From Rich Vleck, BUSTI, NY (June 19, 2010)- A night after having what his team termed an “embarrassing outing” at Ransomville, Bubba Broderick took advantage of a visit to one of his best racetracks, as well as a competitors misfortune, to win.
Broderick, making the long tow from Brookfield, CT, became the first repeat winner of the 2010 season on the ASCS Patriot Tour, claiming the 25-lap Paul Johnson Memorial at Stateline Speedway to kick off the Insinger Race Fuels King of the Southern Tier. Broderick used his mastery of the cushion to outduel defending series champion Bryan Howland for 20 straight laps.
“I love this place! This is my favorite track,” Broderick reverberated after a wild 25-lap excursion. The 20-year-old had also made that declaration earlier in the night.
Scott Bonnell drew the pole position and led the first five circuits of the feature by running the bottom lane. Broderick, who started third, hung close to the No. 3B by using the top until the first caution flag of the event flew for a spin in turn three collecting Shayne Ely and Doug Bowman.
On the lap six restart, Bonnell’s car had a part fail in the steering and sent his No. 3B across the track and straight into the outside wall. With Bonnell out, it was now up to Broderick to hold off Howland, the most recent winner at Stateline.
“I wish I would have been able to race with (Bonnell),” admitted Broderick after the race. “He was running real strong on the bottom and it would have been a good battle.”
In what would turn out to be the final restart of the event, Broderick got a good launch off turn two, as did Howland, allowing the youthful duo to break away and sort it out between themselves.
“I could hear (Howland), but I felt like I had a good lead mid-race and started to relax,” said Broderick in Victory Lane, where in reality he was only about two car lengths ahead. “On about lap 20 I saw the 51 peak underneath me, but I figured I’d be best to stay up top since I had not seen how I was on the bottom. I also thought that if I was able to drive around him on that lap that it was were the momentum off the corner was.”
The former Rookie of the Year recipients hit lapped traffic with about five laps remaining, but with all of those cars on the bottom lane, they were clear to swing on by on the top. On one occasion, Howland get a drive off the middle of turn two and made slight contact with the left rear of the Northeast Carpet/ Pink Monkey Water No. 5, but they sorted it out.
In Victory Lane, Howland was quick to come over and congratulate Broderick on his win. The winner was quick to reciprocate the sentiments as he mentioned to Howland how fun it was to battle with him for 20 straight laps.
The win was important for Broderick on a number of fronts. He had come very close to his first career win at the 1/3-mile oval last June but when the cushion got too close to the wall, Jared Zimbardi was able to get underneath him. This year, the cushion, as well as the final result, was different.
“I couldn’t stay on the cushion too long around the corner,” admitted Broderick. “I had to just lean on it briefly. The car was handling great on it because any time I felt it was pushing too much, I could jump right off of it.”
It victory was also critical for the third year sprint car regular as he bounced back from an 11th place showing a night earlier at Ransomville.
“This definitely just lifts us back up and proves to us that we can come in to any track and put together a great run.”
Bryan Howland also could take away the satisfaction in his runner-up showing being a positive bounce-back race. After hurting the first motor of his seven-year career the prior night, the three-time champion stalked Broderick but just could not get an open lane to move around him.
Jared Zimbardi stayed white hot in his white and orange No. 35 as he captured his sixth-straight top-five in Patriot action. Zimbardi expected the bottom line to be stronger than it was, but it had gone away in the Late Model Feature that quizzically preceded the A-Main.
George Suprick completed a strong Patriot weekend with a fourth-place showing in his first start at Stateline since his win there in 2005. Suprick once again had to come from the Bonnell’s Collision Center Four Laps of Fame Dash but used that track time to help him collect hard charger honors.
Tim Kelly put together a sound top-five at the sight of his last two A-Main wins. Kelly had to once again rally from a poor redraw to get into the top-five.
Don Adamczyk stayed perfect in the top-10 department for 2010, finishing in sixth. Like Kelly, Adamczyk’s seemingly bad luck in redraws forced him to play catch up at one of his best tracks.
Rookie Kevin Ward Jr.’s first trip to Stateline resulted in his first Patriot Checkered Flag in the Bonnell’s Collision Center Four Laps of Fame Dash and a seventh place showing in the feature.
Brad Knab ran in the top-five for much of the race, slipping to eighth at the finish. Kyle Moffit and Vern Wasson would complete the top-five.
Dylan Swiernik, who won his first career National Parts Peddler Heat Race earlier in the night, broke a power steering line just before the start of the feature and would not get a chance to run his first A-Main at Stateline.
A major story on the night was Mother Nature, who intervened just before heat race action and then once again right before the dash, when only the front stretch and turn one were dumped on, not the backstretch. Multiple thunder showers skirted the speedway and allowed racing to continue.
For more information, visit www.ASCSpatriotsprints.com or www.ASCSracing.com.
ASCS Patriots Results: 6/19/10, Stateline Speedway, Busti (Jamestown), NY.
Insinger Race Fuels Paul Johnson Memorial A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. Bubba Broderick (5), 2. Bryan Howland (51), 3. Jared Zimbardi (35), 4. George Suprick (87), 5. Tim Kelly (12), 6. Don Adamczyk (21), 7. Kevin Ward Jr. (13), 8. Brad Knab (38), 9. Kyle Moffit (7), 10. Vern Wasson (5v), 11. Derek Jonathan (81), 12. Gary Troutman (44), 13. Scott Bonnell (3B), 14. Shayne Ely (90), 15. Doug Bowman (57), 16. Dylan Swiernik (7c).
Lap Leaders- Bonnell 1-5, Broderick 6-25.
Bonnell’s Collision Centers Four Laps of Fame Dash (4 Laps)- 1. Kevin Ward Jr. (13), 2. George Suprick (87), 3. Kyle Moffit (7), 4. Shayne Ely (90), 5. Derek Jonathan (81), 6. Doug Bowman (57).
National Parts Peddler Heats (8 Laps Each)-
Race 1: 1. Bubba Broderick (5), 2. Scott Bonnell (3B), 3. Brad Knab (38), 4. Jared Zimbardi (35) 5. George Suprick (87), 6. Kevin Ward (13), 7. Doug Bowman (57), 8. Derek Jonathan (81).
Race 2: 1. Dylan Swiernik (7c), 2. Don Adamczyk (21), 3. Tim Kelly (12), 4. Bryan Howland (51), 5. Shayne Ely (90), 6. Kyle Moffit (7), 7. Vern Wasson (5v), 8. Gary Troutman (44).
ASCS Patriot Points (Top Ten): 1. Jared Zimbardi 996, 2. Bryan Howland 946, 3. Bubba Broderick 925, 4. Don Adamczyk 916, 5. Tim Kelly 910, 6. Vern Wasson 708, 7. Scott Bonnell 552, 8. Gary Troutman 546, 9. Bobby Breen 533, 10. George Suprick 530.
Insinger Race Fuels King of Southern Tier Standings (Top-10)- 1. Bubba Broderick 215, 2. Bryan Howland 207, 3. Jared Zimbardi 200, 4. George Suprick 195, 5. Tim Kelly 190, 6. Don Adamczyk 187, 7. Kevin Ward Jr. 184, 8. Vern Wasson 175, 9. Gary Troutman 171, 10. Dylan Swiernik 163.
Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season Standings (Top-Five)- 1. Don Adamczyk 20, Tie-2. Tim Kelly and Jared Zimbardi 19, 4. Alain Bergeron 18, 5. Bryan Howland 15.