A battle of epic proportion after the south-lands wildfires spread halfway across the country. Ryan Heuser enters the race on the pole and looking for forward momentum on his fourth Championship crown. Tony Pizzaro comes in the points leader, winning one of the Duel events while Tim McDonnell starts deep in the field.
Race Results
Points Standings
Schedule
Heuser leads the first segment of the event in hands-down fashion. McDonnell gets lapped early, leaving Craig Lee, John Battista, Ken Pettit and Alex Crapser in line for advancement into the top-2 position in the standings. 24 cars would remain on the lead lap before 100 laps are complete.
Matthew Dominique and Rick Jackson make contact early to bring out the first caution. Alan Nesfeder and Steven Spears would also go for single car spins, with damage to the #78 as the cause of a 36th place finish. Fortunately, he would still finish ahead of Randy Dobbins and Bill Werkheiser in the points.
Dave Miller led 6 laps in between a segment of caution flags. Matt Raboin took over in no time, and eventually passed by the #138 car to put Ryan a lap down. He had made an unscheduled pit stop under yellow for a loose lug-nut, and struggled to find the handling afterwards. He would finish 31st on the night.
A backstretch accident saw Donald Stewart up on zero wheels, sliding the side of his racecar against the asphalt. Steven Spears and Zakk Miller sandwiched the #55 machine, sending Muzzy for another wild ride in 2021. He would finish the event 32nd in points.
Matt Raboin led 98 laps before a pass from Craig Lee in the later half of the event. Matt led 98 laps in total, leading 344 total short track laps on the season. Tony Pizzaro would take the reigns several laps later, as the #12 and #101 battled continuously through lapped traffic.
Despite the roughneck racing between the top-2, they would become two of the only four cars on the lead lap. Zach Michael and Matt Raboin would battle for third right in front of the leaders. Before green flag stops, only the Pizzaro and Lee remained.
Half of the leaders pitted before a Rob Scarberry spin on the backstretch brought out the yellow flag after 100+ laps of green flag racing. Miraculously, Matthew Dominique, Ryan Heuser, Zach Michael and Scott Jackson all found themselves back on the lead lap. The Can-Bandit super-fuel engines of Ken Joynt and Mark Heron joined the parade as well.
Ken Joynt lost a lap after a spin in turn 3 in the ensuing restart. A Connor Germain spin sent the leaders for a frenzy trying to get by, as the #101 eeked by the Fenway machine to the caution line. It would be the final yellow of the race.
The final green flag run of the race was spread out. Craig Lee pulled from 3 to 5 seconds ahead of second place Matthew Dominique. Tony Pizzaro, Zach Michael and Scott Jackson has a multi-lap battle for third, with the #12 holding on to the position despite a Cola-charge on the penultimate lap.
The NOS Energy machine was no match once he got to the front. It would be Craig's second short-track victory of the season, propelling him to just 125 points behind the leader in the 2021 standings. Congrats to Craig, crew chief Spook Millikan and the entire Quick-Silver Motorsports team for an excellent victory!
2021 Bepis 320 Race Video
