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Tim Sears Jr. Takes Wild Sportsman
Series Win at Merrittville
By Dave Sully
(Thorold, Ontario) Tim Sears Jr., capped
off a rugged 50 lap DIRTcar Sportsman Series Race at Merrittville,
on Saturday, September 10th, with a dazzling move in the
final turn to take the lead and the win from Greg Panunte, who had
inherited the top spot on a lap 45 caution for leader Cody
McPherson. McPherson,
who looked like a sure winner, was forced off turn one by Brad Rouse
as Rouse made a move for the lead on a restart. Rouse
was then sent to the rear for his action, putting Sears in position
to challenge.
Following three early cautions, Rouse,
who took the lead on a lap one restart, was set upon by BJ Willard,
who eventually eased to the front on lap 27. He
was joined there by McPherson, his cousin, who got past Rouse on lap
30, challenged for two laps and then swept into the top spot on a
lap 32 restart. McPherson
built a comfortable lead, but a spin on lap 45 set up the pivotal
event of the race.
Rouse, who had reclaimed second on lap
33, restarted on the bottom, with McPherson choosing the fast
outside lane. When the
green flag dropped the two were neck and neck, but Rouse drifted up,
giving McPherson no room, which sent McPherson off turn one,
bringing out the caution once again.
The restart now showed Panunte the
leader, with Sears outside him. Sears
hounded Panunte on the outside, and then on the final turn, made a
dramatic dive underneath him that had the crowd on its feet, as
Panunte tried to protect the outside. Sears
won the drag race to the finish by half a car length. He explained,
“I did it a couple times during the race and picked up a couple
spots. If you can get
down low coming off of four, no one can see down there, and you can
get a really good run down the front stretch.”
Panunte settled for second, followed by
Rob Knapp, Darrell Farraway, and Dave Marcuccilli.
Mikey Hay, from Somerset, PA, made it a
sweep of the weekend, as he took both ends of the International Mod
Lite Open, which drew cars from as far away as Iowa. After
winning on Friday night, Hay grabbed the lead from Paul Klager in
the 25 lap finale on lap five, lost it briefly to Derek Wagner on a
restart, reclaimed it on lap eight, and then never looked back. The
race was slowed by six cautions and one red as the starting field of
24 cars negotiated the slick racing surface. Klager,
the reigning Merrittville champion, finished second, followed by
Josh Sliter, Jason Corless, and Steve White.
The 50 lap Hoosier Stock Feature went to
track champ Ken Sargent, who stalked leader Billy Bleich Jr. for 19
laps before squeezing under him in turn two on lap 42 to take the
lead. Rob Murray looked
to be the class of the field, opening a huge lead, but succumbed to
a right rear flat on lap 23, giving the lead to Bleich. Brent
Begolo, Dave Small, and Vince Fargnoli, who came from 16th,
completed the top five.
NOTES: There
were 46 Mod Lites in the pits for this annual event. It
took six heats and three consis to set the starting field………Mikey
Hay, who has driven all types of cars, but prefers the Mod Lites,
has won at Merrittville several times before, justifying the five
hour tow from Somerset, PA. Hay
collected a total of $3,000 for his efforts on this trip……..The
Sportsman Series was making its second stop on a three race weekend
stint. They were in action on Friday at Ransomville, and were at
Humberstone on Sunday, along with this night’s Merrittville
appearance.
SPORTSMAN SERIES: (50 laps) 1.
Tim Sears Jr., 2. Greg Panunte, 3. Rob Knapp, 4. Darrell Farraway,
5. Dave Marcuccelli, 6. BJ Willard, 7. Brent Begolo, 8. Gary
Lindberg, 9. Mathieu Desjardins, 10. Josh Van Brocklin, 11. Adam
Leslie, 12. Adam Hilton, 13. Jason Moore, 14. Justin Wright, 15.
Cody McPherson, 16. Len Dignard, 17. Brent Kelsey, 18. George
Bosse, 19. Larry Czinege
Jr., 20. Paul Williamson, 21. Shane Pecore, 22. Jenna David, 23.
Jessica Power, 24. Robbie Rounce, 25. Brad Rouse, 26. Dave Flannigan
Jr., 27. Jesse Penner, 28. Ray Hockridge, 29. Ron MacAuley, 30.
Tyler McPherson. Heat
winners were McPherson, Panunte, Marcuccilli, and Willard
MODIFIED LITE FEATURE: (25 laps) 1.
Mikey Hay, 2. Paul Klager, 3. Josh Sliter, 4. Jason Corless, 5.
Steve White, 6. Joe Garafolo, 7. Derek Wagner, 8. Chris Steele, 9.
Rod Jones, 10. Matt Hay, 11. Doug Williams, 12. Mark Marcucci, 13.
Randy Hollingshead, 14. Tim White, 15. Paul MacGinley, 16. Rick
Brubacher, 17. Kory Howe, 18. Tim Devendorf, 19. George Englert, 20.
Jeff Teeters, 21. Shawn Sliter, 22. Clayton Brewer, 23. Tracy
Fritter, 24. Jared Turnbull. Heat
winners were Steve White, Garafolo, Fritter, Jones, Wagner, and
Shawn Sliter. Consi
winners were Marcucci, Turnbull, and Tim White
HOOSIER STOCK FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Ken
Sargent, 2. Billy Bleich, 3. Brent Begolo, 4. Dave Small, 5. Vince
Fargnoli, 6. Larry Czinege, 7. Jason Fontaine, 8. Kevin Knapp, 9.
James Thompson, 10. Kirk Wilson, 11. Cory Turner, 12. Gary
Vandertoorn, 13. Mark Fawcett, 14. Devin Habiuk, 15. Chris
Schneider, 16. Rob Murray, 17. Brandon Gregory, 18. Jim Lampman, 19.
John Babion, 20. Lynn Miller, 21. Austin Wood, 22. John Low, 23. Ed
McNamara. Heat winners
were Murray, Czinege, and Begolo.
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