Buckwalter Deploys ARDC "Rocket" at Susky
By Mark Kielblock

Newberrytown, Pa. - Steve Buckwalter earned the nickname "The Royersford Rocket" enroute to claiming 13 career feature wins in ARDC competition prior to Saturday nights racing program at Susquehanna Speedway Park. Well, Buckwalter looked like he was driving a rocket in his Buckwalter Roofing no. 0 machine as he chalked up career win number 14 at Susky by over a straightaway over his nearest competitor in the 20-lap ARDC main.

Want more bad news for his ARDC competitors? Look no further than Buckwalter's statement in victory lane when asked about how he was able to pull off such a dominant win. "The motor in this car is probably down 30 horsepower to some of the others here," Buckwalter said. "We've just managed to get it really hooked up, and we just needed the kind of track we had tonight to take advantage of it." Heavy watering and a humid, overcast evening led to an extremely tacky surface that evidently suited Buckwalter's setup perfectly.

Scott Zipp and Bobby Goerner driving Fred Schell's no. 75 led the 26 car field to the green flag. Zipp was able to pull out to an early lead over Steve Lenig of Selinsgrove who jumped into the second spot. Buckwalter started in the tenth spot and was already on the move, cracking the top five by lap four. His amazing charge continued and he was up to second, sweeping by Steve Lenig on the inside on the following lap. He then attacked Zipp for the lead and was around him when the caution came out for Billy Pauch, Jr. who came to a stop on the frontstretch.

The restart order put Zipp back up front with Buckwalter second. It was a mere formality as Buckwalter charged around Zipp in turn 2 and into the lead. He immediately began to pull away from the field. The next big mover was Drew Heistand who was on his way up from 12th starting spot and swept into third spot on lap 6.

Buckwalter may have pulled a huge lead, but the battle throughout the top five going on behind him was fast and furious -- with the tacky Susky surface providing some great racing. First Drew Heistand got second from Zipp on lap 7. Then Frank Polimeda wrestled 2nd from Heistand on lap 10. Then Nick Wean, who started 11th, charged into third on lap 11. Then on lap 16 Polimeda and Wean put on the move of the night, splitting around a lapped car coming off of turn four. Wean eventually swept around Polimeda on the outside groove of turn one to complete the pass for second. "It was kind of unusual for this place to be able to go up there," Wean said with a grin in victory lane. "But the way the track was tonight I was able to get it done."

While disappointed over losing the spot to Wean, Polimeda was still impressed with the track surface. "I just want to thank everyone here for giving us a great track to race on." He said from victory lane.

Tracy Readinger just missed out on the top three celebration, but he had a phenomenal run as well charging from 15th spot to finish fourth, while Steve Lenig had a strong run to complete the top five.

Pit Notes: Two time and defending ARDC Champion Andy Martin was a scratch from the consi when what was thought to be just a broken spark plug turned out to be a more serious engine problem. Steve Craig saw a strong heat race run nullified when a broken mag rotor knocked him from the race lead. Mark Lawshe apparenty lost an engine on his TCR chassis no. 95 when he left the speedway trailing heavy smoke.

28 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition with heat race wins going to Steve Lenig, Steve Buckwalter and AJ Ernesto. The consolation went to Stephanie Stevens.

20 Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 0-Steve Buckwalter 2) 77-Nick Wean 3) 44-Frank Polimeda 4) 2-Tracy Readinger 5) 9-Steve Lenig 6) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 7) 46-Brett Arndt 8) 11-Eric Heydenreich 9) 54-Ryan Smith 10) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 11)14 AJ Ernesto 12) 29-Zack Martini 13) 26-Stephanie Stevens 14) 20-Carey Becker 15) 51-PJ Gargiulo 16) 16-Dave Shirk 17) 55-Steve Craig 18) 34-Shane Penny 19) 25-Chris Zrinski 20) 75-Bobby Goerner 21) 64-Brett Conkling 22) 33-Lew Blair 23) 17-Donnie Hoffman 24) 12 Drew Heistand 25) 99-Scott Zipp 26) 49-Billy Pauch

Randy Monroe Jr. "Railroads" ARDC Competition at Susky
By Mark Kielblock

Newberrytown, Pa. - H&B Railroad has long been a sponsor of ARDC driver Randy Monroe Jr. That seemed appropriate in the ARDC opener Saturday night at Susquehanna Speedway Park as Monroe ran through the field like a runaway freight train to take the victory in the 20-lap main event. Brett Arndt of Topton, Pa. and Bobby Goerner of Myersville brought the 25 car field to the green flag. By lap 4 Monroe charged out of his fourth starting spot and was in the lead. Other big movers through the field were Andy Martin from 7th to 4th in five laps and PJ Gargiulo who made the most progress jumping from 10th to 5th by lap four.

Once Monroe got into the lead, he began to stretch it out over second place runner Brett Arndt to a full straightaway at one point. ARDC champ Martin continued his strong run in the opener by sliding into third spot on lap 7. PJ Gargiulo then pulled the move of the night, executing a rarely seen outside pass of Andy Martin to move into third on lap 12. Veteran Frank Polimeda also began to make his presence felt up front, moving into fourth on the same lap.

From there the race began to settle down with the top five consisting of Monroe, Arndt, Gargiulo, Polimeda and Martin. On lap 17 Gargiulo was able to get close enough to Arndt to try a risky outside pass in turn two, but the attempt failed as Gargiulo ended up in the dust of the extreme outside groove. Gargiulo lost so much momentum that it nearly cost him his third spot.

One more bit of drama was provided by a turn two spin by Stephanie Stevens, bringing out the caution on the white flag lap. This wiped out Monroe's huge advantage and gave Arndt and Gagiulo one last shot to steal the win from Monroe. It was not to be as Monroe powered away from the duo, while Gargiulo made one last unsuccessful attempt to pass Arndt. As they came under the checkered it was Monroe taking the third win of his career over Arndt, with Gargiulo, Polimeda and Martin rounding out the top five. Billy Pauch, Jr. authored another impressive ARDC performance running from eighteenth to sixth as a teammate to Monroe in the H&B Railroad/WO Grubb Crane Rental number 49.

25 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition with Frank Polimeda, PJ Gargiulo and Dave Shirk taking heat race wins.

Pit Notes: ARDC Membership payed respect to fallen NEMA Midget driver Shane Hammond by observing a moment of silence before their driver's meeting. Hammond lost his life in a crash at Thompson Speedway. Seen roaming the ARDC pits were drivers Zack Martini and Randy Reid whose cars were not ready for the opener. Other teams expected to join ARDC competition in coming weeks are Jimmy Commock, Jack Spence and Justin Groz.

ARDC Feature - 20-laps: 1) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 2) 46-Brett Arndt 3) 51-PJ Gargiulo 4) 44-Frank Polimeda 5) 21-Andy Martin 6) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 7) 16-Dave Shirk 8) 86-Tracy Readinger 9) 77-Nick Wean 10) 14-AJ Ernesto 11) 25-Chris Zrinski 12) 34-Shane Penny 13) 55-Steve Craig 14) 11-Eric Heydenreich 15) 26-Stephanie Stevens 16) 12-Drew Heistand 17) 9-Steve Lenig 18) 33 Lew Blair 19) 75-Scott Zipp 20) 20-Carey Becker 21) 17-Donnie Hoffman 22) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 23) 7-Chris Rupp 24) 38-Bobby Goerner 25)-0 Steve Buckwalter

A wild run in atlantic city....

Frank got a last minute call when Luke Marzano fell ill and was asked to run the 19L in Atlantic City. Frank didn't take the easy way into the A-main. Shades of Tulsa as Frank had to start in the C-Main due to troubles in qualifying. Frank started on the pole with Ted Christopher to his outside. Frank drove a great race and finished 1st and transferred into the B-Main.

Now his work was really cut out for him as he and 3 other drivers tagged onto the back of the event. Again Frank drove another smart race and stayed out of trouble. As the laps click off, it became apparent Frank was going to make the A Main!

Time for the BIG feature and Frank had to start toward the rear again, but he was in the Gamblers Classic! Green flag and the field was off, then it wasn't. Crash after crash, spin after spin until the field began to thin out due to attrition. Frank was not able to avoid an lap 2 collision with another racer and bent the toe-in on the 19L. Then a few laps later he made hard contact with a spinning car and was forced to stop. This forced Frank to restart in the rear and bob and weave through the carnage that is usually a tradition on the tight indoor oval. Tensions ran high half way through the race as Frank's clutch began to overheat under caution and the 19L started smoking heavily. Luckily, the officials let him remain on the track and saw the smoke dissipate under green. With only a few laps to go, Frank moved into the 5th spot behind the leaders. With the checkers in sight Frank rounded the final turn to find Tim Adams spinning just ahead. With no way to avoid him, Frank collided with the front runner and all but tore off the left front suspension and tire. Lucky it was the last lap of the race. With his great performance, Frank was awarded the Hard Charger Award in Memory of Doug Craig. The big check landed Frank and the crew an extra $555.55 for their efforts. All in all a great weekend for Frank and the team!