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Gressman Wins Run for the Rabbit
>From T.J. Buffenbarger: LIMA, Ohio - Phil Gressman won the "Run for the Rabbit", in honor of the late Travis Miller, Friday night at Limaland Motorsports Park to kick off the 2007 season for the EFI/NRA Sprint Invaders. Gressman, who returned to the 360 ranks during Limaland's season opener and flipped, had a much more productive coming out on top of a race long battle for the lead with Mike Dussel and Tim Allison.
"The car was awesome tonight, I have to thank Aaron Call and Miller Light for giving me this opportunity," said Gressman in victory lane. "I also want to thank all the fans for coming out tonight."
Gressman started third behind front row starters Dussel and Dennis Yoakam. Gressman shot to the top of the track to immediately challenge Dussel for the top position off turn two. Gressman took the lead and opened up a gap. Just as Gressman bobbled and bounced off the backstretch fence Mark Hery flipped in turn four. Ryan Grubaugh also suffered damage during the incident. Hery retired pitside while Grubaugh made repairs and continued.
During the restart Allison moved past Yoakam into the third position. Defending Run for the Rabbit winner Mike Brecht was also on the move from 12th starting position moving into 7th on lap seven.
Dussel began to close the gap on Gressman and mounted a challenge on lap 13 when Mike Miller did a 360 degree spin in turn four. The spin did bring out the caution flag and Miller had to restart at the tail of the field.
During the restart Allison moved past Dussel to take away the second spot as the first three cars broke away from the field. Only one lap would be completed though as Darren Long came to a stop on the back straightaway. Long could not continue.
By lap 15 Gressman, Allison and Dussel were battling for the lead while Brecht cracked the top five. Gressman moved his line on the track several times to ward of threats from Allison and Dussel. Dussel took the second spot from Allison on lap 20.
With the lead trio racing on every inch of Limaland's wide surface and just about to encounter slower traffic the caution flag flew with three laps to go for a muffler on the race track. This setup a three lap shootout, and Gressman had a tremendous restart to open up a gap between himself and Dussel. Gressman held on for the victory over Dussel, Allison, Brecht, and Yokam.
Jeff Williams, Allison, and Gressman won the heat race events. Rick Boughan won the B-Main. During the second heat race Cory Seeling bicycled and hit the wall between turns three and four, turning over. Seeling was uninjured.
Summary:
Heat Race #1: 1. Jeff Williams, 2. Dennis Yoakam, 3. Darren Long, 4. Dain Naida, 5. Mike Dunlap, 6. Rick Boughan, 7. Ryan Grubaugh, 8. Jim Dues, 9. Bob Gehr, Jr., 10. Brent Gehr. (First five finishers transferred to the "A" Feature)
Heat Race #2: 1. Tim Allison, 2. Mike Dussel, 3. Ron Blair, 4. Jared Horstman, 5. Scott Carter, 6. Kent Wolters, 7. Randy Fusi, 8. Dallas Hewitt, 9. Andrew Bowsher, 10. Cory Seeling (First five finishers transferred to the "A" Feature)
Heat Race #3: 1. Phil Gressman, 2. J.R. Stewart, 3. Mike Miller, 4. Mike Brecht, 5. Luke Hall, 6. John Hawk, 7. Mark Hery, 8. Kyle Conway, 9. Ron Hammons, 10. Dave Miller (First five finishers transferred to the "A" Feature)
B-Main: 1. Rick Boughan, 2. Kent Wolters, 3. Ryan Grubaugh, 4. John Hawk, 5. Mark Hery, 6. Andrew Bowsher, 7. Brent Gehr, 8. Bob Gehr, Jr., 9. Dallas Hewitt, 10. Ron Hammons, 11. Dave Miller, 12. Kyle Conway, 13. Randy Fusi. DNS - Jim Dues, Cory Seeling
A-Main: 1. Phil Gressman, 2. Mike Dussel, 3. Tim Allison, 4. Mike Brecht, 5. Dennis Yoakam, 6. Jeff Williams, 7. J.R. Stewart, 8. Dain Naida, 9. Rick Boughan, 10. Mike Miller, 11. Jared Horstman, 12. Ron Blair, 13. Luke Hall, 14. Mike Dunlap, 15. Scott Carter, 16. Kent Wolters, 17. Ryan Grubaugh, 18. Darren Long, 19. John Hawk, 20. Frank Fusi.
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