatchable. But as traffic started to intensify, Abreu’s momentum began to suffer allowing Macri, who found his way to second for the first time on lap 11, to shrink Abreu’s lead.
Just as a battle for the lead was about to break out, the caution flag waved on lap 13, ultimately eliminating traffic and clearing the path for Abreu.
A similar situation would occur on lap 22, as traffic entered the picture once again for Abreu, forcing him to slow down to work the slower traffic. The caution flag waved again on lap 23, and although it rid the speedway of any slower traffic, Macri was more than ready for another opportunity at a single-file restart behind Abreu’s No. 24.
The second try proved to be the charm for Macri as the now two-time All Star Circuit of Champions winner dived to the bottom of turn one to drive across in front of Abreu. The move stuck and Macri immediately extended his command to a multi-second advantage.
“I noticed on that first restart that (Abreu) kinda jerks the wheel when he gets ready to take off,” Macri continued. “When he started to turn his wheel again, I got on the gas and got a great run down the frontstretch. I knew that was my chance and I’m glad we were able to capitalize.”
Once claiming the top spot, Macri was untouchable, racing on to secure his place on Bedford Speedway’s victory lane stage. Abreu held on to claim second, followed by Paul McMahan, Cory Eliason and Kyle Reinhardt.
The finish:
1. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 2. 24R-Rico Abreu [1]; 3. 23-Paul McMahan [2]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [5]; 6. 13-Justin Peck [11]; 7. 72-Tim Shaffer [3]; 8. 11-Ian Madsen [7]; 9. 55W-Mike Wagner [8]; 10. 5-Brent Marks [13]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog [9]; 12. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [10]; 13. 24-Kerry Madsen [14]; 14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 15. O7-Lucas Wolfe [24]; 16. 48-Danny Dietrich [20]; 17. 2C-Dylan Cisney [22]; 18. 4-Cap Henry [18]; 19. 91F-Tony Fiore [16]; 20. 10-Zeb Wise [25]; 21. 35H-Zach Hampton [23]; 22. 51-Freddie Rahmer [15]; 23. 45-Jeff Halligan [19]; 24. 99M-Kyle Moody [21]; 25. 6-Ryan Smith [17]