Action heats up at Laird Raceway

It was one of the hottest days of the year at Laird International Raceway on Thursday night and the action on the track was just as hot as the day's temperature.

The day started with a new record being set in the Modified Division as young Jordan Sims set a qualifying record by circling the Laird oval in 15.406 seconds, nearly a quarter-second faster than the previous record, also set by Sims.

With qualifying in the books, the Late Model Division kicked off the action with the Fast Car Dash, in which the four fastest qualifiers included Rick Leonard, Rod Bolduc, Chris Furkey and weekly threat George Wilson.

Wilson continued his dominance of the division by winning the dash and setting the stage for what he hoped would be a successful night for the man they call the "Steel City Outlaw" around LIR. Wilson continued on to win the first Late Model heat race over Paul Seabrook and Rick Leonard.

Wilson would be denied a clean sweep when the second heat race came around as Jeremy Van Hoek topped Wilson to take the checkered flag for the second heat.

In the Late Model Feature, Wilson looked to be on his way to a victory when he came from the back of the pack at the start to take the lead and battle Rod Bolduc for the victory.

With Wilson leading Bolduc in the race and Bolduc having a chance to gain some points in the standings in the division, the two raced tire to tire for much of the latter stages of the race when Wilson was sent to the back of the pack during the final stages of the race after Bolduc was spun out.

Bolduc managed to take home the victory while Wilson came from the back of the pack on the final laps and managed a fifth place finish. Chris Furkey finished second while Van Hoek and Cory Furkey finished third and fourth respectively.

In the Factory Stock Division, it was a night to forget for Steve Kent as the veteran driver was shooting for his eighth straight feature victory this season. A broken axle forced Kent to the infield for much of the feature race.

Mike Murphy finished first while John Hamilton finished second in the 20-lap feature that finished with just two cars after nine made it to the track on the night.

Of note, John Fragale was on pace to top a Laird record for fastest 20-lap feature event in the Factory Stock Division.

In the heat races Hamilton edged out Kent in the first heat while Kent did manage to get one victory on the night as he took home the second heat race.

In the Modified Division, Kevin Oicle got himself on a roll in the heat races by winning both heats, but the veteran could not translate that success into the feature as a broken tie rod forced Oicle to an early exit from the race.

The car problems suffered by Oicle were just what Sims needed as the 15-year-old took the lead over Larry Ebare and Wes Spears to win the feature race and take a six point lead over Oicle in the Modified Division points standings.

The Stock Four Division saw Gord Hunt have a solid day as he finished second in the day's first heat race behind Cody McLean before winning the second heat and topping the night off with a victory in the feature race, finishing just ahead of a hard-charging Tyler Parsons, who was looking for his second feature win in as many weeks.

Action is scheduled to continue at Laird with action on July 21 with qualifying set for 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m.