Limited Late Model Feature:
Kevin Cormier wins the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature race. This is Kevin’s 4th victory this season and is starting to really put his name up there with Jeremy Lavoie, Matt Clement, and Rich Hammann, the top 3 in the Limited Late Model.
The “big 3: right now” is Kevn Cormier, Matt Clement, and Jeremy Lavoie in the Limited Late Model division. So far in the first 10 races, there was only 1 race that either Cormier, Lavoie or Clement didn’t win, all the other 9 races either Lavoie, Clement, or Cormier have won the race. That’s incredible to see that much consistency through the 3 of them where they have won races. Even podium finishes, every race at least one of the “big 3” are on the podium, there were 2 races, June 23rd and August 4th where 3 drivers Lavoie, Clement, and Cormier all finished on the podium. ALl but one race besides the 2 races where they all got on the podium, at least 2 of the drivers have been on the podium. That’s really good stats for all 3. It explains why they are all in the top 3 in the point standings and they are less than 20 points away from each other. Lavoie is the point leader, Clement is in 2nd place with 16 points back, and Cormier is 3rd in points with 18 points back from the leader. It shows how talented all 3 drivers are. The 4th place driver in the point standings is Rich Hammann who is 52 points back. As long as they continue this for the last 7 races, it’s going to be an interesting champions night because of how close the battle will be.
Tonight’s race was a good race and lots of good battles with Adrien Paradis III, Jeremy Lavoie, Matt Clement, and Rich Hammann. Cormier had only one battle and that was with Rich Hammann on the restart and then he was out to lunch leading but nobody was near him to battle or get him worried. Adirien Paradis III finished the race in 5th, Rich Hammann finished in 4th place, Matt Clement would finish 3rd, Jeremy Lavoie would finish 2nd, and Kevin Cormier would win the feature.
Kevin Cormier talks about his win and how good his car was. “I was about ready to make the pass on Hammann when the caution came out, I just made it on the restart, pulled away on him. The car was really really good, thanks to Dan Ferracci, he got this thing set up real good now. We kind of just drove away from them today, made a statement as to why Bonssa should put us on the hot list.”
Jeremy talks about his 2nd place finish and his battles with Paradis III and Clement. “Podium finishes are huge, another good run tonight went from 8th to 2nd. Kevin had a fast car, checked out from all of us. For a while the 19 was putting up a hell of a battle on the outside for me and the 59, so I know he held the 59 up a little bit and we were able to keep it in 2nd place.”
Matt Clement talks about his battles during the race and his 3rd place finish. “Going down the backstretch, I had an awesome run on Jeremy with Adrien on the outside there, there was just not enough room to make that move work. Ended up getting by the 19, he put up one heck of a fight on the outside. Just clean racing so Adrien thank you that was awesome. The car was rolling once we were battling with Adrien, I just cooked the right rear. I think with a couple more laps Jeremy and I would have had some fun but other than that, happy with a third.”
Top 5 finishes:
- Kevin Cormier
- Jeremy Lavoie
- Matt Clement
- Rich Hammann
- Adrien Paradis III
Top 5 in point standings:
- Jeremy Lavoie (470 Points)
- Matt Clement (-16)
- Kevin Cormier (-18)
- Rich Hammann (-52)
- Adrien Paradis III (-74)
Late Model Feature:
Street Stock:
Ryan Waterman wins the 20- lap street stock feature. This is Ryan’s 6th win of the 2023 season. Like the Limited Late Model, the street stocks also have a “big 3” with Ryan Waterman, Travis Hydar and Travis Downey. For the first 4 races it was just Hydar and waterman but now as we only have a few races left, Downey has started to run in the top 3 a lot more. The last two races, July 28th and August 4th, all 3 drivers of Downey, Hydar, and Waterman were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd which is very cool to see and how competitive these 3 drivers are in the last 4 or so races.
In every race there is at least one of these drivers in the top 3, there’s 6 races where at least 2 drivers are in the top 3, and then 2 races so far that all 3 drivers are in the top 3. It’s pretty good stats to have where 2 of the lower divisions have really good competitors and see really good battles on the track and in the point standings.
The point standings are really only 2 drivers with Ryan Waterman being the point leader and Travis Hydar in 2nd place in the points with 10 points behind Waterman, Travis Downey is in 3rd but he’s 88 points behind the leader because he had a few lower finishes than the other two.. If something drastic happens with Waterman and Hydar, Downey might have a chance to get up to the top 2 or needs to be consistent to keep his 3rd place in points.
In tonight’s feature race, Ryan Waterman started the race in 18th place. Waterman had a really good race and was really good at passing cars and getting up to the lead. By lap 7, Waterman had the lead. Once he got the lead he was gone. Hydar and Downey were passing cars as well but had to battle a few of them more than Waterman had to. By lap 12 Hydar and Downey were up to 3rd and 4th, they were picking up speed to pass the cars. On lap 13 there was a caution, not good for Waterman but good for everyone else. On the restart, Waterman gets a big jump on the start. Hydar was in 3rd and Downy and Finkbein were battling with 4th. The 11 of Hydar finally catches up to the 31 of Waterman and Hydar keeps him in his sights and does not let him get away.
There was a caution on lap 17 for the second time with the 80 of Tyler Trott spinning in turn 3. Bert Ouellette would get black flagged for the incident. On the restart Waterman and Hydar battled again. Waterman got the lead and Hydar got right next to Waterman. Getting to the white flag, Waterman and Hydar were side by side, going into turn two, Hydar got up a little and Downey would get underneath Hydar. Hyadr and Downey were side by side until getting to the checkered flag. Hydar would get to the checkered flag before Downey. Jason Raymond finished in 5th, Jason Finkbein finished in 4th, Travis Downey finished in the 3rd spot, Travis Hydar finished 2nd and Ryan Waterman won the race.
Ryan Waterman talks about his win and competing with Travis Hydar. “That kid (Hydar) does not make it easy, he does not give up and you have to be on your A- game to beat Travis Hydar.” He also talks about the dive bomb on the bottom of turn 3 to get by Hydar. “I was kind of sleeping getting into the throttle out of 2 but I really wanted to win this race. I gave it all I had.”
Travis Hydar talks about his 2nd place finish and his battles between Waterman and Downey. “No not really didn’t really matter when I got by him. The car was fast today. The race went really well, we were able to get through traffic really well there, following the 42 of Downey. The car was super fast today so I’m really happy with that.”
Travis Downey talks about his 3rd place finish and talks about the flapping sheet metal. “I’m not sure what happened, we were all racing pretty tight there, next thing I know that (his front part of the bumper) is sticking up in the air. I hoped it wasn’t going to take me out of the race. All worked out well, ran hard, it was a good race.”
The top 5 finishers:
- Ryan Waterman
- Travis Hydar
- Travis Downey
- Jason Finkein
- Jason Raymond
Top 5 in point standings:
- Ryan Waterman 454 Points
- Travis Hydar (-10)
- Travis Downey (-88)
- Bert Ouellette (-118)
- Aaron Plemons (-118)
Be the first to comment