WOLFE WINS RACE AS LESSOR COMPLETES CHAMPIONSHIP RUN AT MONTANA RACEWAY PARK
Alex Lessor won his first career Montana Raceway Park late model championship with a runner-up finish to Cory Wolfe in the Twisted Tea 100. Sagle, Idaho native Corey Allard was third.
Courtesy: Montana Raceway Park Media Relations
KALISPELL, Mont. (September 12, 2009)-Cory Wolfe marched from the 14th starting position to the lead with 16 laps to go in the Twisted Tea 100 for the Montana Raceway Park late model division then held off a determined Alex Lessor for the victory in the track’s final premier late model event of 2009.
Corey Allard finished third with Ryan Wells and Agni Howell rounding out the top-5.
Howell and Allard led the 15-car field to the green flag then waged a spirited battle for the top spot over the first 12 laps of the race. Allard cleared Howell exiting turn No. 4 and moved out to a 10-car length lead over fast time qualifier, Mark Owens. At lap 25 Owens got underneath Allard in turn No. 3 and cleared for the top spot heading into turn No. 1.
Lessor caught Owens at lap 30 and the pair stayed close together for several laps as Lessor’s Army-Navy Chevrolet could not take advantage of the low side opening that Owens would leave in each corner.
At lap 75 the night’s final caution flew for a spinning Forrest Bauer in turn No. 2 and the field was bunched up and facing the cone rule for the restart. Owens and Lessor took the low line with Wolfe going upstairs for the green flag.
Wolfe stayed with Owens and with 10 laps to go made contact on the backstretch. Owens exited turn No. 4 and tried to block Wolfe for the lead. Owens lost the handle on his Budweiser Chevrolet and went around in the infield allowing Wolfe to clear for the lead and moved Lessor to second with Allard retaking third. Over the final two circuits of racing Wolfe kept Lessor at bay with Allard close behind but coming up short at the checkered flag.
“We have had a good car the last couple of races and this one was won by the crew,” Wolfe said. “The guys hit the tire set-up just right and I was able to drive it up there for the win. I knew that Mark’s guys were telling him where to put the car to keep me back there and he just overdrove the corner and lost the handle.”
Allard was excited for his top-3 finish after struggling the last couple of races with a sore knee.
“The knee felt good and we had a real good car here tonight,” Allard said. “We can some of this into our INSSA (Inland Northwest Super Stock Association) championship race next week at Stateline but I know the baseline set-up will be good for us after a night like this.”
For Lessor, the night just before his 29th birthday brought plenty of presents with a runner-up finish and his first late model championship at the famed Montana Raceway Park quarter-mile.
“This is an awesome feeling and under those last couple of cautions I thought about the points a little bit and took the low side with Owens even though I knew I could have a shot on the outside for the lead. Man this is a great feeling to win a championship for Army-Navy and Bob Schweigert and my crew guys; they make all this possible,” Lessor said.
In the Westward Bound Construction/Keller Williams Legends series Tyler Corpron took advantage of a spinning Jake Bissett who re-entered the race track in turn No. 2 just in front of older brother Joe and Corpron, who were running first and second before Joe had to check up for his brother and allowed Corpron to move to the high for the lead with six laps to go.
Joe Bissett recovered to close within a car length of Corpron on the white flag lap but was unable to make anymore ground and settled for third place with Adam Bishop, Brandon Sickler and Dave Daughtry rounding out the to-5.
Marvin Stone showed he had the strong car in the Compact class with an A-Trophy Dash win and a victory in the night’s main event over a hard charging Fran Rehn.
Jaime Peterson, Jeff Kikendall and Joe Davis completed the top-5.
Dustin Martel and Dave Oldham battled down to the wire in the Hobby Stock main event with Oldham just missing a chance to get the victory at the strip. Martel cleared brother Brandon Martel early and appeared to have the race in hand as Oldham had spun on lap four, but, Oldham marched through the field and closed the gap late for the runner-up finish.
Racing resumes at Montana Raceway Park on Saturday, September 19 with the Full Throttle Energy Drinks season championship for the Bandoleros and the Vitamin Water championship 35-lap shootout for the Thunder Roadsters. The Bomber 75 that was rained out on Sept. 5 will be run this Saturday night along with the Hornets and Limited Sportsman.
For tickets and other information call (406) 257-RACE (7223) or log onto www.montanaracewaypark.com
September 12, 2009 Main Event Finishing Orders
Twisted Tea 100 for the MRP Super Late Models
1) Cory Wolfe
2) Alex Lessor
3) Cory Allard
4) Ryan Wells
5) Agni Howell
6) Billy Salmonsen
7) Bodie Morton
8) Kirk Hennefer
9) Mark Owens
10) Forrest Bauer
11) Clint Habart
12) Wrango West
13) Troy Schweigert
14) Clayton Richert
15) Mike Slough
Westward Bound Construction/Keller Williams Legends Series
1) Tyler Corpron
2) Joe Bissett
3) Adam Bishop
4) Brandon Sickler
5) Dave Daughtry
6) Zach Havens
7) Ron Custer
8) Jake Bissett
9) Kyle Koehler
10) Giles Thornton
11) Tim Corbett
12) Leroy Brush
13) Scott Dalla
14) Michael Karper
15) Wrango West
Compacts
1) Marvin Stone
2) Fran Rehn
3) Jamie Peterson
4) Jeff Kikendall
5) Joe Davis
6) Tim Davis
7) Nancy Davis
Hobby Stocks
1) Dustin Martel
2) Dave Oldham
3) Brandon Martel
4) Nick Szalay
5) Tracy Harris
