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Pete McDonald Photo
Trenton, NJ (Saturday, Feb. 21) – Zack Bealer, of Lehighton, PA, broke out the broom inside CURE Insurance Arena Saturday night as he knifed under Kyle Spence for the lead 13 laps from the finish and never looked back to pull off a sweep of the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals.
“All of this just feels super surreal; I’m already excited to come back next year,” said the 30-year-old, who pocketed $5,000 for his efforts, boosting his total weekend earnings to $6,250. “At the beginning of the race, I thought we were in trouble, so I started dialing on the car. Those restarts were helping me a little bit because I was able to get the car freed up. But at the same time, they were killing me because I kept getting hung out on the outside. Once the bottom slicked off, I knew I had to go back the other way on adjustments and then the car felt like it did on Friday. That’s when I knew we were in good shape.”
Bealer started the 40-lap feature on the outside of the front row, but would fall down the running order to sixth in the early stages as polesitter Tyler Catalano blasted away to set the early pace. Catalano’s time at the front was short-lived as when he caught the back of the field, he hit the infield tires coming off turn four, allowing Kyle Lick to roll the middle lane on lap seven to go from third to the point.
Following a multitude of cautions, Bealer began to make some noise, propelling himself up to the bottom step of the podium on lap 15. Six laps later, he powered by James Roselli for the runner-up spot to break free from the hornets nest of intense racing around him.
Bealer then hunted the rear bumper of leader Kyle Spence until the yellow lights flipped on at lap 27. When action resumed, Bealer seized the moment, rifling his No. 18 inside Spence going into turn three and sliding up to the cushion off turn four to wrestle the top spot away.
However, Bealer was far from home free as the caution flew once again on lap 31. On the ensuing restart, Bealer slid up the speedway in turns three and four, giving Spence enough room to squeeze his No. 89 under Bealer off turn four to take command again by a narrow 0.015 seconds.
But similar to the night before, Bealer was “saved by the bell” when Warren Alston flew the yellow flag, negating Spence’s move since the lap had not yet been completed.
Bealer made his do-over count when the green flag flew as he roared down the backstretch on the top and slammed the door in Spence’s face on the bottom going into turn three to maintain the spot.
Bealer went the final ten laps untouched to cross under the checkered flag 0.468 seconds ahead of Roselli. Spence, Kyle Lick and Adam Buchel completed the top five.
After having to take a provisional to get in the show, 2023 winner Tim Buckwalter started 28th on the grid and despite being caught up in two incidents, finished ninth.
Alex Ruppert scored the win in the $500 Bob Hilbert Sportswear Cash Dash, besting the top 11 competitors of the weekend’s action. Adam Buchel and Cole Perez captured the B-Mains.
For more information on the Indoor Auto Racing Championship, visit indoorautoracing.com.
A-Main Finish Order: 1. Zackery Bealer, 2. James Roselli, 3. Kyle Spence, 4. Kyle Lick, 5. Adam Buchel, 6. Christopher Allen, 7. Connor Gross, 8. Alex Ruppert, 9. Tim Buckwalter, 10. Steven Snyder Jr., 11. Luke Thomas, 12. Pat Bealer, 13. Zach Curtis, 14. Geordan Marrero, 15. Chris Gerhart, 16. Johnny Smith, 17. Rodney Westhafer, 18. Matthew Warner, 19. Vincent Gueci, 20. JT Bierman, 21. David Schilling, 22. Anthony Perrego, 23. Cole Perez, 24. Stephen Kemery, 25. Tyler Catalano, 26. Wayne Scott.
27. Kenny Miller III, 28. Cole Gerber.
