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Tonight's race at Great Falls was also called...BSST ends its season on Saturday back at Belgrade..
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Lambrect ends drought in BSST Great Falls thriller
Andrew Kunas
GREAT FALLS, Mont. - With a few laps remaining in Saturday’s Big Sky Sprint Tour event, Paxton Lambrect wasn’t expecting to be in victory lane. Besides, he hadn’t won a main event since his championship run in 2006.
A few minutes later, Lambrect was being congratulated for a surprise victory at Electric City Speedway, the same track where he last won in 2006.
The 22-year-old Billings, Mont. driver, piloting the Lambrect Motorsports No. 7x Gaerte-powered Eagle, was running third in the closing laps of the shortened 20-lap feature event when front runners Dennis MacEachern and Joe Ramaker had problems with slower traffic. MacEachern, one of the several Alberta Sprint Tour drivers on hand for the Can-Am event, was leading throughout the race until he got into the back of the slower car of Joe Perry. Ramaker, the points leader who was suffering from a left rear tire losing air, had to check up to keep from hitting MacEachern. That created an opening on the bottom of the track on the back stretch, and Lambrect took it.
“We got a lucky, lucky break,” Lambrect said. “I feel bad for (MacEachern), super nice guy, and Joe had a flat tire after coming through the field. It feels good to win though.”
In addition to ending his drought with the BSST, for Lambrect it was also his first win with the Scott Safety Alberta Sprint Tour. With the two sanctioning bodies running together for points on Saturday and a few visitors from elsewhere also being on hand, there were more cars in the pit area Saturday than what either group was used to seeing alone, making the win a little more special for Lambrect.
“It’s nice, “Lambrect said. “We’ve been struggling on the car count. Then we got the guys from Canada and Washington coming over for this and that helps. Maybe they all could work together next year. Maybe even get a speed week going.”
Lambrect, who sits fourth in BSST points and only eight tallies behind Davd Hoiness for third, started on the outside front row after his runner-up finish to MacEachern in the cash dash. MacEachern, driving his own No. 19 Enders-powered Maxim, established himself as the leader right away and Lambrect settled into third behind Perry on the start. On lap nine, Lambrect inherited second when Perry spun out in turn two of the 3/10-mile clay oval.
While MacEachern and Lambrect ran up front, Ramaker was moving his way quickly through the field from his 18th starting position. After only eight laps, the Boise, Idaho driver was already in sixth place behind Washington’s Danielle Huson and Alberta drivers Casey Adams and Stuart Selby. On that restart following Perry’s spin, Huson struggled to get around turns one and two, and Adams and Ramaker motored by.
In the later half of the races, things got interesting as the leaders were in traffic again. Ramaker, who scored a clean sweep Friday at Gallatin Speedway, got by Lambrect for second and immediately went after MacEachern. In the last few laps of the race, MacEachern and Ramaker dueled while Lambrect closely followed. MacEachern’s and Ramaker’s mishap with Perry resulted in Lambrect taking the lead just before the white flag was thrown.
Ramaker, for a brief moment, got by MacEachern for second in that same incident, but the left rear tire going flat slowed up Ramaker and MacEachern got back around him to finish second. For MacEachern, it was a big turnaround from Friday’s race at Gallatin Speedway, which saw him strike the wall coming out of turn four and roll upside down.
Adams, who finished second to Ramaker at Gallatin, got by Ramaker at the finish to finish third in the Adams Racing Inc. No. 12a Bel-powered Maxim. Ramaker settled for fourth in the Ramaker Racing No. 98 Ostrich-powered J&J, but now has a 144-point lead over defending series champion Phil Dietz and has all but clinched the 2008 Big Sky Sprint Tour title.
After her earlier problems in turns one and two, Huson appeared to had found a better way to enter turn one and held on a for fifth place finish in the Huson Bros. Racing No. 73 Shark-powered Rocket. Jesse Dakus of Edmonton, Alberta finished sixth in his own No. 75 AMS-powered Rocket.
Alberta driver Kelly Miller was one of three drivers in the field who raced at Electric City Speedway for the first time Saturday. Miller finished a strong seventh aboard the Miller Bros. Racing No. 44 AMS-powered Maxim. Washington sprint car veteran Jay Barnes finished eighth aboard his own No. 99e Rocket, followed by Dietz in the Ken & Robin Dietz No. 72 RFast-powered Wolfweld. Tyler Gabel rounded out the top ten, driving the Duane Gabel No. 32 Engines Etc.-powered J&J.
Alberta Sprint Tour points leader Gordy Kynoch was another first time visitor to Electric City Speedway. His night came to a disappointing end as he headed to the pit area with a flat right rear tire in the A-Main. He was credited with 20th place out of 24 starters. Hoiness, came to a stop in turn two during the A-Main and was unable to re-fire the car. Hoiness was credited with 22nd place. Randy Pierce, one of the long tow drivers from Meridian, Idaho finished 13th.
Hoiness won the B-Main event, taking Kynoch, Calvin Stumpf and Pierce with him to the A-Main. MacEachern’s victory in the cash dash, sponsored on Saturday night by Carl’s Auto Care & Towing, came over Lambrect, Perry, Huson, Dietz, Selby, Jerry Brey and Adams. Heat race victories went to Dietz, MacEachern, Perry and Brey.
More information on the Big Sky Sprint Tour can be found online at http://www.bsstracing.com.
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Also the web…
Electric City Speedway - Great Falls, MT: http://www.electriccityspeedway.com
Alberta Sprint Tour: http://www.albertasprinttour.com
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Big Sky Sprint Tour w/ Alberta Sprint Tour
Electric City Speedway
Great Falls, MT
August 30, 2008
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
27 cars
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 72 Phil Dietz, 2. 38 Jerry Brown Jr., 3. 75 Jesse Dakus, 4. 35 Chip Roe, 5. 98 Joe Ramaker, 6. 88 Calvin Stumpf, 7. 15 Gordy Kynoch.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 19 Dennis MacEachern, 2. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 3. 44 Kelly Miller, 4. 99e Jay Barnes, 5. 397 Kyle Bates, 6. 27dd David Hoiness, 7. 3 Shane Moore.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 28 Joe Perry, 2. 38t Trevor Turnbull, 3. 12a Casey Adams, 4. 32 Tyler Gabel, 5. 18 Seth Bergman, 6. 12p Randy Pierce, 7. 1 Bill Boyce.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 17j Jerry Brey, 2. 33 Stuart Selby, 3. 73 Danielle Huson, 4. 37 Trevor Kirkland, 5. 12 Josh Ostermiller, 6. 91 Lee Miller.
Carl’s Auto Care & Towing Cash Dash: 1. 19 Dennis MacEachern, 2. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 3. 28 Joe Perry, 4. 73 Danielle Huson, 5. 72 Phil Dietz, 6. 33 Stuart Selby, 7. 17j Jerry Brey, 8. 12a Casey Adams. Finish determined first eight starting positions of A-Main.
B-Main: 1. 27dd David Hoiness, 2. 15 Gordy Kynoch, 3. 88 Calvin Stumpf, 4. 12p Randy Pierce, 5. 3 Shane Moore, 6. 91 Lee Miller, DNS - 1 Bill Boyce. First four finishers transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (20 laps, time): 1. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 2. 19 Dennis MacEachern, 3. 12a Casey Adams, 4. 98 Joe Ramaker, 5. 73 Danielle Huson, 6. 75 Jesse Dakus, 7. 44 Kelly Miller, 8. 99e Jay Barnes, 9. 72 Phil Dietz, 10. 32 Tyler Gabel, 11. 38t Trevor Turnbull, 12. 35 Chip Roe, 13. 12p Randy Pierce, 14. 88 Calvin Stumpf, 15. 33 Stuart Selby, 16. 38 Jerry Brown Jr., 17. 397 Kyle Bates, 18. 17j Jerry Brey, 19. 28 Joe Perry, 20. 15 Gordy Kynoch, 21. 12 Josh Ostermiller, 22. 27dd David Hoiness, 23. 18 Seth Bergman, 24. 37 Trevor Kirkland.
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BSST: Big Sky Sprint Tour
http://www.bsstracing.com
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