Photo by Ashley McCubbin
Ken Townsend has been fast all year so far, and it all came together on Saturday night when he scored the feature victory. Townsend becomes the fourth straight different feature winner to start the seasons.
“We spent two weeks on this car,” Townsend said. “I’d like to thank the tech guys – Mike Brown and Steve Penny – for making me work real hard to make it a little faster.”
Chandler Bos won the first heat ahead of Thomas Dunn, Doug Wilman, Joe Dunlop, Eric Rainey, Lisa DeLeeuw, Morgan Robson Jr. and Peter Wakeling.
The second heat wouldn’t go cleanly as James Campbell ran into a problem on Lap 2, while Wendy Adams spun in turn two on Lap 9 for the caution. Daniel Montanari picked up the win ahead of Johnny Paradzinski, Townsend, Billy McLeod, Dylan Holmes, Melissa Bullen, Robert Toope, Jeremy McLean, James Levi, Adams and Doug Smith.
Johnny Paradzinski won the Fast Qualifier’s Dash ahead of Townsend, Montanari, Dunn, Bos, Holmes, McLeod, Bullen, Dunlop, DeLeeuw and Rainey.
The feature didn’t start off how Montanari wanted as he ran into issues on the pace laps. his team was able to get them resolved as he started the feature.
It’d be Dylan Holmes putting the No. 400 Hwy 400 Transmission Mustang out front on Lap 1 ahead of Townsend and Bos. Townsend would get alongside Holmes for the lead just as the caution flew for Wakeling going around in turn two.
Townsend got a good restart to put the No. 21 Honda Civic out front ahead of Holmes, Bos, Rainey and McLeod as McLean and Levi battled for sixth. McLean got the spot on Lap 5, bringing Paradzinski through with him. Paradzinski then got alongside McLean for sixth a lap later, while McLeod got alongside Rainey for fourth.
With the racing action three-, four-wide at times, it’d be Paradzinski moving up to fourth by Lap 8 ahead of McLeod and Dunn. Dunn kept moving forward, passing McLeod for fifth a lap later. Behind them, Toope and Montanari battled for eighth as the caution flew for Robinson Jr. spinning on the backstretch.
Townsend got a good restart to keep the lead ahead of Holmes as Paradzinski and Bos battled for third. Paradzinski got the spot on Lap 12, bringing Dunn through with him. Bos now ran fifth ahead of Montanari and McLeod as Toope and Wilman battled for eighth.
Paradzinski then caught Holmes for second, getting alongside him for the spot at Lap 14. The battle went wrong as Holmes got into the wall off of turn four, bringing out the third caution. With five laps to go, Townsend led Paradzinski, Dunn, Bos, Montanari, McLeod, Wilman, Toope, Rainey, McLean, Levi, Bullen, DeLeeuw and Inglis.
Townesend got a good restart to keep the lead, leading the final five laps en route to scoring the victory ahead of Johnny Paradzinski, Thomas Dunn, Nic Montanari, Chandler Bos, Billy McLeod, Doug Wilman, Robert Toope, Eric Rainey, James Levi, Jeremy McLean, Lisa DeLeeuw, Melissa Bullen, Joe Dunlop, Josh Inglis, Wendy Adams, Doug Smith and Morgan Robson Jr.
“He’s pretty quick for a rookie – he really is,” Townsend spoke of Paradinski post-race. “They’re just learning the lines and once they do that, they’re pretty quick. They’re all doing their homework.”
