|
Dorer shades Fox in Pepsi Memorial 150 at CCMP
|
By CLAUDE LEWIS
 Five years ago, Steve Dorer had a dream season at Charlotte County Speedway.
“I won the 6-Pack Series and ended up winning around 10 races,” recalled the driver out of Lakeland.
Then came a drought that saw Dorer have more than his share of bad luck.
“Last year, I could have won four or five times, but something would go wrong,” he said.
Dorer was overdue for sure.
Just like Saturday night’s weather, the dry spell is over. Dorer went out and took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Pepsi Memorial 150 at a chilled Charlotte County Motorsports Park.
Dorer, who collected $4,000 for his afternoon’s work, started third in the 27-car field and took the lead from Ross Chastain on lap 83.
From there, Dorer fought to keep his 10 car ahead of hard-charging veteran Randy Fox.
Fox, who celebrated his 53rd birthday Sunday, had his 4 car on the rear bumper of Dorer, but didn’t have quite enough to get around the 10 car.
“If I could get enough green, I could get a little run on him,” Fox said.
Twenty one caution flags effectively chopped up the action, making the race a two-hour affair.
“He (Dorer) knows had bad I wanted to win it,” said Fox, who hails from Lehigh Acres. “I kept pushing, but he’s a good driver. Here I am kissing my sister again.”
Fox started fifth in the field.
Chastain, the teen from Alva, started on the pole and hung on until Dorer made his pass on the inside. Fox went with him.
Dorer fell back in line and ran third until having a tire go down on lap 126.
Jonny Kay passed Mike Franklin on lap 137 to claim third place. Franklin was fourth in the 12 car and Kevin Macy claimed fifth in the 19 car.
Veteran east coast hotshoe Joe Winchell started outside of Chastain on row one, but it just wasn’t his day. He had a tire rub a fender on the 15 car on lap 2. He ended up going in and out of the pits a number times with various ailments.
Wayne Morris of Mulberry recorded fast time in lap qualifying Saturday
night. He ran close to the top five for most of the race but had a tire go down late in the race.
USE THIS LINK FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY
|
