Griffith Survives Crash Filled D.A.V. 150 for $6,000 Paycheck
Derek Griffith competed at Seekonk Speedway back in July and came up just a few feet short of winning $10,000 in the Super Late Model Nationals 200 lap feature race. That night, he battled Dalton Sargeant right down to the finish and when the two made contact coming off the final turn, Tom Scully Jr. slid by and picked up a crucial victory.
But when Griffith rolled back into the 1/3 mile on Saturday for the D.A.V. Fall Classic Pro Stock special, he was hoping to collect a $6,000 paycheck and the trophy at the end of the 150 lap main event. And when the checkered flag flew at the end of a long, destructive 150 circuits in a crash-filled feature race, Griffith was holding the trophy up high in the air as the winner.
The race started with Granite State Pro Stock Series regular Mike Parks on pole and 2016 Pro All Star Series champion D.J. Shaw on the outside of the front row. Early on, it was Shaw getting the advantage, but the field wasn’t under the green for long. The first caution came down for a wreck on lap three, when Ryan Vanasse and Mike Brightman got together. The wreck caused a chain reaction that collected other drivers in the process, including early race favorites Eddie MacDonald and defending winner David Darling.
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Before long the field went back green, but it wasn’t just two laps before another series of caution flags flew. When Parks tried to get underneath Fred Astle in the battle for third entering turn one, contact was made and Parks went spinning. The wreck collected Dean Petty, Bobby Pelland, and others, who were all left with damage. Parks exited the track on two trucks with heavy damage, but was able to quickly return to the track with no front fenders left and still on the lead lap because a caution flag came out just after the next restart.
This next wreck collected Cassius Clark, Joey Pole, and many others and Clark was on top of Phil Meany on the frontstretch. Others included in the wreck were Matt Swanson and Dan McKeage and even though McKeage was able to continue, he was never a factor in the finish of the event.
Once the race got going, young Griffith got out to the front of the field and was the dominant car. He took the lead for the first time on lap 14 and even though he quickly lost it on lap 15, he got it right back on lap 16 and from there he never lost it, except once. Griffith sliced his way through lapped traffic for much of the distance, but caution flags were still happening throughout the entire distance. In the final 50 laps, Griffith got a challenge from Angelo Belsito, who worked his way all the way from the back of the field after being spun from the lead early on.
Belsito took a look to the inside of Griffith on lap 123 and edged out in front of him across the stripe.
Belsito drove it hard down into turn one and unfortunately for him, the back end of the car snapped out from underneath him and he went spinning in front of the field, ending his chances at the D.A.V. Fall Classic trophy. A final restart saw Griffith work the inside of Shaw and keep the lead, but Shaw was not going away quietly. He gave everything he had and closed to within a few car lengths of Griffith in the final two laps, but the handling of his Precision JLM No. 60 just wouldn’t allow him to get the run he needed.
Griffith crossed the stripe ahead of all challengers and became $6,000 richer, with Shaw finishing in second spot. Astle came back through the field late to finish third, with David Darling and Dave Farrington Jr. rounding out the top-five. Matt Swanson, Tom Scully Jr., Joey Doiron, Bobby Pelland III and Dick Houlihan rounded out the top 10.
“D.J. was surely coming at the end,” Griffith said in victory lane. “We had a really good car. I’m glad I could redeem myself.”
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com