Alex Lessor held strong the final 15 laps for his second late model victory of 2009 which added to his US Army Super Late Model points lead in the chase for the 2009 championship.

For Immediate Release: Montana Raceway Park

KALISPELL, Mont. (June 13, 2009)-Alex Lessor used a dominant performance and a new wrinkle from Montana Raceway Park officials to nab his second straight US Army Super Late Model victory in the NAPA Auto Parts 100.

 

Wrango West was second followed by Bodie Morton, Agni Howell and Clint Habart.

 

Habart led the field to the green flag and held the point through the race’s first 28 laps

 

The evening’s first caution flew and the wrinkle of the cone rule­-adopted from the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour-where the track puts down a cone and the field chooses which lane to restart came into play.

 

West pulled to the outside of Habart and took the lead exiting turn No. 4 which shuffled Habart back in the running order. Erick Hargraves and Lessor also used the high side to gain track position as the Raceway Park fans roared with approval of the new restart wrinkle.

 

West held serve on the front end of the field for a lengthy green flag as Lessor and Hargraves battled for second place behind the recent high school graduate. Mark Owens got by Hargraves at lap 51 to take over third place and began to apply pressure to Lessor for the runner-up position.

 

At lap 60 Lessor had reeled West in and began to try the high side of the racetrack for a peek at the lead. West used every bit of his car to hold the top spot but left the bottom line open one too many times and Lessor was able to sneak through for the lead at lap 61. As Lessor looked to clear West for good another yellow flew and moved the Army Navy Chevrolet back behind the youngster. On the cone West went low and Lessor took the high side and made a bold pass for the lead exiting turn No. 4.

 

Hard racing continue until the evening’s final yellow flag restart of the night flew at lap 84 setting up a 16 lap shootout for the win. Hargraves tried the high side for the lead one more time but fell back to West and Troy Schweigert in the end and faded late for a seventh place finish.

 

Lessor held strong the final 15 laps for his second late model victory of 2009 which added to his US Army Super Late Model points lead in the chase for the 2009 championship.

 

“The cone rule helped me out so I guess I am a big fan of it tonight but I know that at some point I could be on the other end of it that’s for sure,’ Lessor said. “We knew we didn’t want to make any changes to the car after out heat race because the track was going to cool down and sure enough it did which really helped our Army Navy Superstore Chevrolet.”

 

West was happy to have a solid run behind Lessor when taking into account the new wrinkle on restarts, he said.

 

“We had a good car there and used the restart to our advantage. We’ll be back out here for the 4^th of July race in our late model and have the Legend car out in two weeks for Legends Thunder so I am excited about that.”

 

Morton knew late that the cone rule may be his only shot at the front.

 

“I tried to use the high side a couple of times on the restart to see if the car would go out there and it didn’t then I just dropped to the bottom and made it work. It took a long time for our car to come in and we got stuck behind some traffic there for awhile but all in all we had a good car here tonight.”

 

Jake Gorsswiler jumped into West’s Legends car and made the most of the start en route to the Westward Bound Construction/Keller-Williams main event. Scott Dalla nabbed second place with Joey Bisset third, Jake Bisset fourth and Adam Bishop rounding out the top-5.

 

Dalla broke through for a win in the Thunder Roadster main event with Scott Lee second and Tyler Corpron rounding out the top-3.

 

Dennis Simak and Zach Havens rounded out the top-5.

 

Mike Hilliker earned the win in the Bandoleros Young Guns main event with Devin Clayton and Dalton Halden closing out the top-3. Tyler Rohrman picked up the Bandoleros Bandits main event victory.

 

NAPA Northwest Late Model Shootout

Montana Raceway Park

.250-mile paved oval

100 laps

US Army Super Late Models Finishing Order

1)      Alex Lessor

2)      Wrango West

3)      Bodie Morton

4)      Agni Howell

5)      Clint Habart

6)      Troy Schweigert

7)      Erick Hargraves

8)      Billy Salmonsen

9)      Forrest Bauer

10)   Mark Owens

11)   Mike Slough

DNS- Clayton Richert

 

Westward Bound Construction/Keller-Williams Legends Finishing Order

1)      Jake Grosswiler

2)      Scott Dalla

3)      Joey Bisset

4)      Jake Bisset

5)      Adam Bishop

6)      Tyler Corpron

7)      Zach Havens

8)      Tim Corbett

9)      Giles Thornton

10)   Ron Custer

11)   Tyfini West

12)   Brandon Sickler

13)   Dave Daughtry

14)   Leroy Brush

 

Thunder Roadsters Finishing Order

1)      Scott Dalla

2)      Scott Lee

3)      Tyler Corpron

4)      Dennis Simak

5)      Zach Havens

6)      John Logan

7)      Joe Rohrman

Bandoleros Young Guns Finishing Order

1)      Mike Hilliker

2)      Devin Clayton

3)      Dalton Halden

4)      Tristan Corpron

Bandoleros Bandits Finishing Order

1)      Tyler Rohrman

2)      Richard Soto

3)      Addie Thornton

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