| Seekonk, MA - It never is a
surprise to see Bentley Warren in victory lane - anytime, anywhere. Bentley just never
ceases to amaze. He dazzled the huge crowd at Seekonk Speedway Sunday when he put the
Dunigan 7 past his new teammate Pat Abold on lap 72 of the ISMA-Lucas Oil 75 lap opener as
the duo diced through lap cars. The win was Bentley's first in some time in the division
he dominated for many of his 5 decades of racing. Smiling widely as fans shouted congratulations, Bentley said after the
exciting event, "This was great. It feels real, real good. The car was excellent. I
think the traffic probably helped me a little bit I guess." Indicating that it was
Pat's race to lose, Warren commented, "I couldn't do any wrong. Anywhere Pat went
could be wrong and I couldn't be wrong. It was wicked fun out there."
Abold, in the Dunigan 26, who had taken the lead from
Rick Wentworth on lap 6, appeared to be headed for an easy win, but lost two spots in the
final three laps when both Bentley Warren and Randy Ritskes, in the Howie Lane 9, used
traffic to get by.
Pat, in his newly painted purple 26, said after his third place finish, "It
was great. The car was just a little too neutral from the beginning, but really good. I
have to hand it to these guys on the Dunigan crew to bring four competitive cars here.
It's just unbelievable. It looks like it's going to be a fun season. Everybody is getting
along good and I think that's the main thing here.. This is really going to be a lot of
fun.:"
In turn, Ritskes, who had maintained a top five spot throughout most of the ISMA season
opener, was more than pleased to relieve Abold of second. Randy attributed his success to
one of the Howie Lane crew. "Kevin, my crewman, changed just about everything but the
number. He said it would be a little tight at first, but it would come on at the end.. I
just humored him, but he was right. It was a lot of fun out there. The guys worked hard.
It's nice to come back. The car let me make that move on Pat."
Rick Wentworth led the 25-car ISMA-Lucas Oil field down to the first flag
of 2003, but quickly lost out to the rapidly moving Abold who took over on lap 7. Two
quick yellows slowed things - one for the Dan Osmeloski 01 and one for Eric Lewis Chasing
Abold, who has not raced supers for several years, was Justin Belfiore, in his number 8,
an old Eddie Bellinger machine which had seen victory lane many times. Also, coming on
strong was Randy Ritskes who soon overtook Belfiore.
Lap 26 saw the field bunched when the Budnick 88 of John Payne spun. The restart found no
less than four lap cars between Abold and challengers Ritskes, Russ Wood, Scott Martel,
Warren, Chris Perley and 17-year old wonder Bobby Santos, in the second Lane car, the 97.
Scotty Martel's day ended in a cloud of smoke, bringing out the yellow on lap 29.
Abold pulled away on the green as Wood charged into second past Ritskes. Bentley stayed
right on Ritskes' bumper with Perley and Santos trailed by the 2002 race victor Lou
Cicconi.
Abold was making some spectacular moves through traffic, leaving the aforementioned six to
battle amongst themselves. Abold, however, suddenly slipped off the track surface for a
brief moment on lap 58, with a gasp from the crowd. "I don't know if I got into
something out there or what. The car
was really getting loose, but I hadn't done anything different there from the 60 laps
before. It definitely got sideways and I was really lucky to save it. I thought I'd drop
back to about tenth, but I lucked out. I didn't know how far out ahead I was at that
point."
The only damaging yellow came on lap 61 when the 99 of Joe Petro, the 76 of rookie Rod
Sauder and the 72 of Greg Furlong. All three went to the pits. Russ Wood, who had fallen
back to sixth, used the time to replace a tire going down.
With less than ten to go, Abold pulled away from Warren on the green, but
not too far away. On lap 65, Abold approached Eric Lewis' 28 and had to make a decision
which way to go as the wily Warren was just laying in wait. Pat made his choice and it was
the right one as he kept Warren at bay this time. Ritskes, Perley and Santos were still
fighting as well.
With five to go, the race was on. Inside and outside Pat went while Bentley followed. On
lap 72, the 7 dove underneath the 26 and pulled into the lead. On the final go, Abold,
trying to recover his lead, lost second to Ritskes as Perley and Santos crossed behind
them in fourth and fifth.
Perley, whose car seemed to come on in the latter stages of the feature, commented,
"In the heat the car was real tight and after that we made some adjustments and then
it was real loose. I really didn't think we'd get as far as we did. It was a lot of fun
racing with everyone. It made it a good time. You didn't know who was going to come out on
top. If we could race like that all the time and still not win, I think I'd be happy. At
least it was racing all the way through."
Ritskes' teammate, Santos, made it two top fives for car owner Howie Lane. "It felt
really good out there," said the multi-talented teen. "racing with a lot of
veterans. It was fun. Traffic was tough but it was a good experience passing cars on a
tight little track like that. It was a great car and you couldn't ask for a greater group
of guys to work with. It was fun."
Lou Cicconi, Wood, Dave McKnight, John Payne and Brad Lichty rounded out the top ten.
The next ISMA -Lucas Oil events are at Kawartha Speedway on May 22 and Oswego
Speedway, May 23.
Summary:
Heat 1: Bobby Santos, Russ Wood, Jamie Timmons, Scott
Martel, Brad Lichty, Ken Bell, Rod Sauder, Dan Osmeloski, Vern LaFave.
Heat 2: Rick Wentworth, Randy Ritskes, Justin Belfiore, Bentley Warren, Chris Perley, Dave
McKnight, Jamie Letcher, Mark Sammut
Heat 3: Pat Abold, Lou Cicconi, Jim Shirey, John Payne, Eric Lewis, Greg Furlong, Joe
Petro, Jennifer Chesbro
Feature (75 Laps):
1. Bentley Warren (7), 2. Randy Ritskes (9), 3. Pat Abold (26), 4. Chris
Perley (11), 5. Bobby Santos (97), 6. Lou Cicconi (75), 7. Russ Wood (29), 8. Dave
McKnight (94), 9. John Payne (88), 10. Brad Lichty (84), 11. Joe Petro (99), 12. Jamie
Timmons (27), 13. Rick Wentworth (10), 14. Jamie Letcher (58),
15. Ken Bell (32), 16. Jen Chesbro (33), 17. Jim Shirey (16), 18. Mark Sammut (78),
19. Eric Lewis (28), 20. Vern LaFave (96), 21. Greg Furlong (72), 22. Rod Sauder (76), 23.
Scott Martel (14), 24. Dan Osmeloski (01), 25. Justin Belfiore (8). |
