Sweet Victory
BUFFALO TWP —Sweet victory ... in more than one respect.
World of Outlaws star Sprint driver Brad Sweet captured the checkered flag and the $25,000 prize that came with it in the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup XXX Tuesday night at Lernerville Speedway.
Sweet entered the event leading the WoO points standings and is the two-time defending circuit champion, but winning the Silver Cup had eluded him in previous years. He placed third here last year.
“Thanks, fans, for coming out,” said Sweet, who gave a very short interview as heavy rains fell on the track immediately following the race. “I can't thank my guys enough.”
Sweet took over first place from local standout Sye Lynch on the 12th lap, withstood a restart after lap 16 and paced the field for the final 29 laps.
He finished well ahead of runner-up Donny Schatz, last year's champion. Aaron Reutzel was third, David Gravel fourth and James McFadden fifth.
Lynch, an Apollo resident who currently leads the Lernerville points standings, stole the show until surrendering the top spot in the feature.
He had the fastest lap during qualifying (12.543 seconds), won his heat and earned the pole position for the feature. He opened up a sizable lead before a restart on the seventh lap brought him back to the pack.
He was out of the top 10 over the last 10 laps of the race and placed 15th.
“We started really well tonight, hit our marks and the setup perfectly,” Lynch said. “We wouldn't change anything about the beginning of the night.
“At the end of the night, the track did something we weren't originally expecting. It held moisture the whole night and with it being just one division here and only 30-some cars, we weren't expecting it to go away as much as it did.”
After losing the lead, Lynch was able to maintain a top-five spot until the restart on lap 17.
“With the best in the world, you can't make a mistake,” he said. “We weren't here to salvage anything else, we were here to win. We were trying to hit a home run and it ended up not working out, but that's what it takets to win with these guys.
“We learned a lot and will try to do better next time.”
