Smith and Searcy Take Midseason Championships Gibbs Takes Seventh Straight Modified Checkers
Gary Smith and Gary Searcy drove to Midseason Championship wins in the 4-Cylinder and the Pure Stock Divisions while Mitch Gibbs continued his domination of the 358 Modified Division winning his seventh consecutive feature last Friday night. Skip French picked up his second win of the year in the Street Stock main.
Despite an early race pitstop Mitch Gibbs continued his unprecedented hot streak by charging from last to first in 11 laps and held off Jamie Page to extend his lead in the point race. Roger Heroux was the early leader in the caution plagued main event until J.R. Hurlburt shot to the front on a third lap restart. Hurlburt ran strong holding off Dave Rosa until Gibbs took the low road coming off turn two to take the lead. John Guernsey moved past Hurlburt to take second place after an 11th lap restart. By lap 14 Jamie Page and Mike Clapperton had moved into second and third place and were challenging Gibbs for the lead. Page was able to move alongside Gibbs but was not able to make the pass stick. At the stripe it was Mitch Gibbs, for the seventh time in eight features taking the win with Jamie Page finishing in second, Mike Clapperton taking the third spot and Jeff Sheely and J.R. Hurlburt rounding out the top five.
Numerous early race cautions allowed Skip French to move through the field from his 13th starting spot and by lap seven had taken the lead from early race leader Don Newell Jr. Newell ran into trouble on lap 10 when he spun out in turn four collecting Ed Ward Jr. and John Walker. After second running Butch Klinger spun out in turn four on the tenth lap, Pat Ward took over the second spot with Denny Smith in third. Gary Card put on a late race charge through the field but time ran out before the point leader got to challenge French for the lead. At the stripe it was Skip French taking his second win of 1994 with Pat Ward in a strong run for second, Gary Card coming back to take third, with Denny Smith and Jeff Norton rounding out the top five.
It was Mid Season Championship night for the 4-Cylinder Street Stocks and Rich Rought and Dave Burnett on a battle for the lead through the first 12 laps of the 20 lap feature. Jamie Hurlburt and Gary Smith started making their bids for the lead with five laps remaining. On the 17th lap restart Gary Smith took advantage of Rich Rought's move to the high groove and drove under under the #55 coming off turn two to take the lead. Before the race was over Rought would have tire trouble and have to settle for 15th place. Jamie Hurlburt followed Smith across the line at the finish, with Ron Flannery in third Dave Burnett in fourth and Joe Winans, rounding out the top five, finishing in the fifth spot.
The 15 lap Pure Stock Mid Season Championship started out with Mark VanValkenburg taking the lead with Don Hart Jr in pursuit. On a lap six restart, Jonathan LeFever jumped into the lead and first time ARP runner Gary Searcy followed the 21J past VanValkenburg. On the 11th lap Searcy brushed the wall coming off turn 4 but was able to hold on enough to take the lead. Searcy would take the win with Jonathan LeFever finishing in second. Don Hart Jr. finished in third with Mark VanValkenburg fourth and Walt MacClennon finishing in fifth.