7/18/2023
United Racing Club
Something In The Orange (County): Jordan Thomas Dominates For His Second URC Win in a Row at Middletown
Story by Bert Wojcik
Photo by Jesse Carberry
Middletown, NY- The return to the State of New York for the United Racing Club for the first time since 2017 and the first time to Orange County Fair Speedway saw the same result as last time. Harding, PA Jordan Thomas taking home the checker flag for his second career URC win and 2nd 360 win at Middletown.
The feature started off with Todd Gracey taking the lead on the drop of the green flag. Gracey would pull away from the field. “ I knew we were going to be slow at the start with the gear we had in.” Said Thomas post race. “ We were set up for the end. We’ve been having trouble finishing races. Tonight we’re back.”
Just before lap 10, pole sitter Thomas would take the lead from Gracey as Gracey would slow one lap later bringing out the first yellow of the feature. The restart would see Kyle Smith who was running in the top 5 at the time break right in front of the field. Evasive maneuvers kept that from becoming a disaster. But would end Smith’s night.
The following restart Danny Varin of Fonda, New York would try to lead the charge around Thomas. “ We ran good tonight, It's a track we struggled at.” Said Varin. “ My best shot was on a double file restart but Jordan was better on the single file restart and we’re happy with tonight’s results.”
But Thomas' experience at Orange County was too much as he would pull away from Varin.” I was worried when I saw Varin pull up beside me on the restart. “Thomas said. “ I was glad to see the caution come back out. It would have been tough to have to hold off on the outside on a double file restart twice.”
Meanwhile behind them a 4 car battle was shaping up between Hilltown, PA Adam Carberry, Port Jervis, NY Billy VanInwegen and Sussex, NJ Davie Franek that would last for the remainder of the event. “ We were bad in the heat race but the crew worked hard to get us really good in the feature. You always want to win in your hometown but 3rd place from where we were. We’ll take it.” Said Franek “ Orange county did a great job tonight giving us a fun track.”
Back up front Thomas dominated, leading the rest of the way and keeping Varin back around a second and half the rest of the way to win his second career URC Feature at Orange County. Coming to the line it would be Franek getting around VanInwegen for the 4th spot and Carberry would round out the top 5.
Next Race for the United Racing Club is a doubleheader weekend. Starting this Friday night July 21st at the Clinton County Fairgrounds and then back in action Sunday July 23rd at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Specialty Rigging Heat Race Bonus Awards
Heat 1: Alex Bright
Heat 2: Kyle Smith
DMI Random Draw Gift Card- 3rd place Davie Franek
Media Results for 7/15/2023 at Orange County Fair Speedway - Middletown, NY
URC 360 Winged Sprint Cars 19 Entries
A Feature 1 25 Laps
- 79-Jordan Thomas[1]; 2. 01-Danny Varin[6]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek[12]; 4. 4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 5. 47-Adam Carberry[8]; 6. 14T-Tyler Walton[4]; 7. 63-Josh Weller[9]; 8. 7-Alex Bright[3]; 9. 22-Troy Betts[15]; 10. 11T-Mike Thompson[14]; 11. 11H-Hayden Miller[11]; 12. 669-Brandon McGough[13]; 13. 10-Joe Kata[17]; 14. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[10]; 15. 5Z-Zack Burd[16]; 16. 32-Kyle Smith[5]; 17. 3G-Todd Gracey[2]; 18. 19-Mark Connoly[19]; 19. 32B-Eric Jennings[18]
Heat 1 8 Laps - 7-Alex Bright[1]; 2. 14T-Tyler Walton[2]; 3. 79-Jordan Thomas[8]; 4. 4-Billy VanInwegen Jr[5]; 5. 63-Josh Weller[6]; 6. 11H-Hayden Miller[4]; 7. 669-Brandon McGough[3]; 8. 22-Troy Betts[9]; 9. 10-Joe Kata[7]; 10. 19-Mark Connoly[10]
Heat 2 8 Laps - 32-Kyle Smith[1]; 2. 01-Danny Varin[6]; 3. 3G-Todd Gracey[9]; 4. 47-Adam Carberry[7]; 5. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[4]; 6. 28F-Davie Franek[8]; 7. 11T-Mike Thompson[3]; 8. 5Z-Zack Burd[2]; 9. 32B-Eric Jennings[5]
Article Credit: Bert Wojcik
Submitted By: Robert Wojcik
