Nicholas Hovey took a fifth place start, thanks to his winning the first two runs on the season. But he wound his way to second on lap four, then dueled leader Devin Deshaies for four laps and finally grabbed the front just past mid-point of the Banditos’ 15-lap feature. He clung to that position the rest of the way to the checkers, while Deshaies hung tough for second. Nathan Smith, Teddy Welch and Riley Caron rounded out the top five.
Deshaies came off the pole, leaving Smith and grabbing the full lead out of turn two while behind them Hovey, Caron and RJ Marcotte executed a three-wide behind them. Hovey and Caron rubbed together as a result of the triple-dip and somehow became locked together coming out of turn four. It took the track crew a fair amount of time to get the pair separated but both were able to continue.
First try at the restart saw Marcotte stuck in turn four and he retired. Second try saw Deshaies leap back into the lead. Ryan Arieta got under Smith to duke it our for second with Arieta wining the position. He went under Deshaies into the lead but after gaining a half-straight lead he did a solo spin to the infield and had to be taken off on the hook.
The lap 3 restart saw Deshaies and Welch wheel-to-wheel down the front, but Deshaies had the lead once again coming out of turn two as Welch slid uptrack. Behind them, the rear was laden with a three-wide. Hovey now had leapt from fifth to second on the restart and was ready to trouble Deshaies, who had a five-car lead. Hovey was working outside Smith but pulled away coming out of turn four.
Hovey began to reel Deshaies in and then went to the outside for the pass but was denied. He went to Deshaies’ bumper while Joel Newcomb was pushing smith from behind.
Hovey pushed again, this time succeeding at getting to the front. Deshaies continued to pursue from second with Smith giving pursuit. Caron followed, just ahead of Isaiah Newcomb and Joel Newcomb.
The field strung out by lap 9 with Hovey now eight cars ahead. He continued to add to his lead over the following laps and began lapping the field on lap12.
The field continued to pursue single file through to the checkers, with Hovey coming in 1.775 seconds ahead of Deshaies.
Isaiah Newcomb was sixth, followed by Joel Newcomb, the last car running.