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Brachmann Breaks Through at Merrittville to score Lucas Oil 358 Shoot-Out.
By Dave Sully
( Thorold , Ontario ) Chad Brachmann is a bridesmaid no more. After two nail-biting second place finishes in successive features, Brachmann, from Wheatfield , NY , won a bruising 56 lap modified feature at Merrittville on Saturday, July 28th. It was the Jerry Winger Memorial Lucas Oil Shootout, which had been postponed by rain two weeks before.
Brachmann took the lead from Scott Wood on lap thirty-nine, opened a big lead and then held off Larry Lampman Jr., when his motor started acting up in the final two laps. The win came after he finished runner-up to Pete Bicknell and Adam Ferri at Merrittville, and another second place to Justin Haers last Sunday at Rolling Wheels.
Scott Wood held sway for most of the race, after taking the lead from Lampman on lap five. As Wood motored away to a good lead, a furious battle for second developed between Lampman, Ferri, the polesitter and last week’s feature winner, and Pete Bicknell. The three swapped positions several times as the tacky track provided plenty of bite and allowed the drivers to fling their cars through the corners with almost reckless abandon.
While this was going on, Brachmann was patiently moving forward from his tenth place starting spot. He took over third on lap twenty-three, and then on lap twenty-nine moved into second when Lampman whacked the fourth turn wall and bounced to the outside.
Brachmann caught Wood in lapped traffic on lap thirty-six and hounded him for three circuits before steaming by on the outside on lap thirty-nine, immediately opening a substantial lead. A scary incident on lap forty-five saw Wood being hit by the lapped car of Boyd Mactavish as he tried to get by in turn one. Wood spun wildly, while the trailing cars, notably Pete Bicknell, tried frantically to avoid the melee. Bicknell actually got airborne in the middle of a large group of cars. The hit by Mactavish was deemed deliberate by track officials, and he was banned from the race. He was also scored last in the final result. Further action may be pending as Mactavish was already on probation for a previous incident.
Following this episode, Brachmann re-established a comfortable margin, while Lampman retook second from Ferri on lap forty-seven. As the laps wore down it appeared that Lampman, who was trying to run down the No. 3 of Brachmann, didn’t have a chance, but with two laps to go, the Brachmann car began to slow noticeably and Lampman closed the gap. Brachmann was able to hold on at the end, winning by about five car lengths. Lampman finished a well-earned second, followed by Ferri, Bicknell, and Ken Cosgrove.
Brachmann commented, “I just had to wait my turn and bide my time throughout the race. The track was super fast tonight. It was awesome. I’ve had a real good car the last couple weeks, so I knew I had a good piece under me. I just had to keep it clean.” Of the last two laps, when his car slowed noticeably, he added, “Something wasn’t running right with my motor, and it was popping and banging an backfiring a bit, so I was doing everything I could just to keep my momentum up and caught the cushion a couple of times because I had things I was thinking about with the motor. Luckily we made it to the end.”
Larry Lampman, who never stopped digging, noted, “The track was a bit tackier than we expected, and the car was tight. We were struggling the whole race. We dropped back and then with that scuffle there (on lap thirty-nine), we were back to third. We were catching Chad at the end. He was having a hard time in one and two. It was a wild race. There were five or six of us who were just battling it out.”
Adam Ferri, who notched his first ever modified victory the previous week, was satisfied with third, declaring, “Starting on the pole you’ve got nowhere to go but backwards. I’ll take a top three finish any day, especially in a Lucas race. I was happy with the car. The track was good, and there were good guys to race with.”
The top five finish is pending post-race technical inspection.
RESULTS:
L. St. Amand Lucas Oil Modified Shootout Jerry Winger Memorial: (56 laps) Chad Brachmann, Larry Lampman Jr., Adam Ferri, Pete Bicknell, Ken Cosgrove, Rick Richner, Chris Steele, Dereck Lemyre, Dan Miller, Scott Wood, Tim Jones, Fred Carleton, Rich Vinson, Jeff McGinnis, George Bosse, Todd Gordon, Jon Miller, James Friesen, Brian Stevens, Rick Hoctor, Scott George, Scott Kerwin, Robbie Krull, and Boyd Mactavish. Heat winners were Brachmann, Ferri, and Bicknell. Consi winner was Steele. Dash winner was Brachmann. DNQ: Pete Cosco and Randy Chrysler.
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