Accident Ends Sergi’s Night Early at New Smyrna

Florida Driver Battles Handling Before Being Involved in Incident

Saturday night’s Bright House Challenge Series 100-lap feature at New Smyrna Speedway (FL) didn’t go as planned for 18-year-old Anthony Sergi.  The Oviedo, Florida driver battled a tough handling racecar before being involved in a lap 64 accident that ended his night and relegated his No. 20 MJS Concrete team to an 18th place finish.

After starting the event in fourth place after a solid qualifying effort, Sergi fell backwards as he dealt with an ill-handling racecar from the drop of the green flag. 

“We fought the car all night,” Sergi said.  “I couldn’t diagnose what was wrong with it. It was just an overall grip issue. In the corner it was just worse and worse.”

Following the accident that ended his night, Sergi and his team discovered a loose valve stem core in the right rear tire which he believes may have been the cause of the tough handling conditions.

“We came in the pits and found our right rear valve stem core was loose,” said Sergi.  “I’d hate to think this would happen, but we left the car down on pit road while waiting for the race to start.  We don’t know if somebody from another team went over and loosened it up or if it was a mistake by us.”

Sergi’s next scheduled event will be on May 10 at Desoto Speedway where he finished 6th on two different occasions earlier this season.

“We’ll put this one behind us and move on to Desoto,” Sergi said. “I’m hoping we can go back to Desoto and get another solid finish there."