On lap 30, Ron Silk found himself in the back of the field after a pit road penalty.
He found himself in victory lane 95 laps later, claiming the Outlaw Open Modified Icebreaker 125 and $10,000 at Thompson Saturday night.
With only 12 laps to go, Silk dove under Keith Rocco in turn three on the race’s final restart. Those 12 laps were the only ones Silk led all evening.
Rocco finished second, followed by Bobby Santos, Craig Lutz and Ronnie Williams. Rounding out the top-10 were Sam Rameau, Matt Swanson, Anthony Sesely, Mike Christopher Jr, and Patrick Emerling.
It was the first win for Silk’s team, Haydt-Yannone Racing, in the pairing’s second year together racing both open shows and the New Smyrna World Series.
Silk was up-and-down the entire race. After starting third, Silk suffered a penalty when his crew lifted the jack on a stop during which equipment was not allowed.
“My car wasn’t really that good at that point,” Silk said. “It was too free anyway, so it might have been a little bit of a blessing. I was kind of hanging on… so it was good to come in and get a little bit of an adjustment.”
READ MORE: Keith Rocco Wins Sunoco Modified Thriller at Icebreaker
Rocco appeared to have the race in hand as the laps began winding down, but a Santos spin with 13 laps to go bunched the field back up. That was when Silk was able to pounce.
Silk’s late-race pass kept Rocco from sweeping both the Sunoco Modified race and the Outlaw Open event.
“We came here to win,” Rocco said. “We wanted to win. So close. We didn’t need that last yellow. I think we had everybody tied up behind us… Came up one spot short.”
Rocco started on the pole with Lutz alongside. The lead changed eight times among six drivers.
Williams led the most laps, with 57 in total, but he was unable to get back up through the field on fresh tires in the final run of the race.
“Thought [tires] would fix our loose situation,” Williams said. “It did, but after about 15 laps, we were just getting too loose on and off. Something to learn on. We’ve got what, five more of these things.”
The full results can be found below:
- Ron Silk
- Keith Rocco
- Bobby Santos III
- Craig Lutz
- Ronnie Williams
- Sam Rameau
- Matt Swanson
- Anthony Sesely
- Mike Christopher Jr.
- Patrick Emerling
- J.B. Fortin
- Anthony Nocella
- Jeff Gallup
- Todd Owen
- Andrew Krause
- Richard Savary
- Chris Pasteryak
- Eric Goodale
- Jon McKennedy
- Artie Pedersen III
- Noah Korner
- Dan Meservey
- Max Zachem
- Andy Shaw
- Trevor Bleau
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