HOGANSBURG, N.Y. – Michael Maresca won the battle Friday night at Mohawk Int’l Raceway, but it was Chris Raabe who won the war.
Maresca won the 30-lap Twin Leaf Stores 358 Modifieds feature Friday evening at Mohawk Int’l Raceway, but it wasn’t enough to stop Raabe from winning the division championship.
Lance Willix took control of the race over Tim Fuller, Preston Forbes, Louie Jackson Jr and Brianna Ladouceur at the start. Willix was looking to win for the first time in exactly two years at Mohawk, but Fuller was putting the pressure on in the opening laps.
On lap seven Fuller would take control of the field and start to pull away. The yellow waved on lap seven as Ryan McLean spun his machine in turn two. When the green came back out it was Fuller in control again with Willix in second but Brianna Ladouceur would make a big move through the middle of the track to take over position number three and quickly close in on the top two drivers.
By lap 20 Fuller had built up a comfortable advantage over Willix and Ladouceur but Maresca was on the charge and looking to go to the front. He would take third from Ladouceur, then run down Lance Willix for second and eventually get by.
On lap 21 the issues continued for Ryan McLean in turn two as he spun once again. On the restart Michael Maresca knew the only chance wit have a shot at the championship was to win the race, and he kicked that off by driving by Tim Fuller on lap 22 and started put on a dominant performance.
With Maresca in front, points leader Chris Raabe was fighting to stay inside the top 10 as he battled Carey Terrance and Madison Mulder for position and also fought to stay on the lead lap. With 10 to go Maresca had nearly a straight away lead and was beginning to lap in side the top 10 while Fuller started to chip away at the leader.
Without help of a final yellow flag Fuller and Willix had no chance of catching Maresca who soared to his second win of the year and first in the MIR 358 Modified Series.
Fuller, Willix, Brian McDonald and Louie Jackson Jr. completed the top-five.
Raabe’s seventh-place run with enough for him to lock up his second Twin Leaf 358 Modified championship and first since his rookie season in 2011. Fuller would claim his third consecutive MIR 358 Modified Series title with his runner up finish.
Ricky Thompson won the Sportsman feature, Harley Brown was a winner in Mod Lite competition, Jonathan Rush was the Novice Sportsman winner and Matt Zira won the Bandit main event.
Shane Pecore (Sportsman), Kevin Foster (Mod Lite) and Zira (Bandit) were also crowned track champions.