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Deja
Vu for Jody Harrison in Freeway Motorcars 100 presented by Heintz
Performance
It was the second
time in a number ways for Renick, West Virginia’s Jody Harrison in
the Super Cup Stock Car Series on Saturday night.
It was his second win of the season, the second taking place
in Ohio, second dodging precipitation and his second straight win at
Midvale Speedway.
Despite having to
make repairs after damage sidelined him early last time out at Ona
Speedway, Jody Harrison once again set the pace in practice and
claimed his fourth straight pole award. Qualifying was a unique
group session, in which drivers went out four at a time and their
best lap would be their qualifying time.
The random invert was a three, which by some strange string
of luck put Todd Peck on the pole for the fourth straight race.
Todd Peck and Jim
Crabtree Jr. started from the front row of the twelve car field, and
Peck jumped out to the early lead.
Harrison looked under Crabtree for second and Kevin Kromer
looked under J.J. Pack for fourth, but all settled into single file
until the first caution flew.
During this yellow,
the track crew stopped Peck and checked underneath his car for an
oil leak. Turned out
there was not an issue and Peck was given the lead back.
After the field
returned to green, it didn’t take long for Crabtree to dive under
Peck for the lead with Harrison following for second.
The top three remained in those positions as they worked lap
traffic.
Thirty laps into
the race, Jody Harrison took his turn up front, a lap before the
next caution flew for Codie Rohrbaugh’s spun #05.
Rohrbaugh would retire from contention for the evening,
ending his championship hopes for the season and perhaps put his
season-long role as the rookie of the year favorite in jeopardy.
Another caution
flew for rain drops, which plagued the remaining laps of the race
despite a minimal chance of precipitation for the evening.
Harrison maintained his lead with Peck pressuring Crabtree
for second.
The next caution
flew when Kyle Kromer spun his #52.
This set up another restart past halfway that did not last
many laps under green when Jim Crabtree Jr. spun out of second
place. There was no
contact and Crabtree claimed that he lost traction due to the
dampness of the race track. Luckily,
with the exception of a few stray drops the outcome would not be
majorly affected by mother nature for the remainder of the 100 lap
event.
Harrison maintained
and at times extended his lead running laps consistently only
two-tenths off his fast qualifying time.
The charge on the track was from Jim Crabtree Jr., who
started sixth on the restart. Crabtree
dove under his son J.P. on the first green flag lap, and then moved
up to fourth the next lap. By
the twenty lap to go mark he drove past Pack for third.
At this point, the
race would fall under a somewhat lengthy yellow when Kyle Kromer
would grenade his engine. Speedy
dry appeared to be an issue on the restart as Harrison drifted high
in turn two where it had been put down.
Nevertheless, Harrison continued to clock off some quick
laps. Crabtree moved
into second with about ten to go, but would run out of time to catch
Harrison. It was
Harrison’s series leading tenth career win.
Harrison described
the racing conditions in the closing laps after climbing out of the
car.
“When (Kyle
Kromer’s car) flooded that motor there it moved the groove up
about two feet. It was
slick.”
An elated Jody went
on to thank his mom and dad as well as his aunt and uncle for coming
from Michigan to see him race. He
also wished his sister a happy birthday.
J.J. Pack passed
Todd Peck for third in the closing laps and Kevin Kromer finished
fifth.
With Peck falling
to fourth in the final finishing order, the points race tightened
even more going into the final event.
Peck continues to hold off Jody Harrison and Jim Crabtree
Jr., but only by 29 and 38 respectively.
Kevin Kromer and J.P. Crabtree III still have an outside shot
and are still less than 100 points behind the leader.
The 2013 Super Cup
Stock Car Series champion will be decided in less than three weeks
at Motordrome Speedway. Don’t
miss all the stories leading up to the season finale by visiting www.supercupstockcarseries.com
and follow the Super Cup Stock Car Series Facebook page (facebook.com/SCSCSRacing).
Click
here for Race Results
Click
here for YouTube Video Recap
Click
here for Photo Album
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