9/19/2016
Airborne Park Speedway
Cayea Wins, Heywood Fifth Championship
PLATTSBURGH- Mooers driver, Chris Cayea, picked up his first win in the final event of the year for the Ernie’s Discount Tools Sportsman Modified division at Airborne Park Speedway.
Cayea started on the pole and was able to fend off an early challenge from Bucko Branham. In the closing laps, Branham began to reel Cayea back in, but Cayea’s fifteen car length lead was large enough to hold on for the win.
Danny Sullivan, Codie Aubin and Roger Labreche completed the top five.
In spite of his problems in Sunday’s championship event, the four-time defending track champion, Nick Heywood, had built up a large enough point lead, that his finishing position didn’t matter. Heywood lost the rear end of his number 29 and lasted just five laps in the feature event. Heywood’s final margin of victory is 40 points over Branham. The point title now gives Heywood five consecutive point championships in the Sportsman Modified division.
“I really have to thank all the guys that work hard on the car every week,” Heywood said. “This division has a great group of guys to race against, especially Bucko, he offered me his car for the feature to try and pick up some NASCAR points.”
Branham edged out Sullivan for the second spot in the point standings, with just one point separating the two. Jamy Begor and Jamie LaFountain finished fourth and fifth respectively in points.
The Jeffords Steel Renegade division ran two 25-lap segment races on Sunday for their final event. The driver with the lowest combined score through the segments would be the eventual winner.
Shawn Duquette had a pair of second place finishes for a total of four points, giving him his fourth win of 2016. Zach Rabtoy, who finished first in segment one, finished fourth in segment two for a combined total of five points, good enough for second place overall. Richie Turner finished third overall, including finishing first in the second segment. Brent Jarvis and Robert Gordon completed the top five.
Gordon is the Renegade point champion for 2016. Gordon finished with an 18 point lead over Turner. Both drivers collected three wins on the season. Duquette, Rabtoy and Jason McClatchie complete spots three through five in the point standings.
Josh LaPorte won his fifth Busch Beer Mini Mod feature onboard his number 45b. LaPorte had the tie breaker over Dale O’Neil, as both drivers had a three point total through two segments. Tyler Irwin, Tim LaFountain and Michael Whalen completed the top five.
O’Neil is the point champion in the Mini Mod division, finishing with a 54 point advantage over LaPorte. O’Neil collected thirteen wins this season. Tim LaFountain, Tyler Irwin and Robert Foley complete the top five in points.
The final event scheduled at Airborne is on October 15 for the Robin Branham Crash For Cancer Enduro. Post time is scheduled for 5 p.m. For more information, visit airborneparkspeedway.com or on Facebook at Airborne Park Speedway.
Submitted By: John Walker