[b Hard Work for Scott Kreutter Merits His First Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Win at Merrittville]
[i Rich Vleck, THOROLD, Ont. (August 1, 2009)]
In what he described as a “Horrible Season”, Scott Kreutter finally broke through to pick up his first career Lucas Oil ASCS A-Main Win, doing it in impressive fashion.
Kreutter, of Alden, NY, lost the lead early on and then fought back to get to the front and stay there for good for the win at a track he used to dabble with in a modified when he was a teenager.
He became the 10th different winner on the 2009 Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Tour in 14 events. He also moved towards the top of the standings in the King of the Golden Horseshoe after this second leg of the series.
Winning on the Patriot tour was reason enough for the third year sprint shoe to celebrate, but after suffering motor and chassis damage on multiple occasions this year, including last Friday at Arcade, along with having trouble with finding crew to cross the border into Canada, this win was just what the doctor ordered.
“I can’t believe how well the car worked tonight,” stated “The Straight Shooter” in Victory Lane after a thrilling 25-lap event. “We took the car down to (TrevisCraft Chassis) this week to fix the frame and he put a whole new rear clip in and this was our first time out.”
Even though the 103.3 Edge No. 52 Schnee jumped out to the early lead, Don Adamczyk, another winless Patriot competitor, was also on a mission as he went diving to the inside and took the lead on lap six.
Just after Adamczyk took the top spot, they worked through turns one and two. Kreutter tried to use the very fast cushion to go back around the No. 21, but Bobby Breen had ideas of his own and tried to go even higher in turn two to take the lead. Kreutter and Breen got together, with Breen spinning around.
On the restart, Kreutter began to reapply pressure on Adamczyk. The two Western NY competitors ran very different grooves around the speedway and when the bottom began to give up grip, the 2007 Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Rookie of the Year was able to get enough of a run to rim ride back in to the lead on lap 11.
Kreutter drove away from the pack through the mid section of the race as Adamczyk worked hard to hold back the rest of the pack. As the bottom gave up, Bryan Howland, who won the only other Patriot race at Merrittville in 2006, moved up in to second, with Tim Kelly moving up to third.
Howland closed right in on Kreutter as the two former Patriot Rookie of the Years hit the back of the pack. Howland put his No. 51 underneath Kreutter on multiple occasions, but each time the No. 52 would dart back in to the lead with a burst of speed on the top.
“I saw Bryan down there in traffic, but I knew that I was really good on the top and knew I could hang on up there,” added the former micro sprint champion.
The two cautions of the feature were on laps 19 and 20. The first yellow flag allowed a slew of lapped cars to get out of the way for the top runners. On the ensuing restart, Howland tried the bottom but found it to be futile. On the following restart, the defending champion tried to run with Kreutter in turns one and two but pushed over the cushion and opened up the door for Tim Kelly. As the winners of heats one and two battled, Kreutter had all he needed to run away and hide.
Tim Kelly would be able to slide in front of Howland and hold him off for his second-straight runner-up with the Patriots. Kelly, a Merrittville winner in 1993, made his move on the lap six restart when he rocketed from seventh to fourth. Even though it looked like a solid run for the Rock Stream, NY Veteran, he was still upset after the event because he felt the engine was skipping, hurting his chances at the win.
Bryan Howland would end up third but in the process would take back the point lead in the Championship Standings. After struggling the last two races, the Auburn, NY driver was happy to get back on track.
The Breen Brothers, Blake and Bobby, would place fourth and fifth, respectively. Blake consistently went forward from his 12th place starting spot while Bobby fought back from a lap six incident to barely get back in to the top-five at the line.
By milliseconds, Breen was ahead of Don Adamczyk, who would finish in sixth. The final finish does not begin to show how strong the Full Moon Vista Bike & Sport No. 21 was on a beautiful Saturday Night, especially early in the feature.
The same could be said for Dave Dykstra, who was in fourth on the final restart and then hit the cushion wrong and slipped back to seventh. The Port Colborne, Ontario sophomore used to be a regular with his sportsman at Merrittville and thought he had a chance at his first win after landing on the pole when his young fan as part of the Make-a-Wish Program drew the No. 1 starting spot.
Ryan Hunsinger suffered a flat tire on lap two but would sore back through the pack to pick up eighth, just ahead of his teammate Glenn Styres who won National Parts Peddler Heat No. 3.
Jared Zimbardi had a miserable night by his standards, including spinning out early in the feature, collecting his buddy Bubba Broderick, who won the Dash. He was able to prevent a possible disaster points wise however as he rounded out the top-10.
A total of 25 cars filled the pits for the first sprint car feature at the pristine 3/8-mile D-shaped oval since 2007. Jay Pietz, Tim Zack and Doug Bowman all had mechanical problems on the night and unfortunately did not qualify.
For more information, visit www.ASCSpatriotsprints.com or www.ASCSracing.com.
Lucas Oil ASCS Patriots Results: 8/1/09, Merrittville Speedway, Thorold, Ontario.
Lucas Oil A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. Scott Kreutter (52), 2. Tim Kelly (12), 3. Bryan Howland (51), 4. Blake Breen (8), 5. Bobby Breen (9), 6. Don Adamczyk (21), 7. Dave Dykstra (5D), 8. Ryan Hunsinger (77x), 9. Glenn Styres (0), 10. Jared Zimbardi (35), 11. Keith Dempster (5k), 12. Jamie Collard (27), 13. Mikey Kruchka (01), 14. Joel Lehman (4z), 15. Stan Zanchin (94), 16. Kevin Loveys (18), 17. Derek Jonathan (81), 18. Brandan Warner (10b), 19. John Burbridge Jr. (21J), 20. Bubba Broderick (5), 21. Devin Caron (24k), 22. Gordy Button (714).
Lap Leaders- Kreutter 1-5, Adamczyk 6-10, Kreutter 11-25.
B-Main (Top 6 Transfer to A-Main)- 1. Mikey Kruchka (01), 2. Brandan Warner (10B), 3. John Burbridge Jr. (21J), 4. Devin Caron (24k), 5. Jamie Collard (27), 6. Joel Lehman (4z), 7. Jay Pietz (71Jr), 8. Tim Zack (71x), DNS: Doug Bowman (57).
Canadian Sprint Car Nationals Four Laps of Fame Dash (4 Laps)- 1. Bubba Broderick (5), 2. Gordy Button (714), 3. Jared Zimbardi (35), 4. Blake Breen (8), 5. Ryan Hunsinger (77x), 6. Kevin Loveys (18).
National Parts Peddler Heats (8 Laps Each)-
Race 1: 1. Tim Kelly (12), 2. Bobby Breen (9), 3. Dave Dykstra (5D), 4. Jared Zimbardi (35), 5. Bubba Broderick (5), 6. Brandan Warner (10B), 7. Mikey Kruchka (01), 8. Joel Lehman (4z), 9.Tim Zack (71x).
Race 2: 1. Bryan Howland (51), 2. Don Adamczyk (21), 3. Gordy Button (714), 4. Ryan Hunsinger (77x), 5. Derek Jonathan (81), 6. John Burbridge Jr. (21J), 7. Jamie Collard (27), DNS: Jay Pietz (71Jr).
Race 3: 1. Glenn Styres (0), 2. Scott Kreutter (52), 3. Keith Dempster (5k), 4. Kevin Loveys (18), 5. Blake Breen (8), 6. Stan Zanchin (94), 7. Devin Caron (24k), 8. Doug Bowman (57).
Contingency Awards-
Ohsweken Speedway/Canadian Sprint Car Nationals Award- Kreutter
Keizer Aluminum Wheels Passing Points Award- Kelly
M&W Aluminum Products Top-5 Award- Bo. Breen
Ultra-Shield Race Products Top-10 Award- Styres
Rod End Supply 20th Anniversary Award- Broderick
Kinser Air Filter Hard Luck Award- Button
King of the Golden Horseshoe Standings (Top-10, Through 2 of 4 Events)- 1. Bobby Breen 278, Tie-2. Glenn Styres and Blake Breen 276, 4. Dave Dykstra 272, 5. Jared Zimbardi 270, 6. Scott Kreutter 264, 7. Bryan Howland 256, 8. Ryan Hunsinger, 9. Keith Dempster 248, 10. Stan Zanchin 242.
Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season Standings (Top-10)- 1. Bryan Howland 39, 2. Jared Zimbardi 36, 3. Trevor Lewis 33, 4. Don Adamczyk 30, 5. Michael Parent 28, 6. Blake Breen 26, 7. Tommy Wickham 22, Tie-8. Gary Troutman and T.J. Newton 18, 10. Jason Barney 17.
Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Points (Top Ten): 1. Bryan Howland 1,968, 2. Jared Zimbardi 1,962, 3. Don Adamczyk 1,854, 4. Bubba Broderick 1,777, 5. Bobby Breen 1,602, 6. Blake Breen 1,346, 7. Gordy Button 1,292, 8. Derek Jonathan 1,109, 9. Chris Muhleisen 1,102, 10. Scott Kreutter 1,038.
- Lonnie Wheatley on Aug 03, 2009
- Article Date: 8/3/2009