Howdy all. Apologies once again, as some business kept me away from most of the racing last night.
I did manage to see most of the Sportsman final, and what a show that was. Josh Wood was the class of the field, with Shawn McGlynn looking thru most of the race like he had something for him. Shawn actually took the early lead for a while. Then the cautions started to fly and some of the front runners found their way to the back and working their way up again.
Didn't see what happened to Doerr. He seemed to be solid in 3rd for the first half, then as soon as I looked away something happened and he ended up with some bent stuff up front and bringing up the back of the field.
Worst crash of the night was Mark Patrick. Again I didn't see it, but I sure heard the crunch. He and Merrifield got together on the frontstretch and Partick ended up planted firmly in the inside pit wall. Merrifield had been putting up a rooster tail of spark and flame from his right front for a lot of laps before that, and someone told me he was all over the place...Patrick got caught up in that.
In the closing laps, It was all Josh Wood, with McGlynn throwing everything at him. On one restart McGlyyn went into 1 so hot to get around him that he drifted way wide and lost a bunch of positions. He regained that, then it was a 2 car duel once again with McGlynn and Wood. Coming out of turn 2 with about 5 to go, Wood bobbled, McGlyynn got underneath. Wood threw the block, and both of them went spinning in tandem down the backstretch. Wood managed to keep moving forward, but McGlynn came to a stop. Wood keeps his position, McGlynn does not. Wood maintains the lead and now hes got Matt Robblee on his bumper. With 2 to go, Wood again bobbles in turn 3 and Robblee gets a bumper under, but somehow Wood manages to stay ahead and go on to win the race.
Derek Clark, debuting the renumbered 7 car, started well and was in the running for the most part, finishing a solid 3rd. Him and Doerr at one point put on a pretty good duel too. Clark seemed to be Richmond Row's golden boy for the Sportsmen with a lot of fans in our area of the track. Great showing by both him and Jay.
All in all it was a great night. Sorry I didn't see a single lap of the Trucks or Modifieds, but congrats to Bloemendal on his 2nd truck win of the season, and to Barry Newman for bagging the first MRA race of the year.
As most of you know, I'm actually at work this afternoon and will not be attending the Great Canadian 200. So no Shadow report on that tonight. Sorry. 🙁
I can tell you that it was a lot of fun from my seat! Everybody that I battled with ran me clean. Not a mark on the car. Congrats to Josh on the win. I think that without that lap 95 yellow, nobody was catching him. Thanks to all the fans too! Richmond row was loud, and I could hear all of you!
Thanks to Delaware speedway for putting on a great show. Good job by all of the lucas oil sportsman cup officials, also thanks to Tirecraft for supporting the show. For our first time there, we'll take the 5th and get better next time. We've already had the car in the shop and have figured what we need to change for the labour day show. ;D
I can tell you that it was a lot of fun from my seat! Everybody that I battled with ran me clean. Not a mark on the car. Congrats to Josh on the win. I think that without that lap 95 yellow, nobody was catching him. Thanks to all the fans too! Richmond row was loud, and I could hear all of you!
Richmond Row is pleased to cheer on such a great person and a great competitor!