Josh Flint Flies To CRSA Victory At Penn Can; Dedicates Win To Fallon Racer Pete Richardson
Story By: STEVEN OVENS / CRSA – SUSQUEHANNA, PA – Penn Can Speedway has been awful good to Josh Flint in his Super Gen Products CRSA Sprints career. His last CRSA win was at “The Can” on October 15, 2016, with the quarter-mile track making up fifty percent of his tour wins.
During CRSA’s July visit to Penn Can, Flint picked off seven cars to win the Eagle Enterprise, LLC Hard Charger Award.
Fast forward to a flawless night on Friday, the tour win column now shows three and the percentage of wins at Gary Folk’s Penn Can Speedway went up to sixty-six percent.
The only thing that Flint missed out on Friday night was a heat race win. The driver out of Cherry Valley, NY started fifth in his heat and made the Top 12 redraw by finishing third. With the stars aligning in the Susquehanna, PA skies- Flint drew the pole for the 25-lap A-Main.
Flint was intent on leaving absolutely no doubt, leading the opening three laps and putting a good distance on Dana Wagner’s No. 25w who advanced from the third starting position to second on the start. Lap 3 would see the event slowed to a halt with the red flag being displayed.
Thomas Radivoy was working hard to recover from drawing the tenth starting position and was working the outside cushion in Turn 3 with brute force. As he approached Turn 4 the right rear tire caught the cushion wrong and turned his Country Service Center No. 1Q hard to the right toward the track’s embankment. With Radivoy still hard on the gas, his Triple X chassis went airborne over the embankment causing severe damage, ending his night although Radivoy would be ok.
Once back under the green, Flint kept a safe distance in front of Wagner as two additional yellow flags slowed the field. Behind the battle for the race lead, Alysha Bay and Ethan Gray were dicing it up for the final spot on the podium.
Bay found traction down along the inside concrete wall, while the Rookie sensation out of Manchester, NY was trying to figure out how he could ride the cushion to sweep by off Turn 4. Gray would eventually get the fast line figured out and got by one of his mentors to take over third.
Sydney Prince was a part of that battle as well in her first start with CRSA this season. Prince won her heat race walking away and would cross the line at the checkered flag inside the Top 5. Unfortunately, Prince bypassed the scales post-race, resulting in a disqualification per CRSA rules.
Flint kept Wagner at arm’s reach to secure his third CRSA victory at the checkered flag. Gray held on for his career best CRSA finish with an impressive podium effort. Bay and Trevor Years filled out the top five- a much needed highlight for Years after having transmission troubles and a trailer flat tire on the way to the track.
“I was on the phone with Jason Barney tonight a lot, he’s helped me so much on this car since we switched over to X1,” reflected Flint in Victory Lane. But the emotion of the moment was quite evident.
“This win is for Pete Richardson. We got to race with him quite a bit in Patriots and he was just a great guy. This one is for him.”
Flint picked up an extra $100 courtesy of the Ruggles Racing crew who put the winner bonus up in Richardson’s memory.
For Dana Wagner, there were a lot of positives to take away even after coming up one spot short. Last time at Penn Can, Wagner went home with a tenth place finish and a damaged racecar.
“I’m pretty happy with second, we came home in one piece and the better guy won tonight. Tonight was way better than last time.”
Ethan Gray, his crew and his followers back home in New York were just ecstatic.
“Turn 3 and 4 seems to always bug me a little bit (here at Penn Can) but I got it figured out. This is awesome!”
Next on the schedule for the Super Gen Products CRSA 305 Sprints is a return trip to Paul Cole’s Land of Legends Raceway for a $1,000-to-win event courtesy of Mike Emhof Motorsports in Round 4 of the 2020 series. There will also be rolling top 5 cash bonuses on the line. The tentatively scheduled finale at Afton Motorsports Park is slated for October 9. Stay tuned for more information on this event.
SUPER GEN PRODUCTS CRSA 305 SPRINTS @ PENN CAN SPEEDWAY OFFICIAL RESULTS- Friday August 21st, 2020:
25-Lap A-Main (21 cars): 1) JOSH FLINT 41j, 2) Dana Wagner 25w, 3) Ethan Gray 17e, 4) Alysha Bay 48a, 5) Trevor Years 13t, 6) Jeff Trombley 3a, 7) Tim Tanner 18, 8) Mike Van Pelt 112 (*Maguire Magnificent Move), 9) Kyle Pierce 9k, 10) Dan Craun 18c, 11) Matt Priscott 22m (*Hard Charger), 12) Josh Pieniazek 56, 13) Peter Dance 56d, 14) Dalton Herrick 29, 15) Darryl Ruggles 48jr, 16) Travis Billington 44, 17) Geoff Quackenbush 25, 18) Mark Connoly 86, 19) Thomas Radivoy 1q, 20) Ronnie Greek 56v (*Midstate Basements First Car Out of Race), 21) Sydney Prince 14p (DQ- Didn’t Cross Scales)
Lap Leaders: Flint 1-25
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14p Sydney Prince, 2. 25w Dana Wagner, 3. 41j Josh Flint, 4. 56v Ronnie Greek, 5. 25 Geoff Quackenbush, 6. 18 Tim Tanner, 7. 44 Travis Billington
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1q Thomas Radivoy, 2. 56 Josh Pieniazek, 3. 17e Ethan Gray, 4. 29 Dalton Herrick, 5. 18c Dan Craun, 6. 112 Mike Van Pelt, 7. 22m Mike Priscott (DNS)
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 48a Alysha Bay, 2. 48jr Darryl Ruggles, 3. 3a Jeff Trombley, 4. 13t Trevor Years, 5. 9k Kyle Pierce, 6. 56d Peter Dance, 7. 86 Mark Connoly
Maguire Family of Dealerships Magnificent Move of the Race: Mike Van Pelt
Midstate Basement Authorities First Car Out of the Race: Ronnie Greek
Eagle Enterprise, LLC Hard Charger Award: Matt Priscott
Ruggles Racing $100 Bonus In Memory of Pete Richardson: Josh Flint