|
RAY
GRAHAM TAKES HIS ISMA FIRST
AT MANSFIELD FRIDAY EVENT |
Mansfield,
OH - Ray Graham Jr. took off from the pole at Mansfield Motorsports Park
in Friday night's ISMA-Wirtgen Super Series 40-lapper and stayed right
there to finish in the same spot. It was a career first for the Iowa
resident who has been in the hunt on many an occasion. Surviving a red
and a couple yellows, Graham looked to be running away with the short
sprint, but with ten to go, his 99 car began to falter and Dave Trytek
and then young Mike Lichty came on to challenge. Lichty made a last lap,
last corner attempt to take what would have been his career first also,
but fell short as Graham brought his first win home. Six time winner to
date, Chris Perley was out of the action on lap six after a brush,
ironically, with Lichty. But it was Graham's night to shine.
Said Ray in the post race interview; “The car was handling really well
in the heat race until the motor started skipping. We thought we had it
fixed but in the last ten to twelve laps of the race it started again. I
could hear them coming but the motor just wouldn't go. It kept
sputtering. We have something in the fuel system that's making the motor
skip. It plugged up the motor after the heat race. So we're going to
have to find out what that is. If there were another five laps, they
probably would have had me. I didn't know whether it was Mike or Dave at
the end there. I just put the car in the middle of the track and if they
were going to go around, they were going to work hard for it. The first
win feels good. “I feel good for the guys who do all the work. I just
show up at the track”
Once again Mike Lichty stood on the podium just shy of his goal. In the
waning laps of the race he did everything he could to pull off his first
win, but once again fell short by one spot. “We had a good car. We just
missed a little bit for a 40-lap run. I probably spent two or three
extra laps trying to get around Dave than I should have, but he was
running good and pretty tough to pass. Hats off to the whole crew. The
Patco Transportation Stage Door 84 car is getting close. We've got a
100-lapper tomorrow so we'll see what's going to happen.”
Third place finisher Dave Trytek was the only member of the Holbrook
team to finish and he made it a good one. “Tonight the car was good,”
Dave said smiling. “When we unloaded tonight, it was good. In the heat
race we did good. In the feature we started up front and finished up
front which is good. I'm very happy. Unfortunately our other two cars
didn't fare so well, but at least one car was salvaged. We've run good
here before. I wish we could have held on for second, but I'm happy with
a podium finish. It's my first one.”
The 40-lap Mansfield prelim got off to a bad start when after one lap,
red fell with a major pileup in between 1 and 2. A jumble toward the
back of the pack saw eight cars end up with some kind of damage after
all was said and done. Included in the melee which saw Larry Lehnert hit
do some air time and hit hard into the soft walls in turn two, were Dave
Shullick jr., Rich Reid, Gene Gibson, Dave McKnight, Dave Mumaw, Terry
Gibson and Jeff Holbrook. After a lengthy red, a flatbed and a bunch of
tow jobs, the race resumed with none of the aforementioned making it
back out.
Graham quickly pulled away from Dave Trytek, Bob Dawson, Mikey Ordway
and John Blewett III, driving his first super race in the Cicconi 75.
Right behind Blewett, the current point leader and six-time feature
winner this season, Chris Perley looked to be making his run forward.
Unfortunately while coming under Mike Lichty, the two brushed and Perley
spun bringing out the yellow and a hook. Perley was to watch the
remainder of the 34 laps from the infield. He would say later, “I ran
out of luck. I got a new bucket of luck in the truck though. I haven't
even opened it up. It was just a racing accident. I got too close. It
was awesome to see the race finish that we had tonight. The exciting
end - new people winning - it was great. You can't beat that with a
stick!”
Lichty concurred. “I think I pinched Perley a little bit coming down but
it was two tough guys running for the same spot. It was just one of
those deals.”
On the green, Graham took off again and put some distance between his
car and Trytek's. Bob Dawson, Moe Lilje, John Blewett, Mike Lichty and
Mike Ordway Jr. were battling behind, but it was Lichty on the move
forward.
By lap ten, Lichty had fought past Blewett who was left to fend off the
advances of young Ordway.
By lap 20, Graham had put two lap cars behind him and second place
runner Trytek. Dawson held third, while Lilje in the Stout 19 and Lichty
were top five.
Yellow flew on lap 23 for the 91 of John Torrese who had slowed and was
coasting into the pits.
Everyone behind Graham only got a quick glimpse of the rapidly moving 99
machine as Ray ran and hid once more. Lichty was still fighting forward
as he came by first Lilje and then Dawson. With ten to go things
started to heat up in the decimated field. With Lichty third and Trytek
second, Graham's motor began to sputter. Lichty was not about to miss
out on the opportunity to run the 99 down.
Each lap the second and third place runners got closer and closer to the
leader. On lap 38, Lichty made a breathtaking move around Trytek and
headed for Graham. On lap 39 in the last turn, The Canadian driver
described his last ditch attempt. “I just needed one more lap to get by
Ray. I drove it in a ton there at the end but the car just washed up the
race track. If it had stuck we probably would have made the pass.
There's only so much real estate you can use over there.”
Graham sputtered to his very first ISMA win with Lichty, Trytek, Dawson
and Lilje on his tail.
Said fourth place runner Dawson,” Fourth place is fine. We're happy with
it. The car worked good. It helped with the inversion and stuff. We had
a good night. The car was just about neutral. We're looking forward to
the long race tomorrow. This is my best ISMA finish but there's more
coming!”
Lilje was content with fifth. “We had a solid run. We came home a lot
better than some of the other cars that came back on the hook. I'm a
little bit disappointed that I really couldn't move through traffic. I
could see the leader at the end of the race and you know the win's right
there. We're content with coming home fifth. Everybody runs pretty good
in ISMA so a top five with these guys is a pretty good run.”
Eleven cars remained of the original 26 starters with Mike Ordway Jr.,
John Blewett III, Mark Sammut, Charlie Schultz and Brandon Bellinger the
top ten and Vern Romanoski the last finisher.
SUMMARY - Mansfield ISMA 40
Heat
1:
Ray Graham Jr., Mike Ordway Jr., Mike Lichty, Chris Perley, Mark Sammut,
Terry Gibson, Dave Mumaw, Larry Lehnert, Jeff Holbrook
Heat
2:
Dave Shullick Jr., Johnny Torrese, Bob Dawson, John Blewett, Brandon
Bellinger, Kelly Miller, Ryan Klingelhofer, Bob Magner, Bobby Haynes Jr.
(dns). Race checkered after a Magner wreck on lap 9 to allow for car
removal.
Heat
3:
Dave Trytek, Rich Reid, Moe Lilje, Gene Gibson, Charlie Schultz, Vern
Romanoski, Dave Sanborn, Dave McKnight. (90 and 97 dns).
Mansfield
40:
1. Ray Graham Jr. (99), 2. Mike Lichty (84), 3. Dave Trytek (70),
4. Bobby Dawson (28), 5. Moe Lilje (19), 6. Mike Ordway Jr. (10),
7. John Blewett III (75), 8. Mark Sammut (78), 9. Charlie Schultz (7),
10. Brandon Bellinger (02), 11. Vern Romanoski (5), 12. Kelly Miller
(16),
13. Johnny Torrese (91), 14. Ryan Klingelhofer (77), 15. Chris Perley
(11),
16. Dave Sanborn (24), 17. Rich Reid (55), 18. Gene Lee Gibson (0),
19. Dave Shullick Jr. (49), 20. Terry Gibson (2), 21. Dave McKnight
(94),
22. Dave Mumaw (14), 23. Larry Lehnert (92), 24. Jeff Holbrook (35),
25. Bobby Magner (90) ( 97 Summers dns) |
