Hard Work for Scott Kreutter Merits His First Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Win
at Merrittville
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.
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.
-credit: ascs
