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Franek From 7th to Claim Delaware Victory

Franek From 7th to Claim Delaware Victory

With the Capitol Renegade United Racing Club returning to action for the first time in over a month, a strong field of 22 360 sprint cars signed into the pits at Delaware International Speedway on Saturday night brought to you by Betts Garage.

With three heat races to decide the feature line up, the first heat race saw the #91 of David Quackenbush not make the call as the team was experiencing motor issues. Once the green flag dropped, the 22 of Troy Betts jumped out to the early lead with the Franek Auto Sales 28f of Davie Franek close in tow. With 1 lap down and heading into turn 3, Franek threw it in low below Betts for the lead. Betts hit a slick part on the track going into a complete 360 and being split by the 9D of Kevin Darling and the 747 of Davey Sammons. Just as Franek was completing lap 2 the caution came out for the 56 of Chris Coyle who was slowed in turn 2. On the restart Franek jumped out to the lead and took heat race 1 with Betts, Kevin Darling, Davey Sammons and Robbie Stillwaggon rounding out the top 5.

With heat race 2 on the track, second year driver Adam Carberry jumped out to an early lead but on lap 4 the caution was shown for the 5G of Curt Michael and 7L of Kris Lillick both spun in turn #1. As the green was shown again, the caution immediately came back out as the 5G of Michael was again turned the wrong way in turn 1. Michael also made contact with second year driver Justin Whittall who showed extensive damage to his wing. With both Lilick and Whittall in the pits, the green was dropped once again and Carberry headed to his first heat race win of the year followed by the 71 of Chris Allen, 5G Curt Michael 73b of Brett Michalski and the 17j of Jonathan Swanson rounding out the top 5.

The 3rd and final heat race, the 45 of Kevin Nagy jumped out to an early lead, but the caution was shown on lap 2 as the 24 of Mike Haggenbottom was upside down in turn 3. As the field returned to action the 33b of Bill Unglert wrestled the lead from Nagy and went on to win heat race 3. Unglert was followed to the line by 45 of Nagy, 77 of Derek Locke, 63 of Josh Weller and the 21 of Cody Jourdan.

With the feature up next, the 5G of Curt Michael drew the pole with the 45 of Nagy on the outside. As the field came to the green flag, entering turn 1 the 56 of Chris Coyle went around quickly bringing out the caution flag. Coyle refired and tagged on to the back of the field. On the restart once again, Michael jumped to the early lead, but the caution was shown once more, this time for the 08 of Jason Clauss who was sitting idle on the front stretch.
Once again, Michael jumped to the early lead of Nagy on the restart and by lap 5, Michael had a considerable lead over Nagy and the rest of the field. The caution was shown on lap 6 as the 63 of Josh Weller made hard contact with the inside wall coming out of turn 4. Weller was taken to the pits and did not return.

Michael jumped out to the lead once more this time with the 33b of Bill Unglert in tow along with the 71 of Chris Allen and 28f of Davie Franek who was now up from his 7th starting position. With the long stretch of green flag laps and Michael getting into lapped traffic, the 28f of Franek who was now running 2nd slowly began to reel the 5G of Michael in. As Franek stalked Michael the driver out of Wantage NJ saw his chance on lap 20 as Michael headed into turn 1, Michael went high to go around the lapped car of Adam Carberry, Franek quickly jumped to the inside and rocketed to the lead coming off of turn 2. Franek pulled away the remaining 5 laps headed to his 2nd URC win and his 5th overall win of 2017.

URC Tidbits: Garry Gollub was inducted into the United Racing Club Hall of Fame. Garry was introduced on the front stretch after the feature event. Come feature time the 67w of Justin Whittall had a different look as the team borrowed fellow driver Chris Coyle’s back up wing. Whittall who announced a sponsor this past week currently has the teams primary mount and wings being letter in time for Tuesday’s race at Bridgeport Speedway. Derek Locke visited the Delaware International Speedway for the first time. Locke ran well all-night finishing in the 8th position. The 9D of Kevin Darling ran the highside almost the entire feature going off and back onto the track in turn 1-2. Franek won from his 7th starting position passing 6 cars, this followed up his 12th to 2nd run the night before at Albany Saratoga Speedway. Franek advanced 16 positions in 2 feature races. Bill Unglert continues to run well in his return to the Untied Racing Club.

Finish: 1. 28f Davie Franek, 2. 5G Curt Michael, 3. 33b Bill Unglert, 4. 22 Troy Betts, 5. 747 Davey Sammons, 6. 89 Robbie Stillwaggon, 7. 71 Chris Allen, 8. 77 Derek Locke, 9. 73b Brett Michalski, 10. 67w Justin Whittall, 11. 56 Chris Coyle, 12. 24 Mike Haggenbottom, 13. 9D Kevin Darling, 14. 47 Adam Carberry, 15. 21c Cody Jourdan, 16. 7L Kris Lilick, 17. 669 Brandon McGough, 18. 45N Kevin Nagy, 19. 17j Jonathan Swanson, 20. 63 Josh Weller, 21. 08 Jason Clauss.

Did Not Qualify: 91 David Quackenbush

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