The Mid-Atlantic Asphalt Racing Alliance (MAARA) rolled into Lake Erie Speedway for the second leg of its inaugural campaign. Conditions in North East, PA were hot and humid for the 42 drivers that attempted to make the field for MAARA Nextel Cup Drivers 125 presented by Dodge.
Adding to the excitement of the first ever MAARA race at Lake Erie was the three NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers that were competing in the event. Two-time Nextel Cup Champion, Terry Labonte, was behind the wheel of Don Prischak’s #00 Erie Zoo car. Former Busch Series champion, Jeff Green, piloted the #01 Bliss Brothers Racing Monte Carlo. Nextel Cup rookie, David Streeme, was on hand as well in the Plyler Overhead Door/Gault Racing #132.
Green and Stremme have more recent experience in Late Model racing and showed it during the heat races. Green won his heat race and redrew fourth for the feature. Stremme finished second to Mike Hennessey in his heat and redrew sixth. Labonte finished sixth in his heat, took a provisional for the feature, and would start last. Chris Ross and Rick Miller were the other heat winners.
Pete Vanderwyst of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada started on the pole alongside Lake Erie-regular Gary Eicher. Eicher led the first lap before Vanderwyst took control of the field on lap two. Vanderwyst was the fastest during practice earlier in the day, and pulled away from the field in the opening laps.
The yellow flag flew for the first of nine times on lap seven for a spin by Bill Ellision. This stacked the field back up for a double-file restart with former Lancaster Raceway Park champion, Bobby Weber, on the outside of Vanderwyst on the front row.
Weber and Vanderwyst stayed side by side at the drop of the green flag. The pair traded the lead back and forth and until the next caution on lap 23 after Scott Skora cut a tire down. Weber led the last lap scored before the caution period and was put in the lead.
Racing resumed again on lap 26 with Mark Bliss and Jeff Green right on the heels of Weber and Vanderwyst. On lap 28, Weber slid up the track in turn three and Vanderwyst got into his back bumper. Weber went into a slow spin and then rolled down the banking in turn four and into the right side of Jeff Green. The right side of the body was sheared off of Green’s car, before he hit the front stretch wall.
Green was done for the day at that point while Weber went to the pits for repairs. Pete Vanderwyst was sent to the rear of the field for contact with Weber. George Skora III had a small oil fire in his exhaust pipe after spinning out, and went to the pits as well.
This reshaped the top five for the restart on lap 31 as Mark Bliss led Jeremy Holbrook, Rick Miller, Glenn Gault Jr., and Todd Hoddick. Gault started 14th and moved up to third by lap 37 as he began to set his sights on the leaders.
Gault may have been in too much of a hurry as he tried to go three-wide with Holbrook and Bliss in turn three on lap 42. Holbrook took offense as he got bumped back to third by Gault’s daring maneuver, and he responded by bumping Gault in the back bumper on the front stretch. This sent Gault spinning into the infield to bring out another yellow flag. Holbrook was sent to the rear of the field for his actions.
Todd Hoddick got bumped up to second at that point to give him a shot at the lead. Bliss and Hoddick then pulled away from the field during one of the longest stretches of green flag racing in the race. Hoddick stalked Bliss for several laps before passing him on the outside just as they picked up the crossed flags at lap 63.
The yellow flag came out on lap 70 for a spin by Ron Burkholder. While under caution, David Stremme went to the pits after the brakes gave out on his car. The rest of the field was stopped on the track for a MAARA-mandated ten-minute break. MAARA rules state the race must be stopped on or around lap 75 to allow teams to refuel their cars and make any changes to the car without changing tires.
Bliss benefited from the break as he took the lead back from Hoddick just after the restart.
Several front-runners got tangled together on lap 77. Will Thomas got into the back of Greg Hoover in turn three, which started a chain reaction. Hoover’s spinning car forced drivers running behind him to get on the brakes, but some were not quick enough. Glenn Gault and Pete Vanderwyst got together, which spun Vanderwyst out. Thomas, Hoover, and Vanderwyst were all sent to the rear of the field.
The race was restarted on lap 80, but it did not got much farther as on lap 81 there were another pair of incidents to bring the yellow flag back out. Gary Eicher and Ron Burkholder spun in turn one to bring out the initial caution. As the field try slow down Bill Ellison and Mike Hennessey collided just in front of Terry Labonte. Labonte tried to avoid Ellison, but someone knocked him into Ellison’s Native Pride #99. Ellison sustained major damage to front of his car and went to the pits, but Labonte was able to continue.
Labonte had started last in the 31-car field, but kept out of trouble until that point. He ran inside the top ten from about lap 45 until the end of the race.
During this caution period, Todd Hoddick went to the pits with engine problems that ended his day. Pete Vanderwyst also visited the pits, but returned. With Hoddick out Cory Lischer moved into second for the lap 84 restart. Chris Ross, Glenn Gault, and TJ Johnson were also running in the top five.
Gault moved back into the runner up spot on lap 88 after passing Ross and Lischer. He then went after Bliss, and by lap 99 had taken over the lead.
There were two final caution periods on lap 115. The first happened when Pete Vanderwyst lost his right front tire. On the restart, Jayme Beck spun as the field was getting the green flag. Scott Skora had nowhere to go, and crashed hard into Beck. It was disappointing end to Beck’s day as she was running ninth on the lead lap after starting 17th.
Gault held on for the final 10 laps to pick up the win. It’s his second win of the season at Lake Erie, and first win in the MAARA series.
Mark Bliss finished second despite a strong challenge from Chris Ross in the closing laps. Ross was credited with third. Will Thomas finished fourth despite taking a provisional to start 27th. Thomas failed to finish his heat after sustaining damage in an incident with Jake Francis. He then failed to qualify through the last chance race. Mike Hennessey rounded out the top five.
Terry Labonte was very impressive with his sixth place finish. Labonte was the lone NASCAR driver running at the finish of the race after starting dead last.
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