Last night, the Sportsman Street Stock Series headed to the always tricky Concord Speedway for a 75-lap feature, and their 5th race of the season. 18 cars would roll out onto the track for practice and qualifying, and at the end of time trials, it was Justin Brooks who picked up the pole with a lap time of 17.79 seconds, just ahead of Bill Martin who was in 2nd. Coming into the night, Stan Bragg led the points standings by just 9 points.
As the field came around to take the green flag, Brooks would get the jump and led the field into turn 1. Martin was able to get down into 2nd while Kenny Lindsley, Cody Kelley, and Parker Traves settled into the top 5 in the early going. A couple of cars would get together within the top 10 to bring out the first caution. On the restart, Brooks again got the jump but this time Lindsley would battle his way into the 2nd spot dropping Martin back to 3rd. But a few short laps later the caution flew once more.
A lap 20 restart would set the field up for an impressive 30-lap green flag run on the tough track. Brooks got a good restart to hang onto the lead with Martin moving back up to 2nd to start the run. Lindsley dropped back to 3rd with Kelley in 4th, and Matt Rolfe worked his way into the top 5. Over the first 10 laps of the run, Brooks pulled his lead out to just over a half second, but thats when Martin started to reel him in. By lap 38, Martin closed in on Brooks and made his move to the inside while the two ran side by side for a lap, before Brooks fell in behind giving Martin the lead. But Brooks fought right back and he moved to the inside to regain the lead a lap later. Brooks led the next 3 laps while Martin tried to close back in again, and when Brooks got loose going into 1, Martin closed the gap and the two would make contact sending Brooks up the track and Martin took the lead.
On lap 49 the caution would come out as Brooks had more trouble as he would go around and end up making contact with the wall. After a long green flag run, Martin decided to head down pit road for tires, and Lindsley looked to follow him in before changing his mind and staying out in the lead. Only 4 cars would pit under the yellow, which would drop Martin all the way down to 12th when he came out. With Martin and Brooks out of the top spots, Lindsley had inherited the lead over Kelley and Rolfe, with Ryan Borges and TJ Graves moving up into the top 5.
A couple quick cautions would set the field up for the final run with a restart on lap 67. Lindsley got a quick jump and pulled out to the lead, but Kelley was right there to put the pressure on him when on lap 69, Kelley would get into the back of Lindsley getting him sideway out front. But when they checked up, Rolfe would get into the back of Kelley sending him to the inside of the track, allowing Lindsley to regather his car and he would be able to remain in the lead as the rest of the field would sort it out behind him.
As the race wound down, Lindsley would remain in the lead and would come around the final turn to come to the checkered flag, picking up his 2nd career SARA victory after leading 27 laps en route to the win. After the lap 69 scuffle, Borges was able to get by and move into 2nd at the finish. One driver who made his way back through the field on the final restart was Brooks who ended up charging his way through the field all the way to 3rd, which left Rolfe and Dale Owen battling it out for 4th with Rolfe nosing ahead for the spot, and Owen would finish 5th.
1. Kenny Lindsley
2. Ryan Borges
3. Justin Brooks
4. Matt Rolfe
5. Dale Owen
6. Cody Kelley
7. Stan Bragg
8. Jeff Hoggard
9. Bill Martin
10. Jeff Kendrick
11. TJ Graves
12. James Linkiewicz
13. Sam Clarke
14. Russell Berry
15. Ken Belanger
16. Todd Sipe
17. Parker Traves
18. Jeffrey Nichols
Penalties:
Justin Brooks – Aggressive Driving – Warning
Parker Traves – Car Control – EOL on lead lap in results
Sam Clarke – Negative Voice Chatter – Warning
Next week the series will have an off week before returning to the track in two weeks at Lucas Oil Raceway.
With a 7th place finish, Bragg remains in the points lead but that shrinks down to 7 points with Justin Brooks moving up into 2nd in points. For the full results and standings, click HERE.