By Joe Grabianowski
For the first time in his career, 22-year-old Cody Manitta earned a DIRTcar Sportsman Series victory in a memorable Central Region clash at Brewerton Speedway.
The Cato, NY driver held off a late-race charge from points leader Hunter Hollenbeck, while hometown hero Quinn Wallis stole second from Hollenbeck on the final lap.
“This is my first win here on the DIRTcar Series,” Manitta said. “This is big for me. It sets us up well for Super DIRT Week. I’m really happy with it.”
Tucker Halliday, the pole sitter, led the first nine laps before Manitta passed the West Monroe, NY driver for the lead.
Meanwhile, Hunter Hollenbeck moved into third from fifth just before the race’s halfway point. It only took a handful of laps before Hollenbeck found himself passing Halliday for second with Manitta in his sights.
“I know Hunter is really good on the top, so I had to protect it on the front stretch as much as I could,” said Manitta. “He could get a really good run into Turn 1. I could just drive off Turn 2 way better. We’ve always raced each other clean, so I’m not worried any time I am next to him.”
A series of late restarts kept Hollenbeck and Manitta locked in battle until the checkered flag fell.
However, Quinn Wallis snuck by Hollenbeck on the race’s final restart, after battling inside the top five for the entire race.
“The driver had to figure it out for the first 20 laps,” Wallis said. “I smoked the catch fence in Turn 1 and lost my rhythm. Cody [Manitta] got by me, and I think if I hadn’t done that, it would have been a different story. I just wasn’t paying attention to the laps. If I were, I probably would have sailed it into Turn 3.”
Despite falling to third, Hollenbeck, from Fulton, NY, retains the DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central Region points lead by eight points over Tony Finch II, who finished fourth.
“The car was really fast,” Hollenbeck noted. “It was fun slicing through traffic trying to get to the front, but we just didn’t have enough. I really wish there were a couple fewer cautions there. I kept driving it into Turn 1 and couldn’t make it stick off Turn 2.”
Richard Murtaugh rounded out the top five.
Eleventh-place finisher Joe Trichilo will receive a free right rear courtesy of Hoosier Racing Tire.
Up Next: The DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central Region returns to action as part of a Central and North region combined event at Can-Am Speedway on Wednesday, July 1.
For more on the DIRTcar Northeast, follow the DIRTcar Northeast Facebook page.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series Central Region Feature: 1. 6-Cody Manitta[3]; 2. 31B-Quinn Wallis[2]; 3. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[5]; 4. 0-Tony Finch II[9]; 5. 33-Richard Murtaugh[6]; 6. 83-Brett Sears[11]; 7. 07W-Taylor Wason[12]; 8. 410-Mike Fowler[15]; 9. 1-Jack Meeks[8]; 10. 16H-Tucker Halliday[1]; 11. 32-Joe Trichilo[4]; 12. 63-Teddy Clayton Jr[16]; 13. R1-Riley Rogala[13]; 14. 714-Chris Darling[26]; 15. 28H-Brian Harber[23]; 16. 82-David Hackett[17]; 17. 54-Sullivan Dickey[24]; 18. 48-Kearra Davis[18]; 19. 00B-TJ Frost[25]; 20. 10G-Austin Germinio[22]; 21. 262-Matthew Richardson[27]; 22. 20B-Brayden Bullock[30]; 23. 57-Eric Jensen[28]; 24. 17A-John Pietrowicz[14]; 25. 14-Samuel Groom[21]; 26. 89-Belle Hogan[10]; 27. 42M-Kent Miller[19]; 28. 20K-Kyle Perry[7]; 29. 10H-Trevor Houghton[20]; 30. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[29]
Hoosier Racing Tire Award (Free Tire): Joe Trichilo
Post Race Tech: Rear Ends were checked for tow and camber on top five. All cars passed.
