Patrick Emerling was able to hold on for his first victory of the week in the Tour Modified 35-lap feature at New Smyrna Thursday night.
Late charges from Jimmy Blewett and Matt Hirschman on the race’s final restart with three laps to go made things interesting. But contact between Blewett and Hirschman gave Emerling enough room to run away with the win.
“That caution definitely made some things interesting,” Emerling said. “I liked it on the bottom there… Was able to get a good jump and it worked out. All three of our cars were running the same exact pace all race. Probably the most fun couple of laps I’ve had in a long time.”
Behind Emerling and Blewett was Hirschman in third, followed by Craig Lutz and Eric Goodale. Rounding out the top-10 were Dave Sapienza, John Blewett III Memorial 76 winner Anthony Nocella, Mike Willis, JR Bertuccio, and Tyler Rypkema.
Blewett sat on the pole and led the opening portion of the race. Kyle Ebersole was the first to challenge him for the lead and nearly cleared Blewett going into turn one on lap five. But Ebersole came up into the right front of Blewett, spinning himself into the wall.
“I have no idea why [Ebersole] was cleared so early,” Blewett said. “His spotter obviously cleared him too soon with me on the frontstretch.”
Emerling took the lead from Blewett on lap six and never relinquished it en route to his first victory of the week.
With his third-place finish, Hirschman took the championship lead from Anthony Nocella. He leads by six points. The next closest contender is Lutz in third at 28 points back.featured
The full results can be found below:
- Patrick Emerling
- Jimmy Blewett
- Matt Hirschman
- Craig Lutz
- Eric Goodale
- Dave Sapienza
- Anthony Nocella
- Mike Willis
- JR Bertuccio
- Tyler Rypkema
- Brett Meservey
- Jimmy Zacharias
- Jeremy Gerstner
- Anthony Sesely
- Eddie McCarthy
- Rich Parker
- Paul Townsond
- Tommy Catalano
- Adam LaCicero
- Jim Gavek
- Tyler Catalano
- Ray Fattaruso
- Kyle Ebersole
- Jeff Gallup
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