Parent is Back in D.A.V. Victory Lane in Late Models
Ray Parent rolled back into Seekonk Speedway on Saturday afternoon for the 50 lap D.A.V. Fall Classic and he knew he would have a shot at winning the race. Every single time he brings his trailer into the track, he unloads with one of the fastest cars in the division. He had already won the Phil’s Propane Triple Crown Series championship this season and during the D.A.V. Fall Classic, he was celebrating in victory lane when it was all set and done.
Parent started from the outside pole position and even though he was fighting the handles for the first two laps, it wasn’t long before he was out in the front of the pack. He took the lead from Nick Johnson early and was out front when the first caution came down on lap eight. Dan Johnson spun in turn three and luckily no one crashed into him while he moved out of the way as quickly as he possibly could.
At green, Parent had a challenge from Charlie Rose, but was able to lead once again until another caution on lap 14 when Vinnie Arrenegado spun out and collected some other drivers. It wasn’t just two laps back under green before Jeramme Lille spun, then just another six before Corey Fanning and others got collected in a crash. While Parent held the lead at the halfway point, Rose and his newest challenger Bobby Pelland were battling hard for second spot. The two drivers traded some paint here and there, but when T.J. Moreshead spun on lap 30, it was Rose lining up again to the outside of Parent.
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Rose tried to pinch Parent down as much as he could in the battle for the lead, but he couldn’t get the job done. Parent had clearly been the dominant car for the whole race and continued to show that when he pulled away from Rose on the next restart. Pelland took his shot at the outside of Parent on a restart, but he was also not able to get around him in the battle for the lead.
In the final stages, it appeared as if Eddie MacDonald would have something for Parent. He had saved his tires and rode around in hopes of having a great car in the final laps and it almost worked out for him. He got to fourth on lap 34, then got to third spot when he went by Bobby Pelland on lap 37. Then he got the caution flag he needed when Arrenegado went around again on the backstretch on lap 41.
On what was a quick restart for Parent, Nick Uring went around and gave MacDonald one more chance to get up to his bumper on the restart. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Parent was the winner at the end of the 50 lap distance with MacDonald finishing second and Rose coming across in third. Gerry DeGaspere Jr. finished fourth and Mark Hudson made a late charge inside the front of the pack to finish fifth.
Austin Blais, Pelland, Ryan Kuhn, Jariah Roderick and Jeramme Lille rounded out the top 10 in the season-ending Late Model feature race.
Sources: SeekonkSpeedway.com