DARLING OUTRUNS ESTRELLA IN PRO STOCKS
A combo which keeps coming up in Pro Stock results – Dave Darling battling to the finish with Dylan Estrella – dropped into focus once again as the duo augured Fred Astle out of the lead he had held over the first 23 laps, then brawled to the finish with Darling collecting yet another big victory. Estrella collected runnerup money while Radical Rick Martin rocketed in for third. Angelo Belsito and Nick Johnson rounded out the top five on the evening.
Astle and Martin kicked things off from the front row, and Fast Fred jumped out of the starting box and into the lead coming down the front stretch. Mighty Mike Brightman took a big leap from low in row two to steal second from Martin.
Astle retained his lead but Estrella had shot past Rocket Ryan Vanasse at the outset and dug in under Brightman, who suddenly slowed. The duo went wheel-to-wheel before Estrella took second going into lap five.
At this point, Darling, who had started tenth, gathered things up and began to come forward through the field. As Astle led Estrella, Martin and Nick Johnson through the next six laps, Darling climbed into fifth by making the pass under Vanasse.
Lap 12 saw Todd Annarummo pit for the evening, still the victim of illness. In fact, the car had been driven through qualifying laps by Vinny Annarummo, making a brief comeback to his scenes of glory.
Brightman then spun on the back stretch bringing the field to a caution. By now, Darling had come up to third place behind Astle and Estrella, and lined up behind Fred on the grid for the restart. Darling got under Estrella, who was outside on the front row while Martin and Nick Johnson dueled for fourth.
Darling pushed under Astle, but Estrella made a dramatic bid and dropped from the outside under Darling and pushed toward the front making it a brief three-wide leading the field. Astle backed out of the high side, leaving Estrella and Darling in a door-to-door clash. Dave began edging forward and by lap 15 was ¾ past his challenger, finally owning the lead in turn two. Estrella grabbed his bumper, followed by Astle, Martin, Jake Johnson, Vanasse and a wheel-to-wheel duel between Nick Johnson and Mike Mitchell.
The field quickly strung out into single file and Darling gained a 2-car advantage. Jake edged Martin out of fourth and began battling Astle for third. He came loose, was able to save it but forced Astle to use avoidance and Fred was unable to advantage the situation. With ten laps remaining, Darling led comfortably with Estrella in pursuit. Jake Johnson now held third and Astle ran fourth, battling for position.
Darling pressed his lead out to six cars as Astle ducked under Jake to wrest third away from him. The bumped and it sent Astle spinning. Johnson was called for the assist and joined Fred at the rear for the restart with eight laps remaining.
After running door-to-door down the front stretch, Darling again took the front over Estrella, while Martin and Vanasse dueled over third followed by Mike Mitchell. Behind Mitchell, Angelo Belsito was having at Nick Johnson for position, followed by Tom Scully, Jr. and Astle, who was dug in under Bobby Pelland. Nick ducked under Mitchell and grabbed the position, but Belsito sailed past the m both, into fifth.
Vanasse powered into third place, edging Martin to fourth, just ahead of Belsito and Nick Johnson.
Under the white flag, it was Darling, Estrella, Martin side-by-side with Vanasse and Belsito running fifth. In turn three, however, Vanasse lost the handle and spun as the checkers waved ahead. Turn four was the nemesis for Jake Jonson, who spun in the low groove and blocked Mitchell’s way, who had to grind to a stop to avoid wrecking.
Astle was able to collect sixth on the evening. He was followed by Pelland, Daryl Stampfl, Scully, Mitchell, Jake Johnson and Vanasse.