BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. — It all started with a phone call on Monday and ended with victory lane photos on Saturday for Timmy Buckwalter as he was able to collect his first Rapid Tire USAC East Coast 360 sprint car win at Grandview Speedway.
Joey Biasi and Carmen Perigo would lead the field to the green flag, but the caution would quickly wave as Eddie Strada and Chris Allen got together on the initial start and collected Eric Jennings and John Stehman. Strada kept his position as he never stopped. Stehman rejoined, but at the tail of the field. Allen and Jennings, however, were not so lucky and their nights were over
The following restart would again have chaos in turn one as a spinning Eddie Strada would collect the cars of Connor Leoffler and Bill Unglert. All suffering front end damage and sending the three drivers pit side.
When the field went green again on Biasi was able to grab the lead with Carmen Perigo hot in his bumper. Buckwalter had now found himself in third after starting the feature in the fifth position. Buckwalter made quick work of passing the stout Perigo machine, before setting his sights on Biasi. Buckwalter would make the pass on Biasi and look to set sail before a caution flew on lap seven for a slowing Ryan Quackenbush machine.
From the ensuing restart on Timmy Buckwalter had a comfortable lead over the rest of the field, but the rest of the finishing positions were under fire as an intense battle for positions two through four occurred among Biasi, Perigo and 11th-starting Steve Drevicki.
Drevicki would make a fantastic pass in turns three and four passing both Perigo and Biasi on lap 23. Unfortunately for Drevicki and the rest of the field, it was too late as Timmy Buckwalter would cruise on to collect his first USAC East Coast victory.
Drevicki, Perigo, Biasi, and the hard charger of the night, Chandler Leiby, who started 17th, rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Timmy Buckwalter, Steven Drevicki, Carmen Perigo, Joey Biasi, Chandler Leiby, Tyler Brehm, Mike Thompson, Jonathan Swanson, Steve Surniak, John Stehman, David Swanson, Jason Cherry, Zack Burd, Ryan Quackenbush, Chris Allen Jr., Eddie Strada, Eric Jennings, Connor Leoffler, Bill Unglert, Jake Winters.