DRYDEN & RACINE IN VICTORY LANE WITH THE LUCAS OIL CAN-AM MIDGETS DOUBLE FEATURE
Adam Racine nabbed his sixth Lucas Oil Can-Am Feature win while Darren Dryden earned his first Feature win of the season at Flamboro Speedway’s ‘Don Biederman Memorial’ Saturday night.
Moving to a new format the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets ran two 20 lap feature races.
Racine cruised to the win in the first feature taking the lead from Ryan Fraser on lap 8.
Racine didn’t know what to say during the post race interview, saying it was his first race back in his own car. Racine had previously rented a car from Mack DeMan, in which 5 out of his 6 feature wins were earned. Racine said he wished he could have raced all night long, as his car was super fast. Not expecting a feature win, Racine said, “ I would have been happy with a top 5 finish”. Racine finished up his interview by thanking the fans for coming out and their support. Sponsors for the #20 are Dettmer Tire, Tirecraft, T-Weber, Retail Design Group and Schwartz Incorporated.
At the drop of the green, Fraser, who started fourth jumped to the outside in turns one and two quickly taking the lead, passing pole sitter Barry Dunn, Dominique Smith and Racine.
On the next lap in turns one and two Racine was able to pass Dunn for second while Adrian Stahle settled into fourth and Steven Murdoch into fifth.
On lap 8, Fraser who was out in front and pulling away, had Racine following on his tail with Stahle following them both as he looked to the inside of Racine trying for second coming out of turn three. Unable to complete the pass Stahle settled back into third. Coming across the start finish line Racine was able to get along side Fraser completing the pass in turn one and two for the lead.
The top three cars of Racine, Fraser and Stahle, all running nose to tail, started pulling away from the field and the fourth place car of Murdock and the fifth place car of Dunn.
Back in the pack ninth place starter, Brandon Zavarella, had worked his way into sixth but had a very fast Darren Dryden knocking on his back door. Dyrden was able to complete the pass on Zavarella on lap 9 while Stahle was able to get under Fraser going into turn one and completing that pass for second.
Lap 14 saw the only caution in Feature # 1, in the new Lucas Oil Can-Am midget format, when Josh Shantz spun unassisted up in turn three.
As the field lined back up for the restart, the top five cars were Racine, Stahle, Fraser, Murdoch and Dryden. With the drop of green and the last 5 laps under way the top five runners remained unchanged with Racine cruising into Victory Lane, his sixth Feature win of the season.
The Final Finish for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget Feature # 1 was...1. ADAM RACINE, 2. Adrian Stahle, 3. Ryan Fraser, 4. Steven Murdoch, 5. Darren Dryden, 6. Barry Dunn, 7. Cory Whittam, 8. Brandon Zavarella, 9. Josh Shantz(R), 10. Dominique Smith(R), 11. Lucas Munsie(R)
The Lucas Oil Can-Am Feature # 2 saw the field inverted from the finish of the first feature.
Darren Dryden who finished second to Josh Shantz was awarded the win after Shantz was discovered to be under weight in contrary to a weight rule within the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget Club.
Dryden who pulled double duty driving his Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget and his Canadian Vintage Modified had success in both divisions earning third place in one feature and second in the other with the modified. Dryden finished fifth in the first Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget feature.
Dryden said, “it was a lot of work running both cars in one night but it’s something every driver dreams of doing, and for our night to turn out as well as it did in both cars, I can’t be happier!” Dryden was skeptical on how the Midget would handle as he fought mechanical issues, losing brakes in the first feature. Somehow he still managed to dial in his car adjusting the front brakes until his car came to live around lap 10. Dryden sent a “huge Congrats” to Shantz for “leading such a strong race” saying it was “unfortunate that he got disqualified for being underweight”.
Dryden sent out a huge “Thanks to TJ Marshall and Tim Murdoch for helping diagnose our mechanical issues, and to my dad for the killer set up in both cars”. “Thanks to all my sponsors for making this possible: My Father, NAPA Auto Parts, Retail Design Group, DJD Graphics, Sharpie Art by Darren Dryden, Epic Racewear, John Dryden Autobody, R&W Auto Repair, BJ Custom Finishes, Wix Filters, Rosie’s Custom Paint & Polish, and State Farm Burnside Insurance.
In the second Feature rookie Dominique Smith led the field to the green flag but was quickly passed by Shantz on the start. Shantz brought along Dryden, who gained 4 positions from his sixth place starting spot, Whittam who started fourth gained one spot settling into third, Fraser who started 8 gained four spots settling into fourth and Racine who gained 5 spots from 10 settled into fifth.
Shantz ran a strong race leading all 20 laps of the feature that went caution free.
On lap 2 Racine was battling Fraser for third while Stahle moved past Whittam to enter the top five.
Two laps later Stahle worked to get by Fraser, going to his inside down in turn 1 and racing him side by side down the backstretch and into turn 3, knocking him out of fourth, while Whittam followed suit the very next lap stealing fifth.
As the laps were running down, Dryden in second was chasing down the leader, Shantz while Whittam and Fraser battled side by side for multiple laps before Fraser was able to get by him on lap 15 to once again enter the top 5.
With the race running caution free and the checkered flag waving your top five finishers ended up being Dryden, Racine, Stahle, Fraser, and Whittam.
Join the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets next weekend, August 5 & 6 as they head down to Sauble Beach for a double header on the Civic Holiday long weekend.
The Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget Feature # 2 finish at Flamboro Speedway on July 29, 2017 was…1.DARREN DRYDEN, 2. Adam Racine, 3. Adrian Stahle, 4. Ryan Fraser, 5. Cory Whittam, 6. Steven Murdoch, 7. Brandon Zavarella, 8. Barry Dunn, 9. Lucas Munsie(R), 10. Dominique Smith(R), 11. Josh Shantz(R)
The Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget top 10in Driver points are as follows…1.ADAM RACINE...1723, 2. Adrian Stahle...1643, 3. Darren Dryden...1600, 4. Ryan Fraser...1566 , 5. Steven Murdoch...1502, 6. Barry Dunn...1425, 7. Mack DeMan...1337, 8. Dominique Smith(R)...1207, 9. Lucas Munsie(R)...1153, 10. Cory Whittam...1118.
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