Ray Graham Takes His ISMA First at Mansfield Friday Event
Mansfield, OH — Ray Graham Jr. took off from the pole at Mansfield Motorsports Park in Friday night’s ISMA-Wirtgen Super Series 40-lapper and stayed right there to finish in the same spot. It was a career first for the Iowa resident who has been in the hunt on many an occasion. Surviving a red and a couple yellows, Graham looked to be running away with the short sprint, but with ten to go, his 99 car began to falter and Dave Trytek and then young Mike Lichty came on to challenge. Lichty made a last lap, last corner attempt to take what would have been his career first also, but fell short as Graham brought his first win home. Six time winner to date, Chris Perley was out of the action on lap six after a brush, ironically, with Lichty. But it was Graham’s night to shine.
Said Ray in the post race interview; “The car was handling really well in the heat race until the motor started skipping. We thought we had it fixed but in the last ten to twelve laps of the race it started again. I could hear them coming but the motor just wouldn’t go. It kept sputtering. We have something in the fuel system that’s making the motor skip. It plugged up the motor after the heat race. So we’re going to have to find out what that is. If there were another five laps, they probably would have had me. I didn’t know whether it was Mike or Dave at the end there. I just put the car in the middle of the track and if they were going to go around, they were going to work hard for it. The first win feels good. “I feel good for the guys who do all the work. I just show up at the track”