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The  "Racing For Clean Air" Team Captain Andy SanterreFinishes Safely to Defend His BNS Point Lead At Waterford  |
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WATERFORD, Conn. - Kelly Moore didn’t become the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch North Series career leader in nearly every category without learning the truth of the statement, “To finish first, first you must finish.” In Saturday night’s Waterford 150 presented by Big Y World Class Markets at the Waterford Speedbowl, the NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet driver drove a clean, controlled race while most of his rivals struck trouble to win his 24th career Busch North race. His last win came in this event one year ago. Moore took the lead when Mike Olsen pitted to change a cut tire on lap 88 and led the rest of the way. Mike Stefanik, Bryon Chew, Bobby Dragon, and Mike Johnson completed the top five, with Dale Quarterley, Brian Hoar, Dave Dion, Joey McCarthy, and the winner’s son, Ryan Moore, taking the checker sixth through tenth. Defending champion and point leader Andy Santerre ran no higher than eighth and spun late in the race, losing two laps. He finished 19th, cutting his point lead to 105 over Kelly Moore, who replaced his son in the runner-up spot. Kelly Moore qualified third and averaged a slow 42.096 miles per hour as nine caution periods consumed just over one-third of the distance. Four leaders exchanged the lead four times, and despite the fender-banging on the tight one-third mile oval, 22 of the 24 starters took the checkered flag. Moore’s margin of victory was 0.417 seconds, and he won $4,350 for his evening’s work before a near-capacity crowd at the historic Connecticut shoreline oval. Matt Kobyluck, the Bud Pole winner for the first time in his career, endured a crushing defeat before his hometown fans. After swapping the early lead with Ryan Moore, Kobyluck took command until lap 55, when he crashed into the spun car of Carey Heath in turn one. Heath continued after repairs, but Kobyluck was done for the night and recorded a last-place finish. Olsen, who had been pressuring Kobyluck at the time, took over and looked strong in the lead before suddenly pitting under caution with a flat left side tire. From that point Kelly Moore appeared likely to face a challenge only when Ryan Moore forced his way past Stefanik for second, but the younger Moore cut a tire in the process. Five cautions in the closing 50 laps prevented extended green flag racing and climaxed in a wild scene at the checkered flag as Olsen spun, Dion skated across the infield, and Eddie MacDonald put two wheels on the wall, all in the last hundred yards of the race. The distance had already been extended two laps to achieve a green-white-checker finish. Ryan Moore earned his seventh Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Race Award, while Bill Penfold received the PowerAde Power Move of the Race Award for advancing eleven places from start of finish, The Busch North Series is back in action at another classic New England short track, the Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, Mass., next Saturday night for the Budweiser 150, which was rained out twice in May. |
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NASCAR Busch North Series 2003 Top 5 Point Standings: After Race #9 at Waterford Speedbowl, July 26, 2003.
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