News Director 
Story By: NICK FILLMAN / RPW – SWEDESBORO, NJ – To say that Ryan Watt has been on a hot streak lately would be an absolute understatement as the Boyertown, PA driver has collected big feature wins at both the Bridgeport and Big Diamond Speedways.
Watt’s streak of strong finishes started when he collected the “Friends of Mike Finale” win at the Bridgeport Speedway in Super Dirt Series competition, before moving on to win the “Money in the Mountains” event at the Big Diamond Speedway which featured a $6,000 pay check and a guaranteed starting spot for Brett Deyo’s “Anthracite Assault” Short Track Super Series event coming up in July.
From Big Diamond, it went to Bridgeport where Watt would finish second to Mike Barone. The “High Stakes at the Port” Poker event would see Watt quickly move into second place from his 6th place starting spot before taking the lead from Neal Williams on lap 11.
From that point forward, nobody would be able to catch Watt has he had over a straightaway lead. He lapped cars up to the 9th place position on track before a caution for a blown tire on Ryan Godown’s machine would set up a 10 lap dash to the finish.
In the end, Watt would walk away with the feature event win followed by Williams, Dom Bufflaino, Duane Howard, and Frank Cozze.
Since returning to weekly competition at the Bridgeport last summer following his tenure driving the Valshing 323 machine, Neal Williams has found himself to be one of the top contenders for the points championship and a threat to win whenever a race is contested at the 5/8th mile. He would utilize his second place starting spot to grab the lead from Jimmy Horton and lead the first ten laps before Watt would catch and pass the NJ Overhead Door 0 entry. Williams finished second following his 5th place effort last saturday and finds himself 5th in the points standings.
Dom Buffalino started off his night with a sour note, having engine issues in hot laps before rectifying the issue prior to his heat race. He would work his way up front he 11th starting position and have a spirited battle with Duane Howard, before grabbing the last podium position.
Bufflino has had some engine issues this season, but coming off of a 6th place run last saturday, finds himself 3rd in weekly points standings with a legitimate shot at the Championship title.
Duane Howard is a former champion at Bridgeport and is a front runner every time he enters the speedway grounds. He started in the 10th position alongside Buffalino and the two would have a back and forth battle the whole event as they worked their way toward the front of the field. Howard has been consistent everywhere he’s been this racing season, but hasn’t found victory lane as often as they’d like.
Rounding out the top five was longtime modified veteran Frank Cozze aboard the Adirondack Auto 35 machine that he had previously piloted on the Super Dirt Car Series tour. Cozze had a rough start to the evening finishing in the 6th and final transfer spot in his heat race. He rallied in the feature, moving up from his 18th starting spot to collect a well earned top five.
Cozze will try to improve upon their run thursday as they tackle the Super Dirt Series on Sunday at the Five Mile Point Speedway.
Tough luck fell on driver Billy Pauch Jr. as the Danny’s Pizza Pizzaz entry would be having a solid heat race event before having a engine failure ending the teams quest for a victory.
Billy Pauch Sr. slowed to bring out a yellow flag on lap 11 and would work his way to the pit area. He and his team would go to work fixing the issue on the K & A Excavating 15 entry, including changing a right rear tire, before rejoining the tail end of the field. Pauch would rebound to finish a solid 11th place in the 40 lap feature event.
Matt Stangle is having one heck of a year running the sportsman class at both his home speedways of Big Diamond and Bridgeport. Last Friday, Stangle collected another win at Big Diamond and swept the feature events on this Thursday at Bridgeport running in two different cars.
In the make up feature from the rained out event on 5/28, Stangle would quickly move from his 3rd place starting spot to grab the race lead and never look back, in the non-stop, caution-free, event that lasted just over seven minutes.
From there, Stangle moved over to his Crate engine sportsman from the 358 sportsman car he had just used to win the feature event. Stangle would come home second in his heat and have good starting position for the second feature event. Stangle would go on to collect the feature win over Roger Manning, Brandon Grosso, Eric Kormann, and Jeremy Harrington.
The driver who will graduate high school this summer already has seven feature events so far in the 2017 racing season and finds himself second in the points to Brian Papiez.
Papiez was able to collect the feature event win last saturday night at Bridgeport, which was his third win of the season. Thursday was a different story, though, as a heat race tangle with a spinning Chris Jenkins would send the Discount Towing, Teo Pro Car 99 entry to the B Main.
Papiez would qualify for the feature event but would end up in the 23rd place spot. He did, however, finish 4th in the make-up sportsman feature event.
Last Friday night Roger Manning made his third ever start behind the wheel of a 358 modified and would qualify for Big Diamond’s “Money in the Mountains” Special event against a stout field of regulars and invaders. Manning would back up that confidence with a second place finish in the feature saturday at Bridgpeort, before collecting a 3rd and 2nd place finishes Thursday evening at Bridgeport.
Modified feature: 14w Ryan Watt, 0 Neal Williams, 51m Dom Buffalino, 357 Duane Howard, 35 Frank Cozze, 7 Rick Laubach, 19b Brett Kressley, 901 Ryan Godown, 267 Mike Barone, 126 Jeff Strunk, 15 Billy Pauch Sr, 27 Ryan Anderson, z14 Ron Roberts, 14s Dave Shirk, 118 Jim Britt, 28 Richie Pratt Jr, 3 Sammy Martz, 43 Jimmy Horton, 47 Bob Sarkisian, 13x PJ Oliver, 27 David Hunt, z28 Mike Franz, 29m Ernie Miles III, 85 Ricky DiEva. DNS 19 Travis Hill. DNQ 51 Billy Pauch Jr.
Sportsman make up feature 5/28: 6 Matt Stangle, 30 Jeremy Harrington, 414 Roger Manning, 99x Brian Papiez, 16 Eric Kormann, 31 Frank Dorry, 14 Brad Roberts, 29 Dave Damiano, 7 Adam Cox, 27j Chris Jenkins, 0 Wayne Weaver, 39 Matthew Peck, 69k Steve Kemery, 12 Kevin Belmont, 80 David Crossman, X Clyde Cox, Roger Gaskill, XR, Tommy Errico, 12s Scott Kohler, s2 John Scarpati, 38 Chuck Sayers, 34 Scott Hulmes, 21 Pete Serra.
Sportsman Feature: 6 Matt Stangle, 414 Roger Manning, 32 Brandon Grosso, 16 Eric Kormann, 30 Jeremy Harrington, 7 Adam Cox, 69k Steve Kemery, 31 Frank Dorry, 98 Mike Cogdill, 0 Wayne Weaver, 39 Matt Peck, X Clyde Cox, 80d David Crossman, 12 Kevin Belmont, 29 Dave Damiano, 15x Bill Briggs, 12s Scott Kohler, XR Tommy Errico, 38 Chuck Sayers, Roger Gaskill, s2 John Scarpati, 99x Brian Pappiez, 14 Brad Roberts. DNQ Olivia Ingersoll, Jim Gallagher Jr, Matt Luzi, Chad Kohler, Ray Cost, David Banko, Scott Hulmes.
