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DAVE SHULLICK JR. WINS HIS THIRD HY-MILER 100 (Part 2) IP: 173.206.98.27 Posted on July 29, 2018 at 08:36:02 PM by GWN
This restart cost Trent his fine run when Shullick went to the outside of the 19 several laps after the green dropped. It was now the Shullick show out front with Stephens, Lichty and a rapidly moving Barnes who picked off Seitz for fourth on lap 54.
While Shullick led, all eyes now began to watch the 11 of Barnes. He sat behind a dueling Lichty and Stephens for a couple laps and then moved by Lichty. A lap later he was moving on Stephens and took second from Stephens only to have to give it back when the yellow flew for McVetta on lap 59.
As the counter clicked 60, the race for the lead was still strong with Shullick Stephens, Barnes, Lichty and Seitz the principals. On lap 62, Barnes took second. Stephens, Lichty and Seitz had a show of their own for third as Edwards, Lilje and Sammut did the same.
By lap 70, Shullick appeared to be rolling on to a third H-Miler win but Barnes wasn't giving up by any means. On lap 75 a spin by Wiggins in the 36, bunched the field up and a 25 lap shootout was about to take place.
Shullick took off but did not shake Barnes as Lichty, Seitz, Lilje and Stephens were watching the top two out front. Barnes would close on the 95 in the corners, Shullick would be stronger coming out. The crowd was watching and enjoying every minute as Barnes tried every move he could think to get alongside the 95 and Shullick used his wiles to prevent it.
With ten to go, the excitement was understandably at a peak as the two out front approached some heavy traffic. Barnes would close and almost get alongside, and Shullick was able to hold him off. The ending for Barnes would soon be one of disappointment when Michael Muldoon's 10 came around off turn three, bringing out the yellow. Barnes, coming by him, went high and spun to a halt at the edge of the track. The 11 would be at the tail of the field on the restart.
Shullick now could breath easily as he headed for the checkered with Lichty, Seitz, Lilje and Stephens the top five.
Barnes, was understandably devastated. The quiet Mexico, NY driver, owner of an Oswego track championship and feature wins, wanted to bring this one home for the Miller team.
He replayed is race back in his pit area. “We had a good run. A slower car spun out in front of the field and it cost us. I want to thank Vic and Eddie for letting me drive the car. And to Leo, Scotty and Stevie. I worked these guys hard all weekend. I just let them down. We went down in the corner and I got underneath DJ and there was a simple spin. I went to the right and got on the brakes. As soon as I went to the right, it kind of over corrected and snapped back the other way around on me. It's just disappointing to have a really good race like that and there's five to go and some guys in the back can't keep a handle on their car.
“We had a good run other than that. It's the biggest race of the year for ISMA and we were going to win it. I think I could have gotten DJ in traffic. I probably should have waited another lap. I was a little better down at the other end. I might have followed them and not gone under there. I could really run into the corner and into the center than he could. He kept getting looser off and I kept trying to back it up a little bit. I was trying to get the timing. He moved up the track a little bit and changed his line so I couldn't get around him. The hard way for me was to go around him and that's why he kept baiting me with underneath. But I think we could have won the race. I think we were the best car at the end. My car was not loose. The only time I got loose was when I pinched to car off four and got a little sideways. The car was great. I just feel I let these guys down. Maybe we'll get to do it again sometime.”
Certainly the huge throng of fans on hand hope so too!
Moe Lilje, in the Lichty 74, was happy with his fourth. “Boy we had a long weekend. We didn't connect the dots totally. We are still struggling with something in the fuel system we believe. We're struggling for power a little bit right now but things ended up working out pretty well. I mean yellows fell in our favor. I was able to pick a couple cars off on restarts because speed-wise we didn't have a real good car that way, but I did what I could with what we were working with. I have to thank Brad and all the guys at PATCO for all the hard work they put in this weekend and all the fans and sponsors and we'll move on to the next one.”
Trent Stephens was a bit dejected after leading more than half way in the race and finishing fifth. “This is probably one of our best runs at Hy-Miler or best Hy-Miler finish I should say. I'm pretty bummed to think I pushed the car a little too hard at the start. I led the first 50 – 51 laps but I guess we made the car too good at the start and it kind of hurt us at the end. So, it's good to lead but at the same time it sucks. I just pushed too hard. I have to thank the crew. We worked real hard all weekend. The car is not happy and we made something out of it. We still got a top five. So I can't thank the crew enough, all the fans for coming out, and all the people here at Sandusky. It was a huge crowd and that's great.”
Rounding out the top ten were Edwards, Sammut, Rich Reid, Barnes, and McVetta.
