By Marty Czekala
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. β Du you believe it? Lance Dusett couldn’t after Thursday night at Land of Legends.
The No. 14x took the lead from Tyler Graves on a lap seven restart to score his first career CRSA A-Main in the DisBatch Brewing Company/Stirling Lubricants Challenge. Dusett became the 89th different driver to win a CRSA Sprints feature.
“We’ve worked really hard to get to this point and it’s ecstatic to get a series win,” said Dusett post-race.
That win came five days after he picked up his first weekly 305 win of the season at the Land of Legends.
Paul Colagiovanni Sr. and Tyler Graves brought the field to the green with Graves leading the opening circuit. Dusett immediately moved from fifth to third on lap one, then picked off Colagiovanni Sr. the following lap.
Dusett quickly closed in on Graves for the lead, but the No. 25G held it until the race’s first yellow on lap seven for John Smith spinning in turn two.
The race-winning pass came on the restart, as Dusett timed Graves’ launch well and had a better exit off turn two to take the lead and pull away.
Dusett stretched the lead to as much as 3.1 seconds before another caution at halfway for Smith spinning right in front of the leader.
Behind Dusett and Graves, Nick Webb became part of the story after starting 25th when mag issues forced him to scratch from his heat race. Webb ripped the top throughout most of the race and climbed to third as one of the quickest cars in the field.
Dalton Herrick also used the high side to pass numerous cars during the long run.
As Dusett was starting to run free to the checkers, a caution flew with four to go when Zach Bobbett broke in turn four, setting up a single-file restart.
Graves looked low on Dusett on the restart, but the leader slammed the door on Graves in turn one, stalling the No. 25G’s momentum and allowing Webb to try to steal second, but the No. 27W nearly hit the wall off turn four, leading to Herrick taking third the following lap.
In the end, modified-turned-305 Sprint Car driver Lance Dusett picked up the win.
“We went in the corner, he was slipping a little bit and I was stuck down pretty good and it all worked out in our favor,” said Dusett on the race-winning pass. “I was trying to get my marks, or they can drive around me.”
The points lead in the overall standings is now tied between Tyler Graves and Dalton Herrick. The two rounded out the podium Saturday night. For Graves, he matched his career-best CRSA finish dating back to Utica-Rome in Sept. 2024, while Herrick earned back-to-back podiums for the No. 29.
“This run definitely helps from two weeks ago,” said Graves, who was involved in The Big One at Fulton two weeks ago. “It doesn’t do us any favors with Dalton charging through the field as he did. I needed to go bang the top and search around some more on three and four.”
“Nick Webb was pounding the fence and drove by us at first,” said Herrick. “I was like ‘I got to get up there and get going.’ Got on the fence and nobody wanted to hit, but the last restart, I think we were 11th and passed five or six coming out too. I wish we had another caution. I really think we had something for the top two at the end. I’ll take a 15th to third.”
Also, Graves, in addition to being tied for the points lead, is the new points leader in the DisBatch Brewing Company/Stirling Lubricants Challenge, up seven on Darryl Ruggles.
Timmy Lotz, who was also a part of the battle for third at the end, won the Elab Smokers Boutique Scramble Dash, picking up $100 courtesy of Elab.
The Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger went to Webb, gaining 22 spots to finish fourth.
A thanks to Honeoye Auto Parts as they awarded gas cards to the podium finishers this evening.
26 drivers checked in this evening.
CRSA takes next week off but gets back to action July 17 for their first trip to Pennsylvania in nearly two years at Penn Can Speedway in Susquehanna for the first race of the Joe’s Garage Southern Tier Series. Action can be seen live on The Cushion for those that can’t make it.
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 14X-Lance Dusett[5]; 2. 25G-Tyler Graves[2]; 3. 29-Dalton Herrick[15]; 4. 27W-Nick Webb[26]; 5. 18-Timmy Lotz[9]; 6. 25-Cameron Moss[14]; 7. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[8]; 8. 48A-Alysha Bay[7]; 9. 80-Bobby Parrow[6]; 10. 61-Johnny Scarborough[13]; 11. 10N-Nathan Pierce[18]; 12. 18C-Dan Craun[16]; 13. D9-Dustin Sehn[22]; 14. 17E-Ethan Gray[12]; 15. 81K-Dalton Martin[10]; 16. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[4]; 17. 121-Steve Glover[20]; 18. 21W-Scott Wagner[11]; 19. 23-John Smith[21]; 20. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[1]; 21. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[23]; 22. (DNF) 9Z-Zach Bobbett[24]; 23. (DNF) 31C-Maverick Coffey[3]; 24. (DNF) X-Dan Bennett[17]; 25. (DNF) 2-Randy Years[19]; 26. (DNS) 36-Mike Stelter
Elab Smokers Boutique Dash (4 Laps): 1. 18-Timmy Lotz[2]; 2. 81K-Dalton Martin[4]; 3. 21W-Scott Wagner[6]; 4. 17E-Ethan Gray[3]; 5. 9Z-Zach Bobbett[1]; 6. 61-Johnny Scarborough[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10SR-Paul Colagiovanni Sr[1]; 2. 80-Bobby Parrow[4]; 3. 31C-Maverick Coffey[3]; 4. 81K-Dalton Martin[2]; 5. 17E-Ethan Gray[6]; 6. 25-Cameron Moss[7]; 7. 10N-Nathan Pierce[8]; 8. D9-Dustin Sehn[5]; 9. (DNS) 27W-Nick Webb
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[1]; 2. 14X-Lance Dusett[3]; 3. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[6]; 4. 61-Johnny Scarborough[2]; 5. 21W-Scott Wagner[4]; 6. 29-Dalton Herrick[7]; 7. 2-Randy Years[8]; 8. 23-John Smith[9]; 9. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 48A-Alysha Bay[5]; 2. 25G-Tyler Graves[6]; 3. 9Z-Zach Bobbett[1]; 4. 18-Timmy Lotz[4]; 5. X-Dan Bennett[2]; 6. 18C-Dan Craun[7]; 7. 121-Steve Glover[8]; 8. (DNF) 36-Mike Stelter[3]