For the first time, Long Islanders Jim Sylvester and Justin
Strumpf headed up to Bethel Motor Speedway this past Saturday,
hitting the track in their Legends cars. At the end of the day,
Sylvester headed home with a sixth place finish. Strumpf, in his
first time behind the wheel of a Legends car, opted not to run
in the feature but had an impressive run in his heat race.
Sylvester and Strumpf were both in the same heat race, and
started from the fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Both
maintained their positions during the first half of the race as
Sylvester searched for a way past Joe Fresco, who sat in fourth.
Strumpf stayed close to Sylvester's bumper. On lap eight,
Sylvester negotiated his way around Fresco on the outside, and
Strumpf followed. Matt Maring won the heat, while Sylvester
finished fourth and Strumpf finished fifth.
Sylvester lined up for the feature in the seventh spot. Mike
Alcaro, who has recorded seven feature wins at Bethel so far
this season, started on the pole with Matt Maring on the
outside. Alcaro got out front. The caution waved on lap seven
after contact between Joe Graf and Michael Blaskey resulted in
Graf spinning. Sylvester was in eighth for the restart.
Alcaro again shot into the lead, but slowed suddenly coming off
of turn four two laps later, causing the field to stack up
behind him. Alcaro took his car to the infield, and then retired
it to the pit area. This handed the lead to Matt Maring, while
Sylvester lined up for the restart in sixth.
Maring put his car out front, but Sylvester was shuffled back
one spot before the next caution waved on lap 13. The next
caution of the event came on lap 18, when Sylvester went around.
He had to restart from eighth.
Maring began to pull away out in front of the field, and the
next caution came on lap 22, setting the stage for a three-lap
shootout to determine the winner. Maring held his position, as
Sylvester worked his way up to sixth.
Legends Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. Matt Maring, 2. Joe
DeGracia, 3. Mike Carroll, 4. John Demarmels, 5. Raven Schrantz,
6. Jim Sylvester, 7. Joe Fresco, 8. Joe Graf, 9. Michael Blaskey,
10. Mike Alcaro, 11. John Hugate. DNS – Justin Strumpf.
Source: Tracy Chirico /
LongIslandJam.com
Posted: August 10, 2009
