The Sportsman Street Stock Series made their return to Thompson for a 75 lap feature. Last time the series visited the track, there were a lot of cautions on the slippery surface which led to a dramatic finish. This time around, the field would still see 9 cautions, but the finish was never in doubt.
Matt Rolfe picked up the pole, and elected to start on the outside on the initial green flag. Mark Arthur, who started 2nd held strong on the inside and when the caution flew on lap 1, he had a nose in front to take the lead. From there on out, Arthur would gain control on each restart as the field attempted to settle in behind him.
There seemed to be a number of cars that battled up front to gain a top 5 position, as Rolfe, Mike Belanger, Sam Clark, Clay Snider, Scott Dunlap, and Derek Colson each took turns running up near the front. But the slick track proved to be too much for some drivers to keep it straight for any long runs. Those top 5 spots, excluding the leader, would get shuffled constantly on each restart.
But at the point, no one had anything for Arthur as held of the field multiple times, and went on to lead all 75 laps. Behind him, Clark would settle into 2nd, Snider hung around the top 5 all race and brought it home 3rd. Rolfe would rally from being 3 laps down to finish 4th, while Colson would hang on to take a top 5.
With Snider’s 3rd place finish, and David Fields missing the race, Snider would extend his points lead to 97 points. But the battle is anything but over as drop weeks will come into effect in just a couple weeks.
Next week the series makes a return to Oxford Plains. For full results and standings, click HERE.