RPW Exclusive: Determination Lands Tim Hartman Jr. In Victory Lane At Glen Ridge Motorsports Park Sunday

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – On a hot summer night, the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park had plenty off excitement on the track and off. Tim Hartman Jr. had his excitement as he gave the knockout punch to claim the 30 lap feature event win.

With tough going’s in his heat race after by being involved in a accident, Hartman’s crew went to work to get their car ready in time for the main event. They succeeded in a big way.

Hartman’s chief competitor, Dave Constantino, had problems before he was even at the track. All were wondering were the multi-time feature winner was for his heat race.

Coming off a big win in the King Of Dirt Series event at Fonda Speedway the night before, the crew was prepping their car for the Ridge. While changing gears at the shop, someone noticed a problem with the ring and pinon in the rear end. That forced the crew to change the complete rear end, making it impossible to get to the track in time, and in turn, missing their heat race.

Getting the work done, the team did make it to the track in time for middle of the evening hot laps. As they unloaded the car, I made the comment “you guys are always about the dramatics”

Chip Constantino, David’s brother , replied “that’s us.”

The team was just thankful that It did not let go in the KOD race the night before.

“Luck was certainly on our side,” he said.

Before the feature events even started, there was plenty of action going on with the top two teams in the Modified ranks. With the hard work of the crews, both would make to main event. Hartman rolled off fifth with Constantino starting right next to him.

Joe Orlando would set the pace for the main event, but by lap seven, it was Hartman, using the highline in turn four, to get to the top spot and stretch things out to a half track lead. Meanwhile, it was the #7 of Constantino that would soon take the runner up spot and tried to reel in the “Hitman.”

However, on this night, it was all Hartman Jr. as the race ran caution-free, and he took home his third victory of the year.

“After trouble in our heat race, these guys worked there butts off,” Hartman said. “Just before we went out for the feature, we noticed the right rear hub was broken. I was waiting for it to let go and I just had to ride it out. Thankfully, it lasted long enough.”

Finishing in the runner-up spot was Constantino followed by Orlando. Leo Fotopolous and Bill August rounding out the top five.

Last week’s Limited Sportsman winner, Ryan Heath, had never won a race before that point. Well, apparently he enjoyed it so much that he put himself right back their again on Sunday evening.

“I saw (Derrick) McGrew Jr. restarting next to me and I was ready to do battle,” Heath said. “I wanted to give the fans an exciting, good, clean race.”

However, that wasn’t in the cards. While the #26 of McGrew was making his move on the leader, the car behind him made contact, sending the youngster around and sending him to the rear. He did rebound for a solid third place finish, though.

However, this night belonged to Heath.

“This was a great run but I’m real excited about next week,” he said. “The Limited Sportsman will be running for more money and I’m hoping to take that race home. We are certainly a confident team and taking the win next week would be great.”

Shane Larman would have his best finish of the year coming home in second. As I stated earlier, McGrew Jr. would come back for third followed by Jeff Proctor and McCartney.

In the Pro Stock feature, Luke Horning showed the field that this was his night as he went unchallenged, taking the lead on lap seven and never looking back. He was followed by Justin Knight, Ivan Joslin, Melcum Warner, who recorded his best finish of the year, and Harley Sheppard.

The Street Stock feature went to Stevie Cosselman as he ran a smooth race to claim the victory.

The 4-Cylinder feature had Keith Tesiero take the win in the Single Cam. Caution on lap 13 had the top 3 runners all get knocked out of contention. Two were involved in the accident while one was sent to the rear for his involvement. Tesiero said thank you and went on for the win. PJ Bleau took home the win in the Dual Cam.

Senior Slingshots had veteran Dan Ballard led the first circuit but misfortune struck. A wheel came off going down the backstretch, handing the lead to Bryce Cherko.

Mike Hill would chase him down, as on the last lap, he two finished side-by-side with Cherko nipping Hill at the line.

“I heard Hill,” Cherko said. “If he was going to pass me, it would have to be on the high side. I’m glad I got the job done.”

Mudge was third, followed by Gage and Jim Pollard.

The Junior Slingshots was once again was won by the high-flying Garrett Poland. Poland took the lead on lap three and sailed to the victory.

Until the next race, peace to our troops and families. See you all at the races.