InsideGroove - Race Report

WORTH WINS AFTER LEADERS CRASH ON FINAL LAP

Lake Pleasant, AZ --

Ready to settle for a strong third, Casa Grande long tow Tim Worth saw leaders Jeff Stafford and James Seaton get tangled up in turn 1 on the last lap and he was able to charge by for the $200 win in round 6 of the annual 8 race Winter Season at Canyon Raceway Saturday afternoon. Stafford did recover to finish second ahead of Seaton, who emerged as the new point leader when pacesetter Andy Wheat was collected in a first lap incident. The 10 lap mini stock feature also had a last lap change as heat winner Jay Pate made a strong inside groove run to move around both Gene Povinelli and Colin Dickinson and win his first 2001 appearance.

The 17 pure stocks were split into a pair of qualifying heat races with Worth winning the first over Duane Perry and Seaton. A Wheat won the second from the pole with Jim Gwin second over visitor Greg Houston, who was coming off a $500, 40 lap win in Manzanita's season opener. The 20 lap feature had to be restarted after a fierce first lap crash where Marlo Wrightsman and Scott Harlan got hooked together and drove hard into the front wall. A Wheat actually drove underneath the two crashing cars and his car was heavily damaged also. Terry Cornwell also lost laps making repairs after the incident. Stafford led the first scored lap over Seaton with Worth into third on lap 2. Fourth place Houston ran off the top of the track on lap 3 and lost a wheel for a caution flag a lap later. Leader Stafford was running the bottom groove on the dry slick surface and Seaton moved up high after catching Stafford. Third place Worth was also running up high. After taking the white flag, Seaton made a sharp turn to the bottom groove, but ran into the side of leader Stafford as they entered turn 1. They got locked together and Worth was able to pass both for the top spot. Stafford recovered first to finish second and Seaton settled for third ahead of Pete Gilmore, Jim Gwin, Perry, Floyd Vaughn and Jim Wheat.

Pate won the mini stock heat race over Povinelli and Dickinson. Povinelli took a quick lead in the 10 lap feature over Pate, but Dickinson gained second on lap 2. The top threesome were running nose to tail for the whole race. With a couple laps to run, Pate moved to the bottom groove and nosed ahead of Dickinson for second at the white flag. On the final lap, Dickinson moved back in front of Pate, but Pate made a strong run through the bottom groove in turn 4 and managed to pass both Dickinson and Povinelli for the win. Povinelli was second over Dickinson, Ron Crowe and Bill Raper.

Summary Mini Stock Heat-Jay Pate, Gene Povinelli, Colin Dickinson, Bill Raper, Ron Crowe. Main-Pate, Povinelli, Dickinson, Crowe, Raper. Pure Stock Heat 1-Tim Worth, Duane Perry, James Seaton, Jeff Stafford, Roger Smith. Heat 2-Andy Wheat, Jim Gwin, Greg Houston, Terry Cornwell, Scott Harlan. Main-Worth, Stafford, Seaton, Pete Gilmore, Gwin, Perry, Floyd Vaughn, Jim Wheat, Smith, Cornwell, Houston, Marlo Wrightsman, Harlan, A Wheat, Larry Brigner.

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