ARDC12
08-17-2008, 09:20 PM
Martin Repels Pauch Jr. Charge in New Egypt ARDC
By Mark Kielblock
New Egypt, NJ - Andy Martin had a score to settle with New Egypt Speedway and he drove like it Saturday night. He simply dominated the field and holding off a charge on a late race charge by Billy Pauch Jr. to score his third main event win of the season. Martin drives NES like it was made for him -- in ARDC's first appearance at New Egypt in May, Martin was rocketing around the high side of the D-shaped oval and poised to take the lead when he hooked a rut and took a hard flip in turns 3 & 4. He authored a similar performance Saturday night to exact his revenge on the track.
Chris Zrinski and Carey Becker led the 26 car field to the green flag. Some good early dicing between Zrinski, Becker, Bruce Buckwalter and AJ Ernesto merely kept the crowd entertained while Martin was putting on his patented high side charge from his 7th starting slot en route to the top spot. Once out front the 2 time ARDC Champ began to wave good bye to the field, opening up a full straightaway lead.
Three drivers from mid pack starting spot provided the excitement throughout the 20-lap affair. PJ Gargiulo was moving from his 12th starting spot, while Billy Pauch Jr. charged from 17th spot. Steve Buckwalter, who won ARDC's previous NES feature had to run the consi due to a heat race flip and was relegated to a 19th starting spot. He and Pauch stage a thrilling race up through the pack and were battling for second as Martin continued to drive away.
A simple mechanical breakage ended Buckwalter's bid for the win. "The throttle linkage broke," Buckwalter said after the race. "It had nothing to do with damage from the heat race flip. We changed motors during the week, and I guess we just didn't get it tight," Buckwalter explained. Would he have had anything for Martin? "I don't know," Buckwalter said. "I wore the bottom groove out coming up through the field. Just before it broke, I tried moving around and went to the middle and felt the car bite."
With Buckwalter out, it was up to Pauch to try to do something with Martin. His chance came on a late-race yellow involving several cars, most notably point leader Randy Monroe Jr. who had to go pit side.
Pauch got one shot at Martin on a restart that went yellow before a lap was complete. On the final restart, Martin got as tight to the inside rail as he possibly could to prevent an inside move by Pauch. As the pair rounded turn two, Pauch was able to get along side Martin, and the fight to the finish was on. They continued side by side through the final two corners and Martin was able to hold just enough momentum on the outside to beat a hard charging Pauch in a thrilling drag race finish.
"I'm probably the most unpopular guy here," Martin joked in victory lane. "I know most of the people here wanted to see Pauch win. I know he really wanted his first win. but I have to give him credit. He really raced me clean, he could have very easily taken it from me, but he didn't," Martin emphasized.
Gargiulo completed a hard drive through the field going from 12th to finish third, while AJ Ernesto had one of his best runs of the year to take fourth and Nick Wean came out of 11th starting spot to take a top five finish.
Pit Patter: Chris Rupp missed the NES show, still fixing damage from a flip sustained at Big Diamond Raceway. 2007 URC Sprint Rookie of the Year Andrew Hannula made his debut with ARDC an impressive one with a fourth place finish in his first ARDC heat race. Stephanie Stevens rode out a crunching flip in hot laps due to a broken torsion stop. Her crew did a phenomenal job getting the car repaired for race action. Club President Ron Lauer wanted to send out his thanks to all Club members for their cooperation in having their Membership Cards at the ready for a smooth night in ARDC's Aug. 1 appearance at Big Diamond Raceway.
31 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat Races were won by Drew Heistand, Andy Martin and Billy Pauch, Jr. The consi went to Steve Buckwalter.
20-Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 21-Andy Martin 2) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 3) 51-PJ Gargiulo 4) 14-AJ Ernesto 5) 78-Nick Wean 6) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 7) 44-Frank Polimeda 8) 25-Chris Zrinski 9) 29-Zack Martini 10) 46-Brett Arndt 11) 00-Greg Robinson 12) 5-Paul Kline 13) 26-Stephanie Stevens 14) 9-Steve Lenig 15) 34-Shane Penny 16) 99-Scott Zipp 17) 12-Drew Heistand 18) 20-Carey Becker 19) 55-Steve Craig 20) 2-Tracy Readinger 21) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 22) 89-Andrew Hannula 23) 84-Jimmy Commock 24) 42-Jack Spence 25) 0-Steve Buckwalter 26) 64-Brett Conkling
By Mark Kielblock
New Egypt, NJ - Andy Martin had a score to settle with New Egypt Speedway and he drove like it Saturday night. He simply dominated the field and holding off a charge on a late race charge by Billy Pauch Jr. to score his third main event win of the season. Martin drives NES like it was made for him -- in ARDC's first appearance at New Egypt in May, Martin was rocketing around the high side of the D-shaped oval and poised to take the lead when he hooked a rut and took a hard flip in turns 3 & 4. He authored a similar performance Saturday night to exact his revenge on the track.
Chris Zrinski and Carey Becker led the 26 car field to the green flag. Some good early dicing between Zrinski, Becker, Bruce Buckwalter and AJ Ernesto merely kept the crowd entertained while Martin was putting on his patented high side charge from his 7th starting slot en route to the top spot. Once out front the 2 time ARDC Champ began to wave good bye to the field, opening up a full straightaway lead.
Three drivers from mid pack starting spot provided the excitement throughout the 20-lap affair. PJ Gargiulo was moving from his 12th starting spot, while Billy Pauch Jr. charged from 17th spot. Steve Buckwalter, who won ARDC's previous NES feature had to run the consi due to a heat race flip and was relegated to a 19th starting spot. He and Pauch stage a thrilling race up through the pack and were battling for second as Martin continued to drive away.
A simple mechanical breakage ended Buckwalter's bid for the win. "The throttle linkage broke," Buckwalter said after the race. "It had nothing to do with damage from the heat race flip. We changed motors during the week, and I guess we just didn't get it tight," Buckwalter explained. Would he have had anything for Martin? "I don't know," Buckwalter said. "I wore the bottom groove out coming up through the field. Just before it broke, I tried moving around and went to the middle and felt the car bite."
With Buckwalter out, it was up to Pauch to try to do something with Martin. His chance came on a late-race yellow involving several cars, most notably point leader Randy Monroe Jr. who had to go pit side.
Pauch got one shot at Martin on a restart that went yellow before a lap was complete. On the final restart, Martin got as tight to the inside rail as he possibly could to prevent an inside move by Pauch. As the pair rounded turn two, Pauch was able to get along side Martin, and the fight to the finish was on. They continued side by side through the final two corners and Martin was able to hold just enough momentum on the outside to beat a hard charging Pauch in a thrilling drag race finish.
"I'm probably the most unpopular guy here," Martin joked in victory lane. "I know most of the people here wanted to see Pauch win. I know he really wanted his first win. but I have to give him credit. He really raced me clean, he could have very easily taken it from me, but he didn't," Martin emphasized.
Gargiulo completed a hard drive through the field going from 12th to finish third, while AJ Ernesto had one of his best runs of the year to take fourth and Nick Wean came out of 11th starting spot to take a top five finish.
Pit Patter: Chris Rupp missed the NES show, still fixing damage from a flip sustained at Big Diamond Raceway. 2007 URC Sprint Rookie of the Year Andrew Hannula made his debut with ARDC an impressive one with a fourth place finish in his first ARDC heat race. Stephanie Stevens rode out a crunching flip in hot laps due to a broken torsion stop. Her crew did a phenomenal job getting the car repaired for race action. Club President Ron Lauer wanted to send out his thanks to all Club members for their cooperation in having their Membership Cards at the ready for a smooth night in ARDC's Aug. 1 appearance at Big Diamond Raceway.
31 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat Races were won by Drew Heistand, Andy Martin and Billy Pauch, Jr. The consi went to Steve Buckwalter.
20-Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 21-Andy Martin 2) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 3) 51-PJ Gargiulo 4) 14-AJ Ernesto 5) 78-Nick Wean 6) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 7) 44-Frank Polimeda 8) 25-Chris Zrinski 9) 29-Zack Martini 10) 46-Brett Arndt 11) 00-Greg Robinson 12) 5-Paul Kline 13) 26-Stephanie Stevens 14) 9-Steve Lenig 15) 34-Shane Penny 16) 99-Scott Zipp 17) 12-Drew Heistand 18) 20-Carey Becker 19) 55-Steve Craig 20) 2-Tracy Readinger 21) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 22) 89-Andrew Hannula 23) 84-Jimmy Commock 24) 42-Jack Spence 25) 0-Steve Buckwalter 26) 64-Brett Conkling