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By Gary Lileck
Forestville, PA- June 7, 2007 -- History was made on Thursday June 7 as the Lucas Oil USAC Wingless Sprint-cars made their first ever appearance at the Big Diamond Raceway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Olive Branch MS) drove the Tony Stewart Racing Maxim Chassis #21 powered by Chevrolet to a thrilling 30-lap feature victory worth $4000.
Stenhouse contended with his teammate Levi Jones (Olney IL) as they swapped the lead on several occasions. Stenhouse passed Jones on a late race restarts, just two laps shy of the finish.
“I planned on going to the top of the racetrack the whole time” mentioned Stenhouse of his lap 29 pass of Jones. “I knew he would race me clean and I have a lot of fun racing against Levi”. Stenhouse has now added a USAC Sprint victory to his impressive 2007 resume of wins including Midgets, Silver Crown, and CRA.
Twenty-two drivers assembled for the start of Thursday’s main event. Ten different states were represented in the A-main. Jones started from the outside pole position and immediately grabbed possession of the top spot. Stenhouse, who originally started from fifth, shot into the runner-up position on the event’s second tour.
The contest’s first caution flag was unfurled with five laps in the record books. Neil Shepherd (Warsaw IN) sat idle in turn four. Under the restart green, Stenhouse powered past Jones for the lead. Daron Clayton (Sikeston MO) motored into the third spot with seventh starter Jesse Hockett (Warsaw MO) and the evening’s fast timer (15.678) Damion Gardner (Concord CA) giving chase.
On the eleventh lap, NASCAR Nextel Cup competitor J.J. Yeley (Phoenix AZ) retreated to the infield. Yeley won a qualifying heat race earlier in the evening and started the feature from sixteenth, behind the wheel of his #2J.
Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg), BDR’s Keystone Cup winner back on May 24, spun after contact in turn two of the thirteenth lap. This triggered the event’s second yellow flag. Another caution took place on the same circuit as Hockett’s VKCC Motorsports #75 was left sitting between turns three and four. Third place Clayton executed a 360 degrees spin and continued on.
Under green conditions, Stenhouse continued to set the pace over Jones and Clayton. The top trio literally raced under a blanket as the contest reached it’s five-to-go margin. Jones pressured Stenhouse and executed the pass on lap twenty-seven. With just two laps remaining, the event’s fourth and final caution took place for a Mat Neely (Robinson IL)/Robert Ballou (Rocklin CA) tangle in turn four.
With the green flag in the air, Stenhouse abruptly looked to the outside. He worked past Jones in turn two and grabbed the lead. Stenhouse remained in command and cruised to the victory over Jones and Clayton. Gardner, driving the Leffler Racing #75, finished fourth and Darren Hagen (Riverside CA) charged from twelfth to fifth.
Dave Darland (Lincoln IN) powered his Maxim chassis #44 to a sixth place finish with Dustin Morgan (Tulsa OK) grabbing seventh. Rounding out the top ten were Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson AZ), Chris Windom (Canton IL), and Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow OK).
Billy Pauch (Frenchtown NJ), a highly accomplished Modified driver at the speedway, drove the John Zemaitis owned #1 and actually sat on the pole for the A-main. Pauch ended up finishing eighteenth. His son Billy Jr., a 358 Modified feature winner at BDR this season, drove the Mertz #55 and missed the qualifying cut by just two spots.
Qualifying heat winners in the 31-car field were Neely, Stenhouse, Morgan, and Yeley. Pauch, who was involved in a heat race tangle, was forced to qualify through the 12-lap semi-feature, in which he was victorious.
The wingless open cockpit double header also featured the third ’07 appearance of the ARDC Midgets. Frank Polimeda (Fort Lee NJ) rebounded from a wild BDR flip a few weeks ago and captured his second triumph of the season in their 20-lap main event.
Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (Royersford) jumped into the early race lead. Buckwalter led the opening three laps just before the red flag was thrown. A nine car tangle developed in the second turn and former BDR Modified driver Tracy Readinger (Oley) executed a slow roll-over. No injuries were reported in the crash.
Polimeda, sitting behind the wheel of his Mopar powered #44, originally started the feature from sixth. He powered into third on the lap four restart, and hustled into second on the next lap. Polimeda pounced to the low groove and disposed of Buckwalter for the race lead on lap seven. Polimeda immediately opened a comfortable lead.
By the fourteenth circuit, Polimeda enjoyed a full straightaway advantage over the second generation talent Buckwalter. A caution flag with only five laps remaining would wipe out the huge Polimeda advantage. A couple of cars made contact in turn four, including the current points leader and defending tour champion Andy Martin (Gordonville).
Polimeda continued to lead on the green, while Dave Ely (Sinking Spring) worked to the inside of Buckwalter for second. Polimeda drove to the winner’s circle (he has won two of Diamond’s three races this season) with Ely and Buckwalter in pursuit. Carey Becker (Reading) finished fourth and rookie competitor Drew Heistand (Wrightsville) rounded out the top five.
35 ARDC Midgets were in attendance with heat wins going to Heistand, Becker, and Polimeda. USAC star Dave Darland throttled the #22 machine (normally driven by Ray Bull) to the consolation win.
Big Diamond 358 Modified racer, Ryan Watt (Boyertown) made his first ARDC start of the season in the Schell Racing #75. Watt qualified for the feature, started twenty-first and finished twelfth.
Seltzer Insurance presented the historic open wheel double header event in front of a tremendous crowd. The evening’s 50-50 drawing, benefiting the Georgie Stevenson Memorial Fund, was worth an impressive $1251.
LUCAS OIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES FEATURE (30-LAPS): 1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2) Levi Jones, 3) Daron Clayton, 4) Damion Gardner, 5) Darren Hagen, 6) Dave Darland, 7) Dustin Morgan, 8) Jerry Coons Jr., 9) Chris Windom, 10) Brady Bacon, 11) Jesse Hockett, 12) Lucas Wolfe, 13) Kevin Swindell, 14) Jimmy Light, 15) Robert Ballou, 16) Bob Ream Jr., 17) Mat Neely, 18) Billy Pauch, 19) Brad Sweet, 20) Brady Short, 21) J.J. Yeley, 22) Neil Shepherd. DNQ: Billy Pauch Jr., Bobby Elliott, Mike Murgoitio, Daryl Stimeling, Mike Martin, Zachary Martini, J.R. Berry, Ronnie Rough, Von McGee.
ARDC MIDGETS FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) Frank Polimeda, 2) Dave Ely, 3) Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 4) Carey Becker, 5) Drew Heistand, 6) Eric Heydenreich, 7) Ryan Smith, 8) Nick Wean, 9) Billy Pauch Jr., 10) Steve Buckwalter, 11) Steve Lenig, 12) Ryan Watt, 13) AJ Ernesto, 14) Phil Meisner Jr., 15) Dave Shirk, 16) Jim Jackson, 17) Stephanie Stevens, 18) Brett Arndt, 19) Andy Martin, 20) Mike Lapp, 21) Ed Stimely Jr., 22) Randy Monroe Jr., 23) Dave Darland, 24) Jerry Coons Jr., 25) Tracy Readinger, 26) Tommy Hessert III. |
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