THORN ROLLS AT LAKEPORT SPEEDWAY

Source: Peter W. Moss/NSCS Media
Date: 08/14/2005

LAKEPORT, California -- Derek Thorn of Lakeport got by early leader David Furia on the tenth circuit and cruised to victory in the 'Robinson Rancheria Casino and Bingo 75' at Lakeport Speedway on Saturday night.

It was the third consecutive North State Challenge Series win for the red-hot rookie driver and his Rick Thorn led team. Bill Binns and Mike Doss waged a race-long battle for second with Binns coming out on top and Doss settling for third. Crescent City's Howard Ford was fourth and Roseville's Josh Bews finished fifth.

Thorn qualified early in the 18-car field and put up a 12.240 which held up until track record holder Doss clicked off a 12.239 to claim his third fast time award of the season by 1/1000th of a second. Binns was third at 12.339 and Junior Roddy filled out the dash field with his 12.470. Ford just missed the dash posting a 12.473. Roddy would win the dash over Thorn, Binns and Doss.

Doss drew the 6 pill, inverting the top 6, and putting Furia on the pole with Ford to his outside.

After a complete restart, when Darin Snider and CJ Bawden made contact and spun on lap one, Furia showed early strength and held off Ford to take the lead. By lap five, Thorn had moved into second from his fifth starting position ahead of Roddy, Cobb's Steve DeKeyser, Doss, Ford and Binns. Thorn, using the upper groove, got by Furia on lap ten.

Yellow flew on lap 11 when Jeremy Hopkins spun and Kevin Estep spun to avoid him, coming to a stop inches from Hopkins. Darin Snider was collected also and all three went to the back. Thorn led Furia, DeKeyser, Doss and Binns to starter Johnny Miskill's green flag. Binns would shoehorn his way by DeKeyser on lap 20 and DeKeyser retired shortly thereafter with a vibration, ending his fine run early.

Thorn dodged a bullet on lap 22 when Estep spun as he was about to be lapped. Thorn got on the brakes hard and managed to avoid contact by inches, as the yellow flag flew. After the restart, Thorn was able to stretch his lead as he expertly worked his way through lapped traffic.

Upper Lake's Mike Lovell took a solo spin on lap 42. Left with nowhere to go, Furia grazed the wall, bending a tie rod and putting a damper on his strong run. He restarted fourth and would finish seventh.

Roddy lost fuel pressure and retired on lap 56.

Over the final 20 laps, the battle for second between Binns and Doss heated up with contact between the two on virtually every lap. Doss appeared faster but Binns proved to be one tough customer to get around.

The final yellow flag flew on lap 67 when Kelseyville's Andrew Snider and Modified legend Rick Rose tangled and spun ending both their nights.

Thorn cruised over the final 8 laps while Binns and Doss continued to rub and bump each other as they had for much of the final 50 laps.

"I don't know if I had anything for Thorn, because he was really good tonight, but it sure would've been nice to find out!" said Doss after the race.

In perhaps the understatement of the year, Thorn said, "It feels good to know that I can run with these guys!" Thorn's dominating win netted him little gain in the point championship race. He still sits third, 22 points behind second place Binns and 53 points behind pacesetter Doss with two races remaining. "

Dash-Roddy, Thorn, Binns, Doss Main-Thorn, Binns, Doss, Ford, Bews, D. Snider, Furia, Stillman Jr, Estep, Robert Lozano, Mike Lovell, Rose, Hopkins, Roddy, Bawden, DeKeyser, Mike Bourbon

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