DJ Pires took his first-ever win in a Pure Stock by holding the lead from the green to the checkers in a well-raced feature that suffered but one caution late in the race. Amy Arsenault seemed to have the runnerup spot all sewn up after taking second from Lenny Sousa until the lap 20 caution gave Doug Benoit the opportunity to get by after the restart. Colby Lambert rushed up to fill in third, just ahead of Mark Murphy. Arsenault laid claim to fifth.
Pires and Sousa ran door-to-door off the green. Pires was able to grab the lead and Sousa settled down for the chase. Arsenault took over third with Greg Perry and Murphy behind her.
Arsenault then got by Sousa into lap two and Jeremy Lambert came up from the fourth row into fourth behind Murphy as Sousa fell to fifth. Colby was sixth and quickly came past Sousa onto brother Jeremy’s bumper.
Lap four saw Pires still leading Arsenault, Murpy, and the Lamberts, but now Colby was working underneath Jeremy. Colby gained the spot and Benoit began looking for space underneath Jeremy. Colby went to Murphy’s outside. Benoit came in underneath Colby, who then went up alongside Murphy.
He fell back after the attempt and Benoit had the low groove blocked, sticking Colby on the outside. He continued to fall back and Jeremy drove in underneath. Colby pulled ahead once again and The Outlaw – Daniel Massa – put his nose in under Jeremy then drove underneath bringing out another three-wide.
Benoit nosed under Murphy and got there as Murphy came loose in turn four but made a great save to prevent a wild ride in the midst of the feature. They dueled, but Benoit would have his way and took Murphy’s spot coming out of turn two on lap fourteen. He was now third behind Pires and Arsenault.
Colby latched onto Murphy’s bumper with Jeremy on his high side. As Colby slipped ahead, Greg Perry drove in under Jeremy and Mike Henriques pulled in behind. Massa suddenly fell off turn three to the infield, held onto it, straightened out, kept going and came back onto the track in turn four without the caution waving.
In the meantime, Pires was now lapping the slow traffic. Arsenault continued to pursue, as did Benoit and Colby. The lead was out to a half-straight and Benoit was on Arsenault’s bumper looking to steal second. But caution waved on the following circuit as Shayne Lambert was around in turn one, with the leaders bearing down, about to lap him. The field divided and was able to avoid.
Pires and Arsenault were door-to-door across the stripe and Pires again nosed into the lead in turn two. He was ahead and on his own in turn three and Benoit ran in under Arsenault. Colby dropped onto Benoit’s tail and followed him through, sending Arsenault back to fourth.
Another lap, and Pires had constructed a two-length margine over Benoit as Murphy came in under Arsenault to take fourth on lap 23. Pires continued to hold off his challengers and led the single-file field through the final two laps to his first victory in the Pure Stock ranks. Following the checkers, the entire group of top 7 drivers ran up to congratulate Pires as he accepted the checkered flag from starter Tim Bolduc for his victory lap.
Greg Perry finished sixth, after Arsenault, followed by Jeremy Lambert, Massa, Max Bergstrom and Mike Henriques, rounding out the top ten.