Post by Kirsten Snyder on Jul 14, 2023 15:00:20 GMT
Tim Buckwalter finding his groove at Bloomsburg…picks up second straight SpeedSTR win; Paulie Hartwig III tops stellar Short Track Super Series Crate 602 Sportsman Modified field
By DINO OBERTO
(Bloomsburg, PA 7-13-23): Tim Buckwalter of Royersford made it two wins in a row with the All-Pro SpeedSTRs on Thursday evening at the Bloomsburg Fair Raceway.
Buckwalter, who started third, was chasing point leader Briggs Danner from the get-go, keeping him within close reach.
On the eighth lap Buckwalter was beginning to zero in on Danner, however, at the completion of the circuit the leader suddenly slowed up and lost power, allowing Buckwalter to grab the top spot.
“Early on we were pacing with him (Danner) so I knew we were okay and it was unfortunate that he broke and I can tell you it was going to come down to the wire,” Buckwalter said.
After assuming the front spot Buckwalter showed he would be the car the beat as he was able to maintain a modest advantage over Alex Bright and Mike Bednar.
Bright and Bednar while doing all they could to hunt down Buckwalter, put on a thrilling battle of swapping second spot back and forth.
“With Alex (Bright) and Mike (Bednar) you have to keep on your toes with those guys,” added Buckwalter.
“Hats off to (car owner) Earl Fellin for sticking it out because we had a rough start to the season here. Down at Kutztown things have been going good and now I feel we really have this car good here at Bloomsburg,” he continued.
“Rich (Tobias) really got turns three and four pretty high for us tonight and I like that and it makes things pretty racy for us. He’s got everything here under control with this track.”
As Buckwalter took the checkers by two car lengths, the race for second would come right down to the finish with Bright edging out Bednar at the line. Their crowd pleasing duel over the closing laps was exhilarating.
“This was probably the best we’ve felt here in a SpeedSTR. (Mike) Bednar raced me clean out there so I was happy about that and I just wasn’t quick enough to catch Timmy (Buckwalter),” said Bright.
Jeff Bubori was making his first start and came home a respectable fourth while Gavin Danner in only his second SpeedSTR start rounded out the top five.
The touring Short Track Super Series (STSS) was on hand for a 25-lap/$1500-to-win feature for the Crate 602 Sportsman Modifieds and the season high field of 30 cars was made up of a great mix of STSS regulars going against the home-track Bloomsburg stars.
And, showing his prowess of the 3/8th mile oval yet again, Paulie Hartwig III of Galloway, NJ raced to an impressive fourth Bloomsburg win of the season.
The 12-year old sensation started sixth on the grid and made haste by running his patented inside line to motor his way to the front. Within the first five laps he picked his way up to second behind leader Dylan Madsen.
Then on a lap six restart Hartwig executed his race winning move going around Madsen for the lead through turns one and two. From then on he was in total control as he meticulously worked by slower traffic and upheld his spot to the checkers.
“After our heat race I wasn’t sure about how the car felt and how it would do in the feature but I just took my time and had to be careful when we got up to the lapped cars,” Hartwig said.
“I was able to get Dylan (Madsen) on that restart using the top lane and then I stuck to the bottom the rest of the way and as always my guys gave me a great car tonight.”
Although Hartwig may have had the race under control Brandon Edgar at the same time was blasting his way past cars. Coming from ninth Edgar first entered the top five on lap 11 and from then on he went by Carter Croker for fourth, had a great few laps of side-by-side racing with Joe Toth for third and with eight circuits remaining took over second from Madsen.
Edgar was continuing his charge towards Hartwig, clearly pulling him in, but alas time and laps ran out on the possibility of a shootout to the finish. Madsen, Toth and Kevin Olenick rounded out the top five.
You can now add Kevin Doud of Coudersport to the growing list of feature winners with the FWD 4-Cylinder Stocks as he becomes the eighth different driver to score a victory in as many races held to date.
Doud has been a constant front runner all season long, evident by the fact that he is the point leader. However, his efforts to try and gain a win had always come up just short but on this night Doud would capitalize on his front row starting spot by taking the lead at the outset and never looking back.
Hunter Flook did give Doud a run for his money as he pressured him to the end and came up a mere half car length shy of stealing away the win.
In the Slingshots it was Andrew Turpin of Saylorsburg racing to an unprecedented fifth win in seven starts. Turpin would show the way from start to finish and beat Patrick Wiess to the checkers by nearly three seconds.
SpeedSTR feature finish (20 laps): 1. Tim Buckwalter, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Mike Bednar, 4. Jeff Bubori, 5. Gavin Danner, 6. Chuck Eckert, 7. Cale Zangli, 8. Jasper Zeigafuse, 9. TJ Mayberry, 10. Briggs Danner, 11. Shannon Mausteller, 12. Doug Snyder, 13. Dustin Morris
STSS 602 Sportsman feature (25 laps): 1. Paulie Hartwig III, 2. Brandon Edgar, 3. Dylan Madsen, 4. Joe Toth, 6. Carter Crocker, 7. Tyler Peet, 8. Mike Lonely, 9. Matt Yoder, 10. Justin Comes, 11. TJ Mayberry, 12. Josh Allen, 13. Logan Watt, 14. Gordon Smith, 15. Derrick McGrew Jr., 16. Roger Hummer, 17. Blaine Klinger, 18. Brandon Oleski, 19. Allan Kellogg, 20. Tom Princiotta, 21. Logan Starr, 22. Mike Schneck Jr., 23. Ralph Mele, 24. Travis Green, 25, Kreg Crocker DNS: Mia Guy, Dale Welty, Matt Strauss DNQ: Bryan Rhoads, Ben Feldman
4-Cylinder Stock feature finish (15 laps): 1. Kevin Doud, 2. Hunter Flook, 3. Adam Campbell, 4. Tim Raup, 5. Kyler Stahl, 6. Preston Cobb, 7. Luke Hoffner, 8. Tim Campbell, 9. Jacob Tubbs, 10. Zakery Kline DNS: Ridge Cobb, Ernie Shilko
Slingshot feature finish (12 laps): 1. Andrew Turpin, 2. Patrick Weiss, 3. Austin Kroboth, 4. Brianna Snyder, 5. Aaron Weik, 6. Dustin Degler, 7. Dylan Starr
By DINO OBERTO
(Bloomsburg, PA 7-13-23): Tim Buckwalter of Royersford made it two wins in a row with the All-Pro SpeedSTRs on Thursday evening at the Bloomsburg Fair Raceway.
Buckwalter, who started third, was chasing point leader Briggs Danner from the get-go, keeping him within close reach.
On the eighth lap Buckwalter was beginning to zero in on Danner, however, at the completion of the circuit the leader suddenly slowed up and lost power, allowing Buckwalter to grab the top spot.
“Early on we were pacing with him (Danner) so I knew we were okay and it was unfortunate that he broke and I can tell you it was going to come down to the wire,” Buckwalter said.
After assuming the front spot Buckwalter showed he would be the car the beat as he was able to maintain a modest advantage over Alex Bright and Mike Bednar.
Bright and Bednar while doing all they could to hunt down Buckwalter, put on a thrilling battle of swapping second spot back and forth.
“With Alex (Bright) and Mike (Bednar) you have to keep on your toes with those guys,” added Buckwalter.
“Hats off to (car owner) Earl Fellin for sticking it out because we had a rough start to the season here. Down at Kutztown things have been going good and now I feel we really have this car good here at Bloomsburg,” he continued.
“Rich (Tobias) really got turns three and four pretty high for us tonight and I like that and it makes things pretty racy for us. He’s got everything here under control with this track.”
As Buckwalter took the checkers by two car lengths, the race for second would come right down to the finish with Bright edging out Bednar at the line. Their crowd pleasing duel over the closing laps was exhilarating.
“This was probably the best we’ve felt here in a SpeedSTR. (Mike) Bednar raced me clean out there so I was happy about that and I just wasn’t quick enough to catch Timmy (Buckwalter),” said Bright.
Jeff Bubori was making his first start and came home a respectable fourth while Gavin Danner in only his second SpeedSTR start rounded out the top five.
The touring Short Track Super Series (STSS) was on hand for a 25-lap/$1500-to-win feature for the Crate 602 Sportsman Modifieds and the season high field of 30 cars was made up of a great mix of STSS regulars going against the home-track Bloomsburg stars.
And, showing his prowess of the 3/8th mile oval yet again, Paulie Hartwig III of Galloway, NJ raced to an impressive fourth Bloomsburg win of the season.
The 12-year old sensation started sixth on the grid and made haste by running his patented inside line to motor his way to the front. Within the first five laps he picked his way up to second behind leader Dylan Madsen.
Then on a lap six restart Hartwig executed his race winning move going around Madsen for the lead through turns one and two. From then on he was in total control as he meticulously worked by slower traffic and upheld his spot to the checkers.
“After our heat race I wasn’t sure about how the car felt and how it would do in the feature but I just took my time and had to be careful when we got up to the lapped cars,” Hartwig said.
“I was able to get Dylan (Madsen) on that restart using the top lane and then I stuck to the bottom the rest of the way and as always my guys gave me a great car tonight.”
Although Hartwig may have had the race under control Brandon Edgar at the same time was blasting his way past cars. Coming from ninth Edgar first entered the top five on lap 11 and from then on he went by Carter Croker for fourth, had a great few laps of side-by-side racing with Joe Toth for third and with eight circuits remaining took over second from Madsen.
Edgar was continuing his charge towards Hartwig, clearly pulling him in, but alas time and laps ran out on the possibility of a shootout to the finish. Madsen, Toth and Kevin Olenick rounded out the top five.
You can now add Kevin Doud of Coudersport to the growing list of feature winners with the FWD 4-Cylinder Stocks as he becomes the eighth different driver to score a victory in as many races held to date.
Doud has been a constant front runner all season long, evident by the fact that he is the point leader. However, his efforts to try and gain a win had always come up just short but on this night Doud would capitalize on his front row starting spot by taking the lead at the outset and never looking back.
Hunter Flook did give Doud a run for his money as he pressured him to the end and came up a mere half car length shy of stealing away the win.
In the Slingshots it was Andrew Turpin of Saylorsburg racing to an unprecedented fifth win in seven starts. Turpin would show the way from start to finish and beat Patrick Wiess to the checkers by nearly three seconds.
SpeedSTR feature finish (20 laps): 1. Tim Buckwalter, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Mike Bednar, 4. Jeff Bubori, 5. Gavin Danner, 6. Chuck Eckert, 7. Cale Zangli, 8. Jasper Zeigafuse, 9. TJ Mayberry, 10. Briggs Danner, 11. Shannon Mausteller, 12. Doug Snyder, 13. Dustin Morris
STSS 602 Sportsman feature (25 laps): 1. Paulie Hartwig III, 2. Brandon Edgar, 3. Dylan Madsen, 4. Joe Toth, 6. Carter Crocker, 7. Tyler Peet, 8. Mike Lonely, 9. Matt Yoder, 10. Justin Comes, 11. TJ Mayberry, 12. Josh Allen, 13. Logan Watt, 14. Gordon Smith, 15. Derrick McGrew Jr., 16. Roger Hummer, 17. Blaine Klinger, 18. Brandon Oleski, 19. Allan Kellogg, 20. Tom Princiotta, 21. Logan Starr, 22. Mike Schneck Jr., 23. Ralph Mele, 24. Travis Green, 25, Kreg Crocker DNS: Mia Guy, Dale Welty, Matt Strauss DNQ: Bryan Rhoads, Ben Feldman
4-Cylinder Stock feature finish (15 laps): 1. Kevin Doud, 2. Hunter Flook, 3. Adam Campbell, 4. Tim Raup, 5. Kyler Stahl, 6. Preston Cobb, 7. Luke Hoffner, 8. Tim Campbell, 9. Jacob Tubbs, 10. Zakery Kline DNS: Ridge Cobb, Ernie Shilko
Slingshot feature finish (12 laps): 1. Andrew Turpin, 2. Patrick Weiss, 3. Austin Kroboth, 4. Brianna Snyder, 5. Aaron Weik, 6. Dustin Degler, 7. Dylan Starr