COLBY LAMBERT TAKES DOWN PURE STOCK WIN
Colby Lambert made it one spot better this week than he did last week and it took him to Victory Lane. His greatest effort came over the first three laps, as he climbed from a twelfth-place start into second. From there he chased and battled leader Mike Henriques for most of the race until he scored the front going into lap 20 and was never headed afterward. The Outlaw – Daniel Massa – edged Amy Arsenault back to third late in the feature while Dylan Cabral and points leader Doug Benoit rounded out the top five.
Polesitter Jason Tisi and Robert Moore came off the front row to run the first lap in a withering door-to-door for two full laps until Donald Perry stuck his nose underneath for a three-wide. Perry fell back, but not before Tisi went around, misdirecting Moore into a turn four meeting with the wall and setting off a chain reaction. Lenny Souza was hard upon them and unable to brake or avoid and was collected in Tisi’s situation. Benoit’s right front fender was pushed against his wheel and he dragged it around the track to the pits. Benoit, the points leader, appeared about to lose his advantage to a DNF, but returned just in time for the restart.
Perry and Melissa Charette were at the front for the lap 1 green, with Arsenault and Henriques in row two. Perry went ahead out of the box, but Charette battled back, then Arsenault got her nose underneath and Perry came loose in the middle of the three-wide. He gathered it back up as Arsenault droped back and Henriques then went wide and nosed ahead in turn two. He gained more down the backstretch and owned the lead in turn three.
Lambert had gone from eleventh to sixth on the caution and restart. He passed Greg Perry and Arsenault going into lap 3 and then Donald Perry to take over second on lap four. Over the next sixteen circuits, Lambert became a thorn in Henriques’ side in a door-to-door battle, much of it with Lambert on the outside.
The race went green from the lap one restart, all the way to a lap 20 caution with plenty of racing between the two stops. Donald Perry was on Colby’s bumper on laps 3, 4 and 5, until Lambert went outside to pass Henriques. Arsenault pursued Perry, followed by Greg Perry and Jeremy Lambert, dueling underneath Massa. The Lambert brothers continued their two-wide assaults but Massa was able to overcome Jeremy for sixth and he then slid Greg Perry out of fifth to harry Donald for fourth.
Arsenault was past Donald on lap ten, leaving him open to Greg’s ministrations as Colby dropped in behind Henriques. He now was all over Henriques’ bumper looking for any kind of opportunity. Henriques got loose and Lambert nosed under but had the door slammed in his face. He went back to the outside and they were wheel-to-wheel across the stripe. They whipsawed the lead then came side-by-side into lap 15.
The lapped car of Emily Brightman was just ahead and it appeared she might block, but she pulled up out of the two low grooves to let them past. Henriques and Lambert continued through, locked evenly in combat.
Lambert dropped in behind again on lap 18. Once more around and he stuck his nose under and there was contact. Henriques kept it straight but Colby grabbed the lead in turn two of lap 19.
Colby had gone to a ten-car lead on lap 21, with Henriques battling,
But Jeremy now spun in turn four, bringing out caution. Donald Perry was deemed at fault and demoted to the rear. Colby and Henriques lined for the restart and Colby grabbed the lead. Henriques suddenly went backwards, falling to the rear, then retiring with two laps remaining. Meanwhile, Colby went out to a five-car advantage over Arsenault, who was now being pressured by Massa. Benoit followed, after working his way up to fourth following his tail-end restart on lap one.
Charette and Jeremy now tangled in turn two and spun. The restart with three laps remaining was door-to-door between Colby and Arsenault. Massa went to work on Arsenault for position as Colby took the lead. Dylan Cabral did the same with Benoit. Both were successful on lap 24, putting Massa on Colby’s tail and Cabral behind Arsenault, who was now third. Cabral went after Arsenault, but she was able to hold him off to the wire.
DJ Pires was able to move into sixth, followed by Greg Perry, Jeremy Lambert, Shayne Lambert, Donald Perry and Charette.
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