(Photo by J.G. Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – JONESTOWN, Pa. (July 13, 2021) – Joey Amantea rebounded from a frustrating start to the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Cars Speedweek presented by Valley Forge Inc. that was littered with cancellations and bad luck to pick up an eighth-place finish last Wednesday during the finale hosted by Action Track USA.
Amantea also scored a 12th-place result at the track later in the night behind the wheel of his family owned wingless micro sprint. He then competed in the division on Friday at Linda’s Speedway, but suffered a DNF as a result of a mechanical failure after starting on the pole.
“The Speedweek deal just didn’t really go our way at all and luckily we were able to salvage something good to close it out,” he said. “Racing has a funny way of knocking you down and you’ve just got to be able to pick yourself up and move on quickly.”
Amantea kicked off the week on Wednesday at the oval in Kutztown, Pa., which hosted the inaugural Iron Cowboy Classic. He began the night by moving forward two positions in a heat race to finish seventh and earn the 13th starting position in the A Main. On a track that featured slide jobs and aggressive racing, Amantea powered forward five positions to finish eighth for his 12th top 10 of the season. He also earned the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
“The track was really tricky in the heat race and we didn’t have much luck in the heat race,” he said. “In the feature we made up some ground and got the Hard Charger Award and it went better than I expected. I think track position was really key and we just needed to be better early in the night.”
Amantea again moved forward two positions in a heat race to finish second in his micro sprint. He lined up eighth for the feature, but struggled with track conditions and the car setup to finish 12th for his 19th top-15 outing of the year.
“We just missed the boat badly setup-wise and we just were not very good at all,” he said. “We tried something and it just wasn’t a good call, so we’ll chalk it up to a learning experience.”
Amantea closed out the weekend on Friday at Linda’s Speedway, where he started off the night by winning a heat race from the pole position. A fortunate feature redraw lined him up on the pole for the feature. Amantea led the first half of the race before engine woes ended his night early.
“We struggled with overheating issues early in the night, but the pill draw was my friend for once and we ended up winning a heat and getting the pole,” he said. “We had a really fast car and we were going to win that race, but ultimately bad luck came into play. It really stinks losing races like that, but we’ll get the car fixed up and move on to the next one.”
Next up for Amantea will be a trip to Action Track USA on Wednesday in the wingless micro sprint followed by a first-ever visit to the newly constructed Bloomsburg Fair Raceway in Bloomsburg, Pa., on Friday with the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Cars.
“Bloomsburg will be a bit of an unknown as they have not really done a lot of racing there, so there isn’t a whole lot to base things off of coming into it,” Amantea said. “However, it could really even the playing field and we’re going into it with no expectations and an open mind.”
QUICK RESULTS –
July 7 – Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. (Non-Wing Sprint Car) – Heat race: 7 (9); Feature: 8 (13).
July 7 – Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. (Wingless Micro Sprint) – Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 12 (8).
July 9 – Linda’s Speedway in Jonestown, Pa. – Heat race: 1 (1); Feature: DNF (1).
SEASON STATS –
28 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 12 top 10s, 19 top 15s, 20 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Wednesday at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa., and Friday at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway in Bloomsburg, Pa., with the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.joeyamantearacing.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joeyamantearacing/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joeyamantea88J
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Stinger Race Fuel Products
Stinger Race Fuel Products is exclusive to Insinger Performance and offers a broad range of performance fuels that include Leaded, Unleaded, Ethanol-focused, Methanol/Racing Alcohol and Non-Ethanol choices to meet the needs of those within the racing community. To contact a Stinger Race Fuel Products technical expert, call (302) 273-3982 or visit https://insingerperformanceinc.com/stinger-race-fuel/.
“To achieve your dreams and goals in this sport you need great partners who provide quality products and I believe Stinger Race Fuel is the best out there,” Amantea said. “I’m very grateful for their support and look forward to continued success together.”
Amantea would also like to thank JPA Masonry, Amantea Real Estate, 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 13, 2021
- Article Date: 7/13/2021 by Inside Line Promotions