By Martin Bélanger
HOGANSBURG, N. Y. – Thursday, June 21 2012 – The scorching hot weather didn`t bother Billy Dunn, who was strong all night long on Mohawk International‘s 4/10-mile circuit for the third event of the DIRTcar 358-Mdoified Series.
Danny O’Brien and Billy Dunn were on the top row of the 30-car field that took the initial green in the 75-lap feature race. Dunn took an early lead on
O’Brien and quickly reached slower cars as the feature had 8 laps in the books. O’Brien and Carey Terrance used the traffic to close in on Dunn and, with
15 laps on the scoreboard, Danny Johnson had already reached the top 10 after starting 22-nd.
Carey Terrance made a good pass on O’Brien in the backshoot for second just before the yellow flag flew on lap 16 as Travis Braun looped in turn 2 bringing the field together. Danny Johnson went pit side during this caution. Terrance had a strong start over Dunn to grab the lead as Dale Planck and Brett Hearn joined the leaders in fourth and fifth with 55 laps to go.
Terrance got away from the field as Planck was racing with O’Brien for third with 30 laps completed. The second caution of the race was given two laps later as Tim Currier had issues with his vehicle. The early point leader headed to the pits during this yellow as Mat Williamson jumped into fifth.
Terrance kept the lead on the restart as teammate Planck took third from O’Brien and Dunn squeezed in second. Laurent Ladouceur made a swift move to crack the top 5 on lap 37. Mike Adderley slowed in the backstretch and the yellow lights came out with 30 laps left in the feature race.
Bad luck struck for Terrance as he had a strong start but two laps later the front end broke, giving the lead to Dunn and the yellow laps were back out.
Several cars got tangled when the green lights were out, including leaders O’Brien, Matt Billings, Mario Clair and Joel Doiron who sustained heavy damage on the front of his mount. Clair got hard into the wall and needed assistance from the safety crew.
Dunn in first as the top 5 changed a bit, with Williamson charging to second, Planck in third, and Erick Rudolph and Tommy Flannigan having a strong run in fifth. Rudolph was fast on the outside and took third over Planck on lap 52.
Williamson had issues with his car with 19 to go and caution came. Terrance was able to make repairs on his car during the extended Clair caution and made his way up to fourth as he was clearly the fastest car on the Mohawk International Raceway grounds.
Dunn continued leading the way with Planck in second with Rudolph in third. Dunn led the final circuits and captured his 3rd DIRTcar 358-Modified Series race. Planck, Rudolph, Terrance and Flannigan rounded out the top 5.
The DIRTcar 358-Modified series will move west to the beautiful Niagara region with race number four as it makes a return to Ramsomville Speedway on Tuesday, July 3.
Pit notes: The best field of the season with 35 entrants for this third event of the season. Billy Dunn set fast time with a 17.057 around the 4/10mile using the backup car of fellow competitor Laurent Ladouceur.
DIRTcar 358-Modified Series Race #3-Mohawk International Raceway, June 21, 2012
Feature Results: 1. Billy Dunn, 2. Dale Planck, 3. Erick Rudolph, 4. Carey Terrance, 5. Tommy Flannigan, 6. Matt Billings, 7. Roy Tarbell, 8. Tim O’Brien, 9. Laurent Ladouceur, 10. Shane Pecore, 11. Tom Conklin, 12. Mike Adderley, 13. Travis Braun, 14. Mat Williamson, 15. Jeremy Wilder, 16. Harvey Arquiett, 17. David Papineau, 18. Danny O’Brien, 19. Mario Clair, 20. Joel Doiron, 21. Luke Whitteker, 22. Brett Hearn, 23. Tim Currier, 24. Chris Raabe, 25. Gage Morin, 26. Kyle Jacobs, 27. Danny Johnson, 28. Stephane Lafrance, 29. Brian McDonald, 30. 003 Zach Aubertine
Lap leaders:
Dunn (1-17)
Terrance (18-47)
Dunn (48-75)
Heat Races (8 laps, top 5 qualify, top 3 went to redraw)
#1: Danny O’Brien, Shane Pecore, Mike Adderley, Gage Morin, Tim O’Brien, Zach Aubertine, Travis Braun, Perry Francis, Ryan Helm (DNS)
#2: Dale Planck, Billy Dunn, Mat Williamson, Luke Whitteker, Tom Conklin, Stephane Lafrance, David Papineau, Harvey Arquiett, Larry Welling (DNS)
#3: Laurent Ladouceur, Carey Terrance, Roy Tarbell, Matt Billings, Tommy Flannigan, Jeremy Wilder, Casey Swamp, Tim Currier
#4: Brett Hearn, Chris Raabe, Joel Doiron, Erick Rudolph, Mario Clair, Danny Johnson, Brian McDonald, Kyle Jacobs, Preston Forbes
Consi #1: Travis Braun, Zach Aubertine, Tom Conklin, David Papineau, Harvey Arquiett, Perry Francis, Larry Welling
Consi #2: Danny Johnson, Jeremy Wilder, Brian McDonald, Kyle Jacobs, Casey Swamp, Tim Currier, Preston Forbes
Mohawk International Raceway DIRTcar 358-Modified Series Race #3 Roster (35)
O1 Chris Raabe/Napanee, ONT
O3 Zach Aubertine/Chaumont,NY
007 Roy Tarbell/Hogansburg,NY
4j Shane Pecore/St-Andrews, ONT
6m Mat Williamson/St.Catharines,ONT
7 Harvey Arquette/Akwesasne,NY
10 Tim Currier/Auburn, NY
15 Ryan Helm/Chateauguay,NY
16 Gage Morin/St-Andrews, ONT
17D Danny O’Brien/Kingston,ONT
20 Brett Hearn/Sussex, NJ
21 Larry Welling/Star Lakes,NY
22c Mario Clair/St-Edmond,QUE
22j Jeremy Wilder/Fort Plain, NY
23 Laurent Ladouceur/Alexandria, ONT
23d Billy Dunn/Watertown,NY
25r Erick Rudolph/Ramsomville, NY
27j Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY
29 Tom Conklin/Gouverneur, NY
29r Preston Forbes/Potsdam, NY
37 Kyle Jacobs/Awkesasne,NY
38 Luke Whitteker/Iroquois,ONT
40 Joel Doiron/Alexandria,ONT
44 Casey Swamp/Akwesasne,NY
55 Perry Francis/Akwesasne,NY
66x Carey Terrance/Akwesasne,NY
72 Tommy Flannigan/St-Catharines,ONT
74 Matt Billings/Brockville, ONT
76 Travis Braun/Jordan Station,ONT
77x Dale Planck/Cortland,NY
88 Tim O’Brien/Kingston, ONT
99 Mike Adderley/Charlotte,NC
115 Stéphane Lafrance/Casselman, ONT
151 Brian McDonald/Cornwall,ONT
188 David Papineau/Akwesasne,NY
2012 DIRTcar 358 Modified Series Schedule
Sunday, May 20th Cornwall Speedway Cornwall, Ontario – Danny Johnson
Monday, May 21st Merrittville Speedway Merrittville, Ontario – Brett Hearn
Thursday, June 21st Mohawk International Speedway Akwesasne, NY – Billy
Dunn
Tuesday, July 3rd Ransomville Speedway Ransomville, New York
Sunday, September 2nd Cornwall Speedway Cornwall, Ontario
Friday, September 7th Autodrome Granby Granby, Quebec
Friday, September 14th Mohawk International Raceway Akwesasne, NY
Friday, September 21st Canandaigua Motorsports Park Canandaigua, NY
Saturday, September 22nd Brighton Speedway Brighton, Ontario
Wednesday, October 3th Cayuga County Fair Speedway Weedsport, NY
Thursday, October 4th Rolling Wheels Raceway Elbridge, NY
Saturday, October 6th New York State Fairgrounds Syracuse, NY
Saturday, October 13th Brockville Speedway Brockville, Ontario
The Super DIRTcar Series and DIRTcar Racing in the Northeast Region is brought to fans by several sponsors and partners including Hoosier Racing Tire, VP Racing Fuels, GM Performance Parts, Nationwide Insurance and Safety-Kleen. Promotional partners include the University of Northwestern Ohio and Chizmark Larson Insurance. Contingency sponsors are ASI, Bert Transmissions, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix, ButlerBuilt, Comp Cams, Intercomp, JE Pistons, KSE Racing Products, Motorsports Safety Systems, MSD Ignition, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, R2C, Super Flow, Vicci Racing Apparel, WIX Filters, Wrisco Industries, Xtreme Lubricants and Extreme Mufflers.
