DMA: Chris Murray Wins at Bear Ridge
September 16, 2023. Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford, VT — Chris Murray passed leader Manny Dias on lap 23 to win his second feature of the year with the Xtreme Dirt Midget Association on Saturday night at Bear Ridge Speedway.
John Forlano led the first six laps from the pole position as Dias put the pressure on. On the seventh lap, Dias finally got under Forlano going down the backstretch and won the battle heading into turn three to take over the top spot. As Dias extended his lead, Murray was busy working the high side picking off cars one by one. Murray took second from Will Hull on lap ten and set his sights on Dias, but it looked like he would run out of laps before he could catch the leader.
Murray caught the break he needed when the caution flag flew on lap 22 of the 25-lap feature. Murray stayed on the outside to take the lead on the re-start and hold off the repeated challenges of Dias over the last two circuits to win the feature.
“It was a total team effort that finally paid off,” said Murray after the race. “The slick tracks can be tricky, but JR (car owner JR Mancini) and myself have put our heads down and looked closely at the adjustments we’re making and hitting our marks. Early in the race, I thought I needed to get to the bottom and work my way through the field, but once I found the outside was working, it was time to hammer down. I knew we had a fast car but was unsure if we had enough laps to catch Manny. We took advantage of the caution and got up on the wheel to take the lead.”
Dias finished second, Will Hull, Daniel Piastka, and Justin Sheridan round out the top five.
Heat races were won by Manny Dias and Nikki Ouellette.
The Xtreme Dirt Midget Association’s final race of 2023 is Saturday, Sept. 23 at Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford, VT.
Feature (25 laps) 1. Chris Murray, 2. Manny Dias, 3. Will Hull, 4. Daniel Piastka, 5. Justin Sheridan, 6. John Forlano, 7. Ethen Durocher, 8. Brandon Piastka, 9. Keith Brown, 10. Wayne Koehler, 11. Nikki Ouellette, 12. Todd Mable, 13. Jeff Horn
Story and photos by John DaDalt