Unity Raceway ~ 6/30/12

The #8 went down a lap or two after we were hit from behind in a Lap 1 scuffle and had to come off the track to change a rear bumper.  The car was fast and we were able to fight back to a 9th place finish at Unity Raceway on Saturday night!

reprinted from nelcar.net
photos by RPM Photography

Lanpher Drives to Second Legends Win at Unity

The Amsoil Nelcar Legends Tour made their thirteenth stop of the season this past Saturday night at “Maine’s Toughest Track,” Unity Raceway. The 3/8^th mile oval always provided some of the best racing there is and Saturday night did not disappoint, as 14 of the NorthEast’s best Legends Cars drivers were set to do battle around the tight track. With each week having a certain extent of unpredictability, this race would keep that trend going as the sun set over Unity Raceway for another great night of Saturday night short track action.

For the first heat race, it was the 84 of Matt Grant on the pole with the 81 of Dan Winter on the outside. On the start, Grant was able to work the inside groove to hold the lead going into turn one with Winter right behind. Coming from the rear were the 59 of Reid Lanpher and the 38 of Matt Bourgoine. Lanpher was able to make a move up to second, and begin to put a challenge to Grant for the race lead. After a hard race between the two, Grant was able to hold on and grab his first ever Legends heat victory in his rookie season! Lanpher was second with Winter finishing closely behind in third.

Heat race number two rolled on to the track with the 33 of one of the drivers close to home, Alan Smith on the pole with the 2 of sophomore driver Ryan Hammar on the outside of the front row. Hammar was able to use the preferred outside groove to his advantage and take the lead out of turn two on the first lap, with the 56 of Evan Beaulieu following through to second. The two would open up a bit on the rest of the field, and Hammar was able to hold off the defending tour champion and grab the heat victory. Beaulieu was second while Smith rounded out the top three in the incident free race.

The heat finishes would determine the starting lineup while Bourgoine, Beaulieu and Lanpher would all start from the rear of the field due to their top three finishes at Speedway 95 earlier this month. On the pole it would be the winner of heat one, Matt Grant while Ryan Hammar started on the outside. On the start, Hammar got the jump and was able to take the lead. Behind him however, there was an incident coming off of turn four to complete the first lap involving Smith and Winter, and involving the 10 of Ed Getty, the 49 of Pete Cannell, the 8 of Matt Chagnot and Beaulieu, ending most of their nights early on the first lap. After a few caution laps to let the track crew clean up the incident, the green flag was back out and once again Hammar got out to the lead. From the rear of the field however, was Lanpher, and he had a very fast car and was able to grab the lead away from Hammar. While setting a fast pace up front, the leaders were able to lap all but four cars as Lanpher took his second career Legends win! Hammar was able to complete a solid run in second place, while Bourgoine was third. Former champion Bob Weymouth had a great rebound after a wreck just two nights before and finished fourth while Terry Kirk in Bourgoine’s backup car was able to cross the line in fifth.

Already thirteen races into the season, the point’s standings picture took another big shift, as Bourgoine was able to close in on Beaulieu’s lead, as he’s only seven points behind now. The Tour will be back in action next Thursday, July 5^th for round four of VIP Thursday Thunder at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. The Tour will also be back at New Hampshire Motor Speedway just two laters on July 7^th. With the Nascar Sprint Cup Series event the week after, the teams are highly anticipating the race next weekend to make one last swing at their setups to have a good run the morning of the Sprint Cup Series event. Be sure to mark your calenders, and get to the track to see some of the best racing inNew England! For more news, info and how you can get into a Legends Car, visit Nelcar.net.