BAXTER ROLLS TO SPORTSMAN POWER FIVE WIN
SPORTSMAN
Chad Baxter grabbed the lead of his Sportsman feature, coming off the pole and held it to the finish as the feature ran caution free from green to checkers. Five laps in, Scott Bruneau fought his way into second and the pair ran one-two for the duration. Baxter had gone out to an eight-car lead on lap five and Bruneau pared it down while fighting off challengers to his position. By midpoint of the 30-lapper, he had shaved it to one car and they skirmished all the way to the checkers.
Baxter, Bruneau and Kid Chaos, Corey Fanning, ran nose-to-tail with two laps remaining and they scrambled to the checkers with Baxter holding them off and claiming the win. Bruneau outlasted Fanning for second while Kid Chaos came home third. Rey Lovelace and Paul Lallier rounded out the top five.
To kick things off, Baxter leapt off the pole with Jesse Melberg battling on the outside. Tom The Bomb Adams followed with Bruneau on his tail just ahead of Fanning. On the first lap, Bruneau took over third and next time around, Fanning found himself with Adams outside. He took the position and then Craig Pianka stormed past Adams into fifth.
By lap five, Baxter was eight cars out. Bruneau, Fanning and then Melberg followed with Fanning all over Bruneau’s back end. He looked underneath, but Bruneau slammed the door. The lead was down to six cars, now and the field strung out.
Pianka was behind Fanning, now, and Paul Lallier pulled into fifth. Vinny Pangelinan ran behind him, just ahead of Ryan Flood. Lovelace was now working below Melberg. He moved up and got under Flood into seventh.
Battles were being waged all around the oval and Pianka, Lallier and Pangelinan were now going at each other nose-to-tail over fourth place.
By lap 14, Bruneau had worked the lead down to one car, while Fanning remained on his bumper. Lallier was now looking under Pianka and then Lovelace came up to begin trying low under Lallier.
Lapped traffic came up on lap 24, but the leaders negotiated it without trouble as the cars they were passing followed the passing flag and moved up.
With 5 laps to go, Lovelace went in beneath Lallier and succeeded in gaining fourth. Pangelinan then got under Pianka into seventh.
As the two-lap signal was given, Baxter, Bruneau and Fanning were still locked into their epic battle for the front. Pangelinan then overhauled Pianka for seventh. The lead trio charged across the stripe with Baxter holding off his adversaries and hauling down the win.
Sixth went to Pangelina, followed by Pianka, Flood, Dick Benoit, Sparky Arsenault, Adams and Melberg.