By Steve Williams
The American Racing Drivers Club will have their Midgets in action twice this coming weekend along with the O’Reilly All Stars Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars.
On Friday April 30th ARDC will visit the historic Williams Grove Speedway, in Mechanicsburg, PA, as part of a double card with the All Stars. This will be the first visit by the Wingless Midgets at Williams Grove in several years after having scheduled shows, rained out the past few years.
On Sunday May 2nd ARDC will be back in action, with the All Stars, at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, PA, where they will complete their feature that was rained out on opening day, as well as a complete show. Drivers will also appear in a meet and greet before racing action in support of the RAACE (Race Against Abuse of Children Everywhere) Foundation. Fans will be invited to visit with the Stars of the ARDC.
In ARDC’s first visit to Big Diamond the heats were won by PJ Gargiulo, Billy Pauch Jr. and Steve Buckwalter, with the consolation won by Tracy Readinger. Racing was postponed with the Modified Feature on the speedway after a persistent drizzle made the surface un-raceable.
Since the opening race rain-out, ARDC competed at Susquehanna Speedway in Newberrytown, PA with Billy Pauch Jr. making a last lap pass of Steve Buckwalter, for the first win of the season. In the nightcap it was Buckwalter getting some vindication, winning the make-up feature from last October’s rained out Candy Bowl.
Both drivers are very familiar with the speedways on this weekends schedule as Buckwalter is a regular competitor at the Grove driving a 410 Sprint Car while Pauch Jr. handles a 358 Modified at Big Diamond Raceway, every Friday evening.
Going into the race at Williams Grove, Drew Heistand of Wrightsville, PA, is the points leader wheeling his potent York Excavating #12 with 132 points, followed closely by Billy Pauch Jr. of Frenchtown, NJ with 131 points. Rounding out the top five are Steve Lenig of Selinsgrove, PA with 125 points, Dusty Heistand of Manheim, PA with 119 points and Brett Arndt of Topton, PA with 112 points.
FEATURE LINEUP for MAY 2nd MAKEUP: 6 Dusty Heistand, 39 Justin Grosz, 44 Frank Polimeda, 0 Steve Buckwalter, 54 Billy Pauch Jr., 51 P.J. Gargiulo, 12 Drew Heistand, 89 Andrew Hannula, 49 Trevor Kobylarz, 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 11 Eric Heydenreich, 75 Ryan Watt, 25 Chris Zrinski, 34 Ryan Smith, 46 Brett Arndt, 84 Jimmy Cammock, 16 Dave Shirk, 2 Tracy Readinger, 26 Stephanie Stevens, 20 Carey Becker, 9 Steve Lenig, 38 Bobby Goerner, 52 Tim Buckwalter, 77 Alex Bright, 19 Steve Drevicki, 78 Ryan Osborne.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Friday April 30, 2010 Williams Grove Speedway Mechanicsburg, PA Sunday May 2, 2010 Big Diamond Raceway Minersville, PA Saturday May 8, 2010 Williams Grove Speedway Mechanicsburg, PA Saturday May 15, 2010 Grandview Speedway Bechtelsville, PA Friday May 28, 2010 Penn Can Speedway Susquehanna, PA
UNOFFICIAL DRIVER STANDINGS
Driver Name
Points
Drew Heistand
132
Billy Pauch Jr
131
Steve Lenig
125
Dusty Heistand
119
Brett Arndt
112
Ryan Watt
108
Steve Buckwalter
105
Eric Heydenreich
104
Jimmy Cammock
90
Carey Becker
88
Tim Buckwalter
82
Frank Polimeda
72
PJ Gargiulo
70
Chris Zrinski
69
Ryan Smith
66
Bruce Buckwalter
65
Andrew Hanulla
64
Trevor Kobylarz
61
Dave Shirk
51
Stephanie Stevens
51
Nick Wean
51
Tracy Readinger
49
Donnie Trent
48
Alex Bright
48
Steve Drevicki
40
Steve Craig
40
Randy Reid
31
Parker Evans
30
Justin Grosz
29
Donnie Hoffman
28
Scott Zipp
28
Bobby Goerner
27
Jason Rice
25