Jeff Locke wins ISMA Super Modified feature at Sunset Speedway
Jeff Locke would lead all 75 laps at Sunset Speedway to take the victory in the ISMA Super Modified feature at Sunset International Speedway in Innisfil, Ontario, Canada.
“First of all, great facility; great place,” Locke said afterwards. “I really appreciate Sunset Speedway for having us. I hope we put on a good show for the fans. A good turn-out. Starting out front was a good thing; track position was key. It was really hard to pass. Once you get a lot of laps on the tires, you start slipping and sliding a little bit and we were able to keep it up front and here we are.”
In speaking of the biggest challenge of racing the Super Modified, Locke said, “Trying to maximize your horsepower without driving the tires off of it. Trying to save your tires to the end because you have so much power with these things, it’s hard to keep it stuck to the race track. Trying to balance between the two is the most difficult.”
Locke started the afternoon by winning the first heat ahead of Jon McKennedy, Mike Lichty, Johnny Benson and Ryan Litt.
Lou Cicconi won the second heat ahead of Ben Seitz, Alison Cumens, Tim Ice and Dan Bows. Cicconi also set the quickest time of the day in this heat when he ran a lap of 12.099 seconds, setting a new track record.
Ryan Coniam won the final heat ahead of Moe Lilje, Mark Sammut, Rob Summers and Dave McKnight.
Come feature time, Jeff Locke would start on pole followed by Alison Cumens, Mark Sammut, Ryan Coniam and Lou Cicconi.
The field would start two-wide with Locke grabbing the early lead ahead of Cumens, Mike Litchy and Ryan Coniam. They would quickly sort out to single-file with everyone nose-to-tail, trying to pass. In the process, Litchy and Coniam made contact, resulting in Litchy being done for the night due to leaking fluid. At this point, Locke led Cumens, Coniam, Cicconi, McKennedy, Seitz, Sammut, Ice, Benson, Summers and Lilje.
They would restart single-file with everybody pretty much staying in line all the way as the leader Locke worked his way by the lap car of Bowes. Cumens would start to close the gap between herself and Locke as the laps wound down and would get her shot at passing when a caution flew with eight laps to go for Cicconi stopping in turn two. Locke would restart in the lead, followed by Cumens, Coniam, McKennedy, Seitz, Ice, Sammut, Benson, Summers and Bowes.
Locke would get a good restart, pulling ahead of Cumens and Coniam while Seitz and McKennedy battled for fourth.
Jeff Locke would lead the final seven laps to win the feature for his first ISMA Super Modified feature victory of the season. Alison Cumens would finish second, followed by Ryan Coniam, Ben Seitz and Jon McKennedy. Tim Ice finished sixth, followed by Rob Summers, Moe Lilje, Ontario native Mark Sammut and Bowes.
Lou Cicconi would finish 11th after his problems while Johnny Benson finished 12th after pulling off due to mechanical problems. For Benson, the 2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion, this marked his final career ISMA Super Modified start as he is retiring from racing. Dave McKnight finished 13th followed by Ryan Litt and Mike Lichty. Both Litt and Lichty were hoping for better showings with being from Ontario.
Todd Cresswell picks up Lucas Oil Cam-Am Midget win at Sunset Speedway
Todd Cresswell would start out front and never look back as he would pick up the win in the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget race at Sunset Speedway on August 18th.
The first lap saw a small incident when the 94 got into Corey Moesker in turn four. David Balych took the win ahead of Barry Dunn, the 99, the 94 and Rob Divenanzo.
The second heat, Tom Jyle would go for a pair of spins. Cresswell grabbed the win ahead of the 84, Darren McLennan, Rob Neely, Adrian Stahle, Justin Fraser, the 31 and Jyle.
The third heat ran clean till a debris caution, which saw the 20 pull off shortly after. Then the 02 would go for a spin in turn four. Mack Deman grabbed the win ahead of James Grey, Chris Holman, the 4, Chris Bauman and the 02.
In the final sprint before the main, the 02 and the 31 would have an incident on the last lap. Adrian Stahle grabbed the win ahead of Moesker, Jyle, the 20, Fraser, Bauman, Divenanzo and Mike Westwood.
22 Can-Am Midgets would start the feature with Todd Cresswell starting pole followed by the 94, the 84, Barry Dunn and Mack Deman.
Cresswell pulled out the early lead ahead of Dunn and the 94 while the 84 and Balych battled for fourth. The 84 would pass the 94 for third with Deman and McLennan right behind. Deman would slip by the 94 for fourth shortly after.
Over the middle portion of the race, the top seven ran single-file while Balych and Neely battled for ninth. Neely would get the advantage on that battle, then joining Grey as they both slipped past McLennan. Deman would catch up to the 84 for third, but wasn’t able to get by before the caution for the 4 spinning in turn two.
On the restart, it’d be Cresswell leading Dunn, the 84, Deman, Grey, Neely, McLennan, Moesker, Balych and Stahle.
On the restart, there’d be another caution as Neely and the 20 had problems going into turn three.
The second attempt at a restart would be a go with Cresswell grabbing the lead while Dunn, the 84 and Deman battled three-wide for second. Deman would come out on top of that battle, ahead of the 84, Grey and Dunn. Grey and Dunn, along with Moesker, would get by the 84 shortly after to move up a position each.
Todd Cresswell would lead the final laps to take the win ahead of Deman, Grey, Dunn, Moesker, the 84, Balych, Stahle, McLennan, Holman, the 94, the 31, the 88, Jyle, Divenanzo and the 02.
Struggles arise again at Michigan for Hendrick Motorsports
When all four Hendrick Motorsports cars found trouble at Michigan International Speedway in June, some would have considered it a once in a lifetime occurrence.
But Sunday at Michigan for the second and final time, the two-mile oval had not had her fill of HMS sheet metal. Again one of the sports most dominant teams found themselves heading home without the trophy.
The first two victims being Jimmie Johnson and shop mate Dale Earnhardt Jr. In June it was Earnhardt Jr. who was leading and blew an engine before Johnson later blew a tire while running second. Sunday after Johnson a few laps during a pit stop sequence, he was the one who headed to the garage early, his engine expiring after 60 laps.
“The engine broke there,” Johnson said. “I guess when we came in for a green flag pit stop, something started then and made it a few more laps and didn’t really notice anything off.
“Then it finally dropped a cylinder or two down the backstretch. Definitely an unfortunate thing, but we had plenty of speed in the car and I think we were going to be a factor.”
Johnson remains both winless and bitten at Michigan. He’s done everything but find Victory Lane at the speedway. Run out of gas a few times, blown tires and engines. His 40th place finish however, did no more than take away a victory as Johnson has already locked himself in the Chase. Along with building enough of a point lead that it wasn’t in jeopardy either.
Bonus points for Chase seeding are all Johnson’s looking for over the next three weeks, but Earnhardt Jr. has much more on the line. Entering the day sixth in points and looking for his first win of the season at the track he’s won his last two races at, Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t have many more mulligans left.
He had asked whether he should be concerned with his engine following Johnson’s trouble but was confidently told no. His race instead was taken away on lap 135 when a blown tire sent him into the wall, after which he had led 20 laps and was running seventh.
“There are guys in worst positions than us. We ain’t got to outrun just one guy; there’s a lot of guys,” Earnhardt Jr. said about his Chase chances.
“We’re not an 11th place team. We’re a top five team. We’re consistent. We’re more consistent than most. We’ve just got to shake this luck, whatever is going on; it’s something different every time. We’ve got good speed and we’ve just got to keep our head up and keep working hard and things will be all right.”
Heading into Bristol, where Earnhardt Jr. won in August of 2004, he slips to seventh in points, just 20 points ahead of 11th place teammate Kasey Kahne. Kahne was the highest finishing HMS driver but was never a contender Sunday. He and Jeff Gordon seemed to battle their track position with Kahne never making it higher than the seventh place he earned.
Gordon, who needs a win to help his chances at the Chase, fought his car all day. Telling crew chief Alan Gustafson that he wasn’t happy with its handling and how far off it had gone throughout a run. There were times of hope as Gordon approached the top 10 but by race’s end he wound up 17th. He’s now 14th in points, 26 points out of the top 10.
Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond are the three remaining stops before the Chase begins. All four HMS drivers have won at each of those tracks.
