By TIM BALTZ

AKWESASNE – Despite hot weather conditions, the track crew at MIR provided yet another smooth and fast racing surface which created some opportunities for new faces to get into victory lane and one driver, Billy Dunn, to display dominance Friday night.

Shane Pecore and Laurent Ladouceur brought the field of 23 DIRTCar 358 Modifieds to the green flag with Ladouceur jumping into the lead off of corner number 2 with Pecore, Tim O’Brien, Danny O’Brien and Tom Conklin giving chase. The yellow would come out on lap 3 as points leader Dale Planck spun on the front stretch after a cut left front tire. He would return just before the green flag. On the restart Ladouceur continued to hold the top spot but the man on the move was his teammate Billy Dunn. After starting 12th he quickly made his way forward and while his car owner motored away from everyone Dunn was able to get by Tim O’Brien for the 2nd spot, Danny O’Brien and Roy Tarbell completed the top 5. Dunn then ran down Ladouceur and on lap 9 with a power move down low off turn 4, was able to grab the top spot and open up a commanding lead. Just behind the top 2 drivers the O’Brien brothers along with Roy Tarbell and Carey Terrance staged a war from 3rd through 6th. On Lap 13 Danny was able to get by younger brother Tim for 3rd and was in hot pursuit of the leaders as Terrance also slipped by Tarbell to grab 5th. Back up front Dunn was lapping cars at will until a lap 14 caution flag saw Kristian Smoke make contact with the wall in turn 4. Smoke was ok but his front end was heavily damaged. On the final restart Dunn pulled out to another huge lead and would go unchallenged the rest of the way to score his 2nd win in a row and 10th of his career. Ladouceur would come home 2nd, with Danny O’Brien, Tim O’Brien and Carey Terrance making up the top 5.

In the Sportsman division Adam Rozon and Brian Copp led the 24 car field to the green with Rozon getting the top spot heading into turn 1. 2 drivers started making big moves to the front early as Jenna David and Billy Cook made their way through traffic and were 2nd and 3rd by lap 5. As those 2 chased down leader Rozon who had opened up nearly a straightaway lead with Josh VanBrocklin and Dylan Evoy who came from 14th to round out the top 5. The race would go caution free until lap 11 when Wyatt Mullin who was running in the top 10 spin in turn 4. On a lap 12 restart Rozon continued his great driver with David, Cook, Evoy and VanBrocklin filling out the top 5. On lap 14 Evoy’s great run would come to a disappointing end as he clipped a tire in the infield and would break a front end on his ride. The final restart on lap 15 saw Rozon jump out in front with Cook, VanBrocklin, David and now Dana Aikens completing the top 5. Despite several attempts by Cook to get his first career Sportsman win he would fall 1 spot short as the rookie Adam Rozon collected his first ever Sportsman win at MIR. Billy Cook, Josh VanBrocklin, Jenna David and Dana Aikens rounded out the top 5.

The start of the Pro Stock feature saw 2 former MIR track champions lead the field to the green. Ricky Thompson and Stephane Lebrun brought the field down into turn 1 with Lebrun jumping into the top spot with Thompson, Roch Aubin, PJ Peters and Joey Ladouceur making up the top 5 early on. On lap 6 Stephane Lebrun had opened up a half straightaway lead with Ladouceur coming from 6th up into 2nd. Peters, Thompson and Marc Lalonde made up the top 5. The yellow would come out on lap 7 and Dan Desnoyers came to a halt on the backstretch. On the restart Joey Ladouceur would make the move that counted as he powered by the Lebrun machine to take over the top spot and open up a commanding lead on the rest of the field. With Ladouceur checking out on everyone the battle for 2nd got a little heated as on lap 15 Jody Swamp got into Lebrun in turn 2 causing him to go around ending his great run. At the end nobody had anything for Ladouceur as he scored his 2nd win of the season and 97th of his DIRTcar Pro Stock career. Peters would come home 2nd with Lalonde, Thompson and Owen White completing the top 5.

In the Bandits Stuart Mossow and Justin Desrosiers led the field to the green with Mossow winning the battle into turn 1. It had been a long time since Mossow went to victory lane and he was more than determined to get back after many weeks of frustration. Despite late race charges by both Mike Gaucher and the winner of the last 2 weeks Mathieu Aubin, Stuart Mossow would end a long winless drought for his first win of the season over Gaucher, Desrosiers, Aubin and Darryl Mitchell.

In Mod Lites Sylvain Laframboise and Mathieu Robinson brought the field to the green with Robinson getting the top spot away. Robinson quickly moved out to a full straightaway lead until Tim Reif spun to the infield coming down the front stretch. On the restart last weeks winner Bryan Green made a charge around Robinson to grab the top spot and would go unchallenged the rest of the way to score back to back feature wins with Robinson, Matt Meuten, Scott Waldorff and Sylvain Laframboise.

Next week the Empire Super Sprints, Go Nuclear Late Models and TUSA Mod Lites all get set to invade Mohawk International Raceway along with a regular card of racing for the Modifieds, Sportsman, and Bandits the Pro Stock will have the night off. The first grenn flag flies at 7:45pm.

Mohawk International Raceway is located in Akwesasne, NY, midway between the Seaway International Bridge to Cornwall, Ont. and the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. From Route 37, turn south onto Frogtown Road.

Racing is held on Friday nights at 7:45 PM from May through September, featuring the Frenchie's Chevrolet DIRTcar 358 Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks, as well as the Bandit division. Visit us on the web at www.MohawkInternationalRaceway.com. The MIR office is located at the track, and the phone number is 518-358-9017. The track is owned and operated by Mohawk International Raceway, LLC.

The results:

• Modified

BILLY DUNN, Laurent Ladouceur, Danny O’Brien, Tim O’Brien, Carey Terrance, Roy Tarbell, Chris Raabe, Gage Morin, Kyle Jacobs, Matt Billings, Shane Pecore, Tom Conklin, Dale Planck, Larry Welling Jr., Perry Francis, Luke Stewart, Casey Swamp, Brian McDonald, Roy Delormier, Harvey Arquette Jr., David Papineau, Kristian Smoke, Kevin Fetterly.

• Sportsman

ADAM ROZON, Billy Cook, Josh VanBrocklin, Jenna David, Dana Aikens, Brian Copp, Mike Arquiett, Brent Kelsey, Tammy Jalbert, Justin Lalancette, Jessica Power, Wyatt Mullin, Dillon Sallows, Josh Brockway, Nolan Swamp, Thomas Cook, Thomas Jock III, Neal Provost, Mike Stacey, Jonathan Ferguson, Louie Jackson Jr., Dan Jalbert, Dylan Evoy, Thunder Anderson Jr.

• Pro Stock

JOEY LADOUCEUR, PJ Peters, Marc Lalonde, Ricky Thompson, Owen White, Allen Peters, Stephane Lebrun, Preston Mossow, Dan Desnoyers, Roch Aubin, Jody Swamp, Dion Oakes

• Bandit

STUART MOSSOW, Mike Gaucher, Justin Desrosiers, Mathieu Aubin, Darryl Mitchell, Matt Zira, Corbin Miller, 95, Darryl Mainville, Gary Sharlow, Corey Castell

• Mod Lite

BRYAN GREEN, Mathieu Robinson, Matt Meuten, Scott Waldorff, Sylvain Laframboise, Dan Reif, Harley Brown, Dean Pronovost, Brad Reif, Tim Reif, Matt Chontosh