Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Once he got his first victory under his belt, it seems there’s been no stopping him since as Johnny Paradzinski scored his third career feature victory on Friday night at Sunset Speedway.
Daniel Montanari won the first heat ahead of Fred Jordan, Joe Dunlop, Robert Toope, Doug Wilman, Chandler Bos, Dave Melson filling in for Billy McLeod, Wendy Adams, Morgan Robson Jr. and Peter Wakeling.
Ken Townsend won the second heat ahead of Melissa Bullen, Paradzinski, Dylan Holmes, Eric Rainey, Jeremy McLean, Josh Inglis, James Levi and Scott Brooks, while Lisa DeLeeuw pulled off mid-race with a problem.
Come feature time, it was Peter Wakeling starting pole ahead of Jeremy McLean, Dylan Holmes, Wendy Adams, Scott Brooks, Dave Melson, Chandler Bos, Eric Rainey, Doug Wilman, Melissa Bullen, Robert Toope, Daniel Montanari, Ken Townsend, James Levi, Josh Inglis, Joe Dunlop, Johnny Paradzinski, Fred Jordan, Lisa DeLeew and Morgan Robson Jr.
The feature didn’t start off smoothly as Robson Jr. stalled, with Jordan spinning and hitting the inside wall when he slowed for the caution. The second attempt to start the race resulted in Bullen spinning and contact in her door for Wilman – all after Bos took them three-wide going into turn three. There was then a third caution, as Brooks clipped Montanari on the frontstretch, resulting in Montanari hitting the outside wall.
McLean got a good restart to put the No. 88M JUNIORS TIRES, CLOVER AUTO, NORTH BAY SIGNS & DECALS, MANCHESTERS SLEEP CENTER & SPA, DOUG’S RENTAL, MCCABE MASONRY & MUD’S GARAGE Mustang out front as Holmes and Wakeling battled for second. The caution then flew, though, for Bos stopped on the frontstretch after contact through turns three and four with Adams; Adams got out of shape and into Bos following contact from Levi.
The restart saw a battle for the lead between McLean and Holmes, with Jordan getting by both at Lap 8 to put the No. 40 out front, with Paradzinski and Holmes battling for second behind him. Rainey worked his way up to fourth by Lap 9 with McLean now running fifth, followed by Melson as Dunlop made his way into the pits with a problem.
Behind Melson, Toope and Inglis ran side-by-side for seventh, with Toope getting the spot on Lap 12, bringing Townsend through for eighth. Townsend kept moving forward, passing Toope to move up into seventh at Lap 16 as McLean made his way down pit road with a problem.
At the front of the field, Paradzinski finally got clear of Holmes for second, passing Jordan with one lap to go to put the No. 4 Stella Auto, Mega Wheelz, Prime Motors, Vinyl Obsessed and Image Wraps Honda Civic out front. He’d then lead the final laps to score the victory.
Paradzinski acknowledged the challenge of having to come through the field to win in victory lane.
“It’s hard knowing what kind of field there is in front of you,” he said. “It sucks that the 9 (Montanari) had some damage – it sucks that he got some damage; I don’t know what happened but he’s always a front runner and on my watchlist. The 21 (Townsend) is always there, and Fred Jordan – holy crap he gave me a run for my money, but we made it work.”
Dylan Homes finished second, followed by Fred Jordan, Ken Townsend, Eric Rainey, Robert Toope, Dave Melson, Josh Inglis, James Levi, Melissa Bullen, Lisa DeLeeuw, Doug Wilman and Peter Wakeling.
