ALAIN BOISVERT STOPPED THE AMERICAN DOMINATION AT AUTODROME GRANBY LAST FRIDAY
GRANBY, Que., July 12 1997 --By claiming his first career win in the modified division last Friday at Autodrome Granby, young Alain Boisvert, the driver of the Olson Auto-Hebdo/Valvoline, became the first Quebecer to stop the American domination. Furthermore, five Quebec drivers were able to finish in the first five positions of this 30-lap final.
First on the starting grid, American Todd Stone from Middlebury, Vermont, took the early lead but by lap 2, he was passed by Robert Ranger. Ranger led till lap 20 as Boisvert went back to the fifth position before starting to move up front. At the restart, after the second yellow of that confrontation, Ranger was upset by Potvin. Tenth at the green flag, Potvin didnÕt take too long to show how fast his car was. He was just behind Ranger at the slow down. As for Boisvert , he was just behind Potvin and Ranger.
Then, the most spectacular moment of this 30-lap challenge happened when a third yellow was dropped due to RŽal LafranceÕs stop on the circuit. Noticing that Ranger had some sort of success with the outside groove, Potvin decided to take it for the restart while Ranger was forced to the inside. At the green, Ranger and Potvin slidded up a little just enough to give Boisvert a space to get in. With an audacious manoeuvre, Boisvert didnÕt loose a second and took first place in front of Potvin and Ranger. With three laps remaining, Boisvert hold up to his position and neither, Potvin or Ranger were able to overtake him.
Potvin finished second followed by Ranger, Dominic Dufault and Gino Clair. Clair pleased his supporters during that race by making his way to the fifth spot after starting 14th.
It was not the best night for the American drivers. With rear end suspension problem, Steve Paine, winner of the 12th Molson International (10th Super Skoal Series race) two days before and holder of the first spot in the modified standings, could not do better than a 7th place finish while Mike Romano had to withdraw on lap 19 due to mechanical problems. As for Dave Camara, he made contact with the concrete wall on the very last lap and was ranked 17th.
Earlier in the evening, Hugues Mercier and Pierre HŽbert were the winners in their respective heats.
As Boisvert, Alain Mathieu, in the Sportsman division, won his first feature of the season and his first since 1994. Gerry Patenaude, the pointsÕ leader who started 11th, finished second followed by Mario Gigure while earlier in the program, young rookie Louis Bouthillier took the checkered flag in the qualification heat.
The other winners were StŽphane Messier in the Late Models division and AndrŽ Gauthier in Tourism.
Modified results: Final (30 laps)
1- 73 Alain Boisvert, 2-LP2 Marco Potvin, 3- 27 Robert Ranger, 4- 63 Dominic Dufault, 5- 44J Gino Clair, 6- 66 Luke Plante, 7- 1 Steve Paine, 8- 28 Steve Poirier, 9- 50 Hugues Mercier, 10- 71 Pierre HŽbert, 11- x1 Gardner Stone, 12- 92.1 Mario Lajoie, 13- 11j Jerry Pinnock, 14- 1x Todd Stone, 15- 5 Jean-Guy Primeau, 16- 4x Lou Bombardier, 17- 26 Dave Camara, 18- 96 Claude Brouillard, 19- 11 RŽal Lafrance, 20- 4 Leon Gonyo, 21- 7x David HŽbert, 22- D50 Mike Romano, 23- 0 Craig Ormsby, 24- 59 Bernard Mathieu, 25- 76 Richard Salvas.
Internet site: www.citenet.net/autodrome-granby
MODIFIED (30 laps)
1- 73 Alain Boisvert
2- LP2 Marco Potvin
3- 27 Robert Ranger
4- 63 Dominic Dufault
5- 44J Gino Clair
6- 66 Luke Plante
7- 1 Steve Paine
8- 28 Steve Poirier
9- 50 Hugues Mercier
10- 71 Pierre Hebert
Standings
1- 1 Steve Paine 496 pts
2- 26 Dave Camara 434
3- LP2 Marco Potvin 419
4- 63 Dominic Dufault 367
5- 96 Claude Brouillard 351
6- 66 Luke Plante 347
7- 28 Steve Poirier 343
8- 50 Hugues Mercier 335
9- 11 Real Lafrance 309
10- 71 Pierre Hebert 307
SPORTSMAN (20 laps)
1- 77 Alain Mathieu
2- 57 Gerry Patenaude
3- 48 Mario Giguere
4- 39 Clement Therrien
5- 31 Richard Chauvin
Standings
1- 57 Gerry Patenaude 468 pts
2- 9 Claude Gagne 436
3- 1 Daniel Ruel 404
4- 31 Richard Chauvin 386
5- 77 Alain Mathieu 374