Sportsman was the highlight of the program at Lee USA Speedway last Friday
night, and despite another battle with wet weather, the race made it into
the record books.
leader Grant Aither taking the win in the first qualifier over Peter Cook
and former champ Ron Bolduc, and Bill Ahern winning the second followed by
Bobby Melvin and rookie Frankie Eldredge.
Jesse Bousquet and Ahern took turns out front when the extra-distance 50-lap
feature event went green, while Aither quickly moved up from seventh on the
starting grid to join the battle for the lead at the ten-lap mark.
A caution on lap 11 for a crash that sidelined Brian Grantz and Chris
Sullivan set Aither up on the outside of the front row for the ensuing
restart, and he powered to the lead when racing resumed.
With side-by-side battles several rows deep behind him, Aither pulled away
while the field sorted out behind him. Bolduc, a former teammate of the
late Davis, eventually broke out of the pack to take second with a great
move in heavy traffic.
Bolduc was slowly reeling in the leader, but time ran out before he got
close enough to challenge. Aither went on to collect his eighth win of the
season, with Bolduc, Bobby Melvin, rookie Frankie Eldredge, and Peter Cook
next across the stripe.
The top ten finishers gathered along with the Davis family for the victory
lane celebration, with Gary Beauregard, Michele Fushpanski, Ryan Green,
Ahern and Bousquet representing sixth through tenth.
Eric Hoffman outran polesitter Kenny Scott to grab the lead when the Planet
Aid Hobby Stocks took the green for their feature, and he remained out front
for the first half of the race, despite a heavy challenge from Patrick
Tanguay.
Shortly after the crossed flags, Tanguay succeeded in wrestling the lead
away from Hoffman, and he went on to post his first win of the 2009 campaign
when the checkers waved.
Keith Walton scored his best finish of the year in the second spot, with Jim
Shorey, Paul Newcomb, Jr., Bill Fiske, Jimmy Russell, Dennis Dumas, Brian
Thompson, Lance Barthelemy, and Randy Carmichael
In the David's Race Cars and Components Roadrunner main, Aaron Day broke out
to the early lead, but he couldn't hold off the hard-charging Ricky Porter,
who slipped past to take over the lead.
Jim Piaseczny moved past Day to second after a lap 11 restart, with Tim
Boyle quickly following suit. Boyle took the spot just a few laps later,
and he was moving in on leader Porter with a handful of laps left.
Boyle got to within a car length of Porter's back bumper, but the checkers
flew with Porter still out front. Boyle had to settle for runner-up honors,
with Piaseczny, Niko Manyati, and Shaun Waites, Jr. the rest of the top
five.
In American Auto Parts Ironman competition, a spectacular wreck stopped the
action during qualifying when Troy Washburn got together with Keith Emery,
who slammed the wall and then rolled his machine several times on the front
straightaway.
At feature time, Matt Lambert broke out to the early lead, but he soon fell
victim to the charge of Crystal Brown, who led the balance of the event to
post the win. Tom Harton finished second, with Lambert, Don Fortin, and Joe
Horvath rounding out the top five.
Rain forced the postponement of the E Keys 4 Cars-sponsored NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series Late Models and the PB Chopper Shop and Rods Small Block
Super feature events, which will be added to next Friday's program.