HOGANSBURG, N.Y. – The final race in the month of July was a warm one Friday night at Mohawk Int’l Raceway with Lazore’s Construction on hand.
With only a few points paying shows left, certain drivers were still searching for victory lane, while some were making their return to the winner’s circle after a lengthy absence.
The Crossroads Tobacco Sportsman were the highlight of the evening as round number two of the MIR Sportsman Series took place. After a pair of yellows started off the event, Thomas Cook would lead early on over Brianna Ladouceur, Andy Howard, Zach Arquiett and Tyler Reynolds.
It didn’t take long for the defending track champion to make a run for the lead, and that’s exactly what Ladouceur did on lap five, taking over the position from Cook, with Zach Arquiett, Shane Pecore and Andy Howard rounding out the top five.
As Ladouceur began to stretch out the lead Cook had his own battle going on as he tried to hold back Arquiett and Pecore over the next 11 laps. On lap 15 the yellow flew for Eric Gauvreau, who went off the track in turns one and two.
When the green flew, Ladouceur continued her dominant run, but Shane Pecore started to make a move as he got by Arquiett for third and then went after Cook for second.
On lap 21, Pecore finally got the number two spot away but had plenty of ground to make up on the race leader. On lap 23, the caution Brianna Ladouceur did not want to see came out for a slowing Gavin Riddell.
On the restart, Ladouceur held the lead over Pecore and Cook. With 10 to go, Pecore closed in and made a big move from the outside lane in turn three, then switched to the bottom off turn four and took over the lead leaving Ladouceur a car length behind in second.
Over the final laps, Pecore went unchallenged and held a straightaway lead at the checkered flag for his third win of 2019 and sixth career MIR Sportsman Series win.
Ladouceur held on for a strong runner up finish over Robert Delormier, Cook and Ben Wheeler.
The 30 lap Twin Leaf Stores 358 Modified feature saw Preston Forbes lead the field and dominate the opening laps over Madison Mulder, Carey Terrance, Louie Jackson Jr. and Lance Willix.
With a fast race track at the beginning, Forbes used it to his advantage as he pulled away but Madison Mulder was up on the wheel and looking to run down the leader. He would do just that on lap 14 as he closed in on Forbes, who appeared to lose the handling slightly.
At the halfway point, Mulder used the inside lane down the back stretch and take over the top spot with Forbes now second over Terrance, Michael Maresca and Louie Jackson Jr.
Once in front, Mulder was making it look rather easy as he drove out to a straight away lead, leaving the top five to battle among themselves.
Terrance and Maresca had a great battle for second as they traded the spot several times in the final laps. In the end, without the help of a yellow flag, Mulder would not be denied as he raced on to his second Twin Leaf Stores 358 Modified win of the season over Terrance, Maresca, Preston Forbes and Chris Raabe.
Kevin Foster (Mod Lite), Dan Bechard (Novice Sportsman) and Matt Zira (Bandit) were also feature winners on Friday night.