The day started off with 7 cars in the pits. The # 15 of Mike Elder and the #5 of Geoff Styner Both missed this race. We hope to have both cars back for the next race.
Unfortunately, the # 26 car of Teddy Durfee had mechanical problems in the warm-ups and was unable to run the rest of the night.
In the heat race it was # 7 Jamie Barnum and # 1 Jack Duffy on the front row. The # 30 of Mike Belusar took the lead on lap 2 and never looked back. Belusar went on to take the win.
Feature time and we rolled 6 cars onto the track. Barnum and Duffy would start up front and the two rookies, # 17 of Ray Smith and # 6 of Jay Stutz would bring up the final row. The green came out and it was Belusar, from his third spot, to the front with Duffy and Barnum following. The battle was heating up in the back as Smith and Stutz went side-by-side. Stutz would get by Smith on lap 3 and right on the bumper of the # 33 of Kenny Busch. Belusar remained in the front with Duffy and Barnum nose to tail. Stutz made his way around Busch and set his sights on Barnum. This is were the race took shape! Belusar had a very commanding lead, so the battle became tight for second. With a three car battle going into turn one, Barnum tried the low and high side around Duffy. Duffy showed his year of experience and held off every charge that Barnum put on his. On lap 9, Barnum would spin coming out of turn 2. This put Barnum to the rear and bunched up the field. Belusar took command again at the restart with Duffy and Stutz close behind. Stutz applied pressure on Duffy tried any groove possible. As the race laps wound down, the race was for second again. Duffy, Stutz, and Smith were all bumper to bumper. On lap 18, Belusar would lose the water hose and spin coming out of turn two. This bottled up the battle for second. As Belusar spun and keep going, Duffy jumped out front. Stutz up high, Smith in the middle, and Barnum on the bottom was how they came down the backstretch. Barnum would find second and Smith was third as the came to the white flag. Belusar would pass Stutz going into three for the checkered. Duffy took the win, with Barnum and Smith rounding out the top three.
This was one exciting race!!! Hope to see all the fans back at CCMP on April 11!
Finish:
- Jack Duffy
- Jamie Barnum
- Ray Smith
- Mike Belusar
- Jay Stutz
- Kenny Busch
- Ted Durfee DNS