Brenden Bright & Nick Wean Travel South for ARDC Wins
By
ARDC
Contact - Deb Smith
For Immediate Release
Phone (610) 972-6176
Email - dsfotog@aol.com
ARDC made it's annual trek south for a weekend of racing in North Carolina's Dixieland Speedway and County Line Raceway with Brenden Bright and Nick Wean coming home with the wins.
For Brenden Bright, it was a return to the track where he won his first ever ARDC feature a year earlier at the Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth City, NC. Bright had struggled in recent ARDC events but had done his homework prior to the trip south and discovered what he believed to be the problem with the Presidential HVAC #88. "We took everything a part," Bright explained. "We found some bars that had gone bad...the car was much better this weekend!"
Brian Gilmore led the ARDC field to the green flag but it was 2011 ARDC Champion, Drew Heistand that was the early race leader. On lap three, Dusty Heistand made the pass for the lead. B. Bright passed Drew for second one lap later as B. Gilmore and PJ Gargiulo completed the top five with five laps on the board.
Gargiulo moved up to third, behind Dusty Heistand and Brenden Bright but was soon challenged by Alex Bright for that position. Alex moved up to third as the battle for second was on between the Bright brothers as Dusty Heistand continued to lead. With ten laps remaining, Gargiulo ran in fourth with Tim Buckwalter running fifth.
A late race caution realigned the field with five laps to go. Cars were jostled on the restart as Alex Bright made his bid for the lead but the caution waved quickly when T. Buckwalter got turned around in turn four on the restart.
Dusty Heistand again led the field to the green but was challenged this time by Brenden Bright. As the leaders raced side by side down the homestretch, the close racing resulted in some contact between the leaders. Heistand spun toward the inside guardrail before getting airborne. Heistand's #6 rolled in the air and landed back on the track upside down. The red flag was thrown. A disappointed Dusty Heistand walked back to the pit area, uninjured.
On the final restart, it was a battle of the Brights as Brenden held off Alex for the win, his second of the season and second consecutive Dixieland Speedway victory. Gargiulo finished third as Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. edged Brett Arndt for fourth at the checkered flag.
Rookie Brian Gilmore won his first qualifying race in heat number one as Brenden Bright and Dusty Hiestand picked up wins in the other two heat races.
Dixieland Speedway Feature Finish (25 laps) 1. Brenden Bright 2. Alex Bright 3. PJ Gargiulo 4. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. 5. Brett Arndt 6. Trevor Kobylarz 7. Mark Gilmore 8. Parker Evans 9. Brian Gilmore 10. Joe Butera 11. Andy Cardinale 12. Dusty Hiestand 13. Tim Buckwalter 14. Nick Wean 15.Drew Heistand 16. Steven Drevicki DNS
Nick Wean ended a bad luck streak at the County Line Speedway on Saturday night of the Southern Swing as he led from green to checkered to pick up his first win of the 2012 season.
With five laps to go, Wean thought his bad luck was going to continue. A vibration indicated motor problems for the driver from Phillipsburg, NJ. When Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. took a nasty ride with just a few laps to go, Wean had the opportunity to consult his car owner/father what he should do. "I told him the motor was going to go. I asked him what he wanted me to do," Wean said the response was "Blow 'er up!" He had his orders.
Drew Heistand challenged Wean in the early going and ran second throughout the race. Alex Bright moved up to third in the final laps and both Heistand and Bright knew that Wean was in trouble. But Mother Nature smiled on the Wean car on this night and everything stayed together for Wean to take the checkered flag first.
Tim Buckwalter raced his way as high as third but lost a battle with Alex Bright for the spot, finishing fourth at the flag. PJ Gargiulo battled back to finish fifth after restarting in the rear of the field after an incident in turn two. Gargiulo ran into trouble when he hit a wet area in turn two but was able to get the car stopped before hard contact was made.
The race was red flagged on two occasions. The first, when rookie, Brian Gilmore got upside down on the backstretch. With three laps remaining, Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. got into the outside wall in turn one, getting airborne and end for end. Both drivers exited their cars on their own but Buckwalter was later treated and released.
Race Notes:
Alex Bright had the best North Carolina weekend with a second and third. PJ Gargiulo also had a strong run in the south with a third and fifth place finish while Brett Arndt continued his consistent performance with a fifth and sixth place result. Dusty Heistand was able to return to action on Saturday after getting upside down on Friday but had more work to do when he made hard contact with the homestretch wall during Saturday warm-ups. Andy Cardinale ran his first ARDC laps in the Buckwalter rental. Cardinale, who resides in South Carolina, has family ties to ARDC. His grandfather was a wrench on the ARDC championship teams of the early and mid-sixties, wrenching for the Bennet Brothers. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. had the unfortunate situation of finding himself upside down at both speedways on the North Carolina trip.
Next race on the ARDC schedule is Friday, July 13th at the Big Diamond Speedway
County Line Raceway Feature (25 laps) 1. Nick Wean 2. Drew Heistand 3. Alex Bright 4. Tim Buckwalter 5. PJ Gargiulo 6. Brett Arndt 7. Dusty Heistand 8. Brenden Bright 9. Mark Gilmore 10. Joe Butera 11. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. 12. Andy Cardinale 13. Brian Gilmore 14. Steven Drevicki 15. Parker Evans 16. Trevor Kobylarz
