Kyle Donahue took the lead from Stephen Counterman on lap 11 during Superstation KZNN Night at the Races and never looked back in grabbing his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Pro Late Model victory Saturday night at the “High-Banks” of Lebanon I-44 Speedway in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Action.
Stephen Counterman jumped to the opening lead as the former Modified Champion was setting a quick early pace with Mandy Chick following close on his tail and three wide action behind the duo early. Donahue made a bold move to quickly move into third spot and took over the second spot the following lap. With the pack close together Counterman was holding a 4 car length advantage early. The only caution of the 30 lap feature flew on lap 6 as contact between third place runner Mandy Chick and Mike Slone sent the 14 year old young lady spinning hard into the backstretch wall with damage to both the front and the rear of the car ending her night early and Slone was sent to the pits for rough driving. On the restart Donahue tried to move to the inside of leader Counterman, but Counterman was too strong coming off the turns as Steve Holt, 2014 Champion Kaleb Allison, Terry Limberopolous, last week’s winner Kevin Donahue and point leader Brian Brown engaged in battle. After several laps of a tight battle, Counterman slid up the turn 2 banking on lap eleven and Donahue along with Holt moved past the leader. Donahue was keeping Holt at bay as Allison moved to 3rd spot the following lap bringing Kevin Donahue with him dropping Counterman to 5th. Kyle Donahue was finally able to shake free from Holt’s charges by lap 20 in capturing his second feature win of the season with a great race for the runner-up spot involving Holt, Allison, the elder Donahue, Counterman as last week’s point leader Brian Brown followed in 6th spot. Saturday night’s results now put Kyle Donahue in the points lead with Brian Brown in second. Qualifying heats went to Slone and Holt.
Current point leader and defending Modified Champion Tim Swearengin got back into his winning ways by taking the top spot from leader Terry Taylor on the 3rd lap and grabbing his sixth win of the season after being denied the last three weeks. Taylor, who has really been glued to Swearengin the last 2 weeks for position, grabbed the opening lead as Swearengin and Ricky Icenhower followed close behind. Swearengin kept the pressure on and made a pass on the low side on lap three as Taylor was holding off Icenhower. Ricky was looking for his 3rd straight feature win. Out in front and with Taylor holding back Icenhower, Swearengin cruised to victory lane as Taylor withstood Icenhower’s challenges for yet another runner-up spot as Icenhower, Brian Lewis and Jimmy Poindexter followed. Icenhower grabbed the heat race win.
Defending Hoosier Tire Street Stock Champion Jordan Nisbett took home his 7th win of the season after taking the lead from former Track Champion Steve Shaw and then had to hold back a late race surge from point leader Justin Allen in the closing laps. Shaw took the opening spot with Nick Cherry, Nisbett and a close pack following. Nisbett worked hard running down Shaw after a three battle for the lead on circuit five. Shaw was then fending off Michael Juergensen, Allen and Cherry for second spot while keeping the leader close. In the caution free fifteen lap feature Allen was able to take over second place on lap eight and slowly started to close in on a fast moving Nisbett as Shaw and Juergensen ran door to door for position. Allen closed the lead down to 2 car lengths by lap 13, but never could get any closer as Nisbett took home the honors with Allen, Shaw, Juergensen and Cherry following. Nisbett made it a clean sweep by also taking the heat race and closed in just a little more on point leader Justin Allen.
Coca-Cola Charger point leader Ronnie Taylor recovered from restarting at the rear following a lap 6 incident involving brother Billy Taylor and pulled off a last turn, last lap pass over leader James Ellis in grabbing his fourth win of the season. It took two restarts before the first lap was called good. A restart incident eliminated point’s runner-up Jerry Ellis and sent Ben White to the pits for repairs before he rejoined the back of the field. When the green flew, James Ellis set the early pace with Justin Gantt, Billy Taylor, and Ronnie Taylor close behind. Gantt was putting on heavy pressure to Ellis for the next three laps before getting sideways dropping him back in the field as Billy Taylor moved into second spot with Ronnie Taylor and last week’s winner Nik Taylor in the hunt. Contact in turn three on lap six sent Billy Taylor flying high in turn four ending his night with damage to the car but walked away unhurt. On the restart, Ellis had 11 year old Ty Allison on his bumper, but contact with White on the restart ended his chance of a great finish and brought out the caution. On the restart, Gantt was back to putting pressure on Ellis as Ronnie Taylor who earlier had pulled into the pits to check on his brother’s condition after his accident moved back into second and began his charge to the lead. After four solid laps of side by side action, Taylor was finally able to move around Ellis in taking the victory with Ellis, White, Gantt, and Luke Oster completing the top 5. Ben White and Nik Taylor grabbed the heat race wins.
James Fohn won in the Sportsman class Saturday night.
Acton continues Saturday Night July 2nd with a special 40 lap NASCAR Pro Late Model feature and a huge fireworks show following the racing action during Fan Appreciation night with special prices in both the Grandstand and Wild Side parking as Adult admission is only $10 with Senior and Military discounts being only $8 in both sections. Gates will open at 5pm with NASCAR Short-Track Racing action to start at 7:30 and a huge fireworks display to follow.
I-44 Speedway PR
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