The MRD Pro Late Models headed to Indy tonight to take on the Lucas Oil Raceway for the first time in the division. The Street Stocks had put on a show the night before and the racing in the PLM race would be just as good. The night got started with time trials and Matt Rolfe would pick up his league leading 36th career pole with a time of 23.066 seconds, with Tyler Ducharme in the 2nd spot. But with an invert at the front of the field, the starting lineup would be shaken up as the #10 chip was drawn from the bag, sending Rolfe back to 10th, and putting Matt Eddy and Mike Belanger on the front row of the 23 car grid for the start of the race.
Eddy would lead the field to the green and took the top spot early as he headed into turn one, but the first caution of the race would come out quickly. Stan Bragg, Clay Snider, and Jacob Linkiewicz all got together out of turn two, sending Snider around in front of the field which collected a number of other drivers including Rolfe and Ducharme who had to start at the tail end of the top 10. Cars would duck down pit road to make repairs, and the field would bunch back up for the restart. This would set up a 23 lap green flag run where Eddy would hang onto the lead for the first 22 laps of the race, but Ty Majeski had been picking off cars pretty quickly and made his way up into 2nd by lap 20 and reeled in Eddy from there to take over the lead on lap 23. Bragg would follow him into the 2nd spot but a caution on lap 30 would take away Majeski’s lead that he had just grabbed.
The caution would see Majeski, Bragg and a number of other front runners head down pit road, giving the lead right back to Eddy. But the fresher tires would play a major factor as it would only take Majeski two laps to retake the lead from his 5th place starting spot on the restart. Two more cautions would come out with the final one being brought out just past half way on lap 51, and once again Majeski would head down pit road for tires. This time Anthony Celentano would stay out and pick up the lead for a few extra bonus points and looked to gamble to see what he could do on slightly used tires. Both Jacob and James Linkiewicz also pitted but had quick stops to move into the top 3, while Majeski would restart in the 4th position.
Celentano would lead the field to the final restart, setting up a 43 lap run to the finish. His lead would be short lived though as Jacob Linkiewicz would grab the lead on the low side, and would lead the next four laps, but Majeski was coming and coming quick for the lead. Majeski would take the low side attempting to make the pass, but Linkiewicz would make him work for it as he ran the outside groove and got the runs off the corner to hang onto the lead. On lap 62, Majeski would finally get the run on the bottom he needed and made the slide job to take over the lead, and he would pull away from there.
Majeski would pull away to over a second, before putting it into conservation mode where he would save his tires. This would allow Linkiewicz to close the gap and reel in the leader. He would run a low line and looked under Majeski a few times, but he wouldn’t be able to get the run off the corners he needed. With 15 laps to go, Majeski kicked it back into overdrive and began to pull back away to a sizable lead. Behind them, Bragg had run down Celentano and took the third spot while James LInkiewicz followed a few car lengths behind in 5th. Belanger, Eddy, and Kevin Myers battled for much of the final run of the race where both Eddy and Myers would attempt to make the pass for 6th on the low side, but Belanger would be able to hold both of them off as the laps wound down.
Back out front though, Majeski pulled away and grew his lead to over 4 seconds and came around to take his 7th checkered flag in the division this season. Jacob Linkieiwcz was able to hold off Bragg in the late laps and would hold onto 2nd, with Bragg rounding out the podium. Celentano would wind up 4th after not pitting on the final restart, with James Linkiewicz finishing out the top 5.
With Majeski’s 7th win, he has officially locked up the Pro Late Model Championship after dominating the season with 7 wins and 9 top 5’s in 11 starts so far. And with 1 more race left in the season, there will be no pressure on Majeski as the division heads into the season finale with the championship already won. But behind him, basically every position is still up for grabs as drivers will look to get everything they can in the final race to see where they end up in the championship standings.
- Ty Majeski
- Jacob Linkiewicz
- Stan Bragg
- Anthony Celentano
- James Linkiewicz
- Mike Belanger
- Kevin Myers
- Matt Eddy
- Scott Dunlap
- Russell Berry
- Ken Belanger
- Dale Owen
- Dustin Burns
- Jeff Hoggard
- Matt Rolfe
- Derek Robinson
- Mike Whited
- Jason Miller
- Vince Kuelbs
- Clay Snider
- Chris Bottge
- Tode Sipe
- Tyler Ducharme
Next week the series heads to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for their season finale.
For the full results and standings, click HERE.