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Friday,
May 18, 2007 12:00:00 AM
Minersville,
Pa. URC Sprint racer Dave Ely of Sinking Spring, Pa. is quickly becoming
known as the "Moonlighter" for his exploits on the ARDC Midget
circuit this year. He is running as many ARDC events as his schedule will
allow -- and making them count. Big Diamond Raceway has come particularly
to his liking as he scored a second place finish there on April 27 and
followed that up with a win Friday night.
Chris Zrinski of Forked River, NJ and Scott Zipp of Bridgeport led the
field to the green flag with Zipp taking the early lead. There was plenty
of action going on behind them however as Ely and rookie Ryan Smith were
coming up from their sixth and seventh starting spots. Smith, the 2006
Northeast Ford Focus Midget Champion and ARDC Rookie was particularly
impressive as he fought his way into the lead and stretched it to half a
straightaway at one point in the early going. But their are no easy races
in the ultra-competitive ARDC series in 2007. Just as it looked like
Smith was going to put his stamp on this race Ely and early-season Big
Diamond winner Frank Polimeda appeared in the top-3 and were closing
fast.
Just as a dramatic 3-way battle began to unfold, it all came to a
crashing end for Polimeda who rode out a terrifying end-over-end flip
that began at the end of the front straight and ended in turn one.
Polimeda was shaken, but emerged from the car uninjured.
The ensuing red flag gave fans time to realize that while all this other
action was taking place at the front of the pack, 17th place starter and
part-time Midget chauffer, Billy Pauch Jr. had clawed his way to fourth
in 13 laps. Pauch was making one of his scheduled appearences in the Two-Dogs
Racing Team, Bryan Kobylarz-wrenched ARDC Midget.
After one more caution interrupted the race, Smith, Ely, Andy Martin who
was up from 12th starting spot, and Pauch were ready to slug it out to
the finish, What a final six laps it was as Smith jumped out to defend
his lead with authority, but Dave Ely threw everything his years of
racing experience have given him at the rookie. Lap after lap Ely would
look up high coming off of turn two, then throw his car under Smith
entering turn three in a classic dirt track slide-job, perhaps hoping to
unnerve the young driver. Smith would have none of it as he held his line
each time and held off the advances of Ely. The move of the night came
for both drivers as Ely tried one more slider in turn three, momentarily taking
the lead, but the determined Smith turned left and slid right back past
Ely coming out of four.
There would be no Cinderella story in this race, however as Ely finally
made his outside sweep work past Smith coming off turn two with two to
go. "I saw him under me a couple of times earlier in the race,"
Smith explained. "I tried to move down to cover the inside, that''s
how he finally got around me on the outside."
After Ely got by, Smith faded back one more spot as a hungry Andy Martin
dove under Smith on the white flag lap to snatch second place. "It
seemed like the motor was laying down a little bit at the end, and we
went with a softer tire that I think was going away too." Smith
said.
For Martin, it was a little out of character to go down low to pass.
"I went against my beliefs and went to the bottom," Martin
joked after the race. "Sometimes you have to go where they''re not
to make a pass."
Winner Ely had high praise for the young Smith, "The kid did a good
job, he put the car where it needed to be each lap." Ely explained
his high-side move after so many attempts down low. "They put some
clay down here, by the end of the night you are down to the original
surface and it starts to slick up. That''s why I had to go up top."
Pauch Jr finished fourth and PJ Gargiulo fifth. Gargiulo had an amazing
comeback during the night. He was involved in a double-flip in his heat
turn in one with Dave Shirk. Gagiulo stayed with the car and had the
track crew push him off. He qualified third in the heat and started 10th
in the feature, coming on to finish fifth.
33 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition at Big Diamond.
ARDC Midget Feature: 20-Laps - 1. 77 Dave Ely 2. 21 Andy Martin 3. 54
Ryan Smith 4. 41 Billy Pauch Jr. 5. 51 PJ Gargiulo 6.22 Ray Bull 7.92 Scott
Zipp 8. Eric Heydenreich 9. 78 Nick Wean 10. 49 Brett Arndt 11.2t Tracy
Readinger 12. 9 Steve Lenig 13. 29 Zack Martini 14. 26 Stephanie Stevens
15. 25 Chris Zrinski 16. 20 Carey Becker 17. 19 Phil Meisner Jr. 18. 75
Jeff Schell 19. 61 PJ Pavlick 20. 38 Bob Goerner 21. 00 Greg Robinson 22.
83 Bruce Buckwalter 23. 12 Drew Heistand 24. 27 Randy Monroe 25. 44 Frank
Polimeda 26. 14 AJ Ernesto
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