By Steve Ovens. A Don Romeo Photo.
(Dundee, NY) – The Super Gen Products CRSA 305 Sprint Tour travelled as far West as the series will travel all season long, to Tyler Siri’s Outlaw Speedway for a twenty-five lap affair that thrilled the fans as Darryl Ruggles outlasted Kyle Smith for the victory.
Mike Emhof Motorsports sponsored an increase purse for the CRSA tour teams to feast on, with thirteen teams making the trip West to compete at Outlaw’s Midsummer Meltdown event.
Heat number one saw Dana Wagner drive away from the field to claim heat race number one, but a sixth place redraw would make his job in the feature a tough one later in the night.
The second heat race saw Canandaigua, NY pilot Darryl Ruggles drive his Daughter Alysha’s No. 48A to a convincing win on a track he knows well. Ruggles was the 2014 305 Sprint track championship, when the track was known as Yates County Speedway.
The redraw found Ruggles and South Egremont, MA driver Kyle Smith on the front row for the twenty-five-lap feature event. CRSA tour sponsor Super Gen Products of Newark, NY, offered up two generators earmarked for the CRSA portion of the event Saturday.
One generator would be given away to the lucky fan who caught the A-Verdi football with the winning driver’s car number written on it. The other generator would be given to the driver drawn by the fan generator winner. That fan drew finishing position number seven, which was awarded to Brett Jaycox.
Ruggles would grab the early advantage through turns one and two, but Smith was in the process of finding the outside on a wide surface that Outlaw Speedway provided after the intermission track prep period.
Smith tried the outside on lap four but Ruggles drifted just high enough off the corner to nix Smith’s efforts. However, lap five saw Smith get a better run off turn four to come down and nose ahead as lap five was put on the board.
Just one lap later, Ruggles stole the lead back and resumed command on lap six- a spot he would not relinquish again.
While Ruggles led, CRSA point leader Eddie Strada began his march toward the front. Strada from Lake Ariel, PA, started in the fourth position and got around Thomas Radivoy to bump up to a podium position.
Strada ran down Smith and went to work on the driver he has fought with for the points lead all season long. On this night though, Smith was up to the task and held off Strada to retain the second position.
A lap eight yellow flag would find Pete Richardson spun around in turn number two. Ruggles led Smith, Strada, Radivoy and Wagner at the lap eight yellow.
McDonough, NY driver Dalton Herrick was the big mover and shaker of the event, as he started in the tenth position and was battling to crack into the top five on the restart. Herrick’s charge to the front would fizzle out once he got to sixth, as Wagner found speed in the last half of the race.
Out front, nobody seemed to have anything for Ruggles. Ruggles took the Champion Power Equipment, Danny Willmes Enterprises, Eagle Chassis No. 48A to Outlaw Victory Lane- a place he has visited often over the course of his career in a winged sprint car.
Smith bested Strada for the runner-up position over Radivoy and Wagner.
“We know this place pretty well,” said Ruggles. “I’ve got to commend Tyler for everything he does (at Outlaw). I know he’s taken some grief on the racetrack prep, but thank you for doing what you did for us.”
Ruggles certainly had a good notebook on Outlaw Speedway, but this trip to Victory Lane was much different.
“The notebook works really well on my car, but I’ve never drove Pinky (No. 48A). We threw four tires and shocks on it and said we’re coming down here to play (at Outlaw), because we love it here.”
Kyle Smith made his first trip to Outlaw Speedway Saturday and was pleased with the result.
“I was stuck up there on the high side,” said Smith. “I should have come down low, but we will put that in the memory bank and try again next time.”
It was also the first trip to Outlaw Speedway for the point leader Strada.
“Hats off to Darryl and his crew on their run,” said Strada. “This is kind of his place and it’s the first time we’ve been here. I was just talking to Kyle about us never being here before and coming out second and third was pretty nice. It’s pretty cool to come out to different tracks and being able to wheel on them.”
The Super Gen Products CRSA Sprints featuring Champion Power Equipment will now set their sights on the thirteenth round of the 2016 tour. They next travel to Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY this Saturday night August 6th. The following weekend, the CRSA tour will venture off to Susquehanna, PA to visit Dan Harpell’s Penn Can Speedway on Friday August 12th.
For more information on the CRSA Sprints you can visit www.crsasprints.com. CRSA can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook.