AKWESASNE, NY – May 31, 2011 - Heavy rains forced the May 20th feature events to be postponed at Mohawk International Raceway, then after mother nature decided to spoil the Memorial Day weekend festivities, MIR officials decided to fight back and throw all the racing on an absolutely beautiful Memorial Day Monday. With 7 features on the card lots of excitement was in store for the evening.
First up was the DIRTcar Pro Stock feature from May 20th. Ricky Thompson and Stephane Lebrun started on the front row with Thompson grabbing the early advantage and leading the opening 6 laps. It didn’t take long for veteran Jody Swamp to move from 7th to grab the top spot on lap 7. Only 2 caution flags slowed the 20 lap event which allowed Thompson regain the lead by lap 12 and held it the rest of the way over Swamp, Roch Aubin, Dave Bissonette and Dion Oakes.
In the Bandit division Derek Colbert and Bennett White made up the front row with Colbert taking the early lead. It didn’t take long for former Enduro division champion Owen White to make his presence known and grab the lead just past the halfway point of the 12 lap event. With the race going green to checkered Owen White opened up a big advantage on the field and grabbed the win over Colbert, Ernie Cree, Bennett White and Kyle Bouvier.
The DIRTCar Sportsman division concluded the May 20th portion of the program. Brad Winters and Dylan Evoy paced the field to the green flag with Winters taking the top spot. It didn’t take long for Evoy to wrestle the lead away from Winters on lap 3 bringing Dillon Sallows, Jenna David, Josh Jock and Tom Benedict along with him. Just then Winters slowed on the front stretch bringing out the yellow. A scary moment happened on lap 7 as Tom Benedict flipped in turn 4 after contact with the infield tire. Benedict was uninjured and was able to return to action later on in the evening. On the restart Evoy continued his strong run as Sheldon Hoogwerf started to move forward. By lap 13 Hoogwerf started to close on Evoy for the lead when Mike White slowed to a stop in turn 3. Evoy continued his dominance of the field until his left rear tire went flat on lap 17 sending him pit side. With Evoy out Sheldon Hoogwerf sailed to his 2nd career MIR DIRTCar Sportsman win over Dillon Sallows, Tom Conklin, Brad Winters and Kristian Smoke.
In the 2nd Bandit feature on Frenchie’s Chevrolet night Blaze Benedict and Stuart Mossow came to the green flag with Benedict grabbing the number 1 spot. Coming off turn 4 Benedict lost control of his machine, hitting the wall and rolling over just past the flag stand. Benedict was shaken up but able to walk away. Kyle Bouvier had made his way to the lead by lap 6 and survived several challenges from Owen White and Derek Colbert along with a late race caution flag to score his first career feature win. White took 2nd, Colbert 3rd, Andy Fish and Corey Castell completed the top 5.
The DIRTCar 358 Modifieds took center stage for the 22nd running of the Memorial Cup and the first leg of the Frenchie’s Chevrolet American Revolution Series. 50 laps was the issue and 2009 track champion Roy Tarbell along with Perry Francis shared the front row with Francis taking command in the early going. It took 13 laps for the first caution to come out as Matt Billings who was running 3rd broke his front end in turn 2. On the restart Francis held onto the top spot with John Lazore who came from 10th up to 2nd Todd Stone, Tarbell and Chris Raabe who had charged from 17th starting position. On lap 15 Lazore grabbed the lead with Francis, Raabe, Stone and Tarbell making up the top 5. Caution came out on lap 16 as Casey Swamp slammed the turn 4 wall, he was uninjured. On lap 23 Todd Stewart broke a front end and hit the wall in turn 4 bringing out the yellow. With the race going caution free for the next 15 laps Lazore, Francis and Raabe put on an incredible show for the fans as they traded the top 3 positions numerous times and lapping several cars in the process. Tim O’Brien lost a motor on the front stretch on lap 39 bunching the field up for the next restart. Lazore still held the lead when some great heads up driving occurred on lap 43. Perry Francis made a run to the outside of Chris Raabe going down the back stretch when suddenly Francis ran out of race track and came within feet of hitting the end of the pit wall in turn 3, he would head behind the pit wall, come back to the track and amazingly remain on the lead lap. On lap 47 Raabe and Lazore were racing hard for the top spot. Coming off turn 4 the 2 drivers made contact forcing John Lazore into the wall and ending his evening. The 2008 358 Modified champion was not injured but the car was heavily damaged. On the final restart Raabe held off several challenges from veteran Todd Stone to take his 2nd straight win and first Memorial Cup title, Perry Francis, Roy Tarbell and Carey Terrance rounded out the top 5.
The 2nd DIRTcar Sportsman 20 lap event saw Dylan Evoy take the lead from outside pole sitter Tom Benedict. Sheldon Hoogwerf’s bid for his second win of the night was taken away in turn 2 as he was forced pit side with front end troubles. Evoy held the top spot at the halfway point with Brandon Hagan, Travis Back, Tom Benedict and Dillon Sallows completing the top 5. Kristian Smoke lost control of his machine in turn 2 bringing out the yellow on lap 11. 4 laps later Brad Winters would also have similar issues and bring out the caution once again. Once the green flag flew for the final restart Evoy built up a comfortable lead on Travis Back and cruised to his 2nd career DIRTcar Sportsman win at MIR. Ronnie Tyo, Tom Benedict and Mike Arquiett completed the top 5.
The DIRTcar Pro Stocks took to the speedway for their 2nd feature of the night with outside pole sitter and reigning Mr. DIRTcar Series champion Louie Jackson getting the lead over David Papineau. On lap 7 Ricky Thompson lost the handle in turn 4 and spun which forced early leader Jackson and Roch Aubin into the outside wall. Thompson was able to return to action while Jackson and Aubin were out of the event. The next restart saw David Papineau hold the top spot with Dave Bissonette 2nd and Ricky Thompson now running in the 3rd spot. Thompson grabbed the lead away from Papineau and started to pull away. With one lap remaining Papineau’s great run came to an end as he broke while running second and headed to the pits. Thompson scored his 2nd win of the night followed by Bissonette, Jody Swamp, Dion Oakes and Preston Mossow.
This coming Friday night 101.5 The FOX and Harley Davidson present the 2nd 20 lap feature from May 20th for the DIRTcar 358 Modifieds along with a regular 25 lap event. DIRTcar Sportsman, DIRTcar Pro Stocks and the first round of the CKON 97.3 FM Bandit Series. The green flag drops at 7:45 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment