Anthony Macri races by Rico Abreu to claim Johnny Grum Classic at Bedford Speedway
BEDFORD, Pa. (April 19, 2021) – Just one night following his incredible 19 position rally from 21st to finish second in Port Royal Speedway’s annual Keith Kauffman Classic, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania’s Anthony Macri did one better, literally, and secured his first FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of the 2021 season, doing so during Bedford Speedway’s Johnny Grum Classic on Sunday, April 18. The victory, earning Macri a $6,000 payday, was accomplished from the outside of row two, utilizing a restart with eight laps remaining to work by race-long leader and California invader, Rico Abreu.
“These guys gave me one hell of a car all weekend long and it finally paid off,” Anthony Macri explained in Bedford victory lane, driver of the Macri Concrete/J&S Fabrication/C&D Rigging, No. 39M sprint car. “I don’t know what to say, I’m out of breath. I just tried to pace myself there at the end and not do anything stupid.”
Abreu, who started on the pole by way of dash victory, led the first 22 circuits of the 30-lap contest. Setting sail around the very topside of the speedway, Abreu seemed uncatchable, but as traffic started to intensify, Abreu’s momentum began to suffer allowing Macri, who found his way to second for the first time on lap 11, to shrink Abreu’s command. Just as a battle for the lead was about to break out, caution flags appeared on lap 13 ultimately eliminating traffic and clearing the path for Abreu.
A similar situation would occur on lap 22, as heavy traffic entered the picture once again for Abreu forcing the driver of the Rico Abreu/Curb Agajanian Racing/Rowdy Energy No. 24 to check up on his speed. Caution flags returned to the speedway on lap 23, and although it rid the speedway of any slower traffic, Macri was more than ready for another opportunity at a single-file restart behind Abreu’s No. 24.
The second try proved to be the charm for the “Concrete Kid,” as the now two-time All Star Circuit of Champions winner dived to the bottom of turn one to drive across in front of Abreu. The move stuck, immediately extending his command to a multi-second advantage.
“I noticed on that first restart that (Abreu) kinda jerks the wheel when he gets ready to take off,” Macri continued. “When he started to turn his wheel again, I got on the gas and got a great run down the frontstretch. I knew that was my chance and I’m glad we were able to capitalize.”
Once claiming the top spot, Macri was untouchable, racing on to secure his place on Bedford Speedway’s victory lane stage. Rico Abreu held on to claim second, followed by Paul McMahan, Cory Eliason, and Kyle Reinhardt.
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Contingency Awards/Results: Bedford Speedway – Sunday, April 18, 2021
Event: Johnny Grum Classic
Entries: 30
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Paul McMahan – 16.390
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Paul McMahan – 16.199
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Cory Eliason
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Tim Shaffer
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Kyle Reinhardt
Kear’s Speed Shop presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash Winner: Rico Abreu
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Jeff Halligan
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: AJ Flick
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Anthony Macri
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Lucas Wolfe (+9)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 23-Paul McMahan, 16.199; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri, 16.257; 3. 24R-Rico Abreu, 16.285; 4. 11-Ian Madsen, 16.294; 5. 55w-Mike Wagner, 16.333; 6. 91f-Tony Fiore, 16.414; 7. 17B-Bill Balog, 16.415; 8. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 16.425; 9. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 16.425; 10. 26-Cory Eliason, 16.431; 11. 72-Tim Shaffer, 16.441; 12. 10-Zeb Wise, 16.466; 13. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 16.472; 14. 5-Brent Marks, 16.485; 15. 13-Justin Peck, 16.510; 16. 35H-Zach Hampton, 16.527; 17. 42-Sye Lynch, 16.530; 18. 24-Kerry Madsen, 16.541; 19. 39-Chase Dietz, 16.541; 20. 45-Jeff Halligan, 16.585; 21. 2c-Dylan Cisney, 16.597; 22. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.607; 23. 6-Ryan Smith, 16.643; 24. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 16.706; 25. 4-Cap Henry, 16.748; 26. O7-Lucas Wolfe, 16.759; 27. 99M-Kyle Moody, 16.792; 28. 2-AJ Flick, 16.827; 29. 8M-TJ Michael, 16.859; 30. 880-Drew Ritchey, 17.048
Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 26-Cory Eliason [1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog [2]; 3. 11-Ian Madsen [3]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [5]; 5. 23-Paul McMahan [4]; 6. 4-Cap Henry [9]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich [8]; 8. 35H-Zach Hampton [6]; 9. 2-AJ Flick [10]; 10. 39-Chase Dietz [7]
Heat #2 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 72-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [2]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 4. 5-Brent Marks [5]; 5. 55W-Mike Wagner [3]; 6. 6-Ryan Smith [8]; 7. 45-Jeff Halligan [7]; 8. O7-Lucas Wolfe [9]; 9. 42-Sye Lynch [6]; 10. 8M-TJ Michael [10]
Heat #3 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [2]; 2. 24R-Rico Abreu [4]; 3. 13-Justin Peck [5]; 4. 24-Kerry Madsen [6]; 5. 51-Freddie Rahmer [8]; 6. 91F-Tony Fiore [3]; 7. 2C-Dylan Cisney [7]; 8. 99M-Kyle Moody [9]; 9. 10-Zeb Wise [1]; 10. 880-Drew Ritchey [10]
Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 24R-Rico Abreu [1]; 2. 23-Paul McMahan [2]; 3. 72-Tim Shaffer [3]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [6]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason [8]; 7. 11-Ian Madsen [7]; 8. 55W-Mike Wagner [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 45-Jeff Halligan [2]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [4]; 3. 99M-Kyle Moody [6]; 4. 2C-Dylan Cisney [3]; 5. 35H-Zach Hampton [1]; 6. O7-Lucas Wolfe [5]; 7. 2-AJ Flick [8]; 8. 39-Chase Dietz [9]; 9. 42-Sye Lynch [7]; 10. 8M-TJ Michael [10]; 11. 10-Zeb Wise [11]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 2. 24R-Rico Abreu [1]; 3. 23-Paul McMahan [2]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [5]; 6. 13-Justin Peck [11]; 7. 72-Tim Shaffer [3]; 8. 11-Ian Madsen [7]; 9. 55W-Mike Wagner [8]; 10. 5-Brent Marks [13]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog [9]; 12. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [10]; 13. 24-Kerry Madsen [14]; 14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 15. O7-Lucas Wolfe [24]; 16. 48-Danny Dietrich [20]; 17. 2C-Dylan Cisney [22]; 18. 4-Cap Henry [18]; 19. 91F-Tony Fiore [16]; 20. 10-Zeb Wise [25]; 21. 35H-Zach Hampton [23]; 22. 51-Freddie Rahmer [15]; 23. 45-Jeff Halligan [19]; 24. 99M-Kyle Moody [21]; 25. 6-Ryan Smith [17] Lap Leaders: Rico Abreu (1-22), Anthony Macri (23-30)
2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Winners:
1. Screven Motor Speedway, Georgia (January 29, 2021): Donny Schatz
2. Screven Motor Speedway, Georgia (January 30, 2021): Aaron Reutzel
3. East Bay Raceway Park, Florida (February 2, 2021): Donny Schatz (2)
4. Volusia Speedway Park, Florida (February 3, 2021): Logan Schuchart
5. Volusia Speedway Park, Florida (February 4, 2021): Carson Macedo
6. Attica Raceway Park, Ohio (April 3, 2021): Justin Peck
7. Virginia Motor Speedway, Virginia (April 15, 2021): Tony Stewart
8. Williams Grove Speedway, Pennsylvania (April 16, 2021): Kyle Larson
9. Port Royal Speedway, Pennsylvania (April 17, 2021): Logan Wagner
10. Bedford Speedway, Pennsylvania (April 18, 2021): Anthony Macri
2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings (as of 4/18/21):
1. Justin Peck – 682
2. Ian Madsen – 670
3. Cory Eliason – 646
4. Tyler Courtney – 642
5. Brent Marks – 636
6. Zeb Wise – 632
7. Hunter Schuerenberg – 600
8. Kyle Reinhardt – 578
9. Bill Balog – 574
10. Lucas Wolfe – 570
About the All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first ‘outlaw’ Sprint Car organization of the modern era. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
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Sources: Tyler Altmeyer/FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 PR
Photo Credit: Chad Warner