JENNERSTOWN, Pa. — Fast cars don’t always win, and good pit strategy doesn’t always guarantee success. But when you put them together, they can add up to a dominating performance, which is exactly what Benny Gordon turned in Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway.
Gordon won the pole, short-pitted on lap 30 and retook the lead for good on lap 115 en route to victory in the Hooters 250 presented by Eaton Electrical.
“I couldn’t have had a better car tonight,” said Gordon, driver of the No. 66n Samuel Metals Ford. “The team was perfect. It was just a perfect weekend. We couldn’t have asked for a better place for it to happen.”
Though Gordon won from the pole and led the most laps, Gary St. Amant put a scare into the DuBois, Pa., driver on a late-race restart by jumping alongside him going into turn one with 20 laps to go.
“He definitely got my attention,” said Gordon, who took home $13,700 for the win. “It was a pretty cool move by Gary. He probably thinks I ran him up the track in [turns] one and two, but really I didn’t. I went in the there and the air off his car made my car not turn and it just went right up the track. I’m kind of glad it did, because it could’ve been trouble if he got by me.”
St. Amant’s move ended up costing him second to Derek Kale, but that wasn’t on his mind after the race.
“We came here for one reason: Win this race for Randy Birk,” said St. Amant. “He sponsored our race car for a lot of years, and he passed away a few months ago. Second wasn’t going to be good enough; I was going to drive it into the wall before I finished second.”
After getting by St. Amant, Kale closed on Gordon as the laps wore down. But when the checkered flag waved, Kale, who led 39 laps, finished .374 second behind Gordon.
“I felt like if we had 10 more laps, we could have got to Benny,” said Kale, driver of the No. 22n Heritage Equipment Chevrolet. “We had something for him, at least. It was a great race for us.”
Derrick Kelley posted his best run of the season by coming home fourth. Jeff Agnew completed the top five.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed, money won: 1. Benny Gordon, Ford, 250, $13,700; 2. Derek Kale, Chevrolet, 250, $6,400; 3. Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 250, $6,500; 4. Derrick Kelley, Ford, 250, $4,000; 5. Jeff Agnew, Chevrolet, 250, $3,500; 6. Mikey Kile, Chevrolet, 250, $5,100; 7. Jay Fogleman, Ford, 250, $3,750; 8. Mike Hampton, Chevrolet, 250, $3,100; 9. Brett Butler, Ford, 250, $2,300; 10. Ray Love, Jr., Chevrolet, 250, $2,200; 11. Sam Fullone, Chevrolet, 250, $2,500; 12. Danny Jackson, Chevrolet, 250, $2,650; 13. Jason Sarvis, Chevrolet, 250, $2,300; 14. Allen Purkhiser, Ford, 250, $1,800; 15. Michael Kidd, Chevrolet, 250, $1,700; 16. Tim Bainey, Jr., Ford, 248, $1,600; 17. Matt Merrell, Chevrolet, 247, $1,600; 18. Dwayne Tatman, Chevrolet, 244, $1,600; 19. Ronnie Souders, Chevrolet, 243, $1,600; 20. Mike Held, Chevrolet, 239, $1,600; 21. Joe Harrison, Jr., Chevrolet, 232, $1,400; 22. Travis Miller, Chevrolet, 206, $1,400; 23. Brandon Ward, Ford, 195, $2,400; 24. Tim Kerr, Ford, 186, $1,400; 25. Scott Leach, Chevrolet, 185, $1,400; 26. Mark McFarland, Chevrolet, 166, $1,200; 27. Lonnie Rush, Jr., Chevrolet, 124, $1,200; 28. Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 35, $1,600.