Having an ‘almost perfect’ car benefits Lawrence
By ED TURNER
For the News & Messenger
Published: August 3, 2008
It was another big night for Willard Lawrence at Old Dominion Speedway Saturday. Lawrence picked up his eighth and ninth victories of the season in twin 35-lappers. Published: August 3, 2008
“The car was almost perfect,” said Lawrence, who notched his 14th top two of the year.
In the first twin, Lawrence started sixth in the 14-car field and got around Mike Southard for the lead in lap 15 after the two ran wheel-to-wheel for three laps.
In lap seven, Southard had taken the lead from Adam Brenner. Southard finished second. Brenner was third, Doug Liberman fourth and Les Miranda fifth.
In the second twin, Southard started fourth and passed Brenner for the lead in lap 18 in the backstretch. Lawrence followed Southard around Brenner for second in turn four. Then Southard and Lawrence battled for the lead for nearly five laps as the two ran door-to-door.
In lap 27, Lawrence pulled away for the lead and cruised to the checkers.
“It wears a driver out, trying to stay off the other guy,” Lawrence said of his head-to-head battle with Southard. “It’s a handful running all those laps side-by-side. But they’re definitely fun.”
Southard, who is third in points, grabbed his second second place finish of the day and now has 10 top fives for the year and has eight top fives in the last nine races.
“I love it on the outside,” Southard said of his trademark style of running the outside groove. “We’ll be back for more and next time, we’ll make the car wider.”
Brenner was third, Miranda fourth and Liberman fifth.
In Legends, Sean Dawson surprised everyone and grabbed his first win of the season. It was only Dawson’s second night in Legends at ODS this year.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Dawson, a two-time former Mini Stock champion at ODS. “We just wanted to come out and get a top five.
“I never would’ve thought I’d win.”
Dawson, who qualified fifth, started second and got around John Jansen, Jr. for the lead in lap 18. Jansen had taken the point after race leader Matt Cannon and Roger Austin, Jr. and David Polenz got together in turn four of lap 15. Cannon had to pit and finished eighth.
Jansen finished second, George Cushman third, Polenz fourth and Austin, Jr. fifth.
“I thought I was going to finish fourth tonight,” Jansen said. “But I got lucky.”
In U-Cars, Bryan Fox notched his sixth win of the year. Fox is now two points ahead of Billy Ingle in the points’ battle. Fox motored around Jeff Beamer in lap 14 for the lead. Beamer was second.
“Jeff is good on both the top and bottom,” said Fox, who started seventh. “I just had to wait a little bit and make my move.”
“It was a fight,” said Beamer, who got around Steve Brady for the lead in lap 10. “But he got me.”
Craig Olgevee was third, Billy Ingle fourth and Morgan Duncan fifth.
In Mini Stocks, Scotty Gore throttled his way to his second win of the year. Gore started third and got around Bobby Able in lap 17 for the lead.
“That was pretty awesome to win after going three wide,” Gore said.
Able finished second. “It was a lot of fun,” he said. “Scotty got it clean and was much better than I was.”
Mike Carte was third, Keith Riley fourth and Pete Green fifth.
Late Model results
first race
Willard Lawrence
Mike Southard
Adam Brenner
Doug Liberman
Les Miranda
Mike Arnold
Robert Bruce
Kevin Hall
Don Bauer
Bob Harman
SECOND RACE
Willard Lawrence
Mike Southard
Adam Brenner
Les Miranda
Doug Liberman
Mike Arnold
Robert Bruce
Kevin Hall
Don Bauer
Bob Harman
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