By Rich Vleck
DUNDEE, NY, (August 9, 2013)- Robbie Stillwaggon struggled to move forward in his loaded heat race, putting him in the 16th starting position. Being that deep in the pack, he decided to throw a radical setup in his No. 89 and his gamble paid off in a big way.
Stillwaggon, of Burlington, NJ, came together with leader Steve Collins with two laps remaining, spinning Collins’ No. 67 and then held on to claim the $4,000 top prize in the A-Verdi Sprint Nationals, presented by M&W Aluminum Products and S.P. Wilson Lakes Gas at Black Rock Speedway. It was a wild win on a different night.
“This one is for Kramer,” declared Stillwaggon in Victory Lane referring to his beloved fellow competitor Kramer Williamson, who was taken from the racing world this past week. “I’m sure he would have loved to have seen this one.”
“I feel bad for (Collins),” he added. “I had no intentions of doing that.”
Stillwaggon started from 16th on the feature grid of the URC/PST Challenge race, but was moving up the leader board before a lap was ever in the books. The first lap took four attempts to be completed, allowing Stillwaggon to move up to 12th.
“The beginning helped us out. A lot of chaos going on there for a while,” added the defending URC Champion. Once a lap was in then he really got to work. “Starting that far back we knew we had to do something different and it worked great.”
The No. 89 was up to sixth place by lap four but cracking in to the top five was a taller task. Steve Collins started on pole a paced the field for most of the race, keeping PST America Point Leader Scott Kreutter a safe distance behind him and appeared to be in position to score his first career feature win on a grand stage.
On lap 17, about the same time that Robbie Stillwaggon was moving in to third place, Collins began to reel in the back of the field during a long green flag run but struggled to move by them. The track had become very equal and the top groove that Collins had lived in up until that point, began to give up bite.
As the leader’s car went away, Stillwaggon’s only got stronger as his tight setup for the bottom groove improved deeper in to the event. He passed Kreutter for second on lap 23 and then wasted no time going for the lead.
As Collins slipped up entering turn one on lap 24, Stillwaggon drove to the inside and pulled even with the leader coming off of turn two. The hard-charger drove up the track and made contact with Collins, sending the No. 67 for a spin.
“I swear I thought I had (Collins) cleared,” reaffirmed Stillwaggon. “That last thing I wanted to do was wreck him.”
Stillwaggon was flawless in the final two laps as he would score his fourth URC win of the season, which was also his first win in an even with PST sanctioning.
Coming home in second for the third straight PST America event was defending series champion Scott Kreutter. Kreutter was poised to make a late run at Collins, as he began to see the bottom getting quicker, but Stillwaggon pounced before he had a chance. Still, Kreutter’s fourth straight top 2 finish helped to pad his slim point lead.
Bryan Howland was stagnant early in the feature but when Stillwaggon darted by on the bottom, the four-time PST Champion figured out that’s where he needed to venture as he used that information to drive up to finish in third.
Current URC Point Leader J.J. Grasso, like Howland and Kreutter, won his heat race early in the night and then held his ground in the feature, making a late charge to finish in fourth.
Jared Zimbardi moved by heat winner Justin Barger late in the event to crack in to the top five. URC regulars Josh Weller, Davie Franek and Billy Pauch were next in line, with Geoff Quackenbush charging forward to round out the top 10.
A total of 34 sprints were in attendance on what turned out to be a beautiful night in Dundee after heavy rains blanketed the Finger Lakes region through the midday hours. The red flag would wave just once on the night when Dylan Swiernik spun on the first lap of the feature and collected Blake Breen, who tipped over gently. Both would continue and managed to drive back up to respectable 12th and 13th place finishes.
Brad Knab won the Original Pizza Logs Four Laps of Fame Dash while Bruce DeWick won the B-Main, each doing so in convincing fashion.
For more information visit www.PatriotSprintTour.com.
Patriot Sprint Tour America Series Results: 8/9/13, Black Rock Speedway, DUNDEE, NY.
A-Verdi A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. Robbie Stillwaggon (89), 2. Scott Kreutter (52), 3. Bryan Howland (51), 4. J.J. Grasso (25J), 5. Jared Zimbardi (35), 6. Justin Barger (5), 7. Josh Weller (29), 8. Davie Franek (28F), 9. Billy Pauch Jr. (36), 10. Geoff Quackenbush (25), 11. Tommy Wickham (75), 12. Dylan Swiernik (7c), 13. Blake Breen (8), 14. Brad Knab (38), 15. Kevin Ward Jr. (13), 16. Don Adamczyk (21), 17. Steve Collins (67), 18. Brian Carber (8c), 19. Scott Just (54JX), 20. Troy Betts (22), 21. Bruce DeWick (22D), 22. Scott Lutz (33), 23. Steven Hutchinson (2), 24. Randy West (56), 25. Clint Ide (3), 26. Kevin Prutzman (28).
Lap Leaders- Collins 1-23, Stillwaggon 24-25.
Provisional Starters- Scott Just (PST), Scott Lutz (URC).
B-Mains (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer to A-Main)-
1. Bruce DeWick (22D), 2. Kevin Prutzman (28), 3. Don Adamczyk (21), 4. Troy Betts (22), 5. Dan Mazy (X), 6. Dave Just (54J), 7. J.R. Berry (74), 8. Scott Lutz (33), 9. Scott Just (54JX), 10. Tyler Graves (25G), 11. Dave Wickham (80), 12. Jonathan Swanson (17J), 13. Vinnie Vitale (X1), 14. Jason Barney (87).
Original Pizza Logs Four Laps of Fame Dash (4 Laps)- 1. Brad Knab (38), 2. Davie Franek (28F), 3. Billy Pauch Jr. (36), 4. Blake Breen (8), 5. Tommy Wickham (75), 6. Geoff Quackenbush (25).
Heats (10 Laps Each, Top 5 From Each Event Transfer to A-Main)-
Race 1: Grasso, Knab, Breen, Ward, Quackenbush, Mazy, D. Just, S. Just, D. Wickham.
Race 2: Kreutter, Swiernik, Zimbardi, Ide, Carber, Adamczyk, Swanson, Lutz, Graves.
Race 3: Howland, Pauch Jr., Collins, Hutchinson, West, Prutzman, Berry, Vitale.
Race 4: Barger, Franek, Stillwaggon, T. Wickham, Weller, DeWick, Betts, Barney.
Patriot Sprint Tour America Point Standings (Top 10)- Kreutter 1037, Zimbardi 1021, Barger 966, T. Wickham 962, Knab 878, Quackenbush 869, Ide 782, Howland 759, Collins 758, S. Just 712.
Original Pizza Logs Four Laps of Fame Dash Series Standings (Top 5)- Suprick and Ide 15, Poirier and Knab 14, Collins 13.
Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season Standings (Top 5)- T. Wickham 38, Barney 33, Howland 30, Kreutter 25, Zimbardi Collard and Stillwaggon 20.