By Bob Gangwer, RG Design photo of Benson catching Sammut
Toledo, OH…Retirement hasn’t slowed Amherst, Ohio’s Bobby Dawson down one bit and his show of domination Friday night in the Midwest Supermodified Association presented by Town Money Saver 40 lap feature event at Toledo Speedway proves that some things do get better with age.
Starting from the pole, Dawson immediately jumped to the lead and never relinquished it for the entire race that went green to checkers without a caution and was over in just nine short minutes. “Louie who?” were the first words out of the mouth of the winner as a reference to the season long battle with Lou Cicconi, Jr. who is the only other driver to have won a feature event this year.
Even though he won his heat race, Dawson wasn’t satisfied with his Reed Salvage sponsored machine and decided that drastic changes were needed to be competitive in the feature event. “We threw everything at it before the feature,” he began. “We changed springs, moved the panhard bar, adjusted the shocks, you name it the only thing we didn’t change was the driver and the number.” It was enough to allow him to cross the stripe for the win with over a straight away lead back to second place Charlie Schultz.
Schultz was on the podium for the second race in a row and the 2010 MSA Champ said, “We got everything out of it that we could tonight and basically the car is used up.” As smoke billowed from the May Motorsports machine, Schultz, who set fast time for the supers and shattered the track record for the sprint cars stated, “The last ten laps the car was vibrating so bad from the blistered tires that I could barely see, but before that I felt like I was catching Trent but I got as far as I could get then he went backwards and I was able to get by.”
Johnny Benson Jr has run two supermodified races this season and has now found himself on the podium in both events after a steady run to the front to claim third position. In victory lane he jokingly said, “I think I might be getting the hang of this.” Benson went on to explain, “These things are pretty tough to drive and pretty tough to set up so I’m real happy for the Patco Transportation team and Brad Lichty the car owner.”
The next Midwest Supermodified Association presented by Town Money Saver race will be at Sandusky Speedway this Saturday night 6/25/11.
For more information, schedules and photos concerning the Midwest Supermodified Association presented by Town Money Saver please visit MidwestSupers.com.
Official Finish Race 5 Midwest Supermodified Association presented by Town Money Saver 40 at Toledo Speedway Fastest Short Track Show in the World 06.17.11
Number/Driver/Hometown/Car Owner
1. #28 Bobby Dawson/Amherst, OH/Reed Salvage
2. #7 Charlie Schultz/Lorain, OH/May Motorsports
3. #74 Johnny Benson, Jr./Cornelius, NC/Lichty Racing
4. #84 Mike Lichty/Innerkip, Ontario, Canada/Lichty Racing
5. #49 Lou Cicconi/Aston, PA/ACME Racing
6. #64 Jim Paller/South Amherst, OH/Wayne Paller
7. #77 Tim Ice/Seville, OH/May Motorsports
8. #08 Moe Lilje/Vickery, OH/Reed Salvage
9. #19 Trent Stephens/Ravenna, OH/ACME Racing
10. #09 Jack Smith/Sandusky, OH/Jack Smith
11. #78 Mark Sammut/London, Ontario, Canada/Sammut Racing
12. #70 Michael Barnes/Mexico, NY/Gary Morton
13. #8 Dave Shullick, Jr./North Ridgeville, OH/Reed Salvage
14. #36 Jon Henes/Lagrange, OH/Ron Henes
15. #21 Matt Palmer/North Olmstead, OH/Wayne Palmer
NOTES:
• Charlie Schultz set fast time of 13.010 for the supers.
• Adkins Glass Heat Winners were: Bobby Dawson, Lou Cicconi, Trent Stephens.
• Kyle Edwards blew the engine in practice while Brandon Fisher and Rich Reid did the same in their heat.