6/30/2014
Airborne Park Speedway
Lamberton catches LaFountain at the Line; Heywood comes from out back to win 2nd Twin 25
SOUTH PLATTSBURGH – Mark Lamberton’s last gasp move paid off as he nosed out Jamie LaFountain for a photo finish win in the first of Twin 25’s for the J&S Steel Sportsman Modifieds Saturday at Airborne Speedway.
Lamberton swung the Banker Orchards/Laware Logging No.44 to the high side after working LaFountain from the bottom lap after lap.
LaFountain, looking for his 1st win of the season, led laps 4-29.
“Jamie and I seem to end up doing a lot of side by side racing,” Lamberton said. “He does an awesome job and he’s getting harder to beat. I kept trying him on the inside, but the car was too tight. I knew I had to try to make it stick on the outside.”
Nick Heywood steadily rose up through the ranks to secure third. Codie Aubin and Jason Durgan rounded out the top five.
In the second Sportsman Modified Twin 25, Heywood raced from 16th on the grid, tracked down high-flying rookie Jayson Criss and drew out to win comfortably in the Budweiser No. 29.
“The car was hooked up,” Heywood said. “It was like it was on rails.”
Lamberton and Travis Bruno were 3-4 ahead of rookie Jeff Clodgo, who had a seasonal best showing in 5th-place.
Jessey Mueller was much the best in the Ernie’s Discount Tools 358-Modified feature. Mueller put the Freihofer No. 19 on the point on lap 10 and was never headed. Aaron Bartemy was the runner-up. Leon Gonyo kept daylight between himself and Chris Cayea to finish third. Kris Vernold was next in line to record his fourth top-five.
Zach Daniels of Saranac backed up a strong run in last week’s Key RD Trailer Sales Renegade 100 with a convincing win – a career first.
Lance Rabtoy made use of early restarts to move into contention, but was unable to overtake Daniels, who led 29 of 30 laps. Robert Gordon worked traffic effectively to place third. Jim McKiernan and Jamy Begor (with a borrowed engine) finished 4-5.
Dale O’Neil picked up his 2nd win in the Busch Mini Modified feature. Scott Richner raced from last to second, one spot better than Harold LaVair.
- Tom Herzig
Submitted By: JOHN WALKER