Kelligrew takes the win at Phoenix
Posted by karl78 on April 14 2010 01:07:25
In his first race at GOBRL Kelligrew qualified 2nd but wasted no time moving to the point, where he would remain for the majority of the first half of the race. Caution flew on lap 46 following a freak accident involving Karl Bernard which sent him flipping through the air through the tri-oval. This gave the crews a much needed opportunity to repair damage and get some fresh rubber. This opportunity was not wasted by Pole-sitter Benji Bollinger. When the race restarted on lap 51 Bollinger was 3rd, he charged his way to the front and drove to the inside of Kelligrew to assume the lead. He maintained the lead until peeling off on lap 75 for a green flag pit stop. This put Kelligrew back in the lead with points leader Jody Morrison right on his bumper. The pair stayed out a few more laps then ducked in leaving Ron Larkin up front. Those few extra laps would prove costly for Kelligrew and Morrison. By the time green flag stops cycled through they had fallen to 3rd and 4th respectively. Bernard got by and they also lost a lot of time on the track to Bollinger.
The caution came out on lap 89 ending the day for Joe Exline as he took his wounded machine to the garage. This time Bollinger over shot his pit box allowing Bernard and Kelligrew to overtake him. After a long clean up the race restarted on lap 97 with Bernard up front this time. Another spin, another caution. This time most of the field stayed out but points leader Jody Morrison ducked into the pits looking for 4 fresh tires looking to mount a charge. Unfortunately after going green Morrisons #13 Jesus Toyota made contact with newcomer Jim Collins sending the #04 spinning through the tri-oval. Another long caution set up a green-white-checker finish. On the final lap Kelligrew caught a run on the #16 and passed him for the lead through turns 1 and 2. Bernard slammed the door on Bollinger going into the final set of turns holding on to second while Kelligrew took the checkered lag. Morrison finished 4th followed by Larkin, Collins and Bob Rosetti.