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TANNER VANDOREN TOPS MODIFIEDS AT SKYLINE TRUBO BLUE FINALE, BUTCH GREEN CAPTURES SPORTSMAN FEATURE


Complete Results Statistical Story

Thirteen year old Tanner VanDoren picked up the win in the 30 lap Modified feature run as part of the 31 st annual Turbo Blue Finale last Saturday night at the Skyline Raceway. VanDoren, who became the youngest Champion in the 100 year history of the Orange County Fair Speedway in 2020, has been racing as a rookie in the 358 Modified division in 2021, and Saturday night's win was his first career Modified feature win. Butch Green picked up the ride in Bill Davey Jr.'s Sportsman entry and promptly parked it in victory lane in his first Skyline start of the season. Mike Morse kept his Skyline record perfect with his fourth Factory Stock win in as many starts while Brett Gray won his first 600cc Modified feature. Newly crowned track champion Stan Mathews closed out the season with a win in the 20 lap Four Cylinder feature.
With the feature line-up set via the Luck of the Draw among top heat race performers. Mark Goodwin and TJ Frost paced the field to Scott Stevens' green flag. Goodwin grabbed the early race advantage and led the opening stanzas as eventual winner Tanner VanDoren slipped bast Frost for second and set his sights on Goodwin. Over the early stages of the event, Goodwin built up a 15 car length lead, but as the race neared the halfway point, VanDoren began slicing into his advantage.
Without a caution flag to close the field, VanDoren was able to start cutting into Goodwin's lead, eventually running him down and making what would prove to be the winning pass just past the halfway point. With VanDoren now showing the way, the man on the move was former multiple time Skyline Raceway Champion Jim LaRock. LaRock got to second and over the closing laps was trying to find a way past VanDoren, but he was not able to draw close enough to try to make a move on VanDoren. He was close enough to apply some pressure, but Tanner showed a poise well in excess of his age as he continued to hit his marks, never opening the door for LaRock. VanDoren drove under the checkered flag to secure his first career Modified victory with LaRock finishing a strong second. Eric Leet finished third ahead of Nick Nye and Randy Shantel.
In the 30 lap Sportsman feature, Butch Green led every lap of the feature to pick up the win in his first Skyline appearance of the season. Green took over driving chores in Bill Davey Jr.'s #12j, and a solid heat race drive earned him a spot in the redraw, where he drew the pole for the 30 lap feature. At the drop of the green flag, Green and Nick Nye battled for the lead with Nye taking the lead from Green. Green worked back past Nye before disaster struck for Nye as a rear suspension failure on a restart ended the race for Nye and also took Tom Collins Jr. out of contention as he got collected by Nye's crippled car.
With Green back in the race lead, Butch had to hold off a late race challenge from Kreg Crooker to pick up the win. Former track champion Dale Welty drove to a third place finish with JJ Courcy finishing fourth. Lee DeWitt scored a fifth place finish in his first start of the season. Defending track champion Randy Brokaw closed out his Championship season with a sixth place finish.
Mike Morse continued his winning ways in the Factory Stock division. Morse came into the Turbo Blue Finale with a trio of feature wins in as many appearances in 2021 at Skyline. He kept his perfect record intact as he drove to his fourth win in the 25 lap Factory Stock feature. Morse drew the pole starting position and led all 25 laps to earn the victory over newly crowned track champion Buck Mills Jr. Mills tried to run down Morse, but could not get close enough to offer a challenge. Jason Rhoads drove from the final starting position to finish third ahead of Shane Moshier and Jack Holcomb.
Brett Gray took advantage of a pole starting position to turn in a dominating run as he led all 25 laps of the 600cc Modified feature to pick up his first win of the season. Gray turned back a challenge from Bumps Scott over the closing laps to pick up the win. Bailey Boyd picked up the ride in Jason Weibel's #99 and brought it home to a credible third place finish. Newly crowned track champion Jared Green finished fourth with Ali Scutt rounding out the top five.
Stan Mathews capped off a championship season with a dominating run in the 20 lap Four Cylinder feature event. Mathews drove past Tony Deckerson early in the event and was never seriously challenged the rest of the way. Dicker son finished second ahead of Mark Pendell, Austyn Diaz, and Four Cylinder Stock track champion Tom Bumpus.