From ARDC
A couple of old-timers got together Saturday night in Winchester Virginia for some good old fashion racing and it was a kid from Northeast Pennsylvania picking up a club leading fourth win of the season.
The old timers were Winchester Speedway, built in 1936 and Wild Bill Schindler’s ARDC Midgets, formed in 1939. The youngster from northeastern Pennsylvania, Ryan Smith.
Things were a bit different from those early years. The cars now have roll cages and the race track is now a beautiful modern speedplant but the action was just as hot and heavy as ever.
At the start of the feature one time winner Alex Bright of Collegeville, PA sprinted into the lead over Wampum, PA’s Joe Butera who started on the pole. By the conclusion of the first lap Kunkletown, PA resident Ryan Smith and Birdsboro, PA’s Trevor Kobylarz moved by Butera for second and third.
With just one lap completed the red flag was unfurled for a wild series of flips by Saylorsburg, PA’s Keith McIntyre Jr. McIntyre had gotten together with Steve Bull of Hampstead, MD going onto the first turn and almost flipped out of the ballpark, hitting the outside wall before bouncing back onto the speedway.
McIntyre was helped in to the ambulance where he was checked out and decided to pursue additional treatment on his own. The car was removed from the scene with the left side destroyed and a bend in the top part of the cage where it hit the fence.
Shortly after the restart the red flag again came out for Wrightsville, PA’s Drew Heistand who flipped in the second turn. Heistand pulled a wheel stand coming off the turn and ended lying on his side against the outside wall. Heistand came into the event as the point leader.
Ranking high in the points was not a good position as on lap six the yellow came out for the driver sitting second in points when Phillipsburg, NJ’s Nick Wean lost the handle in the fourth turn.
Following the restart, Bright was able to open up a lead over Smith and Kobylarz but all eyes were on
“The Royersford Rocket” Steve Buckwalter who used the outer rim of the speedway to draw in on the back of Kobylarz and get by the youngster on the ninth lap.
Smith was able to draw in Bright and on lap 11 made a move on the low side of turn two stick and drove down the backstretch into the lead. Two laps later Buckwalter got by Bright, setting up a shootout between ARDC’s top leading winners.
After a late race yellow for debris, Buckwalter had a final shot at Smith but Smith was able to open up some distance over the final five laps to claim his fourth ARDC Midget win of the season.
Finishing in second was S. Buckwalter who just barely held off Kobylarz with A. Bright and Tim Buckwalter rounding out the top five.
Finishing sixth through tenth were, Dusty Heistand, Brenden Bright, Steve Drevicki, Bruce Buckwalter Jr. and Nick Wean.
Heats for the 16 Midgets went to Alex Bright and Brenden Bright.
RACE NIGHT NOTES Ryan Smith’s crew installed a new Esslinger engine in his car last weekend and struggled with overheating problems. Despite his win the engine was still running hot. Steve Buckwalter flipped his Sprint Car at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday decided to race his Midget at Winchester. Buckwalter was a late arrival after having hauler problems en-route to the track. Bryan Kobylarz, who came out of semi-retirement last week to race in North Carolina has gone back into semi-retirement. Bryan’s son Trevor showed a mastery of the tacky highbanks of Winchester with a strong third place run. Looks like Tim Buckwalter has lost the gremlins that kept him from finishing races early in the season. Dusty Heistand had a good run despite losing his brakes late in the race. After his wild flip at County Line Brenden Brights crew had to completely rebuild his car and never had a chance to see if it would start before arriving at the track. After detonating his engine at Pittsburgh Steve Drevicki has been using his teammate, Greg Fitzpatrick’s engine. Fitzpatrick will pick up another power plant and should be back in action shortly. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. was sporting a new sponsor. www.lupus.org was on the side of the 83.
WINCHESTER SPEEDWAY August 13, 2011 ARDC Midgets (25 Laps) 1)33 Ryan Smith, 2) 0 Steve Buckwalter, 3) 49 Trevor Kobylarz, 4) 77 Alex Bright, 5) 52 Tim Buckwalter 6) 6 Dusty Heistand, 7) 88 Brenden Bright, 8) 19 Steve Drevicki, 9) 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 10) 78 Nick Wean, 11) 01 Steve Bull, 12) 3 Joe Butera, 13) 12 Drew Heistand, 14) 57 Jason Rice, DNS 46 Brett Arndt, 8 Keith McIntyre Jr. HEATS Alex Bright, Brenden Bright