TRENT
AND LENIG SPLIT COUNTY LINE TWIN 20's
By Barry Angstadt
Rocky Mount, NC - Steve Lenig captured the first ARDC Midget victory of
his career in the club's very first visit to County Line Raceway on Saturday
night. Donnie Trent won his second feature of the year in the first main
event, as the midgets raced wingless in Twin 20's at the Rocky Mount,
NC oval.
Ironically, each of the victorious chauffeurs started on the outside of
the front row, each driver jumped into the lead at the drop of the green,
and both of them had to fight off stiff challenges throughout their triumphant
drives.
In the night's first 20-lapper, Trent out-gunned Carey Becker as the field
charged into corner number one. Ray Bull,
behind the wheel of the Mega Motorsports no. 2 normally driven by teammate
Dave Shirk, quickly navigated his way from seventh to second, with Birdsboro,
PA's Mike Miller glued to the defending champion's rear bumper.
Bull began his pursuit of Trent, but the
Equipment Service Company no. 18 was so strong that Ray
would need a couple of cautions to close the gap on the race leader. His
best chance came after a lap 14 red flag, when Ed Stimely, Jr. pounded
the first turn wall, then flipped. While his Yetter Racing/TQ Fiberglass
no. 6 took quite a beating, Stimely was uninjured.
On the restart, Bull went to the bottom,
and Trent continued to plant his right-rear tire up on the cushion. Bull
was able to draw even on a few occasions, but Trent had the momentum that
comes from running the top, and Donnie pulled ahead, lap after lap, as
they blasted off the corners.
Trent went on to win by a comfortable margin over Bull,
with Miller chasing the top two to the checkered. Behind them, point leader
Steve Buckwalter, rookie Andy Martin, and Scott Zipp wrestled for the
next three positions for several circuits, eventually finishing in that
order. "I thought I had a good chance to win last night," explained
the victorious Honeybrook, PA, resident. "But then Steve (Buckwalter)
came flying by me. I was determined to get one of these features tonight.
I really like this track...I love to run up high, and after warm-ups,
I knew that concrete wall in turn one would be my friend."
Trent also complimented his crew, giving them much of the credit for his
winning effort. "I really have to thank Bryan (Kobylarz), Pat, Keith,
and our wives and families. They've done a lot of work on the cars this
weekend, and it's been really hot down here, and I really appreciate everything
they do for me."
Even though Lenig's path to victory was similar to that of Trent, there
was one major difference: the Selinsgrove, PA, throttle-jockey almost
loaded up and went home after the first feature. "I just wasn't comfortable
on this track, and we couldn't figure out what to do to the car. I was
ready to go home...but I'm glad we stayed." Once again, it was Ray
Bull dashing into the runner-up spot, as Lenig set the early pace.
Before Bull could mount a serious assault
on the leader, he was fighting off the attack of Mike Miller and Steve
Buckwalter. Miller tried to slip under Bull
in turns three and four with eight to go, and the two veterans banged
wheels as they were sliding through the corner. Miller raced off of four
ahead of Bull, but Ray
returned the favor in turns one and two the next time around. Both cars
washed up the banking, and Buckwalter rocketed through the opening down
low to grab the runner-up spot.
Lenig simply waltzed away as the trio behind him battled furiously for
the second position. Steve took his first ARDC checkered flag with a healthy
advantage over Miller, who sliced his way past Buckwalter to finish second.
Bull and Andy Martin completed the top five.
"There's no doubt about it...my starting spot certainly helped. But
we made the car much better for the second feature, too. I knew Mike and
Ray were back there, but I just held my line
and things worked out fine. This will make the long drive back to Selinsgrove
feel much shorter," smiled Lenig.
NOTES FROM COUNTY LINE:
When they finally caught a glimpse of the County Line Raceway surface,
some of the ARDC pilots said it reminded them of a couple of tracks up
north. "This track is a little bit bigger,
but it reminds me of Linda's and Greenwood Valley," noted Bull, who
carried daughter Lauren on his shoulders as he surveyed the semi-banked
oval. "But it's different, too, because the banking in turn one kind
of flattens out as you exit turn two. Could be kind of tricky to figure
out the proper line around this place."
Apparently, it was kind of tricky, as several drivers tested the concrete
walls during warm-ups. No one hit very hard, but, as Bull
prophesied, turns one and two were the trouble spots. The drivers learned
that they had to throw the cars sideways just past the flagstand, then
enter turn one up high. As the track, which was very greasy for the hot
lap sessions, dried and took some rubber, the midgets realized they could
stay up on the cushion through turn two, or cut down across the track
and shoot off the bottom of two. The middle and upper grooves were the
fastest lines through three and four. All in all, once they got the hang
of it, the midget drivers agreed that County Line Raceway is a very fast,
racey track. "I didn't have time to think about it while I was out
there," noted Scott Zipp. "But when the race ended, I thought,'man,
that was fun!' We are absolutely on the edge down here...all the time.
I loved it." Zipp finished sixth in the first feature, and a top-five
finish appeared certain in race number two until the right-rear tire burned
off, and he faded to tenth.
Lou Zrinski received an emergency call on Friday night from the Mega Motorsports
team. Bull's Lobitz Catering no. 22 suffered
mechanical ailments at Dixieland, sidelining the Stealth/Gaerte for the
entire weekend. So Ray, who's in the middle
of a heated battle for the point lead with Steve Buckwalter, jumped into
teammate Dave Shirk's no. 2. Zrinski decided to bring his car to County
Line for the second half of the Southern Swing, answering Mega's call
for help. Shirk drove the Kozak Precision Products no. 25 on Saturday,
battling a sticking throttle in the nightcap after finishing eighth in
the opener.
COMPLETE FINISHING ORDER:
20-LAP WINGLESS FEATURE #1: 1.Donnie Trent 2.Ray
Bull 3.Mike Miller 4.Steve Buckwalter 5.Andy Martin 6.Scott Zipp
7.Billy Pauch, Jr. 8.Dave Shirk 9.Jeff Stelter 10.A.J. Michaels 11.Carey
Becker 12.Steve Lenig 13.Michele Miller 14.Ed Stimely, Jr. DNS: Ted Schmid.
20-LAP WINGELSS FEATURE #2: 1.Steve Lenig 2.Mike Miller 3.Steve Buckwalter
4.Ray Bull 5.Andy Martin 6.Billy Pauch, Jr.
7.Donnie Trent 8.Jeff Stelter 9.A.J. Michaels 10.Scott Zipp 11.Carey Becker
12.Michele Miller DNS: Dave Shirk, Ted Schmid, Ed Stimely, Jr
