Even Though Watt Lit Up Saturday At Bridgeport, Tommy Beamer, Davey Sammons Were The Show

Column By: RUSTY RHOADES / RPW – SWEDESBORO, NJ – Last year Ryan Watt pretty much dominated the track and the competition at Bridgeport Speedway. He used whatever part of the racing surface it took to capture 9 victories on his way to another season long points championship.

If Saturday was any indication of how the South Jersey facility’s 2018 big block modified battle would look like, it may be a long one for the other regulars.

Watt immediately inserted himself in the top three from his eighth place starting spot early on, and was the leader riding the high side by lap eight of the Doug Hoffman 60 Over Special. From there on he actually extended his lead through lap traffic and easily took home the 44 lap feature paying $4,400.

“We didn’t change a thing from the heat race…the track was magic come feature time, especially for the first anyone’s been on the track all year since practice was canceled,” Watt said in victory lane. “Great job by all the staff and everyone here.”

Stewart Friesen finished 2nd after a long battle with Anthony Perrego. Ryan Godown came up for a solid 4th followed by another great run to a top 5 for Tommy Beamer.

Beamer, the highest finishing Bridgeport regular after Watt, started on the front row and led laps as he battled in the top five the entire day. He was very hopeful when I talked with him after the race.

“The new clay they put down is very racy, it’s gonna be good for us,” Beamer complimented. “We always struggle with these big races here, a lot of it is pill draw to start. We drew a good pill today and managed to finish in the redraw. And for the feature the car was good enough to stay in the top five all race. I’m really excited going forward for this year.”

Another highly impressive performance was put on by Davey Sammons — yes open wheel sprint car feature winning Davey Sammons! The trip to Bridgeport was really set to be more or less a shakedown for Sammons and the legendary John Chemidlin Special 747 modified team after many years under the winged 747. It turned into a top 15 feature finish in his first modified race with a very high level of talent on hand!

“We just brought our New Egypt spec small-block here to shake it down and since they cancelled practice, this is really my first time on track in this car,” Sammons commented as we talked amongst the fans after the redraw. “We managed to get up in that fourth spot in the heat and we’re just really happy with how it’s running.”

Davey’s decision to switch over to the modified class as a New Egypt regular was largely due to becoming a father over the past year and wanting to be closer to home yet still battle it out on the dirt. Great start for Sammons.

Bridgeport will be back at it this Saturday testing out the all new, highly-anticipated inner ⅜ mile bullring before it hosts some huge events in the upcoming months including the Short Track Super Series Modifieds and World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. Practice time is 12-4pm.