FORT WORTH, Texas – Being faster by a fraction of a second coming out of the final turn made Westin Abbey rich Thursday night.
Abbey raced all the way from 17th starting to the front of the Dirty 30 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature field at Texas Motor Speedway, beating Ryan Powers to the checkers by half a car length as the pair ran side-by-side to the finish.
The Comanche speedster took home $3,000 for the victory. Also winner of the Sniper Speed Lone Star Tour opener at Abilene Speedway on Saturday, he’ll meet the final requirements for a $10,000 bonus by competing in the final two tour events Friday at Monarch Motor Speedway and Saturday at Kennedale Speedway Park.
“Whew! After starting back there in 17th, I didn’t know how that was going to end,” Abbey said from victory lane. “I saw him (Powers) coming and stood on it.”
Fourteenth starting Jeffrey Abbey, Derek Green and 27th starting Abe Huls completed the top five.
Sixty-eight drivers vied in the fourth installment of the Lone Star Tour, which had seen last-chance qualifying and main events postponed from Wednesday because of inclement weather. Westin Abbey qualified by winning his ‘B’ feature on Thursday.
Chad Schroeder and Powers took their turn up front in the main event, with Abbey into fifth by lap nine and scored second when the next circuit was scored.
Abbey was just ahead of Powers at the end of lap 11 and ran ahead of a succession of would-be challengers before the final caution with three to go.
Powers took second on the restart and came oh-so-close in denying Abbey the big win, his third of the tour and third in five starts in a new ride.
R.C. Whitwell was the $2,000 IMCA Modified winner after starting 10th and battling early visibility issues resulting from a loose hood. Rowdy Day checked out on the rest of the field in the $1,000 to win Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod feature, using every lane on the oval in the wire-to-wire victory.