Kent remains perfect in Laird features

Bar River's Steve Kent has been no stranger to victory lane this season.

Proven to be the most dominate racer in the factory stock division, Kent won his seventh consecutive feature race in seven starts on Thursday night at Laird International Raceway.

If not for missing a pair of race dates due to previous commitments, Kent would undoubtedly be opening the gap on top of the division's points standings.

Kent cruised to another feature win as two the division's top drivers in John Fragale and David Slingsby were racing the feature with less than perfect car conditions after both sustained some heavy damage in heat race action.

Slingsby was involved in one of two scary collisions on the night as he drifted high out of turn four and slammed into the front guard rail. Fragale also took a hard hit leaving the driver with some serious cosmetic damage to the car.

Kevin Pace won both factory stock heats.

In the late model division, Michael Gold emerged with a lopsided victory in the 30 lap feature race.

Gold, the night's fastest qualifier, defeated the competition by over a half a lap and lapped four cars, including one car twice, during the process in the seven-car field.

Nine cars lined up to start the night's action in the late model class, but Rod Bolduc Jr. and Dan Desjardins were knocked out of action for the night during the second heat as both flew off the back stretch and crashed hard into the safety tires off the track.

Both cars sustained heavy damage as officials were forced to call an early intermission in order to remove the cars back into the pits.

When the heat resumed after the break, Gold captured his first of two checkered flags.

Robert Hiiemaa also won a pair of races including the opening heat and the four car dash over Gold, Dan Byrnes and Jeremy Van Hoek.

Kevin Oicle continues to be the hottest driver at LIR winning his 12 consecutive race in the modified division. Oicle, who broke his own track record in qualifying, captured the feature and both heats as the veteran driver recorded his fourth consecutive division sweep.

In the pure stock division, the Michigan Sault's Barry Glenn, after struggling through the first two heats, captured the 20 lap feature as his crew worked feverishly during the intermission to get his car back into top condition for the race.

Norm Miller, another Michigan Sault driver, won both heats.

In the stock four division, Mike Savino won his sixth consecutive race with wins in two heats and the feature. In the second group of stock fours during heat action, Jordan Sims and Kevin Hunt took a checkered flag each.

Action continues next Thursday with qualifying at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m.

To visit the LIR website for official results and points updates, click here.