(Photo by Mike Dicely)
Inside Line Promotions – HAMLIN, Pa. (July 30, 2019) – Joey Amantea turned a recent string of tough luck around as he highlighted three nights of non-wing micro sprint action with three top-10 finishes.
The racing began last Wednesday night at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa., with Amantea taking part in the Mad Scramble. The 10-lap race, which was for non-qualifiers the previous week, provides contingency prizes and a guaranteed feature starting spot to the winner.
Amantea, who lined up second, used the top of the speedway to race forward to the lead, where he stayed to lock himself into the feature event as a reward.
As a result of being locked in, Amantea and his team decided to skip heat race action and save the car for the A Main. He lined up fourth in the feature. However, the lack of laps on the track ultimately hurt the team as Amantea struggled with the setup and fell to a ninth-place finish.
“We probably should have run the heat race to try and get a better understanding of what the track was going to do before the feature,” he said. “We had an all right car, but ultimately we just were not good enough. But I’ve struggled at Action Track all year so a top 10 is nice.”
The team headed to Linda’s Speedway in Jonestown, Pa., on Friday to try and capitalize on the momentum from Wednesday. The night began with Amantea lining up in the fourth position in a heat race and moving forward to finish in the second spot. However, after the winner of the heat race was deemed to be underweight, Amantea was credited with the win.
He then drew the pole position for the feature, but wasn’t able to grab the lead on the start. Amantea struggled to make any ground up on the leader and ultimately lost a few positions in the closing laps to come home fifth for his 11th top five of 2019.
“We were pretty good early in the night and ended up drawing the pole, but we had nothing for the leader,” he said. “He checked out and I was really just riding around hoping we’d luck into something. The car faded late, but it’s tough to be too upset with a top five.”
With two consecutive top-10 finishes, Amantea headed to Hamlin Speedway on Saturday feeling good about his chance of success. He lined up fourth in a heat race and advanced two positions to finish second, locking himself into the A Main.
Amantea started fourth after once again drawing the No. 4 for the feature. Struggling to get around the third-place car for multiple laps, Amantea eventually got tangled up with him. While he never came to a stop, officials deemed he caused the accident and sent him to the rear of the field. He rallied to the ninth position during the remaining laps for his third top 10 of the week.
“I was having one heck of a time getting around the third-place car and ultimately we got together,” he said. “We never stopped, but we got sent to the rear because they said it was my fault. I really felt like I was going to win that race so it was a big let down to end up where we did as a result.”
Next up on the schedule will be five consecutive nights of racing as part of the 10th annual Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Presented by 600cc Performance. The series carries a $3,000-to-win point fund for the winner and includes stops at Action Track USA, Path Valley Speedway, Linda’s Speedway, Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway and Spirit Auto Center Speedway.
Amantea is looking forward to the experience and is excited about the opportunity to race against big fields and many well-known drivers.
“I feel like it’s going to be a good week and we’re coming in on a high note,” he said. “Most of the tracks on the schedule we have been to quite a bit so I think we can have some success and turn a few heads hopefully.”
QUICK RESULTS –
July 24 – Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. – Scramble: 1 (2); Feature: 9 (4).
July 26 – Linda’s Speedway in Jonestown, Pa. – Heat race: 1 (4); Feature: 5 (1).
July 27 – Hamlin Speedway in Hamlin, Pa. – Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 9 (4).
SEASON STATS –
36 races, 1 win, 11 top fives, 20 top 10s, 28 top 15s, 30 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Wednesday at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.; Thursday at Path Valley Speedway in Spring Run, Pa.; Friday at Linda’s Speedway in Jonestown, Pa.; Saturday at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Newmanstown, Pa.; and Sunday at Spirit Auto Center Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J., for the Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Presented by 600cc Performance
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.joeyamantearacing.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joeyamantearacing/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joeyamantea88J
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Amantea Real Estate
Amantea Real Estate is a residential and commercial real estate company based in Mount Pocono, Pa. For more information, visit http://www.AmanteaRealEstate.com
“I’m very happy to have an esteemed company like Amantea Real Estate back our team,” Amantea said. “I’m very grateful for their support and look forward to continued success together.”
Amantea would also like to thank JPA Masonry, Hyper Racing, Jet Signs, Radical Race Gear, Pensyl Enterprises and Gilroy Northeast Inc. Excavating and Construction for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jul 30, 2019
- Article Date: 7/30/2019 by Inside Line Promotions