By Paul T. Harkenrider (Ransomville, NY) | Jared Zimbardi of Bradford, PA scored his sixth PST win of the season Friday night at the Ransomville Speedway over Ryan Susice, Tommy Wickham, Jonathan Preston and Darryl Ruggles.
The 21 car field was started by Lewiston, NY driver, Derek Jonathan, and Belfast, NY driver Steve Collins. Jonathan grabbed the early advantage heading into turns one and two with Collins shortly right behind him as the two battled for the race lead in the opening five laps.
Ryan Susice, who started fifth immediately moved into the top three at the beginning as he was not too far behind the race leaders in Jonathan and Collins. Then on lap seven, Susice used the outside lane going down the back stretch to take the lead from Jonathan, and Collins would follow right behind him as the two took over the top two positions.
On the same lap Susice was using the outside lane and Collins tried to go one lane higher and his left front tire hit the right rear tire of Susice which caused Collin’s front end of his car to lift heading into the turn four wall. Collins would go up and over the turn four wall to bring out the lone red flag of the night. Collins would immediately get out of his car and not need to have medical attention.
On the restart, Derek Jonathan would still be scored as the race leader as the event would go back a lap to set the new running order for the field that remained. It did not take long however for Susice to take command of the race on lap eight and would begin to pull away.
Also having a good lap seven restart was Jared Zimbardi who was running fourth at the time as he was able to get by Tommy Wickham and Derek Jonathan to take over the runner up spot.
Racing continued when on lap 15, Zimbardi caught Susice due to lap traffic, and then on lap 17, Zimbardi powered by Susice for the race lead and would be scored as the new leader on lap 18.
Susice would not let Zimbardi get too far away but he would run out of time to reclaim the lead and it was Jared Zimbardi picking up his sixth win in 2016 with the Patriot Sprint Tour and his 30th career win with the series.
Susice would settle for second as Tommy Wickham completed the podium. Jonathan Preston and Darryl Ruggles came from the Evingham Site Excavation Dash to complete the top five.
Zimbardi also collected the $50.00 Shuttleworths ‘Seals the Deal’ Bonus. Dan Kuhn picked up the Stampede Steakhouse ‘Final Finisher’ award. While Matt Tanner picked up the Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the Night’ award.
The series returns to Outlaw Speedway this Friday, August 5, 2016 for the second time this season. The following weekend the series then returns to the historic Fonda Speedway on Saturday August 13.
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The Patriot Sprint Tour is a traveling 360 Sprint Car Series that visits tracks in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Ontario.
Ransomville Speedway Results
July 29, 2016
A Main: JARED ZIMBARDI (6), Ryan Susice, Tommy Wickham, Jonathan Preston, Darryl Ruggles, Mike Kiser, Dylan Westbrook, Derek Jonathan, Kyle Drum, Paul Habeck, Glenn Styres, Scott Just, Steve Glover, Matt Tanner, Josh Azzi, Dan Bennett, Dan Kuhn, Dave Just, Alysha Bay, Steve Collins, Tyler Graves
Heat 1: Tommy Wickham, Steve Glover, Jonathan Preston, Josh Azzi, Mike Kiser, Dan Bennett, Tyler Graves
Heat 2: Paul Habeck, Kyle Drum, Darryl Ruggles, Derek Jonathan, Glenn Styres, Dan Kuhn, Dave Just
Heat 3: Steve Collins, Ryan Susice, Jared Zimbardi, Dylan Westbrook, Alysha Bay, Dave Just, Matt Tanner
ESE Dash: Darryl Ruggles, Mike Kiser, Jonathan Preston, Glenn Stryes, Dylan Westbrook, Scott Just
Shuttleworth’s Seals the Deal Bonus: Jared Zimbardi
Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the Night:’ Matt Tanner
Stampede Steakhouse ‘Final Finisher:’ Dan Kuhn