Danny Bouc had to congratulate Alex Yankowski on his first Short Track Super Series win. Yankowski earned it after outmaneuvering the likes of Bouc and Matt Sheppard through lapped traffic at Bridgeport Motorsports Park in New Jersey.
“I felt the pressure,” said Yankowski, of Covington Township, Pennsylvania. “Matt showed the nose of his car to me as we went through lapped traffic. Then Danny Bouc passed Matt and came on strong.”
Bouc and Yankowski made daring moves to get around lapped traffic, but in the end Yankowski maintained his lead. Bouc congratulated Yankowski in victory lane.
“Danny knows how hard it is to win one of these STSS features,” Yankowski said. “He ran as hard as he could and finished second. Danny could appreciate how difficult it was to get through the same lapped cars that I had to get through. He showed me respect by congratulating me — it meant a lot to me.”
Yankowski, ever the student of the sport, recognizes the value of navigating through traffic.
“Many races are won or lost in lapped traffic,” said Yankowski. “You have to realize that you can have a second- or third-place car, and ultimately could win if you are good in lapped traffic. I saw Stewart Friesen do it many times.”
Alex Yankowski maintains a busy racing schedule. He drives for Tim and Debbie Millman in the Short Track Super Series. Yankowski races for his family team at a pair of New York dirt ovals, Fonda Speedway and Utica-Rome Speedway. He also competes in select small-block modified races for Rich Stankiewicz. When he’s not behind the wheel, he’s building engines at his family’s SY Murray Performance, where he works with engine builders Jeff Murray and Fred Loney.
“I’m building my own engines with Jeff and Fred — and I feel it’s a great tool to propel us to be better,” Yankowski said. “It is a great responsibility to build your own engines and race them.”
His next race takes place Thursday at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, New York, when the Short Track Super Series rolls into town.
“The future looks bright, for sure,” said Yankowski. “I can breathe a sigh of relief after finally winning a Short Track Super Series feature. Now, I can concentrate on another win in the series.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
Photographers
The Outside Groove contributor from Macungie, Pennsylvania, has covered the sport since 2012. Sabo serves as the official track photographer of Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Photography is a family ordeal for Sabo. He shoots with his daughter, Abby, at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. At Grandview and other venues Sabo travels to, he and his father, Stephen “Poppa Pepper” Sabo Sr., capture the night’s action with their cameras.
