STEVE PAINE WINS THE 12th MOLSON INTERNATIONAL
GRANBY, QuŽ., July 12, 1997 -- Track champion at Autodrome Granby, Steve Paine has demonstrated very clearly that he deserved this title, last Wednesday by clinching the honors of the 12th Molson International, the 10th segment of the Skoal Super DIRT Series for 1997. By doing so, Paine became the first regular of Autodrome Granby to take the win in that series in twelve years. Better than that, he won this race behind the wheel of the X-Tend Bicknell, a race car owned and prepare by Canadians Serge Desjardins and Pierre Faille. Paine had the best on Doug Hoffman, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Horton and Billy Decker.
At the start, Doug Hoffman took the lead of this 97-lap race while Paine, eighth on the grid, began his move up front without delay. During the first 24 laps, Kenny Tremont and Brett Hearn, four-time winner of the Molson International, tried to catch up Hoffman with no success. Then Paine join them for the battle for the lead while Tremont was loosing ground.
While Hoffman was leading easily, the fans could watch a serious battle between Hearn and Paine for second place. During 30 laps, they played ¬cat and mouse¬ for this spot and finally, Paine had the last word. Hearn started to slow down and then, Jack Johnson, the winner at Autodrome Drummond, began to seriously challenge Paine. Unfortunately, Johnson went in contact with the concrete wall and was forced to slow down on lap 81.
From the halfway mark till lap 90, Paine had put a lot of pression on Hoffman who was looking for a third win at Granby. In spite of five cautions, Hoffman was always able to restart and maintain his first spot. But on lap 90, Paine passed him to fly home with this very popular victory.
Upset to have lost with seven laps remaining after leading so easily, Hoffman didnŐt show up for the podium, a gesture which was not appreciated by the fans Skoal Super DIRT SeriesŐ fans. Marco Potvin from Sorel was the best Quebecer in that race with an 11th place finish while Dave Camara, Robert Ranger, Hugues Mercier and Pierre HŽbert were forced to quit due to mechanical problems.
As far as the Molson championship trail at Granby is concerned, the big loosers were Mike Romano, Todd Stone and Gino Clair. Missing this postponed race due to rain the night before, they lost ground in the championship standings.
Gerry Patenaude took his third win of the season in the Sportsman final. He was followed by Claude GagnŽ and Martin GagnŽ while Luc Angers who had finished seventh, was disqualified by DIRT officials for an illegal motor.
Heat 1= 1- 33 Jeff Hoetzler, 2- M1 Jimmy Horton, 3- 91 Billy Decker, 4- LP2 Marco Potvin, 5- 27 Robert Ranger.
Heat 2= 1H Doug Hoffman, 2- 12B Alan Johnson, 3- 63 Dominic Dufault, 4- 87 Jack Johnson, 5- 96 Claude Brouillard.
Heat 3= 7x David HŽbert, 2- 56 Pat Ward, 3- 26 Dave Camara. 4- 24 Tim McCreadie, 5- 9 Bob McCreadie.
Heat 4= 1 Steve Paine, 2- 115 Kenny Tremont, 3- 3 Brett Hearn, 4- 17 Richie Tobias, 5- 28 Steve Poirier.
Heat 5= 24 Frank Cozze, 2- 6 Danny Johnson, 3- 11 RŽal Lafrance, 4- 66 Luke Plante, 5- 73 Alain Boisvert.
Feature (97 laps)
1- 1 Steve Paine, 2- 1H Doug Hoffman, 3- 24 Tim McCreadie, 4- M1 Jimmy Horton, 5- 91 Billy Decker, 6- 6 Danny Johnson, 7- 33 Jeff Heotzler, 8- 9 Bob McCreadie, 10- 19 Tim Fuller, 11- LP2 Marco Potvin, 12- 12B Alan Johnson, 13- 115 Kenny Tremont, 14- 96 Claude Brouillard, 15- 7x David HŽbert, 16- 73 Alain Boisvert, 17- 63 Dominic Dufault (all with 97 laps completed), 18- 28 Steve Poirier, 96, 19- 66 Luke Plante, 96 20- 24 Frank Cozze, 84, 21- 11 RŽal Lafrance, 83, 22- 124 Pierre Dagenais, 83, 23- 87 Jack Johnson, 81, 24- 71 Pierre HŽbert, 75, 25- 50 Hugues Mercier, 68, 26- 95 Mark Hitchcock, 61, 27- 56 Pat Ward, 58, 28- 17 Richie Tobias, 30, 29- 27 Robert Ranger, 12, 30- 26 Dave Camara, 11.