On June 13th, a new winner finally reached victory lane in the PathFinder Bank SBS Series as Mike Bond motored to his first win of the 2009 season in dramatic fashion. In the Novelis Supermodified division it was Joey Payne who had the crowd on their feet as he erased a four second lead by Doug Didero only to run out of laps at the end as Didero picked up his first win of 2009.
The Pathfinder Bank SBS Series had only seen one winner in the three previous features as Dave Gruel had led all but four laps of the first three features as he picked up all three wins in the Tim Barbeau owned #50. On this night it would be Gruels old ride, the Crow Motorsports #18, driven by rookie Andrew Schartner, which would pace the field for much of the race.
Mike Bond, who nearly took the win away from Gruel on June 6th moved into eighth place on lap three as the race leaders were well out in front of him. By lap ten Bond had moved up to sixth but the lead was still far from his reach. Bond moved into fourth place on lap twenty one and the race was on for at least a top three finish. Over the last six laps of the feature Bond marched right to the top spot and improved on the June 6th second place finish as he picked up win number one in the Terry Solazzo owned #26. Shartner, in only his fourth night in his new ride picked up a solid second place finish. Russ Brown, Rob Pullen and Kevin Knopp rounded out the top five. The balance of the top ten included Brian Sobus, Dave Gruel, Jack Patrick, Dave Danzer and Dave Cliff.
PathFinder Bank SBS heat race challenge winners were Tim Barbeau, Rob Pullen and Mike Bond. The Cutro Professional Inspections feature “Up ‘n Comer” went to Andrew Shartner. The Colosse Cheese Store feature “Hard Charger” was Mike Bond. The Butler Disposal feature “Hard Luck” driver was Stan Gates. The Whites Car Care “4th Place Finisher” was Rob Pullen.
Unlike the PathFinder Bank SBS Series where Dave Gruel had a grasp on victory lane until the fourth feature of the season, in the Novelis Supermodified division, there have been no repeat winners to date and that trend would continue on June 13th.
Doug Didero, who hit the wall just outside of turn two on June 6th would make it to victory lane but not after the fans were treated to another charge to the lead like the one they had seen Mike Bond pull off in the opening feature. This time around it was Joey Payne that had the fans attention over the last ten laps of the feature. With Didero taking the lead from Payne on lap twenty and Dave McKnight Jr. moving into third it looked like Didero would comfortably get win number one over Payne and McKnight Jr. As the laps started to wind down and with lapped traffic racing for position in front of the leaders, Payne erased a four second lead over the final ten laps to pull alongside Didero with one lap to go. Didero held on for the exciting win by twelve one thousandths of a second over Payne who settled in for the popular second place finish. McKnight, Jr. brought the Gary Syrell #08 home for a close third place finish. Otto Sitterly finished fourth and Stephen Gioia III rouned out the top five. The balance of the top ten included Greg Furlong, Keith Gilliam, Todd Stowell, Jerry Curran and Bentley Warren.
The Novelis Supermodified heat race challenge winners were Otto Sitterly, Doug Didero and Joey Payne. The Super Racing News feature “Up ‘n Comer” was Joey Payne. The Jakes Automotive feature “Hard Charger” went to Keith Gilliam. The 2 Xtreme 24 Hr. Towing feature “Hard Luck” driver was Jason Spaulding.
The complete results for both events can be viewed at the AMB Scoring section of the “Results” tab on the homepage.