Mason Zeigler, who makes only infrequent Bedford visits, made his presence felt in a big way as he scored the win in the annual Billy Winn classic at the track Friday night. The win, his first at the track since 2020, was worth $8700 in the event which is run in the memory of the first Bedford feature winner way back in 1936.
In support action, Drake Troutman scored a rousing last lap win in the EMods event before finishing the evening by defeating a lethargic 4 car Crate Mod field in their first visit of the season.
Mason Zeigler was the benefactor in the pill draw event as he drew the pole position in the 50 lapper. He got the jump on fellow front row starter Kyle Lee to lead the first lap and set the stage for the entire event. A quick spin brought out the caution on lap one with another occurring on the restart, but after that the event went 48 straight green flag laps to the conclusion.
Zeigler found himself chased by the dogged Lee from the start, Lee alternately charged forward and fell back but really made his presence felt as the leaders began to deal with lapped traffic by lap 12. As the front pair battled, many were watching Matt Cosner who had started deep in the field and was coming forward in a hurry. Drake Troutman also moved forward, taking third on lap nine, but the front two pulled away from the field with each passing lap.
Troutman, who changed a transmission in his car after the heats, found his day ending early as a puff of smoke was followed by retirement from the event on lap 32 while running third. but Cosner kept marching forward.
As the event entered the mid 30s, Lee turned up the wick and renewed the challenge for the lead, actually getting beside and by Zeigler twice, on lap 34 and 35 but Zeigler held on to officially lead at the line both times as the pair danced their way around lapped traffic. But having felt the heat, Zeigler turned on the afterburners and pulled away from Lee over the last ten laps, scoring the win by almost 3 seconds.
The lead pair, while battling, still pulled away from the rest, with Lee finishing almost six seconds ahead of third place finisher Gregg Satterlee, Point leader Jeff Rine took fourth at the line ahead of Cosner, whose run from 13th ended at fifth. In the last 48 laps Zeigler lapped all the way up to ninth place Eddie Carrier. 17 of the 25 starters finished the grind.
Zeigler had set fast time for the evening, getting near the track record, before winning the first heat. Alex Ferree and Troutman won the other heats. Jim Yoder won the B. Pre race favorites Kyle Hardy and Rick Eckert were feature non starters. Hardy smacked the first turn wall in his heat while Eckert had mechanical issues while leading his heat.
George Dixon took the early lead in the EMod 20 lapper, but Drake Troutman soon was in hot pursuit. In ant event plagued by cautions, Dixon held Troutman off on every restart and actually pulled away under green flag racing. Brandon Inglish moved to third in his best run of the season but he was one of the caution causes after banking off the front stretch wall on lap 14.
Lap after lap Dixon held command of the event, but suddenly with two laps to go he changed his groove allowing Troutman to close quickly. With the door open, Troutman challenged and grabbed the lead to win at the line. Dixon was second, ahead of Evan Taylor, Jacob Marker and Cody Oliver. Dixon and Marker won the heats.
Only five Crate mods were on hand and one didn’t survive warmups. Drake Troutman led the distance to take the win.
LATE MODEL 50 LAPS 1 Mason Zeigler, Kyle Lee, Gregg Satterlee, Jeff Rine, Matt Cosner, Alex Ferree, Dylan Yoder, Jason Covert, Eddie Carrier, Andrew Yoder, Travis Stickley, Bryan Bernheisel, Nathan Lasalle, Matt Sponaugle, Chuck Clise, Hayes Mattern, Cody Overton, Deshawn Gingrich, Draje Troutman, Jim Yoder, Shawn Jones, Spike Moore, Justin Berry, Dillon Stake, Justin Weaver. DNS Rick Eckert, Kyle Hardy, Khi Swanger, Dylan Lewis, Brian Booze.
EMODS 20 LAPS Drake Troutman, George Dixon, Evan Taylor, Jacob Marker, Cody Oliver, Donnie Farlling, Jonathan Taylor, Glen Elliott, George Beckett, Brandon Householder, Amber Mills, Ridge Bookwalter, David Green,, Scott Daniels, John Whitfield, Brandon Inglish, Mike Meck, Brandon Hoover, DNS Eddie Vogel, Jimmy Jesmer
602 CRATE EMOD 10 LAPS Drake Troutman, Jason Kipp, Bill Vanmeter, Phil Wilhelm DNS michael Wilhelm
