BRIDGEPORT, N.J. — Tyler Courtney has officially mastered the Garden State, leading all 30 circuits at Bridgeport Motorsports Park to record the 20th Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of his career, snagging a $10,000 payday.
Courtney, ace of the Clauson Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 7bc, started from the outside-pole position and never looked back, holding off New Jersey’s Kyle Reinhardt and a tail-charging Anthony Macri at the final checkers.
The win bumps Courtney’s season tally to two during points competition, four total when including pre-season action in sunny central Florida.
Although flawless from the front row, Courtney still faced a series of challenges, some in the form of cautions and others in the form of lapped traffic.
A red flag on the initial start forced a complete restart, quickly followed by a long stretch of green flag competition.
Traffic entered the picture for the first time on lap 11, but Courtney was able to maintain control, always keeping a car or two between himself and the rest of the podium.
Cautions on laps 19 and 23 stacked the field once again, but despite the pair of momentum shifts, Courtney continued his course, never pressured from the rest of the field.
“Top fives are great for winning championships, but the ultimate goal is to win. My guys work too hard to not get to victory lane,” Courtney explained. “I felt like we gave one away on Sunday at Weedsport. I still wasn’t sure what to do tonight in turn four, so I just kept doing what I was doing and it ended up being the right thing to do.
“I didn’t want any more yellows at the end because you never know what can happen,” Courtney added. “We got the car in victory lane tonight where it belongs. This place is awesome. They’ve really made this place into a top-notch facility.”
Reinhardt almost lost his place within the frontrunners after the lap-19 restart, nearly spinning to a stop in turn four before getting back on the throttle.
“We were really fast there at the end,” Reinhardt said. “I almost gave it away there and we almost finished last, so being on the podium is good. Happy to be here in front of all of our friends and family.”
Anthony Macri was involved in the aforementioned opening red but still managed to climb through the field to finish third.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 2. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[4]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[5]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]; 5. 11-Cory Eliason[11]; 6. 26-Zeb Wise[6]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[7]; 8. 23B-Devon Borden[12]; 9. 67-Justin Whittall[17]; 10. 48-Danny Dietrich[13]; 11. 00K-Kyle Spence[19]; 12. 45-Tim Shaffer[16]; 13. 4-Chris Windom[15]; 14. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[10]; 15. 70-Scotty Thiel[9]; 16. 28M-Conner Morrell[20]; 17. 4B-Jon Brennfleck[24]; 18. 51-Freddie Rahmer[1]; 19. 44-Dave Brown[22]; 20. 13-Justin Peck[8]; 21. 97-JJ Hickle[14]; 22. 5-Tyler Ross[18]; 23. 11A-Austin Bishop[21]; 24. 55M-Domenic Melair[23]; 25. (DNS) 29-Sye Lynch