(Photo by J.G. Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. (June 8, 2021) – Joey Amantea picked up one of his best finishes of the season with the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Cars last Saturday night when he finished eighth at Lincoln Speedway.
The top-10 effort followed up a 13th-place finish on Friday night with the series at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He also charged from 26th to 14th in a wingless micro sprint race on Wednesday at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.
“Overall, it was a pretty good week and we learned some things that will help us going forward,” he said. “We ran into a lot of things that we had to overcome and we stepped up to the plate each time and made it happen. That’s the mark of a good team and gives me confidence going forward.”
Amantea kicked off the three-race week on Wednesday at Action Track USA. An accident in a heat race relegated him to the B Main, in which Amantea charged from 15th to finish just short of transferring to the A Main in sixth. Courtesy of a track provisional, he lined up 26th for the feature and advanced a dozen positions to finish 14th for his 11th top-15 run of the season.
“It was an interesting night to begin with as my dad was feeling under the weather and it was the first time I’ve ever went to the track by myself,” he said. “We had some issues early on and ultimately needed a provisional to get into the show, but we passed a lot of cars to salvage a decent night in the feature.”
Amantea then shifted focus to the wingless 360 sprint car division on Friday when he made his first career start at the famed Williams Grove Speedway. He finished seventh in a heat race as a result of a wreck and lined up 19th for the feature. A wreck on Lap 1 sent him to the tail of the field and he advanced six positions to finish 13th. The six positions gained was tied with two other drivers for the most in the field of 21 drivers.
“To finally get to race at Williams Grove was a cool deal in itself and we were pretty quick in hot laps,” he said. “We seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time early in the night, but for being a new track and us still learning, to move forward six positions was a good night.”
Amantea closed out the weekend on Saturday with another first-time visit to Lincoln Speedway. He began the night by finishing where he started – third – in a heat race before he garnered the pole position for the feature courtesy of a redraw. Hoping to capitalize on the fortunate luck of the draw, Amantea changed his setup for the feature. His decision proved wrong early in the race as he struggled with track conditions and fell back. However, after the halfway point the track came to his liking and he rallied to finish eighth.
The run was good enough to move him up two spots to eighth in the championship standings with the series. He only trails fifth by 46 markers.
“We had speed off the trailer and luckily we had a favorable draw that got us the pole in the feature,” he said. “I was riding around inside the top five and decided to try something different to maybe make up some ground and we lost a bunch of positions. We rebounded for eighth, which gave us a good weekend in terms of points so I was happy.”
Next up for Amantea will be a trio of wingless micro sprint races. On Wednesday and Sunday he’ll run at Action Track USA while he’ll head to Spirit Auto Center Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J., on Friday.
“We’ve been pretty snake bitten with the micro this season so I don’t know that we can get much worse off in terms of luck,” he said. “I’m looking forward to turning things around and hopefully we can come out with something to smile about.”
QUICK RESULTS –
June 2 – Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. – Heat race: 7 (4); B Main: 6 (15); Feature: 14 (26).
June 4 – Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. – Heat race: 7 (5); Feature: 13 (19).
June 5 – Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa. – Heat race: 3 (3); Feature: 8 (1).
SEASON STATS –
17 races, 1 win, 3 top fives, 7 top 10s, 13 top 15s, 14 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Wednesday at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.; Friday at Spirit Auto Center Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J; and Sunday at Action Track USA
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, Stinger Race Fuel Products, 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 Jun 08, 2021
- Article Date: 6/8/2021 by Inside Line Promotions