4/8/2023
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Georgetown Season Opener Belongs to Kenny Miller lll
April 7th, 2023. Georgetown, DE, Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC.
Morgantown, PA’s Kenny Miller lll returned to Rapid Tire Services, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, presented by Capitol Renegade victory lane for the first time since his rookie season in 2020. Miller utilized a restart on the events only caution flag of the feature, to cruise to a dominant win and kick off the 2023 season.
Steven Snyder Jr and Delaware native Preston Lattomus lead the seventeen car field to green for the opening USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series feature event of the year, with the rookie Snyder Jr taking the early event lead. Briggs Danner quickly dove to the bottom side of the speedway to move into the second place position, with Joey Amantea quickly returning the favor to take second back as the field completed lap one.
Amantea and Danner were locked side by side in a wheel to wheel battle for the runner up position with Kyle Spence, Kenny Miller lll, Allen and Drevicki all close together battling for positions early on in the feature event.
The first, and only yellow flag of the event flew on lap three for Austin Graby who spun to a stop on the high side of turn three. Leading to a restart with Rookie Snyder Jr, leading the way with hungry drivers Joey Amantea and Briggs Danner waiting for their shot at the race lead.
Snyder Jr took off on a great restart as the field dove into the now 90 feet wide turns one and two, protecting himself from the slide job attempt from Amantea. Snyder Jr drifted too wide at the exit of turn two, and slipped off the banking, with Danner following Snyder Jr over the banking, and both drivers losing whole sale positions.
Amantea now assumed the race lead over Kyle Spence and Kenny Miller lll, with Dinner and Snyder Jr trying to get back by Steven Drevick and Christopher Allen for position and work into the top three.
Kenny Miller lll worked by Spence, then was able to throw a tight slide job on the bottom side of the speedway and complete the pass of Amantea for the lead on lap seven of the feature event.
Miller quickly drove away from the field leaving Amantea to fall into the clutches of Kyle Spence who was able to enter lower than Amantea entering the corners but still was not able to get by the former feature winner. Meanwhile, Briggs Danner had worked back by Allen, and Drevicki, and now drew in on the battle for second and third as he worked to the back bumper of Spence for third.
By the halfway point of the feature, it became evident that the low line of the speedway was the way to go with the high-line being just a bit too dirty to get a hold of. The track began to lay rubber on the bottom, but the battle for second through sixth remained red hot.
With only one groove to battle in, Spence continued to pressure Amantea into making a mistake, with Danner attempting to do the same to Spence, and behind them Steven Drevicki and Steven Snyder Jr had drawn in on the battle for the top five as well.
Around the five to go mark, Kenny Miller lll was gone. Miller had amassed a near three-quarter track lead over the rest of the top five. Spence pressured Amantea who made a mistake entering turns one and two and missed the rubber line allowing him to move into second. Danner tried to move under Amantea for the spot as well, but Amantea was able to shut the door at the exit of corner two.
For the remaining laps it was smooth sailing up front for Kenny Miller lll as he cruised to his third career victory, and first since 2020 at the Georgetown Speedway over, Kyle Spence, Joey Amantea, Briggs Danner, and Steven Drevicki.
The win for Kenny Miller lll has been a long time coming, with multiple runs inside the top three and top five since his last feature event victory. Miller is also no stranger to winning on the slick while in the state of Delaware. Miller’s first career win came at the Delaware International Speedway in the fall of 2020 during his rookie year, and most recent being at Big Diamond in October of 2020. While Miller still will not be full time with the series in 2023, he has proven again that the team is here to compete for wins, and is more than capable of getting the job done.
Kyle Spence is yet another driver who is looking to crack through for his first career win as well. Spence has finished in the top three on more than one occasion, and will be doing a lot more sprint car racing in 2023. While not full time with the series either, Spence will dabble here and there with the Betts Racing 22, when not piloting a 600cc sprint, or his winged 358 sprint car for Shane Smith.
Joey Amantea was fast all night long, and ran a great race on the slick surface. Amantea is the driver with the least amount of rust to knock off compared to the rest of the field as he has competed in Florida with the USAC National Tour in February. Amantea has a busy schedule planned, but is committed and focused on trying to collect the USAC East Coast Championship.
Briggs Danner had an amazing heat race run aboard the Hogue Racing 39 entry in the new combo’s debut. Danner had faded all the way to sixth in his head race from the runner up position, but battled back and picked up the heat race in convincing fashion. Danner appeared to have a faster car than Spence and Amantea in the late stages of the feature event, but with the narrow rubber strip on the bottom of the speedway, there was not much room for error, nor room to make a move for position without a mistake. Danner tried multiple times to work the high line of the speedway in on the exit of turn four, but was un-able to get the job done, and settled for a respectable top four run.
Steven Drevicki on Friday night was the 358 engine that could. Drevicki revealed that the team is utilizing their back up 358 engine as their regular 360 power plant is still awaiting parts and be finished and picked up for use. That did not stop the three time series champion from winning heat race number one, in a last lap, last corner pass for the win. Drevicki came home with a solid top five run. He explained that the 358 engine is just missing that little bit of horsepower compared to the 360’s, to get off the corners and at the end of the straightaway’s, but Drevicki looked strong as usual despite the slight disadvantage.
Up next in the busy month of April for the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series is the first trip of the season to the Williams Grove Speedway, next Friday night, April, 14th. Following that is what will now be the first stop of the year at the Bridgeport Motorsports park on April 22nd, before wrapping up the month with a double header at the Bedford Speedway on April 28th, and the Port Royal Speedway on April 29th.
USAC East Coast at Georgetown Results:
Heat 1 (8 laps, all transfer, 4 redraw): 1. 19 Steven Drevicki, 2. 22 Kyle Spence, 3. 23M Kenny Miller lll, 4. 27 Steven Snyder Jr, 5. 71 Chris Allen, 6. 18J JT Ferry, 7. 7B Aiden Borden, 8. 11 Mike Thompson, 9. 67 Jason Cherry.
Heat 2 (8 laps, all transfer, 4 redraw): 1. 39 Briggs Danner, 2. 23B Preston Lattomus, 3. 88J Joey Amantea, 4. 5B Bobby Butler, 5. 17B Christian Bruno, 6. 7 Ed Aikin, 7. 87 Austin Graby, 8. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
Feature Event (25 Laps): 1. 23M Kenny Miller lll, 2. 22 Kyle Spence, 3. 88J Joey Amantea, 4. 39 Briggs Danner. 5. 19 Steven Drevicki, 6. 27 Steven Snyder Jr, 7. 23B Preston Lattomus, 8. 71 Chris Allen, 9 17B Christian Bruno, 10. 5B Bobby Butler, 11. 83 Bruce Buckwalter, 12. 18J JT Ferry, 13. 7B Aiden Borden, 14. 67 Jason Cherry, 15. 7 Ed Aikin, 16. 87 Austin Graby, 17. 11 Mike Thompson
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman
