North Woodstock, NH – Dillon Moltz raced his way back into the American Canadian Tour (ACT) title chase with a convincing win in the Foley Oil & Propane 150 at White Mountain Motorsports Park Saturday.
Moltz started third in the RB Performance No. 5 Chevrolet, survived early contact with Stephen Donahue and then took the lead from Jason Corliss for keeps on lap 25.
Corliss battled back to finish 2nd after getting shuffled back behind lapped traffic on the fourth of five restarts on lap 92.
Moltz’ biggest challenge came from Jimmy Hebert on the final restart on lap 108, but he soon opened up a comfortable lead and drove off to his second win of the season.
ACT point leader Scott Payea, dinged up by early contact, soldiered on to a 10th-place finish, but saw his championship bid advantage trimmed, unofficially, to 28 points.
After some door banging in the closing laps, Corliss and Hebert finished 2nd and 3rd ahead of Jesse Switzer and Josh Masterson.
Switzer earned a $1,000 bonus as the highest finishing White Mountain weekly competitor. Positions 6-10 went to Rowland Robinson Jr., Shawn Swallow, Oren Remick, Donahue and Payea.
Payea was saved more than once by yellow flags that were thrown just as Moltz was about to put him a lap down.
“This is great,” Moltz said. “It takes the weight off my shoulders. We weren’t good for much of the day, but we changed the front springs and the car was great for the race. We figured passes had to be made on the bottom.”
“I thought, I’ll stay low and if the leaders come to me, I’d try to take over,” Moltz added. “When I got to my own line, I was fine.”
Moltz and Corliss were well ahead of the field when a caution closed things up on lap 66. By the halfway mark, Moltz drew out to a five car-length advantage over Corliss, Hebert, Robinson, Jeff Marshall and Remick.
Over the final forty laps, Moltz often led by a full straightaway when not in heavy traffic. Meanwhile, the Corliss/Hebert duel began to heat up.
“The 5-car was really on his game,” Corliss said. “The restarts cost us, especially the one where I got caught behind a slower car. Second isn’t bad though, and the next race is on our home turf (Thunder Road September 3).”
White Mountain Foley Oil & Propane 150 Finish – starting position in (*)
- Dillon Moltz (3) 2. Jason Corliss (2) 3. Jimmy Hebert (10) 4. Jesse Switser (11) 5. Josh Masterson (6) 6. Rowland Robinson Jr. (1) 7. Shawn Swallow (15) 8. Oren Remick (7) 9. Stephen Donahue (4) 10. Scott Payea (9) 11. Russell Clark (12) 12. Jeff Marshall (8) 13. Quinten Welch (13) 14. Rich Dubeau (5) 15. Corey Mason (16) 16. Nick Sweet (14) 17. Matt Anderson (25) 18. Scott Corey (22) 19. Chris Pelkey (18) 20. James Capps III (24) 21. Mark Hudson (23) 22. Mark Jenison (19) 23. Allison Menard (29) 24. Mike Ziter (20) 25. Jean-Francois Dery (21) 26. Jonathan LeMay (27) 27. Kyle Welch (17) 28. Adam Gray (26) 29. Miles Chipman (28).
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