From ARDC
Path Valley, PA — (April 18, 2015) — When Saturday morning came, Ryan Greth thought he would be watching the second night of the 2015 American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) schedule from the sidelines. During Friday night’s competition, Greth broke a throttle shaft, sidelining him from the season opener.
After hours of work, the repair made, there were subsequent problems and nothing seemed to be working. Greth loaded the car and headed to Path Valley, uncertain what the night would hold or if he would even be able to race.
But race he did.
First, Greth drove his Hyper Midget to a heat win in the first qualifier and then his team mate, Jim Radney repeated this feat in the second heat race.
Greth and Radney lined up side by side to lead the starting field to the green flag.
Greth quickly took command at the wave of the green as Radney got high and several cars got by. Tony DiMattia raced in second with Shawn Jackson taking over third. Trevor Kobylarz and Danny Stratton raced three wide with Eric Heydenreich for the fourth spot as the field raced down the backstretch .
Greth pulled away from the field. DiMattia put some distance on third as Kobylarz and Stratton battled side by side for third. Stratton raced the outside and took over the spot on the backstretch but Kobylarz came right back with a cross over move to regain the position. Greth led DiMattia, Kobylarz, Straaton and Jackson with five laps on the books.
While Greth continued to pull away, Kobylarz and Stratton raced for position and began to close the gap on DiMattia. Jackson drew a caution on lap nine when he slowed on the track and the field realigned single file for the restart.
It was all Greth out in front as Stratton took the outside and Kobylarz the inside as they challenged DiMattia for second. With ten laps scored, Greth led Kobylarz, Stratton, DiMattia and 2014 ARDC Champion, Steven Drevicki.
The leaders were evenly spaced as they took the crossed flag.
Stratton jumped the cushion between turns one and two, allowing Drevicki to move up to third before Stratton was able to recover. Meanwhile, Kobylarz was giving it his all as he chased after Greth – even tagging the backstretch wall as he tried to close the gap.
The race to the checkered had Greth out in front with Kobylarz in second. Stratton chased Drevicki and used a crossover moved to regain third with just two laps to go.
At the end of twenty-five laps, it was Greth out in front for the win followed by Kobylarz, Stratton, Drevicki and DiMattia.
After many wins in micro sprint competition, it was Greth’s first ARDC Midget win and the first midget win for Mike Dicely’s Hyper chassis. It was also the first ARDC midget win for car owner and current ARDC president, Wayne Lesher. The win made all of the hard work very worthwhile!
“It’s been a long time coming,” Greth said of his first win. “We really needed it.” “ARDC here at Path Valley is going to be awesome,” Greth added as the wingless midgets return to Path Valley for two more events, including a co-sanctioned race with USAC in mid-August.
FEATURE FINISH (25 LAPS)
1. Ryan Greth 2. Trevor Kobylarz 3. Danny Stratton 4. Steven Drevicki 5. Tony DiMattia 6. Austin Burke 7. Brett Arndt 8. Eric Heydenreich 9. Jim Radney 10. Shawn Jackson 11. PJ Gargiulo
DNS – Brett Wanner