Mike Henriques didn’t give anybody a chance at the lead of the Pure Stock event, coming off the pole and running at the front all the way to the checkers. Six laps in, Greg Perry eased Lenny Sousa out of second and chased Henriques all the way to the finish.
Perry’s second place came into question as tech inspection found him wanting and he fell to a DQ. The Outlaw – Daniel Massa – gathered up the runnerup spot while Dylan Cabral, Jeremy Lambert and Doug Benoit completed the top five.
As Henriques broke into the lead at the start, Sousa followed him into second, getting under outside polesitter Max Bergstrom. Sousa was loose coming out of turn four but held on and Bergstrom fought it out with him on the outside.
But Bergstrom fell back and Perry came in underneath him. Massa then ducked under Bergstrom into fourth. Lambert and brother Colby Lambert also drove under Bergstrom.
As Henriques and Sousa dueled at the front with Perry looking for any opportunities they might offer him, Jeremy and then Colby got under Massa and eased him back to sixth. But Amy Arsenault then spun off the front stretch to the infield grass.
On the restart, Henriques and Sousa brawled out of the box, bumping each other until Henriques took the lead again coming out of turn two. Perry then nosed under Sousa to steal second. Massa and Jeremy came up to get into a three-wide with Sousa and The Outlaw came out of it into third. Jeremy grabbed fourth, Dylan Cabral fifth followed by Sousa and Colby.
Massa and Jeremy continued to debate position, alternating in third several times as they charged along, door-to-door. Massa finally succeeded but now Cabral came past Jeremy and went after Massa. Behind them, Doug Benoit had come up to battle with Colby for sixth. They were engaged in heated discussions over the final ten laps.
Lap 13 saw Arsenault spin but she was able to keep it moving and the racing continued.
Henriques was running hard at the front and Perry continued to work at keeping pace. Massa was fending off Jeremy on his outside while Colby rushed up to try to make it three-wide but couldn’t make it happen. He then wedged in between Cabral and Jeremy but fell back. Benoit, meanwhile, had gotten past Colby.
Sousa, now running behind Colby, had DJ Pires come up on his bumper. With three laps remaining, he was able to move Sousa out of position.
Coming through the white flag lap, Perry set up for a final try at Henriques and looked underneath as they came through turn four in the run to the finish line. But Henriques held him off for the win.
Sixth went to Colby, followed by Pires, Eric Schwegel, Donald Perry, Sousa and Shayne Lambert.