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Santerre
Finishes Fourth At Stafford
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STAFFORD
SPRINGS, Conn. (August 11, 2005) — Ryan Moore gave himself
a 22nd birthday present Wednesday night at Stafford Motor Speedway,
using a mid-race pit stop and strong finish to score his second
career NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch North Series victory
in the TSI Harley-Davidson 150. Brian Hoar, Ted Christopher, Andy
Santerre, and Mike Olsen chose not to pit and finished second through
fifth. Pit visitors Mike Stefanik, Bryon Chew, and Eddie MacDonald
were next in line, with Sean Caisse and Kip Stockwell completing
the top ten.
The
win was particularly sweet for the second-generation driver, since
he was the first car out of the season opener at Stafford, leaving
him 28th in points after one race. Wednesday night’s win pushed
him to fourth, just 88 points behind leader Stefanik.
Santerre closed to within ten points of Stefanik, benefiting from
the ten point bonus for leading the most laps. Matt Kobyluck, only
seven points behind Stefanik entering the night, was involved in
a first lap incident with Busch Pole winner Mike Johnson and front
row mate MacDonald, which put him 13 laps behind. Kobyluck ran at
competitive speed for the rest of the race, but could only salvage
20th place, putting him 54 points behind the leader. |
Johnson
and MacDonald stayed on the lead lap after their tangle, although
a separate accident would relegate Johnson to 23rd. Hoar came out
of the first-lap melee to lead until lap 23, when Santerre took
over. A caution flag at lap 65 shaped the rest of the race as Moore,
running fourth, led eight cars to pit road for new right-side Goodyear
Eagles. By the 100-lap mark Moore was back to fourth. A lap later
he followed Hoar around Santerre, who had lost the lead to Christopher
on lap 77, and soon he dispatched Hoar as well.
Moore settled
into second and stalked Christopher, an unusual position for Stafford’s
all-time leading NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series race winner who is more
often the hunter than the hunted. He made his move on a restart
with 28 laps to go and passed Christopher on lap 123. The margin
of victory was 1.456 seconds.
Five caution periods
for 49 laps held the average speed to 64.888 miles per hour. The
caution laps included a red flag at lap 83 after a second turn
incident involving top runners Johnson, Jerry Marquis, Joey McCarthy,
and Brad Leighton required extensive clean-up of spilled fluids.
Dave Dion was also forced to the sidelines by a late-race accident
but no injuries were reported. Of the 28 starters, 21 were running
at the finish with 14 on the lead lap.
Moore earned $7,500
in joining Kobyluck and Stefanik as multiple winners in 2005.
Scott Bouley captured the POWERade Power Move of the Race Award
for advancing 13 places, from 26th at the start to 13th at the
finish. Brian Hoar pocketed the Featherlite Most Improved Driver
Award for improving 15 spots from his finish at Adirondack International
Speedway on July 30.
Stefanik holds 1148
points to 1138 for Santerre and 1094 for Kobyluck entering the
Star Country/Dominic’s Sausage 150 at Motor Mile Speedway
in Radford, Va., on Saturday, August 20.
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NASCAR Busch North Series 2005 Top 5 Point Standings:
After
Race # 7 at Stafford Motor Speedway, August 10, 2005.
| 1. |
1148 |
Mike Stefanik |
| 2. |
1138 |
Andy Santerre |
| 3. |
1094 |
Matt Kobyluck |
| 4. |
1060 |
Ryan Moore |
| 5. |
1035 |
Mike Olsen |
More
Information at NASCAR.com - >>
Click
Here for the GRIZCO Racing Team Official Press Release.
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