[media-credit name=”Ashley McCubbin” align=”alignright” width=”266″]
[/media-credit]Corey Moesker captured his very first Feature Win with the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets at Sunset Speedway (Ont) Sunday night. Celebrating the Canadian Holiday weekend in front of a very large crowd of fans, Moesker led 24 of the 25 laps and was thrilled to do his first ‘victory lap’.
Thanking series sponsor Lucas Oil for all their support, Moesker said “It was a long time coming but the car was on rails tonight, thanks to my Dad and all his hard work.” He also said he has a long list of sponsors that have been with him from his 2008 Rookie season with the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets. He gave a big thanks to Broadway Service from Wyoming, Ont., MacDermid and Associates Cooperative Insurance, Grand Bend Speedway, Waddick Fuels, and Sure Signs.
At the start Tom Kyle took the lead followed by Moesker. Todd Cresswell was third with Rob Neely and Chris Holman on his tail. Moesker shot to the lead one lap later as 2011 defending Champion Darren McLennan moved into the top five from his 8th starting spot. Neely motored around Kyle on the next lap and set sites on Moesker. By lap five McLennan was now third followed by Cresswell and Holman. Passing Holman three laps later was the winner of the first race of the 2012 Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget series, Mack DeMan.
Moesker would open up a 3 car lead over Neely coming out of the corner but Neely would catch up going into the next one. McLennan began to hunt down Neely as the cars began to lap the field. By half way Moesker held his strong lead over Neely and McLennan while DeMan took the 4th spot from Cresswell. The first yellow came out on the next lap for a spin by Dave Hickson.
Knowing Neely and McLennan were knocking on his door, Moesker got a great restart. McLennan attached himself to Neely as DeMan held his spot. Cresswell had a battle with Holman for 5th place. With two laps to go Jeff Blackburn spun in turn three collecting David Balych. Balych was out of the race as Blackburn went to the rear for the restart.
Neely came close on the final lap but Moesker was not to be denied. McLennan finished third, followed by DeMan. With a final lap pass, Holman claimed 5th place from Cresswell. Rookie Adrian Stahle had a terrific run, starting in last place and finishing 8th.
Heats were won by Cresswell and Neely. In the first lap of the first heat race pole setter Dave Hickson had his trottle stick going into turn one and made contact with Barry Dunn sending him hard into the wall. Dunn was ok but his #24 will need repairs. The ‘B’ feature was won by Mike Westwood driving for Cliff Hodkinson in #46.
The Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets next race will be a ‘joint venture’ race with the Casey’s Midgets at Lake Erie Speedway in Erie, PA., on June 9th.
Final finish for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets at Sunset Speedway ….1. COREY MOESKER,…2. Rob Neely, 3. Darren McLennan, 4. Mack DeMan, 5. Chris Holman, 6. Todd Cresswell, 7. James Gray, 8. Adrian Stahle (R), 9. Keith Dempster, 10. Tom Kyle, 11. Mike Westwood, 12. Dave Hickson, 13. Jeff Blackburn, 14. Chris Bauman, 15. David Balych, 16. Earl Caine, 17. Rob DiVenanzo. DNS…Barry Dunn, Craig Mackereth.
Unofficial points for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets as of May 20, 2012…1.MACK DEMAN…334, 2. Darren McLennan…325, 3. Rob Neely…298, 4. Corey Moesker…292, 5. James Gray…286, 6. Chris Holman…279, 7. Todd Cresswell…252, 8. David Balych…241, 9. Jeff Blackburn…238, 10. Tom Kyle…216, 11. Adrian Stahle (R)…207, 12. Mike Westwood…202, 13. Dave Hickson…195, 14. Chris Bauman…194, 15. Earl Caine…176, 16. Barry Dunn…168, 17. Rob DiVenanzo…167, 18. Dave McKnight Jr….149, 19. Greg Smulders…140, 20. Keith Dempster…120, 21…Andy Mackereth…103, 22. Craig Mackereth…52.
