From ARDC
Steve Buckwalter picked up where he left off picking up his sixth win in ARDC competition at Central Pennsylvania Speedway of Friday July 2nd.
The last time Steve Buckwalter raced with the ARDC at Susquehanna Speedway he won the feature. Buckwalter then headed to Indiana to compete in the USAC Midget Speedweek where he added his name to a short but distinguished list of Pennsylvania racers to beat the USAC guys in any division, when he won at Gas City Speedway.
At the start of the feature, Trevor Kobylarz drove into the lead from his pole starting spot and was followed closely by Dave Shirk.
Third starting P.J. Gargiulo initially dropped back but started an impressive charge to the front and made a neat pass of Kobylarz as the two came off the fourth turn. Unfortunate for Gargiulo was that as he was making the pass the yellow flag was unfurled and he was returned to the runner-up spot for the restart.
Gargiulo quickly retook control on the restart as he dove under Kobylarz in the second turn and drove down the backstretch with the lead.
Following Gargiulo to the front was 13th starting Steve Buckwalter who grabbed second from Kobylarz on the next lap.
Gargiulo looked strong but on the seventh lap, drove too hard into the first turn, slid up the track and for a time was running in the grass. This gave Buckwalter a chance to take a lead.
For a time it looked as if Buckwalter would win easily but a lap 16 yellow put Drew Heistand on his nerf bar. Heistand who started ninth made a steady drive through the field and on the restart put a cool slider on Buckwalter going into the first turn. Heistand was completely in front of Buckwalter but Steve turned left, dove back under Drew and retook the lead. “Yeah, I’ll tell ya I wasn’t even ready for it, I knew he got that new Esslinger motor and they run so much more gear then these push rod engines, so they get real good starts so the second restart I picked up the pace a lot sooner.” Buckwalter, later stated.
A late race caution set up a green white checked situation but Buckwalter was able to hold on for his sixth win of the season.
After struggling in his heat race Buckwalter said, “I felt skeptical after the heat, we just couldn’t get a hold of the track but whatever he did to it, it really helped. They ran that top in and that gave us multiple grooves and we used that to our advantage.”
Finishing up, in a close runner up position, was Bridgeport, NJ winner Ryan Smith, who because of handicapping, started 15th and took advantage of the late race caution to get by Heistand. Finishing in fourth was Eric Heydenreich while Brett Arndt was fifth.
Heat races for the 26 Midgets went to, PJ Gargiulo, Dave Shirk and Ryan Smith.
NOTES: Parker Evans and Justin Grosz took a few races off as both recently graduated from high school. Both drivers are planning to compete through early August before heading off to college. Steve Buckwalter talking about his win at Gas City over the USAC Midgets said, “I was glad to do it for the Pennsylvania fans and the ARDC. We’re gaining a lot more respect out there. We went out there five years ago and they pretty much laughed at us but now they know we aren’t there to play we’re there to win.” Joe Butera who hails from Wampum in Western PA said the last time he raced at Central PA Speedway was in a 410 Sprint Car in an All Star race. His night ended early with engine woes. After having problems in warm-ups, Steve Drevicki jumped into teammate, Greg Fitzpatricks’ #28 for the rest of the evening. The nickname of Central Pennsylvania Speedway is the Big Bear and it has some ferocious claws, especially in the first turn. In warm-ups Trevor Kobylarz executed a series of flips. Later in the evening, PJ Gargiulo, Steve Lenig and Chris Zrinski also got clawed but not quite as bad as Kobylarz.
ARDC MIDGET RESULTS 7-2-2010 CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA SPEEDWAY
1) 0 Steve Buckwalter, 2) 34 Ryan Smith, 3) 12 Drew Heistand, 4) 11 Eric Heydenreich, 5) 46 Brett Arndt, 6) 16 Dave Shirk, 7) 77 Alex Bright, 8) 2T Tracy Readinger, 9) 44 Frank Polimeda, 10) 61 Parker Evans, 11) 25 Chris Zrinski, 12) 28 Steve Drevicki, 13) 20 Carey Becker, 14) 6 Dusty Heistand, 15) 55 Steve Craig, 16) 9 Steve Lenig, 17) 31 Joe Butera, 18) 01 Steve Bull, 19) 17 Donnie Hoffman, 20) 49 Trevor Kobylarz, 21) 39 Justin Grosz, 22) 51 PJ Gargiulo, 23) 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr. 24) 57 Jason Rice, 25) 26 Stephanie Stevens.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Williams Grove Speedway
Saturday, July 10, 2010
May 8th Makeup
Friday, July 16, 2010
Accord Speedway
Friday, July 30, 2010
Clinton County Speedway
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Mercer Raceway