Robblee and Robblee as Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Returns to Delaware
The Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Series presented by Benson Auto Parts returned to Delaware on Saturday, September 5, 2009 for the sixth of seven’s event in their championship – and the birthplace of the type of stock cars that compete on the LOSC tour.
The hill was jam packed of spectators for the Saturday night shootout, and there were more cars in the pits than the series has had in history. Cole Weber fired the first shot as the fastest qualifier for the McColl Racing 100, made up of a pair of 50-lappers. The inversion placed 16-year old Mitch Brown on the pole, with Jay Doerr alongside him.
Brown recently locked up the Mini Stock championship at Ohsweken Speedway, while Doerr, a former Delaware Late Model and Modified competitor was making his first run in the series after competing in Merrittville for a number of years on the dirt.
Doerr used his Delaware experience to jump into the lead, with Ron Sheridan in his one-off ride for Mid-America Motorsports in pursuit. Sheridan would take the lead just before Doerr broke, ending his night. On lap 17, freshman sensation Chris Raabe got Sheridan on the high side and led until lap 45 when Shawn McGlynn made a challenge. McGlynn dove to the inside coming off turn four, but got into Raabe. The pair became locked together, wrecked all the way to turn one, and turning the lead over to Dan Prudhomme.
Prudhomme held off Steve Robblee on the restart, but Robblee hung close enough to make a charge at the lead on the final trip down the backstretch. The pair raced side-by-side through turns three and four, with Robblee winning the photo finish at the start/finish line. It was his sixth win in 11 starts on the tour this year. Matt Robblee finished third, after having to stop mid-race to replace a flat tire, while Brennan Didero and Josh Wood rounded out the top-five.
The top-ten were inverted for the second 50-lapper putting Mark Patrick and Tony Bawden on the front row, neither a stranger of the Delaware layout. Bawden was able to lead early, but Shawn McGlynn was quickly on his bumper, and pulled off a pass for the lead on an early restart. Matt Robblee had made his way to the front of the pack and was pressuring McGlynn, but it was Steve Robblee that was able to take the lead away from McGlynn. A number of yellow flags flew throughout the event, but Steve was able to keep McGlynn at bay. With less than 10 laps to go, it was Matt Robblee that found his way to his dad’s bumper. The younger Robblee put a move on Steve took the lead and held serve until the checkers, and knocked down his fourth feature win of the season.
Matt spoke about racing his dad at the end of the night. “Racing with my dad is always fun. It was a pretty insane night tonight with all the contact, but it’s Delaware and everyone is excited to be here racing. I also have to say that both Sheridan and Doerr did very well in their first starts.”
Steve finished second, while Jay Christie posted a career best third-place run. McGlynn hung on to finish fourth, while Mitch Brown rounded out the top-five.
With his night, Robblee needs to only start one of the 50-lap features to claim the championship next Saturday night at Flamboro Speedway to win his second LOSC championship in the series three-year existence.
Steve Robblee spoke about his evening, “Our car was better in the second race, but Matt was better on cold tires and was able to get me. I raced him hard, but I couldn’t take a real big risk that could take both of us out. We also got the win in the first one on a real close finish with Dan, so it was a pretty good night for our team.”
Matt Robblee was able to move to second in points, but only six points up on Dave Connelly, who fell one position. Prudhomme sits fourth, nine points back of Robblee, while Didero moved into the top-five and is 11 markers behind.
Photos available at www.maudsleymotorsports.com
Hey maudsley do you have the qualifying results from saturday night, like I mean the lap times.... If so could you post them as I would like to know what our time was and the officials said they took them up to you in the announcer room... Thanks
Just a small correction,,,,,Matt Robblee came from the back around the half way mark in both 50s. In the first one he was sent to the rear when Doerr spun in turn 3 and in the second he had a flat tire and came in to change it just as the cars were doubling up for the restart.
On another note,,,,,how many people liked the double file restarts?
,,,,and has anyone heard what the attendance numbers were for the 3 days?
Just Wondering
Well, as I said in my own report, I'm sold on double file restarts. The way we do it now is still pretty good, but double file is the way to go. Much more exciting, and just as fair, IMO.
I don't think Delaware releases attendance figures any more. Legend has it that the figures they used to give were somewhat generous anyway. What I found really surprising was the truly huge crowds we had on the Fri and Sat. And the crowd on Sunday I beleive is the best we've seen for the 300 since we dropped C/NASCAR.
I'd thought the qualifying times would be posted on the quick results, but I heard they didn't use the transponders for the LOSC guys, so they wouldn't be on Del-net.
Hey Shadow, great report. I sat in turn 4 for the first time this year, and it proved to be worth the lack of bleachers. Lots of action at that end of the track. From my point of view, it looked like the 88 turned a little extra to the right as the 56 tried to squeak by on the outside. Also, in your report, you left out the the 7 had a nose under the 00 for the lead when the 82 rammed him out of the way. The LOSC race was pretty good despite the cautions. Lots of excitement and 2 wide racing. Tough break for the 12, getting put into the fence trying to avoid some other incident, but there were some bad breaks for a lot of guys in that race (93). Im sure a lot of those guys wont go to Flammy next week.