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Jim Bell had to qualify with AGM John
McLaughlin before hitting the big oval. |
Defending Champ Ralph Gleaton and
Rob Buccheri watch the current 12-lap turn unfold. |
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The pack is tight as they pass Chris
Gnech, Steve Caler, Jim Bell and Doug Porterfield. |
Those with just learning permits are
here also it seems. To heck with the Juniors room—the adults
have cool cars to play with. |
A Victory 11 Years in the Making
...
Three heats generated six qualifying 150-lap shootouts with no pit stops. The qualifying races ranged from nine to 12 turns with an average length of 11 turns. That meant there wasn’t much time for those in the back to move to the front to qualify for the big race.
Chris Gnech started Race 1 in the sixth position while James McCarthy started third. McCarthy dominated, leading seven turns out of 11, but on the last turn fell out of the lead to finish sixth. Gnech, who didn’t lead at all, made his move on the last turn to win the race. Defending champ Ralph Gleaton started Race 2 in fifth, but by Turn 5 (of 9) moved into the lead to dominate and lead the rest of the way. Race 3 had Graham Buccheri starting on the pole and two-time champ Philip White in fifth. On Turn 4 of 11, Buccheri went from first to last. White slogged his way through the pack to take the lead on Turn 5 and dominated thereafter. Jim Bell started on the pole in Race 4, Carol Caler second, and Nicole White in the fifth position. Caler moved quickly to first, hung on throughout Turn 2, but then lost the lead to Paul Martz. Martz led until the last turn when White took the checkered flag with Martz settling for second. Doug Porterfield started ninth (last) while Graham Buccheri, trying again to qualify for the Final started in the pole position in Race 5. Porterfield drove quickly to the front where Buccheri and he dueled throughout the race. On the last turn Josh Githens entered the mix, passing Buccheri, but Porterfield held him off to take the flag. Trevor Shoenen started Race 6 in second with Eric Ritter in sixth. Shoenen dominated the first half of the race, but faded with Bruce Rae taking the lead on Turn 6. Ritter made his move on Turn 9 to grab the lead and held it to the checkered flag two turns later.
The 250-lap Final took place on a Tri-Oval track for 24 cars with pit stops. It turned into a 16-turn marathon going over the allotted time. Thanks to all for their patience in sticking with us to the very end. The top five starting positions were, 1. Shannon Keating (#36), 2. Tom Bivens (#35), 3. Mark Mitchell (#3), 4 Eric Ritter (#23) and 5. Josh Githens (#71). Only Mitchell remained ahead of the pack, finishing third. Bivens crashed on Turn 3 while leading the race and taking Githens down with him.
There were ten lead changes in the 14 turns with Mitchell the dominant force—either leading or challenging the leader for nine turns. Jim Bell (#2) started the race in 17th and worked his way up to second on Turn 10 before falling back to sixth on the next turn. Bell hung back in sixth for the next four turns letting the lead pack wear themselves out. On the last turn Bell made his move leap frogging from sixth to first, with a little help from the field, to take the checkered flag and his first SCC shield.
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It is the 72nd lap of the Final as
GMs Michael Garton
and John McLaughlin officiate the race for
24 qualifiers. |
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