Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
With the lead changing hands and the leaders darting through lap traffic, it’s no secret the Lucas Oil Can-Am T.Q. Midgets put on a show at Sunset Speedway on Saturday night. At the end of the feature, it’d be Darren McLennan picking up the victory.
The feature started off with James Marche starting pole ahead of Barry Dunn, Todd Cresswell, Ryan Fraser, Rob Neely, Darren McLennan, Darren Dryden, Mack DeMan, Jeff Blackburn, Adrian Stahle, Steve Murdock and Corey Whittam.
The feature was exciting from the drop of the green flag with drivers running three-wide in the early stages as Cresswell jumped out to the early lead on Lap 1 ahead of Dunn and DeMan as Marche and Fraser ran side-by-side for fourth. Fraser got the spot on Lap 3, bringing McLennan and Dryden through with him.
Meanwhile, DeMan continued his climb to the front, passing Dunn to move into second on Lap 5. McLennan followed through the next to move into third, bumping Dunn back to fourth ahead of Fraser, Dryden, Marche and Neely. Dryden then got alongside Fraser for fifth at Lap 8, while Neely got alongside Marche for seventh a couple laps later. Unfortunately, the move for Neely didn’t work as he got loose on the bottom off of turn four, going for the spin to draw the caution.
Cresswell got a good restart to keep the lead ahead of DeMan, McLennan, Dunn, Dryden and Fraser. Cresswell’s advantage didn’t last long, though, as Mack DeMan made the pass on Lap 12 to take over the top spot. McLennan moved into second a lap later, bumping Cresswell back to third. Dryden ran fourth ahead of Dunn, Fraser, Stahle, Murdock and Blackburn.
Dryden was set to continue his climb, getting alongside Cresswell for third at Lap 16, completing the pass a lap later. Behind them, Dunn ran fifth as Stahle and Fraser ran side-by-side for sixth while Neely made his way down pit road with a problem.
At the front of the field, things began to get interesting as the leaders approached lap traffic, with McLennan looking to close the gap on DeMan. DeMan got hung up behind the lap car of Whittam just for a second, giving McLennan the opportunity he needed as he completed the pass to take the lead on Lap 19.
Behind them, Dryden continued to run third ahead of Cresswell and Dunn. Stahle made his move to crack the top-five on Lap 21, passing Dunn for fifth. Fraser tried to follow him through, but was unable to as he fell back in line behind Dunn.
Darren McLennan led the rest of the way to score the victory ahead of Mack DeMan, Darren Dryden, Todd Cresswell, Adrian Stahle, Barry Dunn, Ryan Fraser, James Marche, Steve Murdock, Jeff Blackburn and Corey Whittam.
