Zack Bealer Wins Friday Night’s East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals Feature for Second Straight Year
Story By: LEN SAMMONS / INDOOR AUTO RACING CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES – TRENTON, NJ – You might as well call Zack Bealer “Mr. Friday Night” as he blasted to the lead early and kept a charging Steven Snyder Jr. behind on a green-white-checkered restart to win the Friday East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals at CURE Insurance Arena for the second straight year.
“It was important to get to the lead early and control your own destiny because these guys are all killer,” said the Lehighton, PA driver, who pocketed $1,250 for his efforts. “But I was surprised with how fast that door opened. As we got ready for that last restart, I was confident in my equipment, so I knew that I had good enough drive to catch the moisture off four and take his (Snyder’s) line away, and get back to my line. There was a hole in the middle and I had to angle the car right to not get into that. I was hoping everyone behind me was tripping on it. I’m just super blessed everything worked out.”
Like last year, Bealer started fifth in the 25-lap affair, but found himself on the bottom step of the podium when the first caution flew on lap five. On the ensuing restart, Bealer got those in attendance in their feet as he entered turn one up against the cushion and sliced his way under Wayne Scott like a knife through butter off turn two to take command.
However, it became apparent once Bealer got the lead it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park to the checkered flag as Snyder followed through to second and briefly took the lead with a power move in turn one on lap seven. But fortunately for Bealer, the yellow flew again before the lap could he completed.
As the laps clicked off, Bealer got to feel a little bit of relief because Snyder began to lose touch with him as he and Scott put on a crowd-pleasing performance trading slide jobs lap after lap for the second spot.
But whatever sense of comfort Bealer was feeling was short-lived when a lap 16 yellow brought the field back to his rear-bumper. From there, he could hear the “Jaws” theme music in his head as Snyder, known for pounding the top to perfection, was coming like a freight train while Bealer had two slower cars side by side in front of him.
Snyder looked to be on the attack going into turn one as the white flag waved in the wind, But Bealer was once again saved by the bell with a caution. He then rocketed away to the victory on the single-file restart by 0.718 seconds. Snyder, Alex Ruppert, Kyle Spence and Connor Gross completed the top five.
At the start of the day, the field was split into four groups for time trials to determine the lineups for the four A-Main qualifiers. Kyle Spence, of Bridgeton, NJ, shattered the old track record with a blistering lap of 8.963 seconds in group two. Alex Ruppert laid down a lightning-fast lap of 9.111 seconds to lead the first group. Tanner VanDoren rocketed around the speedway in 9.173 seconds to top group three. Wayne Scott was the last car out in group four but his red-hot lap of 9.087 seconds led the brigade.
The top five in each of the four qualifiers transferred into Friday’s feature. Zack Bealer, Kyle Spence, Kyle Lick and Wayne Scott emerged victorious in the physical contests.
Kenny Miller III and JT Bierman took the checkered flag in the B-Mains. Brian Carber, who charged from 16th, and David Burns also qualified for the feature by virtue of their runner-up finishes.
Saturday’s doors open at 4 PM, with a special autograph session at 5 PM featuring top competitors. Saturday’s “alphabet soup” program includes two E-Mains, two D-Mains, and two C-Mains, with the top five from each advancing to the next letter. Two B-Mains will transfer the top seven from each, filling out the 24-car starting field for the $5,000-to-win finale.
Saturday’s event also includes a Bob Hilbert Sportswear Dash with the top finishers from Friday night.
Great seats are available through Ticketmaster. Online Ticketmaster fees can be avoided by purchasing tickets at the arena box office on the day of the event.
For more information about the Indoor Auto Racing Championship and the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals, visit indoorautoracing.com.
600cc Sprint Car Feature (25 Laps) : 1. Zack Bealer, 2. Steven Snyder Jr., 3. Alex Ruppert, 4. Kyle Spence, 5. Connor Gross, 6. Tyler Catalano, 7. Wayne Scott, 8. Brian Carber, 9. James Roselli, 10. JT Bierman, 11. Kenny Miller III, 12. David Schilling, 13. Johnny Smith, 14. Rodney Westhafer, 15. Zach Curtis, 16. Chris Gerhart, 17. David Burns, 18. Adam Buchel, 19. Aiden Borden, 20. Kyle Lick, 21. Cole Perez, 22. Billy Calvert, 23. Christopher Allen, 24. Kole Kirkman
