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Alex Payne Triumphant in Super DIRTcar Series Return to Delaware, Bashore captures win and title in 602 Mods

By Jack O'Conner - Georgetown, DE (Sat.)

Alex Payne rallied from jumping the turn two cushion late by sailing it inside of Tim Sears Jr. coming to the white flag and driving away after the two made contact to win a thrilling Delaware Diamond 75 Saturday night in the Super DIRTear Series' first event in 17 years at Georgetown Speedway.

The victory, worth $12,075, was the Hopewell, NY driver's second of the season and the third of his career with the se-ries. Additionally, it was perfect night for Payne as he laid down the fastest lap in qualifying and won his heat race.
"This just means the world; we travel all over the place to tracks we've never seen before. So, we came last night (Friday) and kept an open mind with everything," said Payne, who finished fourth the night before.

"We just gave it our all tonight, and I guess we made the right calls. It got a little tricky there during a couple points in the race because I had to beat the car up with the tire we went with. I just kept my head together and never stopped fighting. A lot of people probably thought it was over, but I wasn't going to quit until the checkered. We definitely got lucky with the lapped cars there and I was just able to squeak by. He (Sears Jr.) had a car just as good as mine, but I was in the right place at the right time." Erick Rudolph and Sears Jr. led the 24-car field down for the start of the 75-lap feature.

Sears Jr. used the momentum on the top side of turn two to rocket into the lead and set the early pace.

Behind him, series point leader and fourth-place starter Mat Williamson slipped up the track in turns one and two, losing positions to Jimmy Phelps, Logan Watt and Ryan Godown. Two laps later, Peter Britten was able to follow suit, storming around the outside of Williamson's No. 88 off turn two and pushing him back to eighth.

A little ahead of Williamson, Godown kept peeking to the inside of Watt for a spot in the top five, but wasn't able to make a move stick. However, his persistence eventually paid off as Godown cleared into the position on lap ten. While that battle was taking place, Payne started to put the pressure on Rudolph for the runner-up spot.

Rudolph bobbled on the cushion off turn two on lap 12 and allowed Payne to close in rapidly. On the next lap, Payne got under Rudolph and the two dragged race down the back-stretch, with Payne winning the battle by sliding in front of Rudolph in turn three. Sears Jr. started to catch the back of the field on lap 14 and traflic was difficult as cars were racing all over the ½-mile. But Sears Jr. would get a break as the first yellow of the night flew on lap 26 when Matt Stangle came to a stop.

On the restart at lap 29, both Matt Sheppard and Billy Pauch Jr. stopped after going off the speedway in turns one and two to draw the caution once again.
When green replaced yellow on lap 33, Godown was the biggest mover as he drove around Phelps and Rudolph on the inside in the center of turns one and two to take the final spot on the podium.

Three laps later, Brandon Grosso spun going into turn three, setting up a restart that led to the first lead change of the night. It seemed like drivers who restarted on the bottom were at a disadvantage, but nobody told Payne that as he got a great launch in the restart zone and slid in front of Sears in the first set of corners to take command. Payne wasn't the only one to make a hard charge on the restart as Britten moved up from sixth to fourth.

Britten then set his sights on Godown for third, but his quest was derailed on lap 52 when he drastically fell off the pace going down the backstretch due to a shredded left rear tire.

For the restart, Payne chose the inside lane to fire from, but it would turn out to be a costly mistake as Sears Jr. redeemed himself by using the top to take the lead back. Meanwhile, Williamson was on the comeback trail as he was racing Godown for the fourth spot. The close corner battle later resulted in Godown dipping off the speedway in turn two and losing spots to Mike Mahaney and Darren Smith on lap 58.

Up front, Payne was hunting down Sears Jr, as the leader was in the thick of slower traffic. With six to go, Sears Jr. had Anthony Perrego and Ryan Kra-chun dueling for position ahead of him, forcing Sears Jr. to try to run the middle.
This allowed Payne to get a monster run off the top of turn one, and with the momentum, he tried to drive around the outside of Sears Jr. However, Payne wound up over the cushion in turn two, losing several car lengths in the process. But Sears Jr. wasn't out of the woods yet as Perrego and HJ Bunting were racing side by side ahead, giving Payne an opportunity to come back.

After the duo got the two to go signal, Payne got another massive run off turn two and he was able to carry the speed down the backstretch. At the entrance of turn three, Payne saw his chance to make a move, sending the No. 70A deep into the corner. As he started to slide up at the apex, he and Sears Jr. made contact, sending Sears Jr. out of shape.

From there, Payne scooted away, crossing under the checkered flag a second ahead of Sears Jr. Rudolph, Williamson and Mahaney completed the top five.
Second-place finisher Sears Jr. believes lapped traffic ultimately cost him the victory. "We were really good at the beginning; the top was definitely the place to be all night," Sears Jr. said. "We were fortunate enough to be out front most of the race and kind of set the pace. I let him (Payne) beat me on that restart; I just didn't fire that good. He got a good jump, but we managed to keep pace with him between then and the next restart. Then, I fired off good enough to stay right on his bumper going into turn one and I knew the top was good. He left us just enough room to get the lead back and once we were out front, there was nowhere to go with lapped traffic running side-by-side. So, he was able to snooker us and that was that." Third-place finisher Rudolph felt he didn't have quite a good enough car to contend with the top two.

"The track never really slowed down much and it widened out quite a bit," Rudolph said. "We're happy with a podium finish. We struggled a little bit on restarts; it took us several laps to get going. But we settled into third and I think a third-place car is what we had, so that's what we came home with."

In the 25-lap Crate Sportsman feature, polesitter Bryce Bashore jumped out front at the drop of the green flag and never looked back to take down his sixth win of the season and the track championship.

"I knew early on I couldn't stay on the bottom with how fast the track was," Bashore said. "I had to venture out to the middle to keep my momentum up and fortunately it all worked out. This is only my third year, so it's really special to get the title. I'm really grateful and blessed for all the opportunities I've gotten. The reason why I get to stand in victory lane is because of the people who help me."
The only caution of the event flew on lap 12 after second-place runner Luke Bunting came to a stop on the backstretch. On the restart, Adam White definitely got some fans out of their seats as he used the outside to propel himself from sixth to second off turn two.

However, White wasn't able to contend with Bashore as he crossed the line 2.2 seconds in front. Thomas Sherby, Matt Ellery and Colin Cox trailed at the finish.

Rachel Truitt took home a dominating 5.8 second victory in the 12-lap Delmarva Chargers feature. Jeff Merryman, Tami Collier, Garrien Morris and Randy Merritt completed the top five.

In the 12-lap Southern Delaware Racing Club feature, Garrit Reagan won the caution free affair by 0.540 seconds ahead of Cale Pettyjohn, Jason Cahall, Jamie Schrimer and Kerry King finished third through fifth.

Story Courtesy of Area Auto Racing News

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