RPW Exclusive: Tim Hartman Jr. Comes Back Strong At Glen Ridge; Takes Victory Sunday Night

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – Mother nature tried to get another victory Sunday night at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. Rain came in just before warmups were ready to line up. But, as the weather cleared, it was time to get down to business and Tim Hartman Jr. proved to be the best of the best Sunday, taking the checkered flag on one of the best tracks we’ve had to date.

Can’t forget there was still a price on both he and Dave Constatino’s head though. The bounty was up to a whopping $1,400 if they could have been beat.

Jim Introne Jr. jumped out to the early lead of the 25-lap Sportsman main event. He would feel pressure from Brian Calabrese as the top guns were battling it out mid-pack, slicing and dicing for positions.

Constantino went three-wide on the inside of Hartman Jr. and Cad Edwards but was passed back by the driver of the #22 as the laps clicked down.

Calabrese was all over Introne Jr.trying to get underneath him, and as the two entered turns three and four on lap 19, the complexity of the race changed. Calabrese made contact with Introne Jr. and the two continued banging each other, going to the top of the track. As both drivers made their way ‘together’ down the frontstretch, third place runner Andrew Buff saw a opening to get by both down low. However, he was pinched as the top two cars came down the track. This caused Buff to spin his #92 after hitting a yuk tire.

Introne Jr. and Calabrese were blacked flag for their actions on track (rough riding) and were done for the night, as was Buff, who was an innocent victim. Buff went pitside on the hook with extensive damage, ending his strong run.

With the top three cars in the pits and out of contention, Bill August was now the leader with Hartman Jr. charging from the outside. On the restart, with 11 laps left, Hartman took over the top spot. Constantino moved into second at the same time, but that is as high as he would get, because he had nothing for the leader. It was all Tim Hartman Jr. that would take the checkered, and the Bounty would go unclaimed once again.

“We sure caught a break tonight, but it was a shame for Andrew Buff,” Hartman said. “I was pulling for him to make it through that mess and he got caught up. Thankfully, we gained three spots during the incident because the track was hard to pass due to the rain earlier.”

Bill August recorded his best run of the year since moving up, coming home in third followed by Joe Orlando and Colin Dubois.

The Limited Sportsman feature saw the “young gun” Derrick McGrew Jr. get another win as he took the lead from the outside pole and never looked back. Ryan Heath tried reeling in the DKM chassis of McGrew as he closed the gap at times, but never would make a serious challenge.

Heath took second with David Bosclair having a solid third place finish, Shane Larman and Kurtis Hohensheldt rounded out the top 5 in a race that went caution free.

The Pro Stock feature winner was Ivan Joslin as he jumped out to the early lead from the onset of the event. The always interesting Luke Horning was closing the gap in the final circuits, coming from last after jumping a restart.

“Cousin Luke” would have to settle for second, however with Andy Graves having a great run, finishing third. This was one of his best since moving up from the 4-Cylinder division. Justin Knight was fourth with Stevie Cosselman, venturing into the Pro Stock ranks with a new car, coming home fifth.

The Street Stock Challenge 25-lapper was won by first-time runner to the track Jesse Murphy. Murphy was followed by the “Wheelman” Randy Miller, who has two of the Challenge wins this year at the track. Scott Lawrence, Jason Samrov and Jim Groncki were your top 5

Mini stocks were won by Josh Samrov for the Duel Cam and Keith Tesiero in the Single Cam.

Jim Mudge picked up his first ever win in the Sr. Slingshot main event. His only challenge came from Tyler Vadney but he had something go wrong and had to pull to the infield. Brett Putnam, Danny Ballard, Mike Hill, Joe Smith all rounded out the top five as this race also when with no yellows.

Jr. Slingshots winner was Kasey Hufcut with Sloan Cherko having a super run came in second with Connor Hill, Garrett Poland and Darryn Fallis the rest of the top five.

It was great to see Mother Nature get defeated Sunday night.

Notes…

I was able to talk to the Tim Hartman Sr. early in the night about coming up light on the scale at the Hoosier Daddy Sportsman event last week. Hartman’s son, Tim Jr., crossed the finish line first but did not get the victory.

“We had a weight bracket fall of the car and it had a 25 lb. weight attached to it on the left rear by the fuel cell,” he said. “We knew our car makes weight on an empty tank, so it was confusing why it didn’t. We checked the whole car over for the bolted weight and all were secure. Then, the next day, I remembered we didn’t check the one in the back and there was the problem. It was gone and man, that was a tough blow.”

Coming back strong on Sunday night hopefully made things a lot better for the team.