By Mark Kielblock,
Media Relations Director/Announcer

Felton, DE - Randy Monroe Jr. entered Sunday afternoon's Candy Bowl competition at Susquehanna Speedway Park 24 points behind ARDC point leader, Frank Polimeda. He needed to have a good finish and for Polimeda to have some trouble to have a chance at the 2008 ARDC Championship. He got an extreme positive result in both categories, he won the race and Polimeda crashed out. Say hello to your 2008 ARDC Champion, Randy Monroe Jr.

Rookie Jack Spence and Donnie Trent led the 26 car starting field to the green flag. Spence showed early muscle jumping out to the lead while Steve Lenig rocketed up from row two with Monroe from row 3. A lap 3 yellow hinted of troubles to come for top-5 point runners Polimeda and PJ Gargiulo as they were both involved along with Bruce Buckwalter. Polimeda and Gargiulo were able to restart, Buckwalter was not.

Jack Spence continued to lead at the drop of the green, feeling pressure from Lenig. Lenig would eventually muscle his way past Spence on lap 6. Sixth place starter and 2007 Candy Bowl winner Eric Heydenreich then came on the scene, grabbing second on lap 7. Monroe grabbed third on lap 9 while Heydenreich was taking the lead off turn two on the same lap.

The pass was negated by a red flag for the incident that ended the title hopes of Frank Polimeda. Polimeda got caught up in a tangle with Zack Martini that saw both cars make hard wall contact in turn one, with Polimeda going over on his side. Polimeda's Neptune Research Spike/Mopar no. 44 sustained suspension damage that was too great to continue.

Steve Lenig resumed the lead when they got back to racing, with Heydenreich, Monroe, and Steve Buckwalter up from 15th starting spot close in tow. Heydenreich again took the lead on lap 11, only to lose it to a charging Monroe one lap later. Buckwalter took second on that same lap. Thirteen place starter Billy Pauch Jr. showed up in the top five on lap 13. Shortly after all that action a yellow involving Brett Arndt and AJ Ernesto brought out the yellow. Arndt entered the night fourth in points, but his night ended in this incident.

As they entered the final five laps of the Candy Bowl feature, Monroe pulled away from Buckwalter, Billy Pauch Jr grabbed fourth and Drew Heistand moved into the top 5. As they crossed the line the top five was Monroe, Buckwalter, Heydenreich, Pauch and Heistand.

Monroe talked about the stresses of trying to win a point championship, when asked about recently losing the lead after holding it most of the summer. "I had a bad race here (at Susky in September) and it got me down," Monroe shared. "Then I had a decent run at Grandview last week. Today I got my composure back."

Monroe then talked about his approach to the night's race, while trying to run for the point title. "Everybody was running so hard up front, I figured I had to be a race car driver and go for the win," Monroe said. And that's exactly what he did.

Pit Patter: PJ Gargiulo's had a disastrous night at last week's Grandview show, ending the race with a motor failure. This seemingly led to the end of any hope for him to race for the championship, but what it led to instead was a story of outstanding sportsmanship in racing. Gargiulo sat just one point behind fourth place Brett Arndt in the standings after the Grandview show. When Gargiulo's car showed up at Susky the question was, "Where did the motor come from?" The answer came from Gargiulo, "I have to thank Essay Racing. Scott and Brett Arndt let me use their motor, and not only that, they stayed up all night two nights this week helping us get it in the car," Gargiulo revealed. "We're just surrounded by good people who want to see us do well."

When asked what kept the team going through their hard times this year. "It was the never-say-die attitude of those two right there," Gargiulo said, pointing to his crew chief, Bill Jackson and his dad Paul, Sr.

ARDC closed the season in strong fashion with 34 cars signing in for competition. Heat races were won by Steve Buckwalter, Paul Kline and Steve Lenig. The B-main went to Andrew Hannula.

Candy Bowl IV 20-Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 2) 0-Steve Buckwalter 3) 11-Eric Heydenreich 4) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 5) 12-Drew Heistand 6) 9-Steve Lenig 7) 25-Chris Zrinski 8) 00-Greg Robinson 9) 5-Paul Kline 10) 75-Ryan Watt 11) 26-Stephanie Stevens 12) 21-Andy Martin 13) 20-Carey Becker 14) 42-Jack Spence 15) 89-Andrew Hannula 16) 51-PJ Gargiulo 17) 39-Justin Grosz 18) 78-Nick Wean 19) 10-Donnie Trent 20) 2-Tracy Readinger 21) 46-Brett Arndt 22) 14-AJ Ernesto 23) 29-Zack Martini 24) 44-Frank Polimeda 25) 83-Bruce Buckwalter
26) 38-Bobby Goerner




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