Erick Rudolph Outruns Billy Pauch Jr. To Claim Thrilling East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals Victory

Story By: ERNIE SAXTON / SAMMONS PRODUCTIONS – TRENTON, NJ – New York State Dirt Track Modified star and past multi-time Indoor Auto Racing Series ‘concrete track champion’ Erick Rudolph won Saturday’s East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals 50-lap feature.

“Everything went together well with Tom (Fraschetta) for the race,” Rudolph said, in praise of his car owner, for whom he had raced just once before.

The winning car was a Hyper chassis of 2010 vintage.

Billy Pauch, Jr. finished second to Rudolph with Brett Altemose placing third. Both Pauch and Altemose were alongside Rudolph numerous times on restarts during the race but were never able to find a way around or under the race winner.

Jim Radney was fourth and Billy Calvert were fourth and fifth in the final rundown. Bobby Butler, Brian Carber, Michael Carber, Alex Bright and Josh Conover rounded out the top ten.

The field for the East Coast Dirt Nationals was composed of the first and second place finishers in the eight A-Main Qualifiers, four on Thursday and four on Friday. The remaining eight A-Main qualifiers came from the two B mains Saturday. Nearly 120 entries in all competed in the second annual race.

Alex Bright and Josh Conover were the winners of the twin B-Mains, earning their spots into the feature. Three remarkable runs into the A Main were made by Scott Kreutter, who marched through the E, D, C and B to transfer, and by both Bobby Butler and Jack Conover, who advanced from the D, C, and B prelims.

Austin Quick and Zachery Bealer in the two F Mains, Preliminary race winners were Brian Montieth and Kreutter in the pair of E Mains, Butler and Joseph Dopke in the two D Mains,

Attention now shifts to the Indoor Auto Racing Series Fueled By VP Race Fuels events on concrete ovals, first at Allentown, PA’s PPL Center on January 4-5, 2019, then at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ on January 25-26, 2019. The third and final Indoor Auto Racing Series race is the first time event planned for the New York State Exposition Center in Syracuse, NY on March 8-9, 2019.

East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals Feature (50 Laps): 1. Erick Rudolph, 2. Billy Pauch, Jr., 3. Brett Altemose, 4. Jim Radney, 5. Billy Calvert, 6. Bobby Botler, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Michael Carber, 9. Alex Bright, 10. Josh Conover, 11. Colin White, 12. Scott Kreutter, 13.ean Brierly, 14. Kyle Spence, 15. Andrew Hannula, 16. Lee Nardelli, 17. Kenny Miller III, 18. Tim Buckwalter, 19. Doug Snyder, 20. Ryan Greth, 21. Steve Buckwalter, 22. Whitey Kidd III, 23. Danny Buccafusca, 24. Jack Conover.