By Steve Williams
Rookies are not supposed to be faster than veteran drivers but don’t tell that to ARDC Midget rookie Tim Buckwalter because he picked up his second win of the season at Grandview Speedway, Saturday night as part of the season ending Thunder on the Hill 5- 25 lap features.
The invitational event that saw the top 25 in ARDC points receiving a personal invitation from Event Organizer Bob Miller was lined up by inverting the top 15. That put T. Buckwalter deep in the field, starting ninth.
PJ Gargiulo roared into the lead, at the start of the feature from the pole position. Gargiulo, who had some major repairs after flipping his racer not once but twice in ARDC’s last outing at Big Diamond had his Sperr’s Fuel Oil #51 bent just right as he was able to open up some distance between himself and the rest of the field.
Following Gargiulo was another veteran, Steve Lenig, followed by a couple of rookies, Alex Bright and Tim Buckwalter.
As the veterans started to pull away the rookies were in a real dogfight for third racing side by side for several laps. T. Buckwalter was able to get by Bright coming out of the second turn and going down the backstretch.
The two youngsters raced nose to tail and tracked down second running Steve Lenig and by the time the first yellow was unfurled, on lap seven, when Nick Wean spun coming off of turn two, both had gotten by Lenig.
A race within a race was also developing behind the rapid front runners as Steve Buckwalter, Ryan Smith and Drew Heistand, all embroiled in a tight points battle, were working their way to the front.
S. Buckwalter who had the points lead going into the evenings activities was using the high side to make some exciting three wide passes with Heistand on his tail. Smith who trailed S. Buckwalter by just 26 points was a few spots behind, dealing with some heavy traffic from his 15th starting spot.
Back up front, T. Buckwalter and Gargiulo raced side by side for several laps before Buckwalter was able to wrestle the lead away and was pulling away when the yellow came out again on the 17th lap.
The caution put S. Buckwalter on the tail of PJ Gargiulo and on the restart, T. Buckwalter enjoyed watching them race, in his rearview mirror, as he again pulled to a comfortable lead.
On the 23rd lap S. Buckwalter drove his #0 in front of Gargiulo for second only to be put back to third when the yellow, again came out right after the pass.
On the restart, S. Buckwalter was able to again get by Gargiulo but was not able to track down his cousin Tim in the final two laps and trailed him across the stripe by .39 seconds.
Finishing third was Gargiulo, followed by Alex Bright and Drew Heistand. Rounding out the top ten were Billy Pauch Jr. who started at the back of the pack in 20th, Brett Arndt, Dusty Heistand, Steve Lenig and Ryan Smith.
NOTES: In remembrance of former ARDC President and competitor, Lew Blair, the pole position was left open in the missing man formation. The competitors sported a decal remembering their friend, Lew. With just one points race remaining Steve Buckwalter extended his points lead over Ryan Smith to 66 and Drew Heistand by 84. Stephanie Stevens was behind the wheel of Ryan Watts, #75 and Frank Polimeda was in Scott Zipp’s #99. Steve Bull said that after his first lap flip at Big Diamond his car was like a bride. It was something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Bull added that he hoped he would not stand his new bride on its nose like he did at Diamond and thanked his sponsor, Manchester Auto Sales for getting him back on the track. After a run from the back to finish 6th, Billy Pauch Jr. jumped into his 358 Modified where he finished 2nd. Ryan Smith picked up his 22nd and 23rd win of the season last weekend in Micro Sprint action. Steve Craig back in action after an absence, was black flagged with a heavily smoking engine. Seen pitside re-running some of their greatest races were former ARDC drivers, Hank Rogers Jr. and Ron Lauer. The drivers of ARDC all wish a speedy recovery to AARN writer Jerry Reigle and look forward to seeing him at Susquehanna Speedway Park for the Candy Bowl.
GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY October 16, 2010 ARDC MIDGETS 25 Laps (21 Entries)
1) 52 Tim Buckwalter, 2) 0 Steve Buckwalter, 3) 51 PJ Gargiulo, 4) 77 Alex Bright, 5) 12 Drew Heistand, 6) 54 Billy Pauch Jr., 7) 46 Brett Arndt, 8) 6 Dusty Heistand, 9) 9 Steve Lenig, 10) 34 Ryan Smith, 11) 91 Donnie Trent, 12) 78 Nick Wean, 13) 01 Steve Bull, 14) 75 Stephanie Stevens, 15) 84 Jimmy Cammock, 16) 49 Trevor Kobylarz, 17) 11 Eric Heydenreich, 18) 17 Donnie Trent, 19) 99 Frank Polimeda, 20) 55 Steve Craig DNS 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Susquehanna Speedway Park
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Susquehanna Speedway Park (Rain Date)
PAST RESULTS
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Big Diamond Raceway
RAIN
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Susquehanna Speedway Park
Billy Pauch Jr
Candy Bowl Makeup
Steve Buckwalter
Friday, April 30, 2010
Williams Grove Speedway
Steve Buckwalter
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Big Diamond Raceway
RAIN
March 28th Makeup
RAIN
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Williams Grove Speedway
RAIN
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Grandview Speedway
Billy Pauch Jr
Friday, May 28, 2010
Penn Can Speedway
Steve Buckwalter
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Grandview Speedway TOTH w/ USAC
Steve Buckwalter
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Lincoln Speedway w/USAC
Eric Heydenreich
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Susquehanna Speedway
Steve Buckwalter
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Bridgeport Speedway (1/4 mile)
Ryan Smith
Friday, July 02, 2010
Central Pennsylvania Speedway
Steve Buckwalter
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Georgetown Speedway
POSTPONED
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Williams Grove Speedway
Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
May 8th Makeup
Ryan Smith
Friday, July 16, 2010
Accord Speedway
RAIN
Friday, July 30, 2010
Clinton County Speedway
Completion TBA
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Mercer Raceway
Steve Buckwalter
Friday, August 06, 2010
Dixieland Speedway
Steve Buckwalter
Friday August 13, 2010
Accord Speedway
Tim Buckwalter
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
New Egypt Speedway
Steve Buckwalter
Friday, September 3, 2010
Clinton County Raceway
Postponed
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Bridgeport Speedway (1/4 mile)
Ryan Smith
Saturday September 25, 2010
New Egypt Speedway
Drew Heistand
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Big Diamond Raceway (3-28 Makeup)
Steve Buckwalter
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Big Diamond Raceway
Ryan Smith
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Grandview TOTH
Tim Buckwalter
OFFICIAL POINT STANDINGS
Pos.
Car No.
Drivers Name
Points
1
0
Steve
Buckwalter
2180
2
34
Ryan
Smith
2152
3
12
Drew
Heistand
2093
4
11
Eric
Heydenreich
1718
5
46
Brett
Arndt
1628
6
77
Alex
Bright
1625
7
52
Tim
Buckwalter
1527
8
83
Bruce
Buckwalter
1506
9
51
PJ
Gargiulo
1471
10
44
Frank
Polimeda
1462
11
78
Nick
Wean
1404
12
6
Dusty
Heistand
1399
13
9
Steve
Lenig
1368
14
19
Steve
Drevicki
1280
15
49
Trevor
Koblarz
1251
16
75
Ryan
Watt
1110
17
16
Dave
Shirk
1089
18
91
Donnie
Trent
1030
19
25
Chris
Zrinski
966
20
2
Tracy
Reading
934
21
17
Donnie
Hoffman
800
22
26
Stephanie
Stevens
793
23
84
Jimmy
Cammock
790
24
55
Steve
Craig
737
25
1
Steven
Bull
734
26
54
Billy
Pauch
729
27
20
Carey
Becker
715
28
57
Jason
Rice
513
29
89
Andrew
Hannula
499
30
39
Justin
Grosz
417
31
99
Scott
Zipp
338
32
…