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LAST CORNER PASS GIVES GRIFFIN LINCOLN WIN |
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ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, AUGUST 10, 2002 - Defending NWWC Champion Richard
Griffin passed Tony Elliott on the final corner of Saturday's 30-lap NAPA Auto
Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event to steal the $4,000 first place
money. "I think everyone got their money's worth tonight with 20-laps of side-by-side racing," Griffin said after collecting his fifth SCRA win of the season. "It's really nice to win one like that. Most of all I wanted to be able to put on a good show for the fans because it's amazing how many people look forward to something besides winged racing. I'm just glad I didn't let them down." JE Pistons Dash winner Rickie Gaunt raced outside front row starter Tony Elliott even to the green flag at the start. Thanks to a perfect run of the cushion, Elliott was able to put his Jeff Walker / Hoosier Tire No. 39 Stealth into the lead exiting turn two. After a brief three-wide duel with Gaunt and Damion Gardner, Cory Kruseman was able to put his Harlan Willis / WorldGate Networks No. 1 TCR into second place on the opening lap. Gaunt packed his right rear tire with mud on lap four and began to slow. Just after the yellow light appeared, for Gaunt, Gardner climbed Johnny Mackison's left rear tire and spun to a stop. Sander Engineering Fast Time Award winner Kruseman charged after Elliott on the restart, only to bicycle after hooking the turn three cushion. Kruseman recovered nicely, but lost positions to Mackison and the Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race Mart No. 50 Jon Boy driven by Griffin. Riding methodically along the bottom, Griffin passed Mackison for second place on lap ten. One lap later, Mackison bicycled over the turn three cushion and flipped after hitting the wall. Simultaneously, Lance Gremett flipped after tangling with Gardner in turn two. None of the drivers involved were hurt, except for Gardner's NWWC point lead, which would be held by Griffin at night's end. Griffin actually led Elliott by inches coming down to accept the green flag, only to watch him speed away off the turn two cushion. Griffin lost some ground to Elliott during the next few laps, but seemed to get better on the bottom as the race progressed. Elliott and Griffin were nearly even coming down the front straight at the midway point of the race. The laps that followed had the crowd on the edges of their seats as the two leaders raced wheel-to-wheel until Griffin was slowed on lap 25 by two lapped cars running the bottom. By the time Griffin freed himself from the two lapped cars, "The Gasman" was six car-lengths behind Elliott. With time running out, Griffin's only chance for victory now rested in the fact that John Scott, who was the last place car on the lead lap, might hinder Elliott enough for one final shot at the lead. Sure enough, Elliott accepted the white flag with Scott directly in front of him and running the same line on the cushion. With Griffin now within striking distance, Elliott had no choice but to drive to the bottom of turn three. Skating off the bottom, and into the middle grove, Elliott could only watch helplessly as Griffin slipped by him for the win. "We started coming back on Tony and I could see John up there and wasn't sure if he was going to be a factor," Griffin recalled. "Luckily, I could tell on the last lap that he was going to be a factor. Tony needed to go down to the bottom, but he hadn't been down there and didn't realize how slow you needed to get into the turns. He just missed the bottom, slid up a little bit, and we were able to stick down there and get by him." Kruseman finished third ahead of the Statewide Towing No 5. driven by Mike
Kirby and the Ferreira Dairy No. 87 driven by Tony Jones. Pat Cooper, who
was the highest finishing Pennsylvania driver, won the KSE Hard Charger Award
after driving from the 21st starting spot to finish
ninth. |
