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(June 23, 2021):  Billy Pauch Jr. took top honors Wednesday evening in the fourth annual Garden State Gunfight presented by Creston Hydraulics. Pauch Jr., who waged a crowd pleasing duel for almost 20 laps with 4-time NES champ Ryan Godown, grabbed the lead right at the halfway point of the 60 lap main event and went on to score his 3rd victory at NES in 2021. 

 “Ryan (Godown) and I had a great battle there for the fans,” exclaimed Pauch Jr. in victory lane, “We raced very close on all grooves of the track for many laps, and never touched once.  That was a lot of fun!” 

Matt Stangle and DJ Hunt would bring the field to the start of the 60 lap event with Stangle putting his Danny Sommeling Motorsports #51 into the early lead.  Stangle was fast in his new ride and opened up a nice lead as Wade Hendrickson, Danny Bouc and John McClelland battled with Hunt for the second position.  It did not take long for 7th starter Ryan Godown to quickly move into the mix, and soon he won the battle for second and set his sights on the Stangle. As he ran down the leader, Pauch Jr., who started 11th, was quickly on his heels as a caution flag reset the field.  The restart saw Stangle fight hard to hold on to the lead, but Godown finally wore him down and got around him to take the lead, bringing a very fast Pauch Jr. with him. PAuch Jr. quickly caught Godown, but then could only match the speed of Godown, as they both raised their game and put on a crowd pleasing side by side battle each lap and thru several restarts.  David Van Horn, who had fallen back early in the event, had now moved to third after battling with Stangle and was looking to make it a three car race. Godown and Pauch Jr. battled side by side thru turns lap after lap with Godown’s momentum taking back out front each lap. The two swapped grooves as well a couple times, and finally, as the crossed flags were being displayed to the duo, Pauch roared into the lead.  At this point, point leader Mike Gular was in 4th and really working well in the bottom groove, despite a broken sail panel that had been dangling since lap 5.  Gular continued to move up until he was second, and would challenge Pauch on the last two restarts only to watch him pull away each time.  Pauch Jr. would win the event by 1.795 seconds over Gular to score the 32nd Modified win of his career at NES.  Godown came on strong again during the closing laps but settled for third, chased by Van Horn and Stangle.  Sixth thru tenth went to Bouc, Hendrickson, Rick Laubach, Brandon Grosso and first year Modified competitor DJ Hunt.    

June 12, 2021):  Justin Grosso of Belle Mead, NJ continued his recent dominance at New Egypt Speedway, as he won both the Sportsman and the Racersguide.com Crate Modified features on Saturday evening.  Grosso led wire to wire in the 20 lap non-stop feature event for the Crates, then drove from the eighth starting position to the lead in 10 laps and went on to capture the Sportsman 20 lap event, which was not slowed by caution until 3 laps remained. It was Grosso’s first ever Open Sportsman triumph, whereas it was his 4th straight Crate Modified victory at the central Jersey speedway. 

Grosso combined skill and luck for his Crate Modified victory, as he drew the pole for the feature event and took full advantage of it for his 4th straight win. Grosso sliced thru lapped traffic masterfully in the non-stop race, as Ryan Simmons was the only car that could keep pace with Grosso’s family owned j24, settling for a well deserved second place finish. Pat Wall, Johnny Bangs and Anthony Tramontana rounded out the top five in a rare sweep of the top five spots by the top five in points!

(June 5, 2021):  Rick Laubach of Hellertown, PA took top honors Saturday night in the 30 lap Vahlco Wheels Modified main event on Rat Rod/Hot Rod Night at NES. The two time champ took full advantage of his front row starting spot to lead all 30 laps of the feature, the final 25 being run non-stop. It was the 17th win of his career at NES, his first in almost 5 years.  

“A lot of people have asked me why I came back to run here (NES) because the competition is so tough, there are 6 STSS winners that compete here regularly!” stated Laubach in the winner’s circle, “My answer is because I enjoy running here, It’s a great track to pass on and you can be proud when you are standing here at the end of the night.” 

 Laubach, after a forgettable last three weeks, started on the pole for the 30 lap event and brought the field to the start.  After a couple yellows in the opening five laps, including one on the initial start, the race would get going and would not be stopped again.  Laubach jumped out in front and quickly stretched his lead to a full straightaway by the halfway mark. Back in the pack, Billy Pauch Jr who won the last event here on May 15, and Mike Gular, also a winner in April, were storming to the front. Gular made a great move to get by Pauch and Mike Butler to move into second only to see Pauch Jr. return the favor with ten to go. The final 8 laps saw Laubach move into and thru heavy lapped traffic bring Pauch Jr. closer, but Laubach masterfully handled the back markers and cruised to his first win since 2016 at New Egypt. Pauch Jr. settled for the runner-up spot, and Gular came home third and by virtue of this take’s over the division point lead. Mike Butler held on for his second 4th place finish this year, and Bryan Kuhl grabbed fifth from Jim Housworth on the final lap to complete the top five.   

Tom Princiotta, of Columbus, NJ, broke thru for his first ever victory in the Sportsman 20 lap main event.  Since he started running these cars in 2015, Princiotta has been very close on numerous occasions, but had never cracked the win column. That all changed on Saturday night as he used his Brandon Solarski Racing #32 Crate to dominate the second half of the race. After a good battle with Paul Mancini during the first half, he pulled away to a big lead in the second half only to have a late race yellow bring the field back to him.  However, on this evening he would not be denied, as he once again pulled away from all competitors to post the very popular victory.  Two time winner Anthony Tramontana came home a distant second, followed by Ryan Heim third, Ryan Simmons fourth and Justin Grosso fifth.  

Today’s racing event has been canceled due to rain. Please join us next week for our Rat Rod II / Motors & Music Night. REMINDER: Racing begins at 7 pm starting Saturday, June 5th. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.