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Darren Smith Powers to First Career Brewerton Big Block Feature Win

BREWERTON, NY (August 24, 2024) – Second generation DIRTcar Big Block Modified standout, Darren Smith, took top honors in the Tracey Road DIRTcar Modified Feature event Friday night. It was the first career Brewerton Speedway Big Block triumph for the Binghamton native and it comes in his second full year as a track regular.

Other winners on RJ Caruso Tax and Accounting and Empire Powersports Night included Jeff Trombley (CRSA Sprints), Owen Bird (Dot Foods DIRTcar Sportsman) and Matt Kitts (AmeriCU IMCA STARS Mod Lites) while Zack Babcock was crowned the Mod Lite Track Champion for 2024.

Smith started the Tracey Road DIRTcar Modified Feature from the outside of row 2 and made his way into the second spot on lap 5. He then gave chase to early leader Max Hill, who had set a blistering early pace in his Murphy Racing #42h from his pole starting position.

Smith would remain behind Hill until the handling appeared to go away for Hill and Smith worked past him on lap 15 to take over the top spot. Once out front, Smith drove consistent laps to maintain a five to six car length advantage throughout the remainder of the 35-lap feature.

Ninth starting Chad Phelps charged through the field early and chased Smith through the middle portions of the race in second before a late charge from Zach Payne made him Smith’s primary challenger. Smith was up to the challenge each time and stayed out front for the popular win.

After struggling for much of the year, Stanley, NY’s, Payne finished a close second for his best Brewerton finish of the season. Ronnie Davis III has been both hot and cold throughout the season but enjoyed a consistent third place run after starting eleventh. Phelps faded a bit at the end but crossed the line fourth at the finish ahead of points leader Tim Sears, Jr.

Jimmy Phelps came from 21st to finish 6th ahead of Matt Meade, Smith’s brother, racing to a solid seventh place run. Tom Sears Jr. crossed the line eighth ahead of Amy Holland who had Big Block power under the hood for the first time. Matt Caprara rounded out the top-10.

Owen Bird started fourth in the 25-lap Dot Foods DIRTcar Sportsman main and worked his way past Mike Button on lap 9 to take over the race lead. Bird proved up to the challenges of Cody Manitta and Zach Sobotka who chased him the second half of the race. A caution on lap 24 forced a green-white-checkered finish and gave Manitta a final shot but Bird was too strong and tasted his first Brewerton victory. Manitta crossed the line second ahead of Sobotka, point leader Nick Root and Button.

Matt Kitts drove to his third career AmeriCU IMCA STARS Mod Lite feature win but had to work to do it. Kitts wrestled the lead away from four-time feature winner Kyle Demo on lap 9 then fended off a charge from Zack Babcock to take the win. Demo finished third ahead of Mike Mullen and Joe Isabell.

Babcock entered the night trailing Joe Garafolo by five points and Mullen by one and needed a strong run and some help to capture the track championship. He got both. Garafolo struggled to finds speed on the wrong night finishing eighth. Mullen started strong but faded late to his fourth-place finish. Babcock need to finish second to win and did, getting by Demo on lap 19 to clinch the crown. Officially, Babcock finished the season with 407 points, while Mullen and Garafolo tied for second with 406.

Jeff Trombley became the first ever Brewerton Speedway 305 Sprint car winner in the 25-lap CRSA feature. He led from flag -to-flag but withstood a strong charge from Billy VanInwegen, Jr. to take the win. Defending Sportsman track champion Zach Sobotka made a surprise start in Paul Coligiovanni’s #10c and raced to an impressive third place finish with Tyler Graves and Quebec’s Tomy Moreau rounding out the top-5. An impressive field of 34 cars assembled for the CRSA’s first ever Brewerton visit.

Coming up August 30 at Brewerton:
Final Regular season event
ESS Sprints plus Championship Night for Tracey Road DIRTcar Modifieds, Dot Foods DIRTcar Sportsman, Mirabito DIRTcar 4-Cylinders
Adults - $25, Ages 18 & Younger – FREE
Pits - $40 members/$45 Non-members

August 23 RJ Caruso Tax & Accounting/Empire Powersports Results:

Tracey Road DIRTcar Modifieds (35-laps): 1. 12-Darren Smith[4]; 2. 7Z-Zachary Payne[6]; 3. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[11]; 4. X-Chad Phelps[9]; 5. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[15]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[21]; 7. 28M-Matt Meade[20]; 8. 62S-Tom Sears Jr[12]; 9. 5-Amy Holland[13]; 10. 11-Matt Caprara[10]; 11. 18$-Sean Beardsley[22]; 12. 99L-Larry Wight[18]; 13. 06J-Jordan Bennett[24]; 14. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[17]; 15. 3-Chris Mackey[14]; 16. 11T-Jeff Taylor[16]; 17. 42H-Max Hill[1]; 18. 15-Todd Root[7]; 19. 60-Jackson Gill[5]; 20. 2024-Tyler Trump[8]; 21. 88H-Tucker Halliday[25]; 22. 38-Tim Harris[3]; 23. 06-Bob Bennett[23]; 24. 24-James Witko Jr[19]; 25. 44H-Chris Hulsizer[2]

Heat Winners: Max Hill, Chris Hulsizer, Tyler Trump

Dot Foods DIRTcar Sportsman (25-laps): 1. 12-Owen Bird[4]; 2. 6-Cody Manitta[10]; 3. 38-Zach Sobotka[8]; 4. 30R-Nicholas Root[9]; 5. 17A-Mike Button[2]; 6. 16X-Savannah Laflair[12]; 7. 711-Nick Ventura[5]; 8. 28X-Stephen Marshall[6]; 9. 10G-Austin Germinio[16]; 10. 16-Earl Rudy[1]; 11. R1-Riley Rogala[13]; 12. 48-Kearra Backus[21]; 13. 18H-Brian Harber[20]; 14. 17-Owen Nier[15]; 15. 30-Michael Root[18]; 16. 42K-Dave Kingsley[19]; 17. 32-Joe Trichilo[14]; 18. 21R-Ryan Barrett[7]; 19. 220-Tucker Halliday[17]; 20. 83-Brett Sears[3]; 21. 0-Tony Finch II[11]

Heat Winners: Earl Rudy, Tony Finch II, Nick Ventura

AmeriCU IMCA STARS Mod Lites (20-laps): 1. 5K-Matt Kitts[3]; 2. 88Z-Zack Babcock[6]; 3. 22-Kyle Demo[8]; 4. 06-Mike Mullen[5]; 5. 6J-Joe Isabell[11]; 6. 9W-Doug Williams[9]; 7. 10W-Justin Williams[10]; 8. 55-Joseph Garafolo[14]; 9. 2D-Jacob Dupra[13]; 10. 3-PO Trudeau[7]; 11. 11X-Jack Lyon[2]; 12. 155-Nicholas Garafolo[1]; 13. 4J-Levi Currier[16]; 14. 8BALL-Kelly Skinner[12]; 15. 9-Roger Olschewske Jr[4]; 16. 39-Sam Usborne[15]; 17. (DNS) 24-Thomas Mackey

Heat Winners: Mike Mullen, Matt Kitts
2024 Track Champion: Zack Babcock

CRSA Sprint Car Series (25-laps): 1. 3A-Jeff Trombley[2]; 2. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 3. 10VC-Zach Sobotka[11]; 4. 25G-Tyler Graves[6]; 5. 22-Tomy Moreau[5]; 6. 28-Ron Greek[3]; 7. 121-Spencer Burley[19]; 8. 18-Timmy Lotz[1]; 9. 9K-Kyle Pierce[4]; 10. 8-Dillon Paddock[24]; 11. 99-Adam Depuy[20]; 12. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[14]; 13. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[18]; 14. 29-Dalton Herrick[12]; 15. 21B-Blake Warner[15]; 16. 4-Cliff Pierce[13]; 17. 33-Scott Landers[8]; 18. 12-Tyler Chartrand[17]; 19. 10-Nathan Pierce[22]; 20. 48A-Alysha Bay[23]; 21. D9-Dustin Sehn[25]; 22. (DNF) 14X-Lance Dusett[9]; 23. (DNF) J27-John Cunningham[16]; 24. (DNF) 66-Jordan Hutton[10]; 25. (DNF) 66T-Tyler Emmons[21]

Heat Winners: Jordan Hutton, Billy VanInwegen, Jr., Timmy Lotz, Scott Landers
B-Main Winner: Tyler Emmons
Did Not Qualify: Ken Klinkowsky, Dan Craun, Kirsten Dombroski, Mark Connoly, Jerry Sehn Jr, Tucker Donath, Jeremy Hamilton, Ed Kelly, George Sanford

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