ARDC ROOKIE TIM BUCKWALTER PICKS UP HIS SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON

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