STEVE PAINE TAKES THE HONORS OF THE MOLSON INTERNATIONAL FOR A SECOND YEAR
Granby, Que.-7/7/98-Regular driver at Autodrome Granby for the past three seasons, Steve Paine from Waterloo, NY, made a comeback to upset all his opponents, Tuesday night at the occasion of the 13th Molson International, the tenth segment of the Skoal Bandit Super DIRT Series. Paine, who was at the wheel of the Bicknell/X-Tend owned by Serge Desjardins and Pierre Faille from Quebec, was only at his second appearance this year in that championship. He took this occasion to claim a second straight victory in the Molson International by having the best on Doug Hoffman and Billy Decker.
But, for thousands of stock car fans gathered for the occasion, it’s without a doubt the excellent performance of young Steve Poirier that will be remembered. At the wheel of his Teo/Beton Rive-Sud/Pompes Mega, Poirier hold the lead of the race from lap 10 to lap 48 in front of Doug Hoffman. After that strong performance, Poirier started to have tire problems and he was fifth on lap 87 when he had to quit due to a flat tire.
At the draw for positions, Bobby Varin picked up the pole but was forced to take the start from the end of this 30-car field due to a car change giving his spot to Danny Johnson, winner of the Skoal races so far this season.
Before completion of the first lap, an accident occured in turn 4 involving many cars. Jimmy Horton, Tim Fuller, Brett Hearn, Todd Stone, Dave Camara and David Hebert were among the drivers involved. Fuller was forced to withdraw at this moment. Camara and Hebert lost many laps in the pits. Horton, Hearn and Stone were able to do the restart.
On this early restart, Johnson took the lead followed by Poirier and Dominic Dufault. Then on lap 9, on a second restart after a yellow flag caused by Kenny Tremont who was stopped on the track, Poirier was able to get by Hoffman for the lead. It’s only on lap 48 that Hoffman was able to take command of this race. After that, Poirier held the second spot during ten laps before slowing down because of tire wear.
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During that battle for the lead, as usual, Steve Paine who was sixth on the grid, had made his way to the second spot on lap 65. Then he started to challenge Hoffman very seriously to pass him by lap 70. He never was in trouble and was in route for his second straight win in this Molson International. As for Hearn, the crowd’s favourite, he finished fifth after his mishap on the first lap and a few unexpected pit stops.
For the Quebec drivers, it’s Dominic Dufault who made the best performance with a tenth place finish while many of them were forced to quit. David Hebert, the winner of the first heat, was the first to do so after only 9 laps. Then one after the other, Hugues Mercier, Pierre Hebert, Gino Clair, Alain Boisvert, Robert Ranger, Poirier and Marco Potvin had to do the same thing. Before quitting the race, Potvin was eighth after taking the green flag on the tenth row.
Besides Hebert, the heat winners were, Bob McCreadie, Dave Camara, Bobby Varin and Marco Potvin. A sad accident happened in the consolation heat when Mike Perrotte suffered a broken leg after a broken driveshaft send some debris in his cockpit.
Also in the same program, Daniel Belanger scored his third consecutive win in the late models division. His victims were Jocelyn Roy and Stephane Messier while in the tourism class, Gilles Ostiguy took his second victory of the season by having the best on eric Archambault and Paul Lavoie.
RESULTS
(Molson International-- 98 laps)
1- 1, Steve Paine 2- 1H, Doug Hoffman 3- 91, Billy Decker 4- 12T, Danny Johnson 5- 3H, Brett Hearn 6- 9, Bob McCreadie 7- 115, Kenny Tremont 8- M1, Jimmy Horton 9- 111, Alan Johnson 10- 63, Dominic Dufault 11- 1B, Todd Burley 12- 97, Mike Romano 13- 32, Vic Coffey 14- 3, Claude Brouillard 15- L50, Luke Plante 16- 24, Tim McCreadie 17- 1X, Todd Stone 18- 76, Richard Salvas 19- 18, Bobby Varin (96 laps) 20- LP2, Marco Potvin (95 laps) 21- 28, Steve Poirier (87 laps) 22- 27, Robert Ranger (69 laps) 23- 73, Alain Boisvert (61 laps) 24- 44J, Gino Clair (54 laps) 25- 26, Dave Camara (48 laps) 26- 6, Pierre Hebert (38 laps) 27- 50, Hugues Mercier (28 laps) 28- 6J, Jack Johnson (13 laps), 29- 99, David Hebert (9 laps) 30- 19, Tim Fuller (0 lap).