Race Report By: Marty Czekala – August 17, 2024 – Photo By: Dan Tome
DUNDEE, N.Y. – Dan Craun came into the weekend not having a CRSA podium in 2 1/2 years.
Friday night, his racing career changed forever.
Craun took advantage of a Blake Warner mishap with 10 laps to go to score his first career CRSA win in the first race of the Dandy Triple Play. With the win, the driver of the No. 18c becomes the 81st different winner in CRSA history and the fourth first-time winner this season.
“We’ve got a heat race win this year and couldn’t get it done at the end of the night,” said Craun. “This is awesome.”
Warner dominated this race, leading the opening 15 laps, until a brake line issue on the left front, while under caution, ended his night. The No. 21B had up to a 4.5-second lead, easily making his way through lapped traffic.
“There was so much going through my head,” Craun said. “I feel bad for him, but thank you.”
Craun and Warner made up the front row, with Warner immediately clearing Craun in the opening four laps. Craun would keep the gap close on Warner before the race’s first yellow on lap five for Sydney Weatherbee and Vince Chicklets around in turn two.
On the restart, Warner held serve while Dalton Herrick started challenging Craun for second. This would allow Warner to run away with a massive lead in lapped traffic. The run would end on lap 16 when Bob Hamm Jr. spun in turn three.
As the field was pacing under caution, Warner, the leader, came to a sudden stop on the track. Reports came in that a brake line blew out the left front, ending his night.
This is the second time this season Warner has suffered heartbreak while leading. The first was Fonda July 27, when he flipped in turn four and walked away unscathed.
Craun restarted and hung on to the lead as the leader. As the leader approached lapped traffic, Herrick stayed behind while Kyle Pierce and Tyler Graves who were racing for third, hoping the top two would make a mistake.
On the final lap, Herrick showed his nose underneath in turn two, but Craun had a much better exit to clear the No. 29 and not look back to score his first career win by a half second.
"Sometimes I wish we had rearview mirrors, but unfortunately, we don't," joked Craun. “Every time we come up on lapped traffic this is always gonna be a factor. We’re gonna have a bunch of Miller Lites.”
Craun’s career-best finish beats out a second he scored at Land of Legends Raceway Sept. 7, 2019.
A runner-up finish for Herrick is his best this season, beating a pair of thirds at Afton and Fonda.
“I needed to go to the bottom a little sooner at the end,” said Herrick. “We were starting to roll and show Craun the nose. Didn’t have enough laps to perfect it. Lapped traffic would’ve made It interesting.”
After winning last weekend at Thunder Mountain, Kyle Pierce followed up his win with a third-place finish after starting 12th. Back-to-back podiums for “The Flyin' School Teacher" allow Pierce to unofficially close in on Tomy Moreau’s points lead at 23.
“Once we started rolling the bottom, we were trying to gain momentum,” Pierce said. “I was gaining monster runs. If you told me we’d go 12th to third, I wouldn't believe these good runs. We’ll take it.”
Timmy Lotz was the Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger of the Race, gaining 18 spots to finish sixth after starting 24th.
Ed Kelley received the Maguire Family of Dealerships Magnificent Move of the Race.
Each podium member received a gift card to Dandy.
CRSA is back Saturday for the second round of the Dandy Triple Play at Woodhull Raceway.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 18C-Dan Craun[1]; 2. 29-Dalton Herrick[4]; 3. 9K-Kyle Pierce[12]; 4. 22-Tomy Moreau[7]; 5. 25G-Tyler Graves[11]; 6. 18-Timmy Lotz[24]; 7. J27-John Cunningham[22]; 8. 12-Tyler Chartrand[6]; 9. 17E-Ethan Gray[5]; 10. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[8]; 11. 28-Ron Greek[3]; 12. 8-Dillon Paddock[16]; 13. 99-Adam Depuy[23]; 14. 33-Scott Landers[15]; 15. 77-Bob Hamm[20]; 16. D9-Dustin Sehn[21]; 17. 4-Cliff Pierce[10]; 18. 20K-Ed Kelly[19]; 19. 25-Cameron Moss[13]; 20. 48A-Alysha Bay[9]; 21. 21B-Blake Warner[2]; 22. 10-Nathan Pierce[18]; 23. 10P-Vince Chicklets[14]; 24. 33Z-Sydney Wetherbee[17]
B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Bob Hamm[3]; 2. 10-Nathan Pierce[2]; 3. D9-Dustin Sehn[5]; 4. J27-John Cunningham[7]; 5. 18-Timmy Lotz[8]; 6. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[4]; 7. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[6]; 8. 99-Adam Depuy[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25G-Tyler Graves[1]; 2. 22-Tomy Moreau[6]; 3. 17E-Ethan Gray[4]; 4. 25-Cameron Moss[2]; 5. 33Z-Sydney Wetherbee[3]; 6. 10P-Vince Chicklets[8]; 7. 77-Bob Hamm[7]; 8. 30-Kirsten Dombroski[5]; 9. 18-Timmy Lotz[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18C-Dan Craun[4]; 2. 21B-Blake Warner[2]; 3. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[1]; 4. 48A-Alysha Bay[8]; 5. 33-Scott Landers[5]; 6. 8-Dillon Paddock[7]; 7. 99-Adam Depuy[9]; 8. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[3]; 9. J27-John Cunningham[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9K-Kyle Pierce[2]; 2. 4-Cliff Pierce[1]; 3. 28-Ron Greek[4]; 4. 29-Dalton Herrick[6]; 5. 12-Tyler Chartrand[7]; 6. 20K-Ed Kelly[3]; 7. 10-Nathan Pierce[8]; 8. D9-Dustin Sehn[5]
The A-Verdi Storage Containers CRSA Sprints are powered by Super Gen Products. Associate sponsors for 2024 include Pit Stop Convenience Stores, DisBatch Brewing Company, Dandy, Joe's Garage, Westward Painting Company, the Maguire Family of Dealerships, Powdertech Powdercoating, PJC Sprayfoam, Profab Enterprises, Magsarus Ignitions, Hoosier Racing Tire, Insinger Performance with their Stinger Race Fuel, My Race Pass and is owned and operated by Mike Emhof Motorsports.
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