Cody Ochs had already found Victory Lane six times at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park in his career. And on Sunday night, that experience paid off.
The Rensselaer, NY driver held off Rookie Tyler Bobar in traffic, leading all 40 laps to score his first career DIRTcar Sportsman Series East Region victory.
Ochs, the pole-sitter, pulled away from the field in the early portion of the event before the first of four cautions slowed the field on Lap 9 for Taylor Wason.
On the restart, Bobar drove around the outside of Dylan Nichols for second place and set his sights on Ochs. The two drivers pulled away from the field as Bobar chased Ochs’ #33 until another caution came out for Wason again on Lap 15.
After two more cautions flew before Lap 16 was complete, Bobar saw his first chance to wrestle the lead from Ochs. On the next restart, Bobar, who was running the outside line, pulled even with Ochs as the two waged war down the backstretch. But by the time they exited Turn 4, Ochs had enough momentum to hold onto the lead.
Ochs pulled away from Bobar again as the laps wound down, but Bobar had one more shot when they approached the tail of the field. As Ochs struggled to get around C.V. Elms, a lap car, Bobar closed in on Lap 25.
However, as Bobar tried going around Ochs on the outside, he got loose in Turn 4, costing him a chance at victory.
From there, Ochs held on to win the 40-lap Feature, earning $1,000 and his first DIRTcar Sportsman Series checkered flag.
“The car was good,” Ochs said. “I felt [Tyler Bobar] a couple of times. I knew he was there. I could hear him, so I knew I couldn’t mess up, or he was going to get me.
“(It was) a good race. The track’s awesome and smooth.”
Bobar crossed the line second but was disqualified after weighing-in light at the scales in post-race tech. That moved Dylan Nichols to the runner-up spot, giving the South New Berlin, NY driver his best career DIRTcar Sportsman Series finish.
D.J. Robinson was credited with third after starting 11th. The Sharon, VT driver was highest finishing Bear Ridge Speedway regular.
Jason Gray finished fourth, and Brendan Gibbons rounded out the top five.
With his fourth-place finish, Gray leads DIRTcar Sportsman Series East Region standings by 20 points over Robinson.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Sportsman Series East Region returns to action on Tuesday, May 28 at Afton Fairgrounds Speedway.
For more on the DIRTcar Northeast, follow the DIRTcar Facebook page and the Series’ X/(Twitter) page.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series East Region Feature (40 Laps): 1. 33-Cody Ochs, 2. 01-Dylan Nichols, 3. 4-D.J. Robinson, 4. 00-Jason Gray, 5. 02- Brendan Gibbons, 6. 26H-Jeremy Huntoon, 7. 07-Tayor Wason, 8. 15-Adam Leslie, 9. 01-Zach Buff, 10. 28-Dylan Eldred, 11. 5EJ-E.J. Gallup, 12. 18-Tony Farone, 13. 3-Jeff Huntington, 14. 6E-C.V. Elms, 15. 99-Clyde Peek, 16. 25G- Stephen Gray, 17. 43-Tavien Blowers, 18. 66-Tim Churchill, DNS- 12P-Connor Prokup, DNS-42H-Kadon Hohensheldt, DQ- 12B-Tyler Bobar
Hoosier Racing Tire Award: Dylan Eldred (Free Tire)
Post-Race Tech: Fuel and Rev Boxes were checked. All cars passed.
