Dundee, NY — (August 10, 2012) — Five years ago, Tony Stewart came to the Black Rock Speedway and realized he could race his sprint car there. A year later, he made a rare appearance in his sprint car. Four years later, he has turned into one of the most seasoned sprint car drivers in the pits each time he slings the dirt.
Stewart, of Columbus, IN, moved by Randy West on lap eight of the 25-lap A-Verdi Sprint Championship to score the $4,000-to-prize in an event co-sanctioned by the Patriot Sprint Tour and Untied Racing Company.
“It was fun. The track was real wide and racy. The extra time the spent on the track was really worth it,” noted Stewart in Victory Lane. I’m just glad we got one. The second-to-last time we were here I was sitting upside-down in turn two after leading the heat race.”
Things worked out perfectly on the night for “Smoke”. After drawing the outside pole for his heat race, he dominated hot laps, as his Office Depot/ Mobil 1 No. 14 was a quarter-second quicker than any of the other 45 cars in competition on the night. He then dominated his 10-lap heat race and just after taking checkered flag broke the front axle. While his crew swapped it out, he drew the pole position for the feature and it appeared he would have a clear path to the win, but that was not quite the case.
On the drop of Scott Hixson’s initial green flag, it would be outside polesitter Randy West shocking the packed house, as he stole the lead from Stewart. Tony would settle into second place and ran in that position until a lap three caution for a Chuck Hebing spin.
“We didn’t get our car going forward as we needed to tonight,” noted the defending Sprint Cup Championship afterwards. “After we got a lap in the car came to life but we have to work on the starts a little bit.”
West would hold command after the restart, but Stewart would begin to stalk him for the lead, eventually claiming the lead on lap eight.
“I raced with (West) last week at Williams Grove so I at least knew someone I was racing with up there so I was really comfortable racing with him.”
Soon thereafter, the leaders would hit the tail of the field and it would have appeared that leading might not be the best position to be in, but Stewart jumped at the opportunity.
“I kind of looked forward to it,” “I thought our car was pretty maneuverable in traffic. We got a really good run on (West) and got by but I didn’t know if he found something. I got hemmed up a few times but I kind of liked (the lapped traffic) though.”
As the laps wined down, Stewart had a half-track lead over second but just four laps shy of the finish, May BRS winner Bobby Breen was charging through the pack and was battling with West for the runner-up spot when he tagged the backstretch wall in his No. 9. With lapped cars removed with under five laps remaining, West would have one more crack at Stewart, but his focus over that final minute would be on holding off Jason Barney.
As Stewart drove away, Barney planted his No. 87 on the bottom of the track and pulled up along side West’s Team 56 entry, but decided to race him cleanly. As West crossed in second, Barney was content to finish third at a track he did not care much for up until Friday Night.
Davie Franek put on his best performance at BRS as well, drive forward in both the heat and the feature to earn a fourth-place showing. Justin Barger was breathing down the No. 28F down the stretch, but would settle for fifth, making it his sixth straight top five finish at BRS.
Tommy Wickham put together a quality performance, finishing in sixth for his best career run in Yates County. Dylan Swiernik was impressive, driving from 24th to seventh. Ed Aikin was eighth while Scott Kreutter was ninth. Don Adamczyk won his heat, and then scored the Original Pizza Logs Super Dash win for the third time at BRS this season and parlayed that into a top-10 finish.
A total of 46 sprint cars were in the pits on the night. Drivers from six states and two Canadian Provinces were represented in the star-studded field, with many rolling in to pits late after laying back to see if Mother Nature would show her hand. A slow-moving band moved within a mile of the speedway around 9:00 P.M. but would hold off until after 11:00 P.M., well after Stewart had claimed the checkered flag.
A host of top point drivers from URC and PST struggled on the night. URC Point Leader Robbie Stillwaggon flipped while going for the final transfer spot in the B-Main and did not qualify. Josh Weller, who entered the night third in URC points, had to come from the B-Main. PST Point Leader Bryan Howland was leading his heat race when his power steering line broke and forced him to use a provisional. Tim Kelly, who was second in PST points, flipped on the opening lap of his heat race and then again in the B-Main and did not qualify. Defending PST Champion Jared Zimbardi, who was also the winner of this event last year, had engine trouble and also did not qualify.
For more information, visit www.PatriotSprintTour.com.
Patriot Sprint Tour Results: 8/10/12, Black Rock Speedway, Dundee, NY.
A-Verdi A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. Tony Stewart (14), 2. Randy West (56), 3. Jason Barney (87), 4. Davie Franek (28F), 5. Justin Barger (5), 6. Tommy Wickham (75), 7. Dylan Swiernik (7c), 8. Ed Aikin (7), 9. Scott Kreutter (49x), 10. Don Adamczyk (21), 11. George Suprick (87), 12. Bryan Howland (51), 13. Josh Weller (63), 14. Kevin Darling (9D), 15. Art Liedl (2L), 16. Tracy Potter (11), 17. Chad Trout (7cx), 18. Ryan Linder (87x), 19. Dan Mazy (X), 20. Patrick Vigneault (55), 21. Bobby Breen (9), 22. Chuck Hebing (45), 23. Jonathan Swanson (17J), 24. Kramer Williamson (73), 25. Glenn Styres (0).
Lap Leaders- West 1-7, Stewart 8-25.
B-Mains (12 Laps, Top 2 From Each Transfer to A-Main)-
Race 1: 1. Josh Weller (63), 2. Dylan Swiernik (7c), 3. J.J. Yeley (77x), 4. Scott Lutz (47), 5. Eric Wiggins (47R), 6. Tim Hogue (39), 7. Brandan Warner (10B), 8. Erica Bell (31B), 9. David Swanson (117), 10. Robbie Stillwaggon (89), 11. Tim Kelly (12), 12. Jeff Cook (10c), 13. Jimmy Stitzel (12x).
Race 2: 1. Glenn Styres (0), 2. Patrick Vigneault (55), 3. Charlie Donk (99), 4. Mitch Brown (10), 5. Bryan Howland (51), 6. Andy Best (88B), 7. Jared Fink (21F), 8. Jamie Collard (7x), 9. Joey Biasi (B1), 10. Steve Hutchinson Jr. (2), 11. Jared Zimbardi (35), 12. Steve Collins (67), 13. Clint Ide (3).
Original Pizza Logs Super Dash (5 Laps)- 1. Don Adamczyk (21), 2. Bobby Breen (9), 3. Art Liedl (2L), 4. Kramer Williamson (73), 5. Scott Kreutter (49x), 6. Kevin Darling (9D).
National Parts Peddler Heats (10 Laps, Top 4 From Each Transfer to A-Main)-
Race 1: 1. Tony Stewart (14), 2. Justin Barger (5), 3. Chad Trout (7cx), 4. Ryan Linder (87x), 5. Josh Weller (63), 6. J.J. Yeley (77x), 7. Mitch Brown (10), 8. Eric Riggins (47R), 9. David Swanson (117), 10. Brandan Warner (10B).
Race 2: 1. Chuck Hebing (45), 2. Kevin Darling (9D), 3. George Suprick (87), 4. Scott Kreutter (49x), 5. Jared Zimbardi (35), 6. Glenn Styres (0), 7. Dylan Swiernik (7c), 8. Jamie Collard (7x).
Race 3: 1. Randy West (56), 2. Art Liedl (2L), 3. Davie Franek (28F), 4. Dan Mazy (X), 5. Charlie Donk (99), 6. Scott Lutz (47), 7. Jeff Cook (10c), 8. Jimmy Stitzel (12x), 9. Steve Hutchinson Jr. (2).
Race 4: 1. Jason Barney (87*), 2. Bobby Breen (9), 3. Ed Aikin (7), 4. Tracy Potter (11), 5. Tim Hogue (39), 6. Patrick Vigneault (55), 7. Steve Collins (67), 8. Clint Ide (3), 9. Bryan Howland (51), 10. Tim Kelly (12).
Race 5: 1. Don Adamczyk (21), 2. Tommy Wickham (75), 3. Kramer Williamson (73), 4. Jonathan Swanson (17J), 5. Robbie Stillwaggon (89), 6. Jared Fink (21F), 7. Joey Biasi (B1), 8. Erica Bell (31B), 9. Andy Best (88B).
Patriot Sprint Tour America Standings (Top 10)- Bryan Howland 1212, Scott Kreutter 1176, Tim Kelly 1174, Tommy Wickham 1160, George Suprick 1114, Jared Zimbardi 1094, Steve Collins 1045, Brandan Warner 973, Chuck Hebing 938.
Original Pizza Logs Four Laps of Fame Dash Series Standings (Top Five)- Don Adamczyk 36, Tommy Wickham and Scott Kreutter 15, Tim Kelly 14, George Suprick 11.
Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season (Top Five)- Bryan Howland 57, Chuck Hebing 27, Tim Kelly 24, Charlie Donk 23, Scott Kreutter 21.