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Benny Gordon Wins
BFGoodrichTires.com 250
Thrice is Nice
USAR ProCup, Paul Warner (July 29, 2007)
(Click Here for Original Article)
North East, Pa.-Benny Gordon has won plenty of races in his
Hooters Pro Cup career. He’s also won three Sears Auto Center
Northern Division titles in a row and picked up the overall Hooters
Pro Cup title in 2005 to boot. So why was Gordon stressing so much
over a regular-season race at Lake Erie (Pa.) Speedway?
Kathy Bond Photos
Part of the reason is that Gordon hates to lose, but the main reason
was that he hates to let people down more.
Gordon had plenty of people on hand for the BFGoodrichTires.com 250
presented by Longhorn, and he didn’t let them down.
The DuBois, Pa., driver led 209 laps, including the final 151, en
route to his second win of the season and the 23rd of his Hooters
Pro Cup career.
"I was worried to death all day about winning the race," said
Gordon, driver of the No. 66 Samuel Metals Ford. "I would have done
anything in the world to be standing in Victory Lane at the end of
the race. We had all the people from Samuel Metals here, all the
people from Predator Performance and about the whole town of DuBois.
This is a big, big win for us."
Gordon’s self-inflicted pressure was evident on the opening lap of
the race. After starting from the outside of the front row, Gordon
was determined to take command of the race early. His only problem
was that pole-sitter Brandon Ward had a similar plan.
As the duo barreled into Turn 1 on the opening lap, contact was made
and Gordon nearly went for a spin before completing the first
circuit.
"I about turned it around," said Gordon, who picked up $13,500 for
the victory. "I knew better than to cut across [Ward], and he got
into my quarter panel. I dirt-tracked it the whole way around the
corner and kept going."
And going, and going, and going.
Despite the top 20 drivers being within two tenths of a second of
each other in Awesome Awnings Pole Qualifying, it was evident that
Gordon had the dominant car at LES.
He jumped out to a comfortable lead in the first laps and just
surrendered the lead just once during the 250-lap event when he came
to pit road on Lap 54.
Gordon needed just 46 laps to make his way back to the front,
slipping past Jody Lavender on Lap 99 and pulling away down the
stretch for his third consecutive win at Lake Erie Speedway.
"I guess I get around here pretty good," said Gordon, who moved to
second in points with the win. "The car was just phenomenal. After
the first 50 laps, I didn’t have to run the car hard at all."
Ward, driver of the No. 93 SupplyOne Ford, ran second to Gordon in
the first 50 laps and followed him to pit road. Ward actually was in
front of Gordon on the track after the cycle of stops. But once
Gordon slipped by, Ward was left fighting for second. And it was a
good fight.
After short-pitting, Jody Lavender, driver of the No. 4 Greased
Lightning Ford, found himself running second with the laps winding
down and under pressure from Ward.
Ward looked to the inside going into Turn 1 on Lap 215 and the two
touched, sending Lavender up the track. Ward took the position off
Turn 2, but Lavender didn’t go quietly. He tracked down Ward and
sent him for a spin in Turn 4. In the end, the move cost both
drivers a shot at a top-three finish as Lavender was hit with a
rough-driving penalty and Ward blended deep in the field. Ward and
Lavender finished eighth and 10th, respectively.
A.J. Frank, driver of the No. 56 Camping World Chevrolet, took
advantage of the contact and slipped into second for the final
restart on Lap 220. But Frank, like everyone else, had anything for
Gordon.
"My car was real good for about two or three laps, once the tires
cooled off," said Frank, who faded to 1.668 seconds behind Gordon at
the finish. "I knew if I was going to have shot at him it was going
to be on a restart. I’ve been racing Benny for about 10 years, and
that’s not to say I wouldn’t give him a shot, but I was going to
race him clean. If I got under him that would have been one thing,
but I wasn’t going to go in there and dump him."
Even with Gordon winning, Gary St. Amant, driver of the No. 7
JEGS.com/Speedco Chevrolet, maintained the point lead by coming home
third.
"I thought we had a third- or fourth-place car," said St. Amant, who
holds a 65-point lead over Gordon. "But with about 50 laps to go,
the car started jumping out of gear. I had to drive the last 50 laps
holding it in gear. My right arm is gone, but it was worth it."
With Ward’s troubles, Ben Stancill, driver of the No. 9 Stancill
Farms Ford, took home Miller Lite Rookie of the Race Honors with his
fourth-place finish.
Jeff Fultz, driver of the No. 67 Wear Crete Concrete Ford, completed
the top five.
Eric Corbett, Jack Bailey, Ward, Lonnie Rush Jr. and Jody Lavender
rounded out the top 10.
The BFGoodrichTires.com 250 was slowed 13 times for 83 laps of
caution and featured five lead changes among four drivers.
BFGoodrichTires.com 250 Notebook
Yin and Yang
Benny Gordon and his crew chief and brother, Todd, often have some
of the most heated arguments in the garage area over setups and race
strategy. It’s fun to watch, and their banter often leads to some
good sound bites. This was again the case at Lake Erie Speedway.
When Todd was asked if Benny, who tested on Friday without Todd, had
found something that worked for the race, he said, "No, I had to
change everything back. He gets out here and does all this
experimental stuff and I have to go back and change it all."
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