On Saturday night, David Darling continued to show his dominance in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Pro Stock division. Darling started just inside the top-10 and quickly worked his way to the front of the pack and put himself in the right position to win the race. Although Mike Brightman was at the point early on, Darling found his way past him on lap 19 and put himself at the front of the field.
Although he had to deal with a few restarts before the end of the race, it wasn’t long before Darling was celebrating in Victory Lane once again. The driver of the Bristol Toyota No. 52 now has four victories this season and continues to lead the championship standings as we head for the middle of August. Ryan Vanasse, who came into the race second in the standings, came home with a strong second place finish. Brightman finished third, while Kyle Casper returned to the top five and finished fourth. Defending champion Tom Scully Jr., who will most likely hand over his crown this season, rounded out the top five.
In the main event of the night, Jake Johnson found himself carrying the checkered flag in the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series round two for the Late Models. Johnson started at the front of the field and held off some tough challenges including a hard battle with Ryan Kuhn over the final 10 laps of the race. On a lap 40 restart, Johnson had Kuhn lined up to his outside, but he was able to get the lead and put a little bit of ground between him and the rest of the field.
However, Somerset, Mass. driver Austin Blais would not give up. Blais looked inside of Johnson in the final few laps, but Jake kept his line and didn’t give Blais a chance to make the move. Congrats to Jake, the defending Nick’s Pit Stop Legend Cars champion, on his first Late Model win. I’m sure that’s the first of many for the Lin’s Propane driver.
In the Sports Trucks, Everett’s Auto Parts driver Chase Belcher continued to show his dominance. The driver of the No. 81 captured his fourth victory of the season and opened his points lead in the process. Belcher has been the fastest truck week after week all season long and Saturday night, he took the lead with just eight laps remaining and never looked back.
Behind Belcher at the finish, Mike Duarte picked up some points on the rest of the field with a solid second place run behind the wheel of his Bay State Sewage No. 50. Barry Shaw Jr. came home third, while Ed Perry had another strong run and captured a fourth place finish. Perry nearly won the race on July 29 and had another strong run this week. TTM Motorsports driver Dave Simpson came home with a strong fifth place finish.
In the only other feature on Saturday night, Glen Thomas picked up the victory in the 50 lap North East Mini Stock Tour feature race. Thomas took the lead on lap 20 and he never looked back. The series brought 20 cars to the third-mile and they put on a great show.
Next week, we have round three of the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series for the Sportsman division, a 30 lap feature. The New England Antique Auto Racers will also be in town!
SATURDAY NIGHT RECAP
WITH KYLE SOUZA
AUGUST 5TH, 2017