PA 600 SPEEDWEEK WINS GO TO DIMATTIA AND BUCKWALTER
Tony DiMattia of Malvern, PA is a rookie in ARDC Midget competition this season. Tim Buckwalter of Douglassville, PA is the reigning ARDC Champion. Both drivers took advantage of an idle weekend on the ARDC schedule to compete in the Kioti Tractors PA 600 Speedweek Presented By Adrenalized Promotions.
Tony DiMattia has turned some heads during the first half of the ARDC Midget season as he wheels a Hyper Midget in ARDC competition and has worked his way into the top ten in points with eleven races remaining on the 2013 schedule.
On Saturday, DiMattia qualified well for the Speedweek opener at Lanco. He timed second fastest and a second place finish in the dash found DiMattia on the outside pole for the start of the main event. DiMattia made a challenged Tyler Walton for the race lead early but then settled into third when Shane Lewis made the pass for second. As the old saying goes, “in order to finish first, you must first finish” – when the leaders tangled while battling for the lead, DiMattia was in the right place at the right time. He may have inherited the lead but he held his own on the double file restarts that came his way before the checkered flag. He had a full second lead at the checkered over second place driver, Chris Panczer and third place competitor, Mike Dicely.
It was a $2,500 pay day for the sixteen year old racer. It was his first win at Lanco, his first win in winged competition and certainly, the biggest win of the young driver’s career. “That’s not the way I like to win but we’ll take it,” DiMattia said of his win.
Tim Buckwalter may have moved into Small Block Modified racing this season but that’s not to say that he won’t jump into a midget or a 600 micro whenever the situation presents itself. And since one of his Modified car owners – Gary and Donna Spotts – is also his car owner in 600 micros, you know that those opportunities are going to be penciled in on the race schedule.
After racing at the Big Diamond and Grandview Speedways on Friday and Saturday night, Buckwalter drove the Spotts’ 600 Micro into Victory Lane at Greenwood Valley for the second race of the PA 600 Speedweek competition. “We figured that place out a while ago,” Buckwalter explained. “We’ve got our set-up and we’re good to go. We were good as soon as the green flag came out.” Buckwalter has also been a feature winner in ARDC competition this season in spite of his limited schedule.
In only three seasons of midget competition, Buckwalter went from Rookie of the Year in 2010 to ARDC Champion in 2012. A seventy plus race schedule is not unheard of for Buckwalter who may very well exceed that number by the time the final checkered flag is waved on the 2013 season.
PA 600 Speedweek competition moves to the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA on Wednesday and both DiMattia and Buckwalter will be in the field. The Wednesday night program will be the first wingless event of Speedweek.
While DiMattia and Buckwalter stole the headlines, several other ARDC competitors have found some success during Speedweek competition. Kyle Lick, who earned his first ARDC victory just tens days ago in North Carolina’s County Line Speedway, finished sixth at Greenwood Valley. Lick already as two wins in wingless 600 competition at the Action Track USA and will be in the field on Wednesday night. Ryan Greth took over the driving chores of the Greth/Carber entry at Lanco and finished fifth in the main event. Alex Bright returned from midget competition in the midwest to pick up a top ten at Greenwood Valley.
Three races remain in Speedweek action – keep your eye on the boys from ARDC!