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Hall Answers Waters’ Call With A BRP CanAm Win
E. Smethport, PA…Randy Hall got a telephone call from John Waters asking if he would like to race Waters’ Palmatier Trucking – Bernie’s Place CRS Impala in the BRP CanAm Late Model Series event at McKean County Raceway (MCR). It did not take Hall long to accept the offer. It took a little longer for Hall to park the car in the BRP CanAm Victory Lane.
Waters was working out of state and not able to return to MCR for the annual County Fair event. The Whitesville, NY racer would have loved to have returned to the track where his most recent outing resulted in a wild flipping crash while racing for the lead. He will have another chance on September 27th when the Series returns to MCR for the Fall Classic program.
Hall started sixth in the 26 car grid. He was up to third on lap three, second on lap five, and atop the leader board on lap eleven. Once in front he was not seriously challenged for the top spot. Even a caution (the only one) on lap 17 presented no problem for Hall’s winning performance.
Hall, the 2006 BRP CanAm Series Champion, has raced only twice with the Series this year. Both of those outings were in the Waters car for midweek shows and both resulted in top ten finishes. That leaves Hall looking for more, but he will need another ride since the remaining events are scheduled on Saturdays when Waters will be back at the keyboard of his hot rod.
Jason Boyle and Matt Cobb lead the 26 car starting field to Johnny Powell’s green flag to start the 30 lap contest. Boyle, a former Mr. DIRT Champion, is a rookie with the BRP CanAm Series, but has proven to have lots of talent and a strong Pogo powered Pro Speed Rocket in earlier Series starts. Last night he led his first ever Series A-Main laps. After out drag racing Cobb at the green he fended off challenges by Jon Rivers and Steve Dixon, but Hall’s MCR experience showed when he out muscled Boyle and his Boldt Machinery Monte Carlo on lap 11. Boyle continued in a spirited battle with Steve Dixon for the second half of the contest. His runner-up finish was his best ever in BRP CanAm Series event or any 360 late model race.
Steve Dixon has been strong in Series Tour events and weekly events for the entire 2008 campaign. Wednesday night was no different. The second generation race car driver won the Landrum Performance Spring heat race getting him to the top 12 redraw. He was happy with his number five redraw. He did not anticipate the strong run by Boyle and hoped to use the much preferred inside lane to get to the front and run away from Hall, his third row starting partner. Third at the finish wasn’t what he wanted, but this 90 points for third Vs Jeff Chesebro’s 72 points for seventh has Dixon leading the point battle by five points over the defending Series Champion.
Bruce Miller started fourth and finished fourth. That does not sound exciting, but it was. The constant scrambling thought out the field on a very raceable track provided the fair goers who stopped in to see what all the noise was about a great show. A show that should bring them back next year for the 104th edition of the Fair and the annual stock car show.
Matt Cobb was beginning to believe that he had a target on his Austin Distributing Rocket after being the innocent victim of too many crashes. Wednesday there was no target and no trouble. The Bradford, PA speedster would have liked something better than fifth, but when he drove his race car on the trailer without even a tire scrub mark he was happy and looking forward to Canandaigua on Saturday.
Jeremy Wonderling lived up to his Mr. Excitement nickname by dancing with the devil in an outside lane that was over the cushion for much of the race. It was simply too far around the top and Wonderling finished sixth.
Jeff Chesebro was mired in the middle of the pack for much of the race after starting 14th. Lots of traffic using three lanes most of the time and only one caution helped to keep the young man from the Foothills of Rew Mountain and his Three Mile Holsteins CRS Monte Carlo harnessed to a seventh place finish.
Tim Schram turned his luck around and recorded his second top ten finish of the year. This Scio Speed Society member was eighth at the checker.
Paul Grigsby is the happiest ninth place finisher in all of motorsports! Grigsby has had nothing but bad luck all season long. Last night there was no crash, no broken parts, and no problem other than those eight guys in front of him. Officer Grigsby is looking forward to the Series event at Canandaigua Speedway on Saturday night (Aug 16). He is the defending champion of that event.
Bryce Davis can boost of his tenth place to his high school classmates when he returns to class for his senior year next month.
Todd Hansen made the A via winning the B. He then charged from 21st to 11th to earn the DART Machinery $100 Hard Charger Award.
A-Main Finish: RANDY HALL, Jason Boyle, Steve Dixon, Bruce Miller, Matt Cobb, Jeremy Wonderling, Jeff Chesebro, Tim Schram, Paul Grigsby, Bryce Davis, Todd Hansen, Mikey Wonderling, Dan Cobb, Neil Patterson, Ron Baker, Mike Williams, Jim Johnson, Wayne Robertson, Bob Buono, Larry Knowles, Mike Smith, Jon Rivers, Bob Bartlett, Glenn Whritenour, Beamer Guzzardi, Quinn Sutherland
DNQ: Bob Babbitt, John Kemp, Jason Dupont, Darwin Davis, Don Clemons
Brzezinski Racing Products Heat Winner: Bruce Miller
Landrum Performance Spring Heat Race Winner: Steve Dixon
MAHLE Engine Builders Heat Race Winner: Jeremy Wonderling
F/A Products Heat Race Winner: Jason Boyle
MAHLE – Clevite B-Main Winner: Todd Hansen
Complete box score and updated points @ www.BRPCanAmSeries.com
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