Jeff Lane had a weekend off
the
grueling
CRA Super Series schedule, where he is currently in fourth place in
the series championship points, and he found another car to drive. He
made the most of the ride leading the last 58 laps to win the MAX
93.5/96.7 Street Stock 200 at Winchester Speedway Sunday afternoon.
The win was good for a $5000 payday for car owner Steve Davis.
"I did not think we had a chance to win today, we
had the 14th or 15th fastest car today. We were
looking at this as a testing session, but then we got going forward
and we started to think we could win." Stated Lane.
While his was not the fastest car on the track, lady
luck was on his side. Starting last of the 45 cars that started, Lane
spent much of the race moving through the field and when the faster
cars all dropped out due to different problems, he was there to get in
front and stay there.
Chuck
Barnes, Sr. started on the front row and took an early lead, leading
55 of the first 69 laps when he was forced to retire due to mechanical
problems. Bret Miles led 13 laps, but he too was forced out due to
mechanical problems, giving the lead to Rich Boyer. Boyer lead 7 laps
but he had to come in for a green flag pit stop due to a flat tire. He
lost 4 laps in the pits and worked the rest of the race to attempt to
get back in the race. He eventually finished ninth, only one lap down
after passing Lane with only a couple of laps to go.
This pass caused some drama as Lane did not know
Boyer was laps down and he attempted to re-pass Boyer on the last lap,
thinking Boyer had passed him for the lead.
"I did not know he was really a lap down and thought
he had won. I only knew I had won when we pulled into victory lane and
I saw the scoreboard." Lane said with a smile. "I thought we were
racing for the win, without a radio it is hard to keep track of the
lap cars."
Mike Riddle took the lead after Boyer dropped back
and lead until the 128th lap when he pitted under the
yellow for fuel. After the race restarted he was again running for the
lead, and showing himself as the fastest car on the track, when his
tire went down just as the race was getting ready for a restart after
another yellow flag. He went one lap down while changing his tire as
the green fell while he was still in the pits. Riddle battled back to
finish sixth, one lap back.
Todd Kempf, who finished second, started beside Lane
at the back of the field. "I wasn’t
real
fast today, but we were in the right place at the right time." Kempf
stated. Kempf took the lead from Riddle and lead for 14 laps before
being passed by Lane on lap 143.
Dean Baker also started at the back but avoided
trouble throughout the race to finish third the last car on the lead
lap. Jeff Cravens finished fourth, with John Schafer holding on to
finish fifth.
With this finish Baker takes over the lead in the
season point championship passing Bret Miles who started the day in
the lead and finished in third place behind Baker and Boyer who moved
into second only 6 points behind Baker.
The MAX 93.5/96.7 CRA Street Stocks Season
Championship event will be Sunday, October 23rd at Salem
Speedway.