By Joe Grabianowski
DIRTcar Pro Stock Series drivers Zack Daniels and Dakota Sharp battled side-by-side in front of the Mohawk International Raceway crowd before Daniels made the final move to collect his first career Series win.
The tenacious Tommy Lizotte snuck into second place while Sharp settled for third after a long battle for the lead.
“This feels great,” Daniels said. “I’ve been trying to win one of these big checks for three years now. The car was decent until I hit a yuke tire on Lap 8, and I had my hands full. I could hook the bottom, and this thing was digging.”
Spaced-out caution periods allowed Sharp, who started fourth, and pole-sitter Daniels to swap the lead throughout the race. Single-file laps were rare for the leaders throughout the 35-lap Feature.
Zack Daniels and Dakota Sharp battle for the lead/Joe Grabianowski
“I want to thank Dakota [Sharp] for racing me clean,” Daniels said. “That was awesome. I never thought I’d win against some of these names, but here we are.”
Second-place finisher Tommy Lizotte, out of La Pocatiere, QC, quietly made his way up to the front from ninth. Lizotte suffered a hard crash at Cornwall the previous night.
“It was a very good run in a backup car,” said Lizotte. We drove home last night to get the backup after crashing Tuesday night. A couple laps and maybe I can go for Zack [Daniels], but I am very proud for him to take first place.”
Sharp, from Colton, NY, nearly came home with the victory after the race-long duel with Daniels.
“It was a good night,” said Daniels. “I didn’t want to see the cautions late. The car went away the last two laps and fell off. Top three tonight. We’ll take it.”
After winning at Cornwall last night, Bastien Caron, from Inverness, QC, finished just off the podium in fourth to build his Championship points lead over Pete Stefanski and Devon Camenga, who finished 10th and 12th, respectively.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series returns to action onl Monday, August 17, when they join the Super DIRTcar Series at Brewerton Speedway for SummerFAST.
How can you watch the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series at SummerFAST? Live on DIRTVision.
DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Feature (35 Laps): 1. 30-Zack Daniels[3]; 2. 777-Tommy Lizotte[9]; 3. 12S-Dakota Sharp[4]; 4. 73-Bastien Caron[6]; 5. 2H-Luke Horning[11]; 6. X15-Tyler Bushey[8]; 7. 324-Jason Casey[14]; 8. 14R-Sid Harmer Jr[2]; 9. 28-Burton Ward[20]; 10. 2-Pete Stefanski[17]; 11. 33-Bruno Cyr[15]; 12. 110-Devon Camenga[1]; 13. 54S-Zachary Sorrentino[21]; 14. 8-Sean Corr[5]; 15. 32L-Jonathan Levesque[24]; 16. 1R-Ricky Thompson[7]; 17. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[10]; 18. 2Z-Hugh Page[16]; 19. 177-Chris Stalker[18]; 20. 57J-Jason Fetterly[29]; 21. 9-Eric Jean Louis[19]; 22. 6JR-Stephane Lebrun[22]; 23. 38-Justin Chaput[23]; 24. 7S-Chad Vallance[13]; 25. 32-Richard Spencer[27]; 26. 4S-Styles Arquiett[28]; 27. 06-Alex Lebrun[26]; 28. 57K-Kevin Fetterly Jr[30]; 29. 25-Austin Ward[25]; 30. (DQ) 48-Jocelyn Roy[12]
