WILLIAMSTON, S.C. – Troy DeCaire picked up his first Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Engine Pro victory in nearly seven years with a dominant performance Saturday night at Anderson Motor Speedway.
Saturday’s finale fared far better than the opener Friday night. Friday’s event involved several multi-car incidents, including a lap one pile-up that sent two cars flipping. In addition, two separate battles for the lead resulted in damaged cars and egos.
Saturday’s finale didn’t resemble the previous night’s carnage-filled program in the least.
DeCaire started sixth in the 30-lap feature that saw 11 cars take the green due to availability of cars after the previous night’s event. In typical DeCaire fashion, he jumped to the outside on the green flag and made it three-wide going into turn one. By the time DeCaire exited turn two he was already in second behind race leader and Friday night winner Joe Liguori. Four laps later, DeCaire took command of the event and never looked back.
DeCaire finished 6.598 seconds ahead of Liguori and built nearly a half-lap advantage over third-place finisher Jimmy McCune. Rounding out the top five were Anthony McCune and Jacob Dolinar.
Nolan Allison was the night’s fast qualifier with a lap of 13.571 seconds.
“We haven’t run a lot of 410 races in a while,” explained DeCaire, whose last Must See Racing win was at Berlin Raceway on Aug. 23, 2014, in victory lane. “I had a couple of them taken from us lately I feel like. Finally, it feels good to close the deal here.”
DeCaire’s early charge to the front may have been the difference.
“This place is really hard to pass on. I feel like passing is at a premium here, especially when you can air it out. It sticks really good in the first turn at a lot of places,” DeCaire said. “I really worked on that all day. I didn’t necessarily know I was gonna start on the outside. On the start I got over the top of the right front of the No. 48 and he gave me the lane. It got a little close with the No. 7. But to eliminate four cars in the first corner, they say you can’t win it on the first lap, but you can save a little tire.”
The series will be back in action May 28-29 at Kalamazoo Speedway for the inaugural American Speed U.S. Nationals, which offers a $5,000 payday.
The finish:
Troy DeCaire, Joe Liguori, Jimmy McCune, Anthony McCune, Jacob Dolinas, Nolan Allison, Steve Surniak, Tom Jewell, Bobby Koisarski, Joshua Sexton, Rick Holley.