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ELIASON WINS OVER WAGAMAN IN A PHOTO FINISH AT BAPS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

March 24, 2024 - Pressurized H2O Sprint Car Sunday Night

YORK HAVEN, Pa.: It’s been a bit of a weird season for Cory Eliason. Worse, the 2024 campaign is less than two months old.
Ridge and Son’s Racing struggled out of the gate. That led to the team parting ways with crew chief Tyler Swank two weeks ago and hiring central Pennsylvania wrench Jim Shuttlesworth.
So where does a driver and Central PA crew chief go to build communication? The Keystone State makes sense, which means a Sunday stop at racy BAPS Motor Speedway.
Eliason made the visit count in a thriller. He withstood a late-race charge from Troy Wagaman Jr. and claimed the 30-Lap 410 Sprint Car main event on Pressurized H2O Night. The victory was worth $5,000.
“It’s awesome coming to Central PA,” Eliason said. “Jim does a lot of things with the car where I’m like, ‘If you do it, don’t tell me. Tell me afterwards.’ It’s not something we do anywhere outside of here and not something I’m really aware of.
“Adding Jim Shuttlesworth to the program … Brian Ridge supplies us with everything we need. It’s frustrating for car owners when the car isn’t winning. They spend a lot of money and put out a phenomenal piece. Brian and Lisa are at home watching, and I’m sure they are excited. So, we will take this and see where we end up next week.”
Eliason started fifth on the grid, but he moved up to the front row after the caution was displayed before the first lap was complete. The stoppage came when Reese Nowotarski put a flyer on pole-sitter Mark Smith entering Turn 3, and both drivers spun in the fourth corner.
One the second attempt at a start, Eliason beat Skylar Gee to take the lead. Troy Wagaman Jr. lined up fourth and surged past Skylar Gee through the third and fourth corner to take second by the completion of Lap 1.
Wagaman abused the middle lane in the corners and closed on Eliason, wrestling the top spot away on the fifth circuit. Eliason didn’t go anywhere and kept the leader in his sights.
While the leaders tip-toed around the trick BAPS surface, Freddie Rahmer and Danny Dietrich were blasting their way to the front. Rahmer was up to third by Lap 8, and Dietrich advanced from 13th to fifth by the 14th circuit.
Mark Smith and Tony Jackson spun in Turn 3 and brought out the caution on Lap 16. Eliason used to restart to close on the leader and slid by Wagaman coming off the fourth corner one lap later.
Eliason appeared to be in control, but a late caution closed up the field. A two-lap shootout saw the two drivers side by side at the white flag and in an intense battle for the win in the final two corners.
Wagaman got beside Eliason coming off Turn 4 heading toward the checker. The California driver did just enough coming off of the top and slightly pinching down to take the win by a narrow .040-second margin.
“It’s, definitely, closer than what you want it to be if you are leading,” Eliason said. “I guess he used his stuff up pretty early, and I was able to settle in, and that long yellow helped my tires cool down to where I could stick pretty well.
“I started pushing pretty hard once I got him, because I wanted to dictate the pace and make him pick it up more and use his stuff. I think I used my stuff up a little quicker than he did, and he was able to come back.”
Continued Eliason, “What an awesome track. It was very technical and hard to get a hold of, but there were multiple lanes you could run, and it was really good to get a win.”
Dietrich got past Rahmer on Lap 21 and finished third. Anthony Macri started sixth and completed the top five.
In the 358 Sprint Car main event, Doug Hammaker charged from eighth to the lead and captured the 20-Lap main event.
Kyle Keen started fourth and shot into the lead on the first circuit. He led through Lap 12. Things took a turn for the leader when he was involved in an incident with sixth-place starter Logan Rumsey.
The incident handed the lead over to Doug Hammaker. He was the class of the field the rest of the event and earned the victory. Derek Locke, Tylar Rutherford, Dylan Norris, and Steve Owings completed the top five.

RV 4 Wheel Drive-Denk Electric-Emory Transmission-Sprintcarunlimited.TV 410 Sprints ( 34 Cars )
410 Sprint Car Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Cory Eliason; 2. Troy Wagaman Jr.; 3. Danny Dietrich; 4. Freddie Rahmer; 5. Anthony Macri; 6. Kyle Moody; 7. Dylan Cisney; 8. Skylar Gee; 9. Justin Peck; 10. Austin Bishop; 11. Lucas Wolfe; 12. Tyler Ross; 13. Chris Frank; 14. Kody Hartlaub; 15. Dylan Norris; 16. JJ Loss; 17. Logan McCandless; 18. T.J. Stutts; 19. Reese Nowotarski; 20. Jordan Givler; 21. Mark Smith; 22. Tony Jackson; 23. Billy Dietrich; 24. Devon Borden.
DNS: 10 Paulie Colagiovanni
DNQ: 75 Kenny Edkin, 5 Glenndon Forsythe, 77K Steven Kisamore, 55 Domenic Melair, 9 Gordon Denft III , 75 Cameron Smith, 38s Brett Strickler, 38 Jordan Strickler, 11 Michael Thompson
Lap Leaders: 8 Eliason ( 1 - 4 ), 27 Wagaman ( 5 - 16 ), 8 Eliason ( 17 - 30 )
Denk Electric Hard Charger: 48 Dietrich ( +10 )
Heat Winners: 99 Gee, 23 Borden, 10x Nowotarski, 35 Bishop
B-Main Winner: 10 Colagiovanni

358 Sprints ( 20 Cars ):
358 Sprint Car Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Doug Hammaker; 2. Derek Locke; 3. Tylar Rutherford; 4. Dylan Norris; 5. Steve Owings; 6. Ayden Hare; 7. Kruz Kepner; 8. Justin Foster; 9. Josh Harner; 10. Cole Knopp; 11. Samuel Miller; 12. Brandon Reimlich; 13. Kyle Keen; 14. Logan Rumsey; 15. Cody Fletcher; 16. Cole Small; 17. Nat Tuckey.
DNS: 1A Chase Gutshall, 19D Wyatt Hinkle, 10H Dwight Leppo
Lap Leaders: 17K Keen ( 1 - 12 ), 66 Hammaker ( 13 - 20 )
Heat Winners: 6 Norris, 1A Gutshall

RV 4 Wheel Drive-Denk Electric-Emory Transmission-Sprintcarunlimited.TV 410 Sprint Points:
POS CAR # DRIVER POINTS EVENTS 3/24
1 8 Cory Eliason* 200 1 200
2 27 Troy Wagaman Jr. 175 1 175
3 48 Danny Dietrich 170 1 170
4 8 Freddie Rahmer 160 1 160
5 39m Anthony Macri 150 1 150
6 99m Kyle Moody 140 1 140
7 5 Dylan Cisney 130 1 130
8 99 Skylar Gee 120 1 120
9 20 Justin Peck 110 1 110
10 35 Austin Bishop 100 1 100
11 5w Lucas Wolfe 90 1 90
12 5 Tyler Ross 85 1 85
13 OO Chris Frank 80 1 80
14 95 Kody Hartlaub 75 1 75
15 27s Dylan Norris 70 1 70
16 67 JJ Loss 65 1 65
17 29 Logan McCandless 60 1 60
18 11p TJ Stutts 55 1 55
19 10x Reese Nowotarski 50 1 50
20 90 Jordan Givler 45 1 45
21 19r Mark Smith 40 1 40
22 88 Tony Jackson 35 1 35
23 8d Billy Dietrich 30 1 30
24 23 Devon Borden 25 1 25
25 10 Paulie Colagiovanni 10 1 10
26 75 Kenny Edkin 10 1 10
27 5 Glenndon Forsythe 10 1 10
28 77k Steven Kisamore 10 1 10
29 55 Domenic Melair 10 1 10
30 9 Gordon Senft III 10 1 10
31 75 Cameron Smith 10 1 10
32 38s Brett Strickler 10 1 10
33 38 Jordan Strickler 10 1 10
34 11 Michael Thompson 10 1 10

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