Stevie Smith Kickstarts PA
Speedweek With Williams Grove Victory
Gargiulo takes ARDCs
6/26/15
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mechanicsburg –
Stevie Smith kicked off the 25th
annual Jakes Wayback Burgers/Trone Outdoor PA Speedweek series for 410 sprint
cars at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, taking a $5,000 flag to flag
victory over Greg Hodnett whom he held at bay for the entire 25-lap distance.
In the 20-lap ARDC Midget
feature, PJ Gargiulo took his first victory of the season with the club.
Smith started on the pole of the sprint car main and took off
ahead of Hodnett and Danny Dietrich.
Three yellow flags and a red flag hampered Smith’s winning
pace during the event, the first occurring on the third lap for a stopped Mark
Smith.
Four laps later a stopped Cory Haas again
regrouped the field with seventh starter Brian Montieth turning heads after
blasting into third on the previous restart.
The field ran the next 13 laps non-stop with Montieth
challenging Hodnett early for second and then Hodnett closing on Smith for the
lead during the mid stages.
But as the race wore on, Smith got away
from Hodnett and was out of reach when Montieth stopped in the second corner
with five laps to go.
Hodnett was unable to challenge when
action resumed however only two more laps were recorded when the red flag
appeared for a two car connection on the frontchute involving Brock Zearfoss and
Lance Dewease.
Stevie Smith was home free on the
restart, clearly powering away from Hodnett during the final three laps for his
second victory of the season at Williams Grove Speedway.
“They (the crew) had the car really good,” Smith said of his
Fred Rahmer-owned mount.
“It needs to be driven hard.
The harder I raced it, the better it felt.”
Danny Dietrich was third followed by
Lucas Wolfe and 14th starter Brent Marks.
Sixth through 10th went to
Alan Krimes, Aaron Ott, Ryan Taylor, Steve Buckwalter and Montieth, who tagged
to the rear of the field after replacing a tire.
Heats for the 33-car field went to Montieth, Hodnett, Wolfe
and TJ Stutts with Dewease taking the consolation race.
Stevie Smith set quick time with a lap of 16.506 seconds.
With the speedweek opener in the books,
unofficial speedweek series points show Stevie Smith the leader with 181 markers
over Hodnett, 155; Dietrich, 140; Wolfe, 136: and Marks, 124.
Gargiulo took the lead in the ARDC Midget main from Brett
Wanner on the seventh tour of the 20-lapper to record the victory.
With eight laps to go, seventh starter Tim Buckwalter was
poised to challenge Gargiulo for the lead when he slipped up over the cushion in
the third corner before losing control and flipping violently into the fourth
turn.
Also involved were the third and fourth place cars of Ryan
Greth and Wanner.
The final eight laps were all Gargiulo to the finish with
Brett Arndt, Steve Drevicki, Nick Wean and Jim Radney completing the top five.
Heats went to Tim Buckwalter and Wean.
June 26, 2015 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Stevie Smith, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Danny Dietrich, 4. Lucas Wolfe, 5. Brent Marks, 6. Alan Krimes, 7. Aaron Ott, 8. Ryan Taylor, 9. Steve Buckwalter, 10. Brian Montieth, 11. Adam Wilt, 12. Pat Cannon, 13. TJ Stutts, 14. Chase Dietz, 15. Cory Haas, 16. Kyle Reinhardt, 17. Frankie Herr, 18. Brock Zearfoss, 19. Lance Dewease, 20. Glenndon Forsythe, 21. Austin Hogue, 22. Don Kreitz Jr. 23. Mark Smith, 24. Doug Esh
DNQ: Tim Galtfelter, Brady Bacon, Ryan Wilson, Logan Wagner, Wayne Dadetto, Curt Stroup, Brad Franks, Troy Fraker, Jay Galloway
ARDC Midgets, 20 laps: 1. PJ Gargiulo, 2. Brett Arndt, 3. Steve Drevicki, 4. Nick Wean, 5. Jim Radney, 6. Shawn Jackson, 7. Jamie Speers, 8. Brett Wanner, 9. Tim Buckalter, 10. Ryan Greth, 11. Bruce Buckwalter, 12. Trevor Kobylarz
DNS:
Jason Rice