By Paul T. Harkenrider (Conneaut, OH) | Kyle Drum held off a hard charging Bryan Howland to secure his first A-Verdi Storage Containers Patriot Sprint Tour win of the season at Raceway 7 and his first since October 22, 2005, when he won at the Brockville, Ontario Speedway.
Drum, who was in the Jared Zimbardi back up car started on the outside row next to Jason Barney where they brought the 16-car field to Roger Osbourne’s green flag.
Barney used the low side of the speedway to seal off Drum on the opening lap where at the same time Drum began to get comfortable with using the top of the semi-banked 7/16th oval.
A lap one caution that had a spinning Paul Habeck brought out the first yellow of the night which made the restarts single file from there on out. Once the field was brought back to green, Drum went back up to the top and pulled alongside the race leader in Barney, and when they came around on lap four, Drum was scored as the new race leader.
Then on lap five, a huge pile up of cars were put together as both Dave and Scott Just made contact with Paul Habeck, and Tyler Graves. It also sent Pete Richardson to the pits where he suffered rear end damage and his night was done early.
After three early cautions, the racing on the track turned up as Kyle Drum began to pull away from the field but the battle for second began to get interesting between Barney and Justin Barger as well the battle for fourth which was between Dane Lorenc and Jared Zimbardi.
On lap 21, another caution came out which erased the very comfortable advantage that Drum built on second place runner at the time, Justin Barger.
On the restart, Barger would attempt to go to the bottom but Drum was just too strong on the top, meanwhile, Bryan Howland was sixth on the restart and found something on the bottom to immediately fly by Dane Lorenc and Jason Barney to grab third before the final yellow flew out on lap 23.
On the restart, Howland would then grab second away from Barger and be able to try to take the lead from Drum but would run out of real estate and it was Kyle Drum capturing the checkered flag in just his second start of the season with the Patriot Sprint Tour after suffering motor troubles back at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park on May 7.
Howland would finish second, followed by Justin Barger, Jason Barney and Dane Lorenc. Steven Hutchinson Jr was unable to complete his heat race but was able to come home with a top 10 finish which would earn him the Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the Night.’ Steve Glover went home with the Stampede Steakhouse Final Finisher award. Dave Just picked up the Evingham Site Excavation ‘Dash for Cash.’
The series now heads back into New York as we visit the New Stateline Speedway tonight (June 25) in Busti New York. Gates open at 5:00, with racing starting at 7. Please be sure to like Patriot Sprint Tour on facebook, and to follow @PatriotSprints on Instagram and twitter. You can log onto patriotsprinttour.com for further information.
Patriot Sprint Tour Results- Raceway 7
Heat 1: Dane Lorenc, Justin Barger, Jared Zimbardi, Steve Glover, Dennis Wagner, Paul Habeck, Pete Richardson, Steven Hutchinson Jr
Heat 2: Kyle Drum, Bryan Howland, Jason Barney, Dave Just, Joe Trenca, Dan Bennett, Scott Just, Tyler Graves
ESE Dash: Dave Just, Paul Habeck, Scott Just, Dan Bennett, Pete Richardson, Dennis Wagner
A Main (25 Laps): KYLE DRUM (1), Bryan Howland, Justin Barger, Jason Barney, Dane Lorenc, Joe Trenca, Jared Zimbardi, Paul Habeck, Steven Hutchinson Jr, Dennis Wagner, Steve Glover, Tyler Graves, Dave Just, Scott Just, Pete Richardson, Dan Bennett
Shuttleworth ‘Seals the Deal’ Racing Bonus: Kyle Drum
Casey’s Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the night’ award: Steven Hutchinson Jr
Stampede Steakhouse ‘Final Finisher’ award: Steve Glover