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Mike Leone
MIDDLEBOURNE, W.V. (April 26) - The FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series opened year number three in a new place, the Tyler County Speedway. Twenty-six teams from four different states made the tow to the fairgrounds speedway in Middlebourne, West Virginia for the opening leg of the 16-event slate. The event marked the inaugural Northeast Touring Series event in the state of West Virginia.
At the beginning of the season, Mike Pegher, Jr. and car owner Lynn Geisler made a full-pledge effort to chase the FASTRAK points and money. And boy is it paying dividends in hurry. The 23-year-old former Stock Car standout won two of the first three weekly-sanctioned events at Mercer Raceway Park and Saturday night started the Touring season off with a bang capturing the 25-lap $1,500 to-win "topless" feature over defending Touring and National Weekly Champion Max Blair.
With the win, Pegher of Wexford, Pa. takes the early lead in the $5,000 to-win Northeast Touring Series Championship and now has three wins already for the $10,000 to-win National Weekly Series, which takes drivers' best 15 finishes.
Pegher drew the pole position, but yielded the lead to Blair. Pegher would regain the lead on the eighth circuit and held off the third generation Blair for his second career Northeast Touring Series win in the Lynn Geisler-owned, Cochran Automotive/Triple-S Auto Sales/MonaVie-sponsored #1c. Pegher's only other Touring win came on July 25, 2008 at Raceway 7. With the win, Pegher becomes just the sixth driver to win multiple races in the history of the Northeast Touring Series.
Blair is also off to a strong start in 2009 as he has yet to finish worse than second in five FASTRAK-sanctioned races. Gary Knollinger, who won the inaugural FASTRAK-sanctioned event at Tyler County back on April 4 and finished second in his first ever appearance at Mercer on April 11, came home third in his first ever Touring race.
The story of the night though may have gone to Shawn Jett. Driving a 20-year-old car and a five-year-old motor, Jett was the last driver to qualify for the feature finishing sixth in the B main. Lining up 24th, Jett worked his way through the field to claim the fourth finishing spot after passing Kyle Thomas for the spot on lap 18.
Super Late Model standout, David Scott, made his Northeast Touring Series debut and came home fifth in the John and Janet Powell-owned #100 after getting by Thomas on lap 22. Thomas dropped to sixth in his first ever Northeast Touring start. Dan Angelicchio, Joel Prosser, Jay Watson, and Carl McKinney completed the top 10. Topping the heat races were Knollinger, Zack Dohm, and Scott. Lambert captured the B main.
FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #1 (25 laps $1,500 to-win): 1. MIKE PEGHER, JR. (Geisler 1c) 2. Max Blair (111) 3. Gary Knollinger (38K) 4. Shawn Jett (1J) 5. David Scott (Powell 100) 6. Kyle Thomas (57) 7. Dan Angelicchio (14) 8. Joel Prosser (77) 9. Jay Watson (7x) 10. Carl McKinney (6M) 11. Chris Schneider (55) 12. Chad Green (88) 13. Derek Doll (87) 14. Cody Hardesty (32) 15. Shane Hitt (2H) 16. John Watson (Ohio) (Horton 48) 17. Daniel Hill (8) 18. Jim Quaigg (17) 19. Zack Dohm (25) 20. Tom Copeland (98) 21. Brian Rush (X10) 22. Butch Lambert (27) 23. Bobby Powell (Bidwell B1D) 24. Bud Watson (2) DNQ: John Watson (West Virginia) (51), Tyler Dietz (D10).
Lap leaders: Max Blair (1-6), Mike Pegher, Jr. (7-25)
Heat winners: Gary Knollinger, Zack Dohm, David Scott
B main winner: Butch Lambert
Car count: 26
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