RANSOMVILLE, N.Y. — Cody McPherson is one step closer to reaching the top of the DIRTcar Sportsman Series mountain.
After leading all 30 laps to win Friday’s West Region opener at Ransomville Speedway, the St. Catharines, Ontario, driver is now second on the series all-time wins list with 17 triumphs.
McPherson took the lead from the drop of the green in the caution-plagued 30-lap Feature as he tried to get a rhythm out front.
Four cautions slowed the field in the first 13 laps as Adam Hilton tried to sneak past the No. 7 on each occasion. McPherson chose the outside line in the double-file restart on the first two restarts and held the lead. However, the last two restarts put McPherson in position to win.
McPherson switched to the bottom lane on a lap-12 restart, which worked in his favor. When the caution came out again on lap 13, he made the same decision. But this time, Hilton was there to challenge him.
When the race resumed, Hilton powered his No. 3A around the outside of turns one and two, pulling even with McPherson as they raced down the backstretch. Despite Hilton’s best efforts, McPherson was too strong as his momentum carried him ahead once they reached turns three and four.
From there, McPherson coasted to the $1,000 win—his second consecutive West Region triumph at Ransomville.
“The restarts are so hard,” McPherson said. “It’s hard to get momentum going. So, you don’t know if you want the top or bottom. Luckily, we were just able to make the right choices, and once we got past lap 12, it seemed to go green the rest of the way, which is nice.
“Redrawing number one definitely helped, but we’ll take it.”
While McPherson and Hilton battled out front, Adam Leslie used the yellow flags to his advantage. The Wainfleet, Ontario, driver started 23rd after wrecking in his Heat Race and thundered through the field to finish second.
Hilton settled for third after challenging for the lead in the race’s first half.
Cam Tuttle, who set quick time and won his heat race earlier in the night, finished fourth, and Brett Senek rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7-Cody McPherson[1]; 2. 15-Adam Leslie[23]; 3. 3A-Adam Hilton[4]; 4. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[7]; 5. 111-Brett Senek[5]; 6. 44-David Conant Jr[3]; 7. 71-Jacob Bansmer[8]; 8. 23-Kevin Wills[2]; 9. 3-Justin McKay[6]; 10. 28-Jordan Moden[15]; 11. 99S-Steven Miller[22]; 12. 26-Greenley George[19]; 13. 44C-Abby Castile[18]; 14. 4-Mike Kramarz[11]; 15. (DNF) 68-Dave DiPietro II[9]; 16. (DNF) 114-Don Rosinski[14]; 17. (DNF) 18W-James Harbison[12]; 18. (DNF) 24M-Tyler Moore[21]; 19. (DNF) 9-Sheldon Gardner[13]; 20. (DNF) 55-Dillon Adamczak[16]; 21. (DNF) 61-Derek Wagner[10]; 22. (DNF) 72-Jessie Truax[20]; 23. (DNS) 42-Colby Adamczak; 24. (DNS) 68F-Curtis Friesen