Broderick Blows Away ASCS Patriots at Eriez

Rich Vleck, ERIE, Penn. (May 30, 2010) Bubba Broderick has always been known for driving his sprint car to the limit, so when he jumped out in front of the ASCS Patriot Field in the A-Main Sunday Night at Eriez there was no question he would once again be on the edge. It was this tight line that he walked that made him exciting to watch, even though he had a three second lead most of the race.

Broderick, 20, from Brookfield, CT, led all 25 laps of the second leg of the Mike Emhof Motorsports King of OH/PA Series to collect the $2,000 top prize. As is the case many times in sprint car competition, Broderick had no idea he had more than a three second lead for much of the race and flirted with the outside walls and ultimate disaster the entire way.

"I love coming to this place," declared Broderick after climbing down from his Northeast Carpet/ Ciao Water No. 5 Wing in Victory Lane. "We had two seconds last year and I wasn't going to let this one slip away, we really needed it."

The third-year sprint chauffer rode the rim of the tight 1/3-mile the entire way, while Jared Zimbardi was moving through the pack running the bottom. Under caution with six laps remaining, Zimbardi pulled up underneath Broderick to put a thought in his mind.

"I saw (Zimbardi) coming up through and figured he was doing it on the bottom," noted Bubba after the race, eluding to his ability to see the scoreboard and recognize that the No. 35 had advanced from seventh to second. "In that last right I wasn't going to back down at all because I figured he had to be real strong."

Broderick had the benefit of having a lapped car placed between himself and Zimbardi on the lap 20 restart, but even so would reestablish a lead of over three seconds and make his only opponent the outside retaining walls, which he was flirting with constantly.

"You guys probably saw me sideways down the front stretch here," he told the packed grandstand in his Victory Lane Interview. "I was getting really close to that wall and might even have touched it once."

For the youngster from Connecticut, his second career ASCS Patriot win came just at the right time after being a bit off in the first month of the season. Committed to improving their results, the Broderick Racing team took an opportunity Sunday Morning to test at Sharon Speedway and get a feel for their Eagle, a new chassis for the team in 2010.

As Broderick checked out from the field, Jared Zimbardi completed a solid second place showing at the sight of his first career ASCS Patriot win. After redrawing the seventh starting spot, "The Juice" knew winning would be a tall order but ran the inside rail with ease to collect his third runner-up showing in a row. Jared conceded after the race that a better starting spot still might not have been good enough to dethrone Broderick on the night.

Bryan Howland finished in third, where he started, but had an up and down race in between. Howland would slip back to fifth but close in at the end and nearly steal second away from Zimbardi. It was the third top-three for Howland in this young season, helping him to solidify his point lead.

Tim Kelly rebounded from a tough heat to run up to fourth after starting 10th. Kyle Moffit would round out the top-five for his fifth top-six at Eriez in as many starts.

Judi Bates won National Parts Peddler Heat 1 and rebounded from a spin on lap six while running sixth to get back to that spot by the checkered flag. Bates would get by Putnam Painting/ Bonnell's Collision Four Laps of Fame Winner Vern Wasson in the closing laps, as Wasson would hold on for a career-best seventh place finish. Wasson was as high as fifth with five laps remaining.

Local favorite Scott Bonnell struggled with an incorrect gear choice and would place eighth, with Heat 2 Winner Don Adamczyk crossing in ninth after getting collected in a lap 19 incident with Gary Kriess while the two were attempting to avoid a slower car. Gary Troutman rounded out the top-10.

On a perfect weather day, the stands at Eriez were absolutely loaded with fans looking forward to the Patriots. They were on hand to witness the first start in a sprint for Bob Reis, who made his debut in the No. 4 but battled mag issues.

ASCS Patriots Results: 5/30/10, Eriez Speedway, Erie, PA.

MEM A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. Bubba Broderick (5), 2. Jared Zimbardi (35), 3. Bryan Howland (51), 4. Tim Kelly (12), 5. Kyle Moffit (7), 6. Judi Bates (121), 7. Vern Wasson (5v), 8. Scott Bonnell (3B), 9. Don Adamczyk (21), 10. Gary Troutman (44), 11. Jeremy Barnard (86), 12. Gary Kriess (92), 13. T.J. Newton (57), 14. Bob Reis (4).

Lap Leaders- Broderick 1-25.

Putnam Painting/ Bonnell's Collison Four Laps of Fame Dash (4 Laps)- 1. Vern Wasson (5v), 2. Tim Kelly (12), 3. T.J. Newton (57), 4. Jeremy Barnard (86), 5. Bob Reis (4), 6. Gary Troutman (44).

National Parts Peddler Heats (8 Laps Each)-

Race 1: 1. Judi Bates (121), 2. Scott Bonnell (3B), 3. Kyle Moffit (7), 4. Bubba Broderick (5), 5. Vern Wasson (5v), 6. Gary Troutman (44), 7. Bob Reis (4).

Race 2: 1. Don Adamczyk (21), 2. Gary Kriess (92), 3. Jared Zimbardi (35), 4. Bryan Howland (51), 5. T.J. Newton (57), 6. Tim Kelly (12), 7. Jeremy Barnard (86).

ASCS Patriot Points (Top Ten): 1. Bryan Howland 604, 2. Jared Zimbardi 581, 3. Tim Kelly 567, 4. Don Adamczyk 535, 5. Bubba Broderick 532, 6. Scott Bonnell 448, 7. Vern Wasson 394, 8. Bobby Breen 391, 9. Gary Troutman 346, 10. Kyle Moffit 343.

Bubba update

Bubba wins at Eriez Speedway.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Sideways with Bubba

Sideways with Bubba

Bubba Broderick Racing Report - by Rich Vleck

Edition 1- Roller Coaster Opening

Entering his third full season in full-sized sprint cars, Bubba Broderick expects big results as he tours throughout the Northeast.  Unfortunately, two races into the season, things have already been challenging the Brookfield, CT hot shoe. But that doesn't mean he is ready to quit.

Bubba spent Monday, May 17, traveling to Central Pennsylvania along with "Bones", his crew chief, picking up new pieces to get his new Eagle Chassis prepared for this Saturday's ASCS Patriot event at Woodhull, one of Broderick's best tracks.  This run down the road was necessary after a series of bad luck severely broke his primary mount in just the second feature of the year.

April 30, Black Rock, ASCS Patriots-

The Broderick Racing team rolled into the Finger Lakes early on a beautiful Friday Afternoon to start the 2010 season, but there were plenty of unknowns.  Using an Eagle Chassis, something new to the team, they were hoping for practice before Black Rock and thus knew the first race of the season might have some learning curves.

"We went through a shakedown to in practice, because we basically put the car together two days before," said Bubba. "I was really excited to use the Eagle,"  "It was all about dialing the car in, because we had no practice on the car."

After qualifying for the A-Main through his heat race, Bubba got some much-needed track time in his Northeast Carpet No. 5 in the dash to set him up for the feature.  The problem would be that it would be his final chance to learn about characteristics the car that night.

On the first lap of the A-Main, Gary Kriess flipped wildly in front of much of the pack, sending about 15 drivers scurrying, Broderick included.

"It was like a Daytona wreck. Cars were everywhere," recalled Bubba.  "I was already on the inside and I had nowhere to go but the infield."

"Me and Lance (Yonge) got together, and bent the radius rod, and the shock."  He would visit the work area but did not have the parts there to make necessary replacements.  "I said 'screw it, I need the points' and went back out there and ran the rest of the race.  So I never got a really good practice about it."

"It actually came out to be a good day because we went to the back and brought it back up to 12^th.  I'm never happy being out of the top-10 but that car was really hard to handle."

May 15, Canandaigua, ASCS Patriots-

The team was more composed after surviving Black Rock and having a week off to have the car re-lettered and touched up heading to Canandaigua, but would not end on as solid of footing.

"The night was like being a roller coaster," he noted.  "The night started off so great."  "I drew the No. 2 pill, the practice was great, and everything was going well."

Bubba jumped out in front of the pack in his heat race and had a comfortable lead, when his car jumped out of gear, slowing him on the front stretch.  An alert Broderick somehow managed to pop it back into gear and would stay in third.  It would happen again two laps later, and again Broderick would salvage a decent finish to come across in third.

"I don't know how I managed to pop back into gear," he admitted. "In my Mustang, I shift the car without using the clutch so I knew how to get it back in. You have to mash the gas at the exact time."

Despite finishing in third, slipping two spots would give Bubba negative passing points and relegate his No. 5 to the B-Main.  He would qualify with ease and get valuable information heading to the A-Main.

"We were having trouble with a few bumps in turn 1 that I just could not get around. Bones made a few adjustments and the car really was comfortable in the feature, because the car was going to tighten up if the race went long enough."

He had moved from 20^th to 13^th by lap 13 when a wreck involving Dylan Swiernik and Scott Bonnell occurred just ahead of Broderick.  Bubba looked to scoot by but that is when things went terribly wrong.

"I was racing hard with Tim Kelly, and I saw Bonnell spun out in the corner of my eye.  I was planning to go underneath and I went to hit the breaks and it went all the way to the floor.  The breaks weren't totally lost but there was no time to pump.  I got up into the loose stuff and spun the car to get it away from the wall, but it ended up backing right into the wall.  It was a really hard hit, I started seeing blurred vision."

In the end, the entire rear end of the Eagle Chassis was a mangeled mess. There was also a host of other pieces damaged on the car, including the rear end and shocks.  Despite the trials and tribulations, Bubba had a realistic view on the night.

"It's racing, that's all I can say.  We went from being in the redraw to starting in 20^th and that just got us in the way of trouble."

Broderick is optimistic about turning his season around in the near future though as he has top-five finishes at Woodhull, Sharon and Eriez, the next three stops on the ASCS Patriot Tour.

Bubba Broderick is a 20-year-old from Brookfield, CT in his third year of full-time 360 sprint car racing.  He was the 2008 Insinger Race Fuels Rookie of the Year for the ASCS Patriots and scored his first career win at Arcade International Raceway last June.  The Broderick Racing Team was named "Patriots of the Year" in 2009.

Broderick Racing is supported by, Northeast Carpet, Brownie's Towing, Ciao Water, Eagle Motorsports, Mike Emhof Motorsports, Fyne Line Construction, Campbell's Painting, Jim's Welding Supply.

For more information, be sure to visit www.BroderickRacing.com. 

 

Bubba Update - Blackrock Speedway 04-30-10

It was the Season Opener for Bubba in his new Eagle Chassis. Crew Chief Bones Stevens worked the kinks out in the shop and put a fast together a fast car when it rolled out of the trailer and onto the track.

The 30 car field left it to the luck of the draw and it was not so lucky with a pick of 45 out of 50 put Bubba in the back of the first heat. The heat was loaded with front runners from the ASCS & ESS sprint car series and Bubba worked his way to the front 4 positions to capture a spot in the A Main and the 4 lap dash where he finished in the 4th.
In the A Main Bubba Started in the 22nd and worked his way up to 15th before he got tangled up with another competitor and bent a radius rod. After a quick pit stop he got back on the track and charged back up to the 12th position before the checkers flew.

The next race will be at Canandaigua Speedway, Canandaigua, NY on Saturday, May 15th. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter. We will be providing updates throughout the night of racing. Check out the web site for the link Twitter. - Chris

Web - http://bubbabroderick.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/BroderickRacing

Bubba at Blackrock Speedway

Photos By Jay Fish