OSCAR Freedom Cup: Grandy Gets the Win at Darlington
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- Online Stock Car Auto Racing
This week saw the Oscar Freedom Cup division returning to "The Lady in Black", Darlington Raceway to complete a rained out event from earlier in the season.
Qualifying for the front row was close with the #14 Syracuse University Dodge of Mike Grandy and his blistering 164.993 mph lap barely beating out Billy Price in his #40 OnlineRacing.net Dodge's 164.650. Rounding out the top five for the 184 lap event were Gary Truman, Mark Thompson and Don Merpaw.
The field took the green and the race's first of 9 cautions came out on lap one when Truman and Thompson got together entering turn one and severely damaging Thompson's Pro Digital # 26 Chevy. The infamous "velcro walls" of Darlington would contribute to several of the night's cautions and several drivers would earn the dreaded "Darlington Stripe", including Don Colliau, Don Merpaw, Brian George and Tibor Toth.
Meanwhile, Grandy would hold off a host of challengers throughout the night, fending off the efforts of Ken Doeg, Al Sandorff and Shannon Petty, finishing the night having lead 92 of the 184 laps on route to his second win of the season. Finishing order resulted in Grandy, followed by Doeg, Petty in his highest run of the season, Thompson and Merpaw.
A late race disconnect saw the top two points leaders going into the night's race finish several laps down and Ken Doeg assuming the Freedom Cup points standings lead. Freedom Cup action resumes next week at Lowe's Motor Speedway.