Evans Mills, NY-Saturday’s weather looked questionable early, but the skies cleared up and the temperatures were comfortable as race fans flocked to the Evans Mills Raceway Park on Flag Day Weekend. Another strong field of cars filled the pits as the busy summer schedule begins to kick off.
The Excess Storage Pro Late Models started the features of the evening as Tyler Papin and James Kiah made up the front row. The first 3 laps saw 3 lead changes as Kiah led lap one, Papin lap 2 and Rylee Gill took control of the race on lap 3. Papin would try to keep pace with Gill as the laps would click off. The feature would run caution free as Gill would be too strong and earn his third win of the season. Papin finished second and Chuck Meyer crossed the line in third.
Steven Sherwood and Kaden Rogers were the pole sitters for the 35-lap Caskinette Ford Modified feature. Sherwood would lead the first lap, before brother Bryan took the lead on lap 2. The next 14 laps would be paced by Bryan Sherwood, as Joe Papin started to march forward. After getting caught up in a wreck the previous week, Papin looked strong, setting the fastest laps of the feature. By lap 16, Papin was on the outside lane pressuring Sherwood for the top spot. As the leaders exited turn 4, their tires made contact, sending both to the back of the field. Bryce Bailey would be in the right spot at the right time and take over the lead. Last week’s winner Kreig Heroth would right on Bailey’s bumper. The two would run several close laps. Bailey would slowly pull away from Heroth and lead the final laps to pick up his third win of the season. Heroth would wind up second, followed by Levi Arthur, Joe Papin and John Ramsey.
The combined feature of the Sport Compacts and Thunderstocks took to the track next. Tim Greenfield and David Paige started on the front row, but it was Mike Greenfield who would lead the early laps. Greenfield would be in control until Kevin Greenfield had worked his way through the field to take the lead on lap 7. Kevin and Mike would exchange the lead twice over the next 7 laps. However, Kevin was the man to beat again as he cruised to his 5th win of the season in the Thunderstocks. Kevin Greenfield would finish second and David Liscum finished 3rd. Chuck Powelczyk won his 3rd feature of the season in the Sport Compacts division, followed by Sam Curcie and Mike Durham.
The final feature of the evening saw a first time winner after weeks of steady improvement. The Christman Fuel Service INEX Legends were lead to the green flag by Brody Beckwith and Brayton Malbeuf. The opening 7 laps were controlled by Malbeuf as he looked to be inline for his first win of the season. On lap 13, Jayden Hall would spin coming off turn 2. Malbeuf would just clip the front of Hall sending Malbeuf to the pits with heavy damage. Camdin Cook would take control of the race and try to hold off a hard charging Breanne Gilligan, making her first start of the season. Cook would maintain his lead on the final restart on lap 18 and cross the finish line first, winning his first feature of the season. Gilligan finished second and Devin Thornton followed in third.
Next weekend EMRP hosts the Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Spectacular. The Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints invade Evans Mills Raceway Park for their only asphalt race of the season, paying $3000 to the winner. The Caskinette Ford Modifieds, Excess Storage Pro Late Models, Christman Fuel Service INEX Legends and the Sport Compacts and Thunderstocks will be in action. Pit gates open at 3pm, General Admission at 5pm and racing starts at 6:30pm. Pit pass $40, Adults $20, Military $18, Children 10-17 $15 and under 9 free with paid Adult.