By Paul Harkenrider (Woodhull, NY) | A competitive field of cars was in attendance Saturday night at Woodhull Raceway, including former champions and rookie contenders for 2022. In the end, Shawn Donath rose to the top to score his first career win at Woodhull Raceway and his first in PST Competition.
Bryan Howland returned to Sprint Car racing driving for Tommy Wickham, and he would start alongside PST Rookie of the year contender Dalton Rombough in the 25-lap A-Main.
After about a 90-minute rain delay, the drivers would hit the track with the expectation that the track would be extremely fast.
Rombough would take the early lead with Howland trailing with Chuck Hebing and Jared Zimbardi, all contesting for a runner-up position as Rombough would continue to pull away.
As the first few laps continued to click by, Donath would also throw his hand into the mix, getting by Zimbardi and Hebing racing the bottom lane.
The first caution would come out on lap four when Blake Warner would be slow going down the front stretch, and it would restack the field with Rombough still leading over Howland, Donath, Hebing, and Davie Franek, who started eighth, restarting in the top five.
On the next restart, Howland would try again to get by Rombough, but the rookie held his line and was much faster in the straightaways.
Donath had a car that could be placed anywhere in, which he used to get Howland for second and could begin tracking down the leader.
It was on lap 14 when Rombough was running down the backstretch and would make contact with Jordan Hutton, who lost power entering turn three. It would result in Rombough losing his front nose wing and the ability to handle his car through the tight corners. As a result, Donath would take over the race lead on lap 15.
Rombough would start to fall back in the field and settle for a sixth-place finish.
In the end, Donath would go on to win his first career A-Main with the Patriots at the Woodhull Raceway over Bryan Howland and Chuck Hebing. Current point leader Davie Franek drew eighth and could reach the top five by finishing fourth. Kyle Drum came on late after starting 14th and finished fifth.
It was great to see Jordan Thomas back in a sprint car after a scary incident at Fonda Speedway a month ago, stay on the platinum tour, and take home an 11th place finish.
There was no Bonnell’s Rod Shop dash to keep the program moving after the rain delay, but heat races went to Jonathan Preston and Bryan Howland.
Next on tour is this Friday at Outlaw Speedway for the Outlaw Summer Nationals paying $3,500 to win. Please visit www.patriotsprinttour.com for continued updates to follow the Patriot Sprint Tour on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
1)53- Shawn Donath 2) 75- Bryan Howland 3) 45- Chuck Hebing 4) 28f- Davie Franek 5) 47- Kyle Drum 6) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni 7) 41- Dalton Rombough 8) 22- Jonathan Preston 9) 35- Jared Zimbardi 10) 3- Denny Peebles 11) 79- Jordan Thomas 12) 21- Steve Glover 13) 2- Dave Axton 14) 22k- Mike Koehler 15) 36- Mike Stelter 16) 66- Jordan Hutton (DNF) 17) 21B- Blake Warner (DNF)
Heat 1) 1) 22- Jonathan Preston 2) 53- Shawn Donath 3) 21- Steve Glover 4) 28f- Davie Franek 5) 3- Denny Peebles 6) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni 7) 47- Kyle Drum 8) 66- Jordan Hutton 9) 21B- Blake Warner
Heat 2) 1) 75- Bryan Howland 2) 35- Jared Zimbardi 3) 45- Chuck Hebing 4) 41- Dalton Rombough 5) 22k- Mike Koehler 6) 2- Dave Axton 7) 36- Mike Stelter 8) 79- Jordan Thomas