By Paul T. Harkenrider (Woodhull, NY) | In his final season as a Patriot Sprint Tour competitor, Union Springs, NY driver Bryan Howland picked up his fourth career win at Woodhull Raceway against a very stiff 36 car field.
George Suprick and Steve Collins would bring the field to green with Collins taking the early lead before the first yellow was drawn. Because no laps were complete, the field would return to double file with the original starting grid.
This allowed Howland, who started fourth, to re-strategize his starting approach and power around both Collins and Suprick grabbing the race lead.
Another caution would occur on lap eight when Derek Locke and Ryan Kissinger made contact in the bottom of turn four, Kissinger was able to pull away but Locke would need extra attention.
Prior to that, Howland had met lap traffic allowing Collins to gain some ground on the leader.
Howland would again meet lap traffic on lap 14 eliminating his advantage from Collins and Suprick. Meanwhile, making their charge to the front was Darryl Ruggles, Jared Zimbardi and Cory Sparks who started 9th,10th and 11th, all who were also participants in the Evingham Site Excavation dash.
The three would maneuver by fourth and fifth place drivers, Joe Trenca and Dylan Westbrook and would continue to swap positions in the second half of the event.
Doc Collins would have one more shot at Howland on lap 19 as he would pull even terms with him heading down the back stretch but lap traffic would play victim for Collins, as Howland was able to go on to cruise for the win over Collins, Suprick, Cory Sparks, and Jared Zimbardi.
Darryl Ruggles would score the Evingham Site Excavation Dash win, while Joe Trenca, Paulie Colagiovanni, Bryan Howland, and Steve Collins would win the four qualifying heats. Jason Barney and Dave Just would win the B Mains.
Ryan Kissinger won the Shuttleworth’s 11th place finish award, Derek Jonathan won the Prestige Pool & Spa final finisher award, and Cory Sparks won the Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the Night’ award.
The Series now heads west to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio for its first of two appearances in 2017. Kyle Drum was last season’s winner over Bryan Howland and Justin Barger. Be sure to log onto patriotsprinttour.com and like Patriot Sprint Tour on facebook. You can also follow @PatriotSprints on Instagram and Twitter.
Extra Notes:
The 36 cars who packed into Woodhull Raceway is the most ever in the 18 events ever held at the speedway with drivers representing states from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada. Jonathan Preston unfortunately suffered motor issues during hot laps and was unable to race in his qualifying heat. Scott Kreutter filled in for injured Parker Evans which is his 7th different owner/car he has raced for at Woodhull. Bryan Howland has now won in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 at Woodhull. Joe Trenca and Kelly Hebing were kind enough to sign autographs and take pictures for the junior fan club during intermission as well.
The 2017 Patriot Sprint Tour season is brought to you by; A-Verdi Storage Containers, Hoosier Racing Tires, Prestige Pool & Spa, Einstein Construction Group, Bonnell’s Auto Group, Evingham Site Excavation Mike Emhof Motorsports Inc, Super Gen Products with Champion Power Equipment, Patriot Tank Lines, Danny Willmes Enterprises, Casey’s Truck Salvage, Just Signs & Designs, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Sunoco Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, Shuttleworth Asphalt Sealing, ASI Racewear, Curtis Berleue Photography, Fine Touch Collison.
A-Verdi Storage Containers A- Main Results: 1) 51-BRYAN HOWLAND (1), 2) 67- Steve Collins 3) 87- George Suprick 4) 1HD- Cory Sparks 5) 35- Jared Zimbardi 6) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 7) 98- Joe Trenca 8) 61- Scott Kreutter 9) 47x- Dylan Westbrook 10) 10P- Paulie Colagiovanni 11) 66x- Ryan Kissinger 12) 45- Chuck Hebing 13) 10LC- Kelly Hebing 14) 87*- Jason Barney 15) 47- Kyle Drum 16) 67r- Pete Richardson 17) 89- Robbie Stillwaggon 18) 22s- Shawn Sliter 19) 11- Robbie Shuttleworth 20) 81- Derek Jonathan 21) 77- Derek Locke 22) 2- Steven Hutchinson Jr, 23) 54J- Dave Just 24) X- Dan Bennett
Shuttleworth 11th Place Bonus: 66x- Ryan Kissinger
Casey Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the night:’ 1HD- Cory Sparks
Prestige Pool & Spa Final Finisher: 81- Derek Jonathan (20th Place)
Lap leaders- Howland 1-25
Heat 1: 98- Joe Trenca 2) 2- Steve Hutchinson Jr 3) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 4) 10LC- Kelly Hebing 5) 67r- Pete Richardson 6) 1-10- Jake Brown 7) 22r- Mike Koehler 8) 11s- Ryan Stillwaggon 9) 22- Jonathan Preston (DNS)
Heat 2: 1) 10P- Paulie Colagiovanni 2) 61- Scott Kreutter 3) 47- Kyle Drum 4) 66x- Ryan Kissinger 5) 81- Derek Jonathan 6) 89- Robbie Stillwaggon 7) 11-Robbie Shuttleworth 8) 2A-Dave Axton 9) 17z- Josh Azzi
Heat 3: 1) 51- Bryan Howland ,2) 87- George Suprick, 3) 45- Chuck Hebing 4) 22s- Shawn Sliter, 5) 77- Derek Locke 6) 87*- Jason Barney, 7) 54j- Dave Just 8) 99k- Dan Kuhn 9) 80- Chris Steele
Heat 4- 1) 67- Steve Collins 2) 47x- Dylan Westbrook 3) 35- Jared Zimbardi 4) X- Dan Bennett 5) 1HD- Cory Sparks 6) 79- Jordan Thomas 7) 36- Steve Doell 8) 22x- Ethan Preston 9) 66- Erik Karlsen
B-Main 1 (Two Qualify) 1) 54J- Dave Just 2) 11- Robbie Shuttleworth 3) 22- Mike Koehler 4) 79- Jordan Thomas 5) 36- Steve Doell 6) 22x- Ethan Preston 7) 66- Erik Karlsen
B-Main 2 (Two Qualify) 1) 87*- Jason Barney 2) 89- Robbie Stillwaggon 3) 1-10- Jake Brown 4) 2A- Dave Axton 5) 17z- Josh Azzi 6) 11- Ryan Stillwaggon
Evingham Site Excavation Dash: 1) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 2) 35- Jared Zimbardi 3) 1HD- Cory Sparks 4) 47- Kyle Drum 5) 2- Steve Hutchinson 6) 10LC- Kelly Hebing