LAMBERT WINS THIRD IN A ROW SOLIDIFIES POINTS LEAD
Colby Lambert fell into a similar situation with his third consecutive win, but the similarities grow stronger as it was the second week in a row that his second place has been upgraded by technical problems for the driver who finished first. Lambert and Dylan Cabral battled it out and came to the line side-by-side with Cabral ahead by the length of his nose and Colby the runner-up. And .028 off Colby’s pace came brother Jeremy. Mark Murphy followed with “The Outlaw” Daniel Massa grabbing fifth.
Following the DQ, positions were upgraded by one and Amy Arsenault now held fifth.
Robert Moore, making his final start before heading off to college, was on the pole for the start with Lenny Sousa outside. Lenny noses ahead but Moore made a contest of it. Sousa got halfway past down the backstretch and finally owned the lead in turn three. Mike Henriques dodged under Moore for second. Max Bergstrom came up to get under Henriques.
Sousa had a six-car lead going into lap 3, but Henriques went around in turn two when Thomas Blackwell was around in turn three. The restart had Moore back up outside Sousa with Henriques having spun after the caution came out and taking third. Bergstrom was to his outside.
Sousa again grabbed the lead right out of the box and Henriques and Moore battled once again. Moore got very wide and Henriques kept low, securing second.
Lap five saw Bergstrom spin in turn one but got the handles back and kept on. Moore got his spot back from Henriques into lap seven. Blackwell got to fourth and Cabral started around his outside.
Cabral got by Blackwell and Henriques and went side-by-side with Moore. Sousa used the opportunity to scoot out to a fifteen-car advantage. Henriques then came up to get under cabral and Colby had moved in (after starting twelfth) to run fourth right on Henriques’ bumper. It was lap eleven, and Sousa was beginning to lap the field.
Colby went to Henriques’ outside as Cabral ran third. Lambert had succeeded Henriques in fourth by lap 13.
Moore had pared Sousa’s lead down gradually and was on his bumper going into lap 15. Cabral, Lambert and Henriques followed. Lenny put a half-car between himself and Moore while the latter, Cabral and Colby ran nose-to-tail.
Moore suddenly was running high on the track and Cabral dived underneath. Lenny was slowed trying to navigate some lapped traffic and Cabral, Lambert and Moore rolled in close behind. Colby looked to get under Cabral and the latter looked under Sousa. Cabral wedged in halfway and Sousa attempted to shut the door. Contact sent him around.
On the restart, Cabral was on the pole with Colby outside. Murphy now was low in the second row with Jeremy on his shoulder. Henriques and Arsenault followed. Cabral got the lead and Colby battled outside through lap 22 with Cabral ahead by a nose. Colby nosed ahead in turn two and held it to the stripe.
Cabral came back to push ahead by a foot and Jeremy looked underneath him. Cabral held off both brothers by a slender thread. The trio brawled throughout the final lap and flew at the checkers out of turn four with Cabral finishing two tenths of a second ahead.
Sixth (after the readjustment for the DQ) went to Henriques, followed by Blackwell, Greg Perry, Bergstrom, Sousa and DJ Pires.
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