It’s Poker Series “Aces” For Buckwalter At Spirit Speedway

Story By: KOLBY RAMEY / SPIRIT SPEEDWAY – SWEDESBORO, NJ – It was Hand #3 for the 2017 Poker Series at the Spirit Auto Center Speedway as Tim Buckwalter and Kyle Weiss earned Aces for their efforts and wins in the 600 and 270 Micro Sprint action, respectively.

For the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track Slingshots, it was Hand #4 as Brett Bieber made it three of kind with his third win in the series.

Going into the night’s action, Buckwalter and Travis Hill each held an Ace for their Poker Series wins so far this season and each would play a major role in the outcome of Hand #3. The two drivers started side by side in the second row and were quickly battling for the top spot. Polesitter, Kyle Spence led the first two circuits with Hill diving into the inside of turn three to take the lead on lap three. Hill led three times around the quarter mile with Buckwalter moving the Barry & Cheryl Greth No. 71 into the lead on lap six. Restarts kept the field close but Buckwalter was able to put a few car lengths between himself and Hill under green flag conditions.

“We could run the track wide open here tonight,” Buckwalter exclaimed. “Hats off to the crew for the track preparation tonight. I think we found something that will work here,” the feature winner stated. The competition would probably agree!

Buckwalter led Hill, Nick Walton, Spence and Tommy Kunsman to the finish but Hill was later disqualified during post race technical inspection. That moved Gary Bozowski into the top five at the checkered after he had contended for a top five spot throughout the race.

Kyle Weiss came away with a win in the 270 Micro Sprint portion of the Bill Thomas Memorial Weekend last October but found his way to Victory Lane in the heat of the summer over a stellar field of competitors to earn his first win of the season and collect an Ace for his Poker Hand. Weiss led all of the twenty-five laps of the main event and handily raced his way through lapped traffic before a series of cautions provided a clear race track. The clear race track was the good news. The bad news was that the competition was now right on Weiss who had enjoyed a comfortable lead up until this point.

Things really got heated in the final laps as Jacob Hendershot made his way by Devon Adams to take over second. Weiss had to race Hendershot for the win with just two laps to go. After leading the entire race, Weiss was at a disadvantage since he had no way to know what line his competitors were running. “That’s one reason I hate to lead,” Weiss commented but he held his line to got to the checkered flag first for the win. Hendershot finished a very close second followed by Adams in third. Nick Skias, the winner of the last Poker Series event, picked up a Jack for his fourth place finish with Dan Lane rounding out the top five.

Coming into the 2017 season, Oley, PA driver, Brett Bieber had never won a race on the Spirit Auto Center Speedway and really didn’t think that it was ever going to happen. They say the first win is the hardest and Bieber is certainly proof of that as he as won three of the four Action Track Poker Series events this season. Bieber took the lead from his outside pole starting spot to fended off the challenges of Jared Silfee late in the event to capture the win and collect his third Ace in Donny Hoffman’s No. 151. Silfee, the winner of the last Poker Series event, dogged Bieber as the race neared its conclusion. Several times, Silfee got a wheel under the leader in turn two but each time, Bieber was able to pull away off the corner.

Bieber took the win over Silfee with Travis Bieber finishing third for his best Spirit Auto Center effort to date. Sam Neary finished fourth with Dylan Hoch besting Rick Partite on the final lap for the top five

Richie Hitzler picked up the win in the Xcel 600 Modifieds followed by Jon Keller and DJ Hunt.

Poker Series

600 Micro Sprints (25 laps)- 1. Tim Buckwalter, 2. Nick Walton, 3. Kyle Spence, 4. Tommy Kunsman, 5. Gary Bozowksi, 6. Wayne Scott, 7. Jesse James, 8. Pat Bealer, 9. Steven Bracall, 10. BJ Antonio, 11., Nick Havens, 12. Jermain Godshall, 13. Nash Ely, 14. Chris Fenimore, 15. Jon Keller, 16. Randy West, 17. Dave Damaio, 18. Geordon Marrero, 19. Brandon Pavel, 20. Jonathan Pepe, 21. Steven Bull, 22. Jay Hartman, 23. Nathan Smith, 24. Jim Tippin DQ – Travis Hill, DNS – Rob Vivona

270 Micro Sprints ( 25 laps) – 1. Kyle Weiss, 2. Jacob Hendershot, 3. Devin Adams, 4. Nick Skias, 5. Dan Lane, 6. Alex Swift, 7. Brandon Edgar, 8. Robbie Watson, 9. Toby Blumenshine, 10. Colin Bustard, 11. Barry Pollard, 12. Bill Gray, 13. John Blanda, 14. Glenn Macomber, 15. John Wagner, Jr., 16. Ryan Wozunk, 17. Mark Landwehr, 18. Richie Keller, 19. Steve Carlis, 20. Tyler Reinhardt, 21. Steve Coslop, 22. Brandon Shipley 23. Sammi Schenick, 24. Bill Murphy

Action Track Poker Series for the Slingshots (20 laps) – 1. Brett Bieber, 2. Jared Silfee, 3. Travis Bieber, 4. Sam Neary, 5. Dylan Hoch, 6. Richard Partite, 7. Matt Miller, 8. David Bell, 9. Joe Toth, 10. Steve Schenker, 11. Dave Morrell, 12. Ashley Therien

600 Xcel Modifieds – 1. Richie Hitzler, 2. Jon Keller, 3. DJ Hunt, 4. Jason Dunkleberger, 5. Aaron Bowes, 6. Kory Inglin, 7. Jon Pepe, 8. Cody Manmiller, 9. Kyle Inglin, 10. Grant Schibilia, 11. Jon Josko, 12. Tyler James, 13. Craig Beringer, 14. Kevin VanValkenburg, 15. Vincent Varrano, 16. Shawn Schibilia, 17. Gaby Meitzle, 18. Travis Fichter, 19. Josh Pepe, 20. Scott Heilman, 21. Nate Brinker, 22. Brian Blankenbiller