The NEO Racing News Legends League rolled into Okayama to take on it’s 1.3 mile road course tonight for a 12 lap sprint. 19 drivers took time in open qualifying to set the grid for the field, and David Krikorian would take the fast time with a lap of 1:02.158.
As Krikorian lead the field around to take the green, he would get the jump on the start, which would prove to be all he needed as the race went on. The field carefully made their way through the first turn very cleanly, and then settled in to make it around for the first lap with no issues. Parker Traves settled into 2nd, while Bill Martin put the pressure on him early in 3rd, followed by Kevin Myers and Patrick Hahe in the early laps.
Martin was in hot pursuit of Traves in the early laps, but on lap 4 he would enter the second right hand turn on the course and pulled right up to the back bumper of the 17. But he would get into the corner too hard and spun directly of the field. Cars would scatter leaving Hahe and Matt Rolfe to get collected, while drivers like Myers and Kevin Berg snuck by up into the top 3. Hahe would continue on in the 4th spot, while Joshua Kotten would move into the top 5.
Behind Kotten, was Clay Snider who was about even with Kotten, putting pressure on him each lap, with Ryan Lutz, Paul Boswell, Jarrid Boiros and Rolfe not to far behind them. Rolfe made his way up into 7th in the closing laps while Kotten and Snider battled it out in front of them, but Kotten was able to keep it in control and hold the two drivers off. In the points standings, these three drivers look to be the ones in contention for the championship as the season winds down so each of these positions will become more valuable in the closing weeks.
But back out front, Krikorian had built himself a 21 second lead, completely dominating the race and would come round to take his 2nd Legends road course victory of the season. Behind him, Myers would have to hold off a charge from Berg for the 2nd spot and would beat him to the line by .05 seconds, with Berg taking 3rd. Hahe would bring it around in 4th, while Kotten held on for a top 5 finish.
- David Krikorian
- Kevin Myers
- Kevin Berg
- Patrick Hahe
- Joshua Kotten
- Clay Snider
- Matt Rolfe
- Ryan Lutz
- Paul Boswell
- Stan Bragg
- Jarrid Boiros
- Forrest Gregg
- Brandon Wilkinson
- Todd Sipe
- Daniel Vining
- Ken Belanger
- Bill Martin
- Parker Traves
- Cody Thompson
The series will now head back to ovals for the next two races, with South Boston next week followed by IRP, before finishing off the season on the NHMS Road Course.
For the full results and standings, click HERE.