[Fred Zirzow]

Readinger Breaks Out and Steve Buckwalter Scores in Grandview ARDC
By Mark Kielblock

Bechtelsville, Pa. - Tracy Readinger couldn't have picked a better time to end a season-long win drought in ARDC competition as he came out of the third starting spot to take the 20-lap ARDC feature at Grandview Speedway Saturday night. Readinger has logged many laps at Grandview in a modified and considers the high-banked oval his home track. The feature was a make-up event that was rained out during the June 3 ARDC/USAC twin bill. Steve Buckwalter took the regularly scheduled 25-lap ARDC feature.

Stephanie Stevens and Steve Lenig brought the 26 car field to the green flag for the 20-lapper. Lenig's Nye's Body Shop Hawk/Mark Piazza Chevy looked strong as he jumped out to the lead. Lenig led the first 5 laps and then gave way to a flying Tracy Readinger in the D&S Archery/GRP no. 86. Two laps later Lenig's promising race came to an end as he slowed to a stop in turn four with a broken rotor on his mag.

After a couple of early cautions the race began to settle down and the top 5 runners at halfway were Readinger, Andy Martin, Drew Heistand, Steve Buckwalter and Brett Arndt. All the top 5 contenders for the ARDC point title were running in a close-knit group with Brett Arndt, Nick Wean, Randy Monroe, Jr. and PJ Gargiulo running 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. Point leader Frank Polimeda then showed up in the top 10, grabbing 9th spot on lap 11.

All eyes were then on Steve Buckwalter who slotted into the second spot on lap 13, coming all the way from 16th starting spot. Buckwalter was a full straightaway behind Readinger when he took the spot. Drew Heistand was the next big mover as he vaulted in 3rd as he made a comeback from earlier problems. Disaster struck for second place points runner Gargiulo as his motor let go in a cloud of smoke with two laps to go relegating him to a 21st place finish.

Buckwalter was only able to cut a small portion of the gap as Readinger took the popular win behind the wheel of his no. 86, the same number his dad ran during his racing days. Heistand, Brett Arndt and Nick Wean rounded out the top five.

The second feature for ARDC was the regularly scheduled 25-lapper as part of the Thunder on the Hill 5-25's. For the majority of the 25-lap feature it looked as if were going to be all Randy Monroe Jr. as he blasted out of the fourth starting spot to take the lead. Third place starting Scott Zipp moved into the second spot behind Monroe and shadowed him for the early laps of the race.

Eighth place starter Drew Heistand caused some early excitement as he rocketed forward, and just as it looked as he was going to grab third spot he went into a snap-spin off turn two. He actually completed two 360's and then tipped over on his side. There was cause for a few moments of concern as Heistand's car was struck while laying on it's side, but Heistand was uninjured. The York, Pa. driver tried to reenter the race, but had to pull off before the green reappeared.

The early race was punctuated by several cautions, but Monroe and Zipp were able to hold the top two spots until just before halfway. Arriving on the scene to break up their party was fifteenth place starter Steve Buckwalter, who was putting on one of his patented charges. Buckwalter moved into second on lap 14 and took the lead from Monroe two laps later.

Monroe had a firm hold on second place until he spun on lap 21, and several other cars piled into the scene. Monroe was checked out by the ambulance crew for a sore neck, but was otherwise uninjured.

The closing laps of the race were marked by an exciting battle for second between Brett Arndt and Grandview Modified Champ Jeff Strunk who amazingly drove the Two Dogs Racing no. 49 up from the last starting spot. The two drivers traded the spot several times, before Arndt took it and held it to the finish. AJ Ernesto put together another strong late season run to take fourth and Frank Polimeda completed a strong race, driving from sixteenth starting spot to finish 5th.

20-Lap ARDC Feature (Rained Out Feature 6/3): 1.) 86-Tracy Readinger 2.) 0-Steve Buckwalter 3.) 12 Drew Heistand 4.) 46-Brett Arndt 5.) 78-Nick Wean 6.) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 7.) 44-Frank Polimeda 8.) 21 Andy Martin 9.) 26-Stephanie Stevens 10.) 14 AJ Ernesto 11.) 29-Zack Martini 12.) 75-Ryan Watt 13.) 11-Eric Heydenreich 14.) 20-Carey Becker 15.) 49-Jeff Strunk 16.) 16-Dave Shirk 17.) 42-Jack Spence 18.) 5-Paul Kline 19.) 34-Shane Penny 20.) 25 Chris Zrinski 21.) 51-PJ Gargiulo 22.) 9-Steve Lenig 23.) 99-Scott Zipp 24.) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 25.) 00-Greg Robinson 26.) 7-Chris Rupp

25-Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 0-Steve Buckwalter 2) 46-Brett Arndt 3) 49-Jeff Strunk 4) 14-AJ Ernesto 5) 44-Frank Polimeda 6) 2-Tracy Readinger 7) 34-Shane Penny 8) 00-Greg Robinson 9) 25 Chris Zrinski 10) 11-Eric Heydenreich 11) 20-Carey Becker 12) 26-Stephanie Stevens 13) 99-Scott Zipp 14) 29-Zack Martini 15) 84-Jimmy Commock 16) 64-Brett Conkling 17) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 18) 75-Ryan Watt 19)-38 Bobby Goerner 20) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 21)9-Steve Lenig 22) 12-Drew Heistand 23) 71-Andy Martin 24) 78-Nick Wean 25) 16-Dave Shirk 26) 55-Steve Craig

[KohKoh]

Congratulations Tracy!!! Way to go!!
George & Tammy