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Mike Leone
EAST SMETHPORT, Penn. (September 25) - The FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series brought down the curtain on the third season of existence for third time at McKean County Raceway as part of the annual "Fall Classic". Event #15 on the 2009 slate brought out 35 cars from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.
John Lacki won the battle, but David Scott won the war. Making his first FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series start of the season, Lacki charged from the ninth starting spot to pass Bobby Powell to capture the 25-lap victory worth $1,200; however, it was Scott holding on by six points over defending champion Max Blair to claim the championship in his inaugural season despite a 22nd place finish.
Like earlier this season when former Touring Series regulars Tom Snyder, Jr. and Dennis Lunger, Jr. captured wins at their home tracks, Lacki has also stayed close to home this year competing at Arcade International and McKean County Raceways and has now added a Touring Series win in his backyard. Lacki became the ninth different winner of the season in 15 Touring Series events.
Lacki was able to pass both Josh Holtgraver and Bud Watson on lap four for second and then one lap later shot into the lead past Powell. Lacki would lead the rest of the way in his #7 for his fourth career Northeast Touring Series win moving him into a tie for second with Dick Barton and Powell on the all-time win list. The win though was the Sinclairville, New York driver's ninth FASTRAK-sanctioned victory of the season as he has eight wins at Arcade and has yet to finish worse than fourth at McKean this season.
Bud Watson passed Powell on lap 11 and held him off to finish second. It was the best career Touring Series finish for the 16-year-old rookie Late Model driver and fifth top Touring Series five of the season. The runner-up was also important in another way for the 2008 Mercer Raceway Park Mod Lite champion as he was able to overtake Mike Pegher, Jr. for third place in points despite starting the year off in a hole with a 24th place finish and a did not qualify at Tyler County and Sharon Speedways respectively.
Powell dropped to third for his best Touring Series finish since his win at Tri-City on July 19. Mike Blose came all the way from 13th to finish fourth over a career best Touring Series finish by Holtgraver, who made the tow up from Pittsburgh to compete. Rounding out the top 10 were John Watson from 14th, Butch Lambert, Kyle Zimmerman, Blair, and Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr.- another Pittsburgh racer. Powell, Zimmerman, Carl McKinney, and Lacki won the heats. The B mains went to Jim Frank and Troy Shields, who made a long tow from Acme, Pa.
The 35 cars topped the 33-mark from the past two "Fall Classics" at McKean. Besides Lacki, Tim Schram, Paul Geiger, Ron Baker, Damian Bidwell, Dave Norton, Jr., Garrett Stephen, Bert Cleer, and Pat Cobb also made their 2009 Touring Series debuts bringing the total number of competitors in the 15 events to a whopping 138!
FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #15 (25 laps $1,200 to-win): 1. 1. JOHN LACKI (7) 2. Bud Watson (2) 3. Bobby Powell (Bidwell B1D) 4. Mike Blose (5) 5. Josh Holtgraver (00) 6. John Watson (Horton 48) 7. Butch Lambert (27) 8. Kyle Zimmerman (z17) 9. Max Blair (111) 10. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. (8s) 11. Paul Geiger (97) 12. Dan Angelicchio (14) 13. Tim Schram (1s) 14. Troy Shields (11) 15. Damian Bidwell (1/2-pint) 16. Carl McKinney (6M) 17. Bob Baldwin (7B) 18. Jon Law (14) 19. Dave Norton, Jr. (24x) 20. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1c) 21. Jim Frank (14*) 22. David Scott (Powell 100) 23. Garrett Mott (43x) 24. Bob Kish (5) 25. John Haggerty (49)-DNS DNQ: Dennis Lunger, Jr. (17L), Ron Baker (74), Bob Dorman (72*), Dan Stives (41), Bert Cleer (51), Tom Copeland (98), Les Lyon (45), Dereck Frank (16*), Pat Cobb (75), Garrett Stephen (79).
Lap leaders: Powell (1-4), Lacki (5-25)
Heat winners: Powell, Zimmerman, McKinney, Lacki
B main winners: J. Frank, Shields
Car count: 35
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