Hanover, PA (07/23/10) - While chaos seemed to occur behind him, New Oxford's Mike Duncan kept his Mentzer's Remodeling-Hofbrauhaus No. 11D pointed forward, even as he was wondering if the 25-lap 358 sprint feature Friday night at Trail-Way Speedway would ever end.
"On the scoreboard, it read eight laps and I said, 'Man, it feels like I ran the whole race.' I'm out of shape," he said of the red flag which came that early in the event. However, Duncan, driving only his 13th race in a 358 super sprint - the only race car he's ever driven, held off the field, expanded to 25 cars by track officials to avoid a consolation race, to claim his first career victory.
And Duncan had to celebrate by himself in a sense because two of the third-generation racer's biggest fans, his father and grandfather, were on vacation.
"Actually, my dad's in the hospital with kidney stones and a urinary tract infection, and they're in North Carolina," Duncan said. However, after hearing of Duncan's victory, both will feel much better, if only because Duncan avoided some of the mayhem behind him.
Following a false start, the race's first seven laps included four caution flags. Then, on lap eight, the car of runner-up Scott Fisher rolled in the fourth corner, starting a six-car melee. Before the restart, one of the drivers involved, Kyle Moody, stopped his car on the frontstretch to ask about the track officials' order to go to the rear of the field. As he stopped, his car was struck by the No. 1S of Logan Schuchart, bending the front wing of Schuchart's car and eventually ending his night. Meanwhile, for failure to go to the rear, Moody was relegated to an 18th-place finish.
Meanwhile, Hanover's Tim Wagaman was third on the restart and his first-turn slide job on runner-up Zach Eucolano put him in second. For the rest of the way, interrupted for a final time when Joe Trone Jr. spun on the 16th lap, Wagaman put pressure on Duncan, but he stayed in front.
"I was actually lifting a little bit early going into the turns because I thought if I could lay back, I could let them lapped guys stay ahead of me," Duncan said, "But Timmy showed me his nose and I thought, 'Uh oh, I better get going.'"
Wagaman took second place ahead of track points leader Dale Hammaker, 21st-starting Steve Owings, Brad McClelland, Billy Dietrich, Eucolano, Mike Bittinger, Jessie Morrison and Troy Becker. Moody, McClelland and Duncan won heat races.RACE RESULTS
358 Sprint Cars
Feature (25 Laps)
1. 11D-Mike Duncan Jr.; 2. 1-Tim Wagaman; 3. 66-Dale Hammaker; 4. 35-Steve Owings; 5. 6-Brad McClelland; 6. 88-Billy Dietrich; 7. 10-Zach Eucolano; 8. 12-Mike Bittinger; 9. 18J-Jessie Morrison; 10. 98B-Troy Becker; 11. 66H-Doug Hammaker; 12. 33T-Todd Spangler; 13. 99-Joe Trone Jr.; 14. 10W-Brian Bruckner; 15. 00-Shane Smith; 16. 3W-Clair Wintermyer; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart (DNF); 18. 99M-Kyle Moody (DNF); 19. 21-Scott Fisher (DNF); 20. 28-Keith Prutzman (DNF); 21. 01-Rick Horn (DNF); 22. 98-Randy Davis (DNF); 23. 51N-Nick Palmerino (DNF); 24. 33-Billy Heltzel III (DNF); 25. 64-Randy Whisler (DNF). No Time.
Lap Leader- Mike Duncan Jr. 1-25.
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