CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Karl Comfort had reached DIRTcar Sportsman Series Victory Lane three times in his career. But a win at Land of Legends Raceway had eluded him.
That changed on Saturday night, when the driver held off Gavin Eisele to win the 30-Lap Central/West Region Feature, earning his first series victory since 2001.
“I’ve been second in this race numerous times at my home track,” Comfort said. “I could never get the [DIRTcar Sportsman Series] win. But we finally got one.”
Nick Ventura and Comfort brought the field to green in the 30-lap Feature, with Ventura powering ahead of Comfort as they raced down the backstretch. Ventura enjoyed a lead throughout the race’s first five laps, before Comfort and Matt Guererri started closing in on the No. 711.
With Ventura on the outside, Comfort gained momentum on the inside lane, getting his chance to wrestle the lead away on Lap 7. As they exited Turn 2, Comfort pulled even with Ventura as they raced down the backstretch. From there, one more burst of speed was all Comfort needed to pull ahead of Ventura and take the lead as they drove through Turns 3 and 4.
Once they completed Lap 7, Ventura tried switching lanes and going to the bottom, but his momentum was stopped when the race’s first caution fell for Brian Harber, who spun in Turn 4.
When the race resumed, Comfort aced the restart, staying ahead as he drove into Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 8.
Behind him, Central region points lead Gavin Eisele started moving forward, using the inside lane to pick off cars one by one. The LaFargeville, N.Y., driver stormed past Ventura for third on Lap 14, after starting 17th.
Eisele stayed in third until a caution on Lap 26 for a broken right-rear shock on Kevin Ridley’s car, allowing the No. 18 to get by Guererri during the race’s next restart. But just as Eisele took over second, another caution slowed the field on Lap 27, giving him one more chance at the victory.
However, like every restart before, Comfort drove away from his top challenger, winning his fourth career DIRTcar Sportsman Series Feature and the $1,000 prize.
“It took a minute for the tires to come in, but then that car was a rail.” Comfort said. “(I just) had to make sure I hit my marks. There was going to be another caution, so don’t worry about it. Just keep hitting your marks.”
Eisele settled for second, earning his third podium in four Central Region races.
“We changed a lot of things on the car, and we came out wicked fast,” Eisele said. “When I got to second, I thought we maybe had something for Karl on that last restart. But, driver error, and he got away. All in all, it was a great night.”
With his second-place finish and a third-place finish by Tyler Corcoran, Eisele extended his points lead to 14 points.
Matt Guererri finished fourth, and Richard Murtaugh III rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 10-Karl Comfort[1]; 2. 18-Gavin Eisele[20]; 3. 64-Tyler Corcoran[12]; 4. 12G-Matt Guererri[4]; 5. 33-Richard Murtaugh[9]; 6. 410-Mike Fowler[7]; 7. 711-Nick Ventura[2]; 8. 9-Tim Baker[15]; 9. 113-Frank Guererri[3]; 10. 25-Evan Nugent[21]; 11. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[16]; 12. 10G-Austin Germinio[8]; 13. 41S-Chase Spoor[10]; 14. 44-Daryl Barrett[30]; 15. 4-Emmett Waldron[24]; 16. 10H-Trevor Houghton; 17. 78JR-Nigel Pendykoski[17]; 18. 111-Brett Senek[22]; 19. 7G-Tyler Guzzardi[5]; 20. 11F-Dan Ferguson[27]; 21. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[28]; 22. 21J-Justin Liechti[13]; 23. 33JR-Clayton Brewer III[31]; 24. 23B-Timmy Borden Jr[23]; 25. 51-Tim Lafler[11]; 26. 31K-Kennedy Payne[26]; 27. 20X-Kevin Ridley[6]; 28. 92-Frank Sibley[14]; 29. 9B-Logan Brown[19]; 30. 16X-Savannah Laflair[32]; 31. 35-Nick Cooper[25]; 32. 18$-Brian Harber[18]; 33. (DNS) 0F-Tony Finch II
