ARDC
MIDGETS: BULL WINS 100TH OF CAREER AT CENTRAL PA SPEEDWAY
By Barry Angstadt
Clearfield, PA- Ray Bull
had a very enjoyable Saturday night for several reasons: he captured his
fifth win of the season as the ARDC Midgets competed in a wingless 20-lap
main event at the Central PA Speedway; the victory was the 100th of Bull’s
career; and it propelled him back into the series point lead.
Rolling off the starting grid in 13th, Bull
slowly worked his way toward the front of the field. “I was making
adjustments in the car, tuning the shocks to make it better. The track
had some ruts, and everyone was fast, so it was tough to pass.”
Steve Craig led for one lap before Mike Miller and Steve Buckwalter double-teamed
him on the second tour of the speedway. Miller then set the pace from
laps two through five, until Buckwalter slipped under him to steal the
lead as they accelerated off turn two.
Buckwalter, who came into the event as the ARDC point leader, ran out
front for the next ten circuits. Only five laps remained when his Victory
Motorcycle/Stealth/Ott no. 5 fell victim to mechanical problems, ending
his night and handing the top spot back to Miller.
Bull was now the runner-up, and the next
three trips around the wide, banked oval provided an entertaining duel
as Miller stayed up high, and Bull worked
the bottom. A yellow with two to go enabled Bull,
the five-time champion from Bloomsburg, PA, to make the winning move.
He blasted into turn one on the green-white-checkered restart, diving
under Miller’s no. 1, then sliding up in front of the Birdsboro,
PA leadfoot to grab the point. Bull went
on to win by several car-lengths, with Miller settling for second, and
Donnie Trent crossing the line in third spot. Central PA Speedway’s
358 Modified Champion for 2005, Shawn Reimert, ended his first-ever start
in a midget with a fourth-place finish. Steve Craig nailed down his first
top-five of the season by finishing fifth.
In victory lane, Bull enthusiastically thanked
the Paden family for hosting the midgets at their track. “This has
got to be one of the top three or four tracks that I’ve ever run,”
commented the chauffeur of the Mega Motorsports no. 22. “This place
is so much fun…I hope we can come back here.”
NOTES FROM CLEARFIELD…
The victor’s mom was prepared for her son’s milestone. She had
a small checkered flag, with the inscription “100 wins” ready
for him in the winner’s circle.
Bull was fifteen points behind Buckwalter
when they pulled into the pits last Saturday. He won the first heat race,
with the Royersford Rocket right behind him at the finish. Buckwalter’s
mechanical troubles relegated him to a 12th place finish in the feature,
and allowed Bull to gain a total of 58 points.
He left Clearfield with a 43-point advantage over Buckwalter as the tour
rolls on to Little Valley, NY, this Saturday.
Donnie Trent’s third place effort was notable because the Honeybrook,
PA, pilot coasted to a stop before the green flag to start the feature.
“The rotor on the magneto broke,” explained Trent, who has a
pair of triumphs this season. “Bryan (Kobylarz) did a terrific job
to replace it real fast, and then we had a yellow on the first lap so
I could get back out there.” Trent charged from the back of the pack
to run in third with six complete. That was as far as he advanced, though,
as the handling went away on his Equipment Service Company no. 18. “We
just missed the set-up, and it got worse as the race went on, so I’m
happy with third.”
The Clearfield area received quite a bit of rain during the week preceding
the event, creating a small pond outside turns one and two. Without a
wall or fence to keep the cars on that part of the track, a few cars “took
a dip” in the muddy water.
Andy Martin, currently third in ARDC points, was one of those who got
wet. As the front-runners fanned out three and four-wide at the drop of
the green, Martin was forced up the banking. He slid up and over the berm
in turn one, and ended up stuck in the mud. Martin had to retire, as the
water foiled something in the ignition system and the car would not refire.
The Miller Racing no. 7, as well as its driver, were covered with so much
mud that the color of the car, blue, could no longer be seen.
Rookie Eric Heydenreich ran well, holding off Bull
for several laps as the duo battled for the fifth position. The car suddenly
wiggled off of four and down the homestretch, and Eric steered it onto
the portion of the former asphalt track that remains outside the first
and second turns. He wound up 13th after falling out of the race.
Michele Miller and Hank Rogers, Jr. were inside the top ten when they
suffered mechanical woes. Magneto and brake problems plagued Michele,
while Rogers appeared to break something in the right-rear suspension.
Bull also picked up his second heat race
triumph of the year, and Trent captured the other eight-lap preliminary.
RESULTS:
WINGLESS 20-LAP FEATURE: 1.Ray Bull 2.Mike
Miller 3.Donnie Trent 4.Shawn Reimert 5.Steve Craig 6.Kathy Kurtz 7.Carey
Becker 8.Jeff Schell 9.Lew Blair 10.Dave Shirk 11.Ted Schmid 12.Steve
Buckwalter 13.Eric Heydenreich 14.Hank Rogers, Jr. 15.Michele Miller 16.Scott
Zipp 17.Andy Martin DNS: Steve Lenig, Ed Stimely, Jr., Bobby Goerner.
