The Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series made its way to Virginia Motorsports Park this past weekend and the Bongiovanni Racing team was there in force. Anthony Bongiovanni wheeled his Micro Strategies Cobra Jet Mustangs in Stock and Super Stock, while the father-and-son duo of Dan and Tim Fletcher competed in Super Stock and Stock respectively.
Bongiovanni is currently 5th in both Stock and Super Stock Division 1 points and he’s looking for a top 10 finish for the season. Fletchers are also looking to earn points and to add to the season-long win total.
“I was feeling confident going into Virginia, said Bongiovanni. “The performance from our Micro Strategies Cobra Jet Mustangs was dialed in and my reaction times were solid. I made small changes to my driving technique and it has netted me quicker and more consistent reaction times in the Stock Eliminator car. I was missing a minor piece of the puzzle, but I think we have that figured out,” he said.
Bongiovanni qualified 5th in Stock and went .021 on the tree to defeat Division 1 standout Matt Lisa in the opening round. Bongiovanni ran an 8.71 on the 8.70 dial in to beat Lisa who was .033 and dead on his 10.74 dial. In round 2, Bongiovanni was .009 and beat Vic Guilmino. Tim Fletcher was also victorious in the first two rounds of Stock.
In Super Stock, Bongiovanni qualified 6th and delivered another .009 reaction time in first round for a win over multi-time winner Monte Bogan Jr. Bongiovanni then beat Malina Hurley who red lighted. Dan, unfortunately, lost a close in round 1. While the team was on a roll, cold weather rolled in Sunday evening, forcing the final rounds of eliminations to be contested at a date to be announced in the future.
“I was pleased with our performance this weekend,” said Bongiovanni. “It looks like I’m currently 5th in Stock and Super Stock points, and a top 10 finish for the season would be satisfying. I’ve been focused on improving in the Stocker especially and it’s great that the effort is paying off. These races are won and lost by such small margins, so you need every edge and you need to exploit the mechanical and mental side of the sport,” he added. “We’ll get to finish this race later in the year, but for now we’ll focus on the Keystone Nationals this coming weekend at Maple Grove Raceway. Maple Grove is our adopted home track so we hope to have a good showing.”
