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ALEX BRIGHT AND BRUCE BUCKWALTER, JR
WEEKEND ARDC WINNERS
First Potomac/Winchester Weekend Produces Two
New Winners
BRIGHT LIGHTS THE NIGHT AT POTOMAC
SPEEDWAY
Alex Bright picked up his first ARDC Midget win of the 2013
season when the American Racing Driver's Club rolled into Potomac Speedway,
Maryland for the first night of racing.
Bright, who led all competitors with four wins last season,
had been consistent through the first three ARDC events of the year - his best
finish coming during the season opener at New Egypt where he finished third
behind Steve Buckwalter and Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. Bright is still ahead of his
2012 pace where his first win came in June at the Grandview Speedway.
Bear, DE competitor, Shawn Jackson not only led the
twenty-five lap event but had pulled away to a straightaway lead. Bright, who
started eleventh at the green, lost several positions in the early going. By
the time he made his way to second, Jackson was long gone. "When I got to
second and saw how much of a lead he (Jackson) had," Bright stated, "I knew I
had my work cut out." But as luck would have it - good for Bright, not so for
Jackson - a caution was needed, erasing Jackson's advantage. It was then that
Bright noticed that Jackson had lost his edge. "He wasn't pulling down the
staightaway like he had been." For Jackson, his #7 starting missing and
popping. "I didn't know what was wrong." Jackson headed to the pits shortly
after Bright took the lead. It would be learned later that a broken spark plug
had caused the issue in Jackson's mount.
With Bright in the lead, the race was on for second as PJ
Gargiulo and Trevor Kobylarz literally, ran wheel to wheel for the checkered
flag. "I did everything I could," Gargiulo stated. "I was determined that
Trevor might push me across the finish line but I was going to finish ahead of
him." "It was just good racing," Kobylarz stated.
Bright took the win in his Joe Hemler owned, Lightcap
Electric #77 . Gargiulo picked up his first podium finish of the season with
his second while Kobylarz finished third. Ryan Greth earned his third fourth
place finish of the season while Steven Drevicki salvaged a top five finish -
crossing the line with very little air in either rear tire.
Tony DiMattia, an ARDC rookie this season, earned his best
result of the season with a ninth place finish.
FINISH (25 laps)
1. Alex Bright 2. PJ Gargiulo 3. Trevor Kobylarz 4. Ryan
Greth 5. Steven Drevicki 6. Steven Bull 7. Carey Becker 8. Brett Arndt 9.
Tony DiMattia 10. Steve Craig 11. Dusty Heistand 12. Billy Courtwright 13.
Brian Gilmore 14. Brenden Bright 15. Shawn Jackson 16. Randy Reid 17. Bruce
Buckwalter, Jr. 18. Greg Fitzpatrick
DNS - Mark Gilmore, Jimmy Glenn, Kyle Lick
BRUCE BUCKWALTER, JR IS ALL SMILES AFTER WIN AT
WINCHESTER
Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. turned over a new leaf on Saturday when
he took the twenty-five lap ARDC feature at the Winchester Speedway and did so
in convincing style!!
For the first time in his career, Buckwalter, Jr. was
winless in 2012. Despite many good runs, luck was just not on his side. "When
we finished, we had good finishes,' Buckwalter, explained. "But we had so many
good runs when we just didn't finish!" But the winless streak was over as
Buckwalter celebrated from the top of the roll cage on his BDB Construction
#83.
Jimmy Glenn took command at the start of the twenty five lap
main event and put some daylight between himself and second place contender,
Tony DiMattia. Dimattia had shed his rookie stripe over the weekend and was
enjoying a strong run in second. As Glenn pulled away, DiMattia was soon
battling with Buckwalter who took over second on lap four after starting in the
third row.
Buckwalter began to erase Glenn's lead. A caution was
needed for Dusty Hiestand on lap. Shawn Jackson relinquished a top five spot
when he headed to the pits under the caution. Contact on the restart sent the
DeGre Engineering car of Steven Drevicki to the pits with a flat and another
caution was needed.
Three times Glenn led Buckwalter back to the green flag. On
the third attempt, Buckwalter made his best move and was the race leader when
lap eight was scored.
Buckwalter pulled away as the race passed the half way point
with Glenn, Friday night winner, Alex Bright, DiMattia and Ryan Greth running in
the top five and PJ Gargiulo and Trevor Kobylarz starting to challenge for a top
five position.
A red flag was needed when Bright got sideways going into
turn one, collecting DiMattia in the process. DiMattia got upside down as
Gargiulo and Greth were also collected. Only Gargiulo was able to restart
following the incident - caused when Bright's arm restraints got caught inside
something in the cockpit.
With just seven laps remaining, there was a lot of racing
still to come. Brett Arndt raced his way back to fourth after an earlier
incident. Kobylarz and Glenn put on a show for second as the two drivers used
slide jobs to gain the second position.
With the checkered waving, Buckwalter raced to his first win
of the season and fifth win in a row for the Elite Chassis built by Steve
Buckwalter. Kobylarz won the battle with Glenn who finished a strong third.
Gargiulo finished fourth with Arndt rounding out the top five.
ARDC action returns with the Eastern Storm at the Grandview
Speedway on June 5th.
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