Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Last year, Warren Paxton scored five feature wins on his way to winning the Mini Stock Championship. Paxton clicked off his first win of 2014 on Saturday night at Sunset Speedway as he won after leading the final 15 laps in his No. 33 Blue Mountain Honda of Collingwood, Wholesale Tire Solutions, J.F Kitching & Son Haulage, Georgina Auto Glass and CB Services of Bolton Honda. It marks the second straight win for the Paxton Racing group as Kamrath won the 35 lap feature last weekend.
The first heat would go to Miles Tyson ahead of Billy Melenhorst, Lauren Halliday, Jordan Howse, Bob Phinnemore, Steve Belanger, Stefan Woyslaw, Wendy Adams, Brad Burleigh, Steve Love and Eric Rainey.
The second heat went to Paxton ahead of Ben Melenhorst, Brandon McFerran, Steve Simmons, Samantha Shaw, Gerrit Tiemersma, Ken Townsend, Shawn Gerrior, Jake Watson, Brian Love and Dave Middel.
Kamrath won the final heat ahead of Billy Swartzenburg, Kendra Adams, Jerry Noble, Bejamin Wolf, Nic Montanari, Candiss Everingham and Tyler Johnston. Terry Woodley was scheduled to be in this heat, but pulled into the infield during the pace laps.
The field would then be split into three groups based on the heat results for a pair of b-mains and a Dash for Cash.
The first b-main would not go clean and green as Woyslaw went for a spin in turn four on the sixth lap. Samantha Shaw cruised to the win as a wreck happened behind her with Tiemersma got loose and slid up the track, causing Townsend to go for a spin. Phinnemore grabbed second while Tiemersma got third ahead of Belanger, Woyslaw, Everingham, Wendy Adams, Montanari and Townsend.
The second b-main didn’t start off smoothly as Johnston stalled on the first lap. Steve Belanger would make the right moves, though, and held off Watson at the line by a half-a-car to score his first career victory. Woodley finished third, followed by B. Love, Burleigh, S. Love, Rainey and Middel.
The Dash for Cash ran cleanly though as Paxton won ahead of Tyson, Kamrath. Swartzenburg, McFerran, Billy Melenhorst, Ben Melenhorst, Howse, Halliday, Simmons, Kendra Adams and Noble.
With the feature line-up set-up based on a draw, Miles Tyson would start pole ahead of Terry Woodley, Scott Simmons, Jerry Noble, Shawn Gerrior, Bob Phinnemore, Warren Paxton, Lauren Halliday, Brandon McFerran, Steve Belanger, Samantha Shaw, Jordan Howse, Ben Melenhorst, Kendra Adams, Jake Watson, Andy Kamrath, Billy Swartzenburg, Billy Melenhorst, Stefan Woyslaw, Brian Love, Benjamin Wolf, Brad Burleigh, Candiss Everingham, Wendy Adams, Eric Rainey, Nic Montanari, Dave Middel and Steve Love.
Tyson pulled out to the early lead ahead of the field on start as they automatically widened out three-wide throughout the field. A second trip down the frontstretch resulted in three-wide turning into four-wide as Kamrath made a move underneath Melenhorst, Shaw and Wolf. However, they’d run out of running room as they’d come up on the slower car of Middel. Kamrath tried to squeeze up a little, though in the midst, contact was made and a big wreck was triggered. Shaw, Melenhorst, Brian Love and Wolf would all be done for the evening due to their damage. Kendra Adams, Everingham and Howse also caught damage – though were able to continue.
On the restart, Tyson once again pulled ahead of the field with Paxton now moved up into the second spot ahead of McFerran and Simmons. Paxton would track down Tyson and make the pass for the lead just before the second caution flew at lap 10 for Burleigh spinning right in front of the leaders. With 15 laps to go, Paxton led McFerran, Simmons, Swartzenburg, Kamrath, Billy Melenhorst, Gerrior, Halliday, Woodley, Watson, Noble, Howse, Phinnemore, Belanger, Kendra Adams, Woyslaw, Montanari, Wendy Adams, Rainey, Brian Love and Middel. Howse didn’t get to restart as he would catch fire on the backstretch; the safety crew got the fire out quickly, but the rookie was forced to retire for the rest of the event.
Paxton and McFerran battled side-by-side on the restart with Paxton clearing McFerran on lap 11 just as the caution flew for Middel going for a spin.
The second attempt at a restart went much smoother as Paxton pulled ahead while Tyson moved back into second ahead of McFerran as Kamrath ran fourth with Swartzenburg in fifth. Billy Melenhorst was running a solid sixth when he would get together with the lap car of Steve Love off of corner four on lap 17, resulting in both drivers being done for the event. With 13 laps to go, Paxton led Tyson, McFerran, Kamrath, Swartzenburg, Woodley, Kendra Adams, Watson, Noble, Phinnemore, Belanger, Montanari, Woyslaw, Wendy Adams, Halliday, Rainey, Simmons and Middel.
Paxton got a good restart, though got caught up a little in lap traffic, which allowed Tyson to draw challenge side-by-side with six laps to go. However, Warren Paxton held off Miles Tyson’s late race charge to take the victory. Billy Swartzenburg finished third, followed by Brandon McFerran, Andy Kamrath, Kendra Adams, Terry Woodley, Jake Watson, Nic Montanari, Bob Phinnemore, Steve Belanger and Stefan Woyslaw.
