Doug Benoit was back in the win column again as the division leader worked his way up from ninth to second by lap eleven, then spent the rest of the 25 laps in a heavy challenge with leader Mike Henriques until he took the lead for good with three laps to go. It came on a lap 22 restart after Missy Charette spunb to bring caution. On that lap, Henriques had led Benoit by .035 seconds.
The restart saw Mike nose out on Benoit across the stripe, but Doug stuck his prow ahead in turn two. Amy Arsenault was on Henriques’ bumper. Henriques got loose and Benoit ran to the front. Arsenault then took over second and Desrosiers got under Henriques to steal third. The latter came home fourth, while Randy Laplante rounded out the top five.
To kick things off, Daryl Perry came off the pole to lead Ed Gould out of turn four. Marissa Morgan grabbed third but Lenny Souza and Emily Brightman got together and spun bringing a full-race restart.
This time, Perry pulled lead crossing the stripe with Gould in second and Morgan third. Jason Tisi was fourth on the outside with Henriques getting underneath and stealing fourth down the backstretch.
Two laps in and Perry had a three-car lead. Desrosiers was on Henriques’ bumper and Benoit was on his. Tisi had slipped back to seventh. Next time around and Laplante was getting under Tisi then taking over the spot while Arsenault was getting underneath, freezing Tisi on the outside.
Perry had a five-car lead on Gould and Henriqes and Desrosiers had pushed past Morgan, who was stuck on the outside with Benoit getting in underneath. Benoit took over fifth.
Lap 12 saw Tisi loose between turns one and two and The Outlaw Danny Massa, Jr. spun out of the same turn. On the restart, Perry had the lead again in turn one. Henriques was on his bumper and Benoit under Gould behind them. Arsenault and Desrosiers followed in a brawl over position while DJ Pires duked it out with Desrosiers behind them. Benoit took over third and Arsenault rolled past Gould into fourth. Pires now went to work on Desrosiers for sixth.
Two laps later and Benoit was looking under Henriques for second. The top 7 were nose-to-tail with Daryl Perry on Desrosiers’ outside, running eighth; it was a high-speed, jostling mob in transition. It ran this way for four laps until six laps out, Benoit got past Henriques. The latter pulled his nose ahead the next time they crossed the stripe, but Benoit then grabbed the lead and Henriques settled onto his bumper.
With four remaining, Ava Choinard and Darryl Perry got together in turn four. Chouinard had to leave on the hook, while Perry continued. Benoit fought back and they hacksawed the lead for two laps until Charette spun in turn two.
Benoit had the outside for the restart and they battled until Henriques came loose, falling back to fourth. Arsenault and Desrosiers rushed up to seize second and third, respectively and Laplante roared home fifth on Henriques’ tail.
Sixth went to Lenny Sousa, followed by DJ Pires, Gould, Greg Perry, Jr. and Morgan.