By Paul T. Harkenrider
(Ransomville, NY) Consistently finishing on the podium typically leads to wins, and that is the case for Belfast, NY driver Steve Collins who has had two runners-up finishes at Woodhull, and Raceway 7 to start the season prior to his win at Ransomville last night (June 2, 2017).
Collins started third behind Kelly Hebing and Derek Jonathan bringing the 21-car field to green, and it was Kelly Hebing taking the top spot in the opening laps as Derek Jonathan, and Collins would follow closely behind. Kyle Drum, and Jordan Givler would also be running in the top five at that point of the race.
Contact between the X of Dan Bennett and the 80 of Chris Steele would bring out the first yellow on lap four. On the next restart, Hebing would perform another great start and take almost a second advantage over Jonathan and Collins as laps would tick by.
Once Collins was able to get by Jonathan on lap seven, he began to quickly reel in the ‘Lil Cobra’ and caught her on lap ten. It was lap 11 where he was able to pull even terms with her heading into turn one and had the lead coming out two before the yellow flew because of Jordan Thomas stopping on the back stretch because of no power steering.
Hebing was able to re-compose herself and take the lead again but on lap 14, Joe Trenca and Pete Richardson made contact in turns three and four causing Trenca to hit the wall and land on his side. Derek Jonathan was also involved which would bring out the lone red flag of the event, his night would also be complete.
After about a ten-minute red flag, Collins wasted no time taking getting by Hebing and took the lead officially on lap 15. Kyle Drum inherited third due to the Derek Jonathan break down and would begin to contest the runner up position against Hebing.
For a majority of the race, Jared Zimbardi, who started tenth would battle for a top five position with Pennsylvania driver, Jordan Givler, who was making his first start at Ransomville. Zimbardi would finally get by Givler for fourth and then Hebing for third on lap 21.
Collins would cruise the last ten laps and pick up his second career PST win over Kyle Drum, Jared Zimbardi, Kelly Hebing, and Jordan Givler would complete the top five.
Heats were won by Dave Just, Kyle Drum and Derek Jonathan. The Evingham Site Excavation Dash was won Jonathan Preston. The Prestige Pool & Spa Final finisher award handed to Dan Bennett. Denny Peebles slow start in his qualifying was salvaged by a top ten finish which earned him the Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the Night’ award. Shuttleworth’s Asphalt Sealing 11th place finish award was given to Steven Hutchinson Jr.
The Series heads to Fulton Speedway tonight, June 3 for its lone appearance of the season. Gates will be opening up 5 with racing set to start at 6:30. Be sure to follow @PatriotSprints on Instagram and Twitter. You can like ‘Patriot Sprint Tour’ on facebook as well as www.patriotsprinttour.com for up to date information.
The 2017 Patriot Sprint Tour season is brought to you by; A-Verdi Storage Containers, Hoosier Racing Tires, Prestige Pool & Spa, Einstein Construction Group, Bonnell’s Auto Group, Evingham Site Excavation Mike Emhof Motorsports Inc, Super Gen Products with Champion Power Equipment, Patriot Tank Lines, Danny Willmes Enterprises, Casey’s Truck Salvage, Just Signs & Designs, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Sunoco Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, Shuttleworth Asphalt Sealing, ASI Racewear, Curtis Berleue Photography, Fine Touch Collison.
A-Verdi A- Main Results
1)67- Steve Collins (1) 2) 47- Kyle Drum 3) 35- Jared Zimbardi 4) 10LC- Kelly Hebing 5) 90- Jordan Givler 6) 22- Jonathan Preston 7) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 8) 54J- David Just 9) 17z- Josh Azzi 10) 3- Denny Peebles 11) 2- Steven Hutchinson Jr 12) 1J Derrickk Juliano 13) X- Dan Bennett 14) 49- Todd Hoddick 15) 98- Joe Trenca 16) 67r- Pete Richardson 17) 81- Derek Jonathan 18) 00- Dane Lorenc 19) 79- Jordan Thomas 20) 25G- Tyler Graves 21) 80 Chris Steele
Lap Leaders: Hebing 1-14, Collins 15-25
Heat 1
1)81- Derek Jonathan 2) 17z- Josh Azzi 3) 10LC- Kelly Hebing 4) 22- Jonathan Preston 5) 98- Joe Trenca 6) 2- Steven Hutchinson Jr 7) 1J- Derrick Juliano
Heat 2
1)47-Kyle Drum 2) 67r- Pete Richardson 3) 67- Steve Collins 4) 00- Dane Lorenc 5) 79- Jordan Thomas 6) X- Dan Bennett 7) 80- Chris Steele
Heat 3
1)54j- Dave Just 2) 90- Jordan Givler 3) 35- Jared Zimbardi 4) 49- Todd Hoddick 5) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 6) 3- Denny Peebles 7) 25G- Tyler Graves
Evingham Site Excavation Dash: 1) 22- Jonathan Preston 2) 35- Jared Zimbardi 3) 79- Jordan Thomas 4) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 5) 00- Dane Lorenc 6) 49- Todd Hoddick
Prestige Pool & Spa Final Finisher: X-Dan Bennett
Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the Night:’ Denny Peebles
Shuttleworth’s Asphalt Sealing 11th Place Finish: 2- Steven Hutchinson Jr
PST Point Standings
1)35- Jared Zimbardi (726) 2) 67- Steve Collins (669) 3) 98- Joe Trenca (638) 4) 47- Kyle Drum (637) 5) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles (595) 6) 79- Jordan Thomas (568) 7) 54J- David Just (564) 8) 2- Steven Hutchinson Jr (547) 9) 81- Derek Jonathan (545) 10) 17z- Josh Azzi (524) 11) 67r- Pete Richardson (510) 12) X- Dan Bennett (440)