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May 12th, 2009
Mike Gaughan cruises to victory in the SAFER Barrier Project 100 at Richmond! - by Charli Brown
Sunoco
SK Modified Series graduate Mike Gaughan led 94 of the race's 100 laps
to close out the 2010 Spring Season with a win at Richmond
International Raceway, Wednesday night.
Richmond, VA - Westfield,
Massachusetts driver Mike Gaughan led 94 of the race's 100 laps to cruise to
his first career Whelen Modified Online Tour victory in the SAFER
Barrier Project 100 at the Richmond International Raceway, Wednesday
night.
Mike Gaughan set fast time in his High Speed Radio Dodge to win the NPGPro.com
Pole Award with a lap time of 20.934 seconds at 128.977-Miles Per Hour.
Gaughan's pole winning speed would also set a new qualifying track
record for the Whelen Modified Online Tour at Richmond. Chris O'Shell
was second fastest, with Charli Brown, Scott Bryant and Rich Warden
rounding out the top five.
Mike Gaughan and Chris O'Shell led the field to the final green flag of
the 2010 Whelen Modified Online Tour Spring Season with Gaughan getting
the advantage as they raced to turn one. Third place starter Charli
Brown dove to the inside of Chris O'Shell as they raced through turns
one and two and the two would race wheel to wheel for the second spot
over the course of the first two laps before Brown took the second spot
on lap three.
Gaughan continued to lead to the race's first caution flag at lap 7 for
Rick Underwood coming to a stop at the entrance of pit road in turn
four with engine troubles in his Castrol Chevrolet. Langhorne Race of
Champions winner AJ Griffin led the first round of pit stops while
giving up the fifth position with Doug Beaulieu, current Whelen
Modified Online Tour point leader Keith Joseph and Rich Warden
following.
As the Chevrolet Monte Carlo pace car crossed the start-finish line to
complete lap 8, Mike Gaughan led Charli Brown, Chris O'Shell and Scott
Bryant. Keith Joseph won the race off pit road to line up fifth with AJ
Griffin, Doug Beaulieu and Rich Warden lining up eighth for the race's
first restart at lap 12.
Mike Gaughan again jumped out to the lead as Charli Brown worked the
high lane with Chris O'Shell downstairs working the bottom groove as
the two raced to turn three for the second position. With the Spring
Season championship on the line, Brown conceded the second spot to
Chris O'Shell's Toyota as Keith Joseph began working over Brown's
machine for third.
Charli Brown saved his NOS Energy Drink Toyota from a big wiggle in the
loose stuff off turn four as Keith Joseph led Scott Bryant and the rest
of the field past Brown's machine down the front stretch as they
completed lap 14. But that wouldn't be the end of Charli Brown's
troubles as AJ Griffin tried to squeeze under him and forced him into
the first turn wall as they raced back to turn one.
Chris O'Shell hounded race leader Mike Gaughan and as they completed
the race's quarter distance at lap 25, Gaughan held a three-car length
lead over Chris O'Shell, Keith Joseph, Doug Beaulieu and AJ Griffin.
Scott Bryant was sixth with Rich Warden and Charli Brown rounding out
the top eight.
Scott Bryant brought out the race's second caution with an engine
failure as he crossed the line to complete lap 33. Charli Brown would
earn the "free pass" back on to the lead lap and Mike Gaughan led the
field to pit road for the second round of pit stops. Keith Joseph
stayed out behind the Chevrolet pace car to earn five bonus points as
Mike Gaughan led Chris O'Shell, Doug Beaulieu and AJ Griffin to pit
road for service at lap 35.
The race's second restart came at lap 39 with Mike Gaughan continuing
to lead the way over Chris O'Shell, AJ Griffin, Keith Joseph and Rich
Warden. Doug Beaulieu lined up seventh with Charli Brown the last car
on the lead lap in eighth.
At the KING Design Halfway lap,
Mike Gaughan continued to hold a half straightaway lead over a
three-car battle for the second position that included Keith Joseph,
Doug Beaulieu and Chris O’Shell. All eyes were closely on this
battle as Keith Joseph held a slight 5-point lead over Chris
O’Shell for the 2010 Spring Season championship heading into this
event.
Mike Gaughan led the next five laps until the race’s fourth and
final caution flew at lap 55 for AJ Griffin losing the handle on his
Dave’s Auto Sales Chevrolet in turns three and four and making
hard contact with the SAFER barrier.
Attrition had certainly begun to take it’s toll as race leader
Mike Gaughan led the remaining six cars on to pit road for the final
round of pit stops while completing lap 57. Doug Beaulieu elected to
only take two right side tires and beat Mike Gaughan off pit road for
the lead while Chris O’Shell, Keith Joseph and Charli Brown all
took four fresh tires for the run to the finish.
Doug Beaulieu led the field to the restart at lap 61 with Mike Gaughan
to his outside as the two leaders raced to turn one. The big moment
that everybody was waiting for came as the two leaders raced off turn
two for the lead. Mike Gaughan went to work on the high lane to take
over the lead and Doug Beaulieu lost the handle on his CJ racing
machine and half spun in front of the rest of the field as they raced
off turn two!
Amazingly enough, everybody missed Beaulieu’s spinning car and
the race stayed under green with the two point leaders racing wheel to
wheel for the second position as they headed to turn three. Chris
O’Shell worked the bottom lane and cleared Keith Joseph for the
second position as they flashed across the start finish line to
complete lap 62 while Charli Brown looked under Keith Joseph as they
raced to turn one.
With just 25 laps to go, Doug Beaulieu worked his way past Charli Brown
for the fourth position as they raced to turn one, but race leader Mike
Gaughan held a two-car length lead over Chris O’Shell who was
doing all he could to find a way past and into the lead with Keith
Joseph riding a distant third.
Chris O’Shell inched closer to Mike Gaughan’s rear bumper
as lap 90 clicked off the scoreboard as he got within a car length and
the fans were on their feet cheering as you could visibly see the two
leaders giving it everything they had over the race’s closing
stages.
But Chris O’Shell’s late race charge would see him falter
back as Mike Gaughan cruised under the double Sunoco checkered flags
for his first career SIModified.com Whelen Modified Online Tour victory
over Chris O’Shell, Keith Joseph, Doug Beaulieu and Charli Brown.
By virtue of his third place finish, Keith Joseph wins his first career
SIModified.com Whelen Modified Online Tour championship for the 2010
Spring Season. Chris O’Shell finished just 5 points back in
second, while Charli Brown, Scott Bryant and Rich Warden rounded out
the top five.
The SIModified.com Whelen Modified Online Tour will now take a two-week
break before resuming at the Iowa Speedway on June 2nd, 2010. Summer
Season registrations are now open in the “General League
Discussion” forum and several former Whelen Modified Online Tour
champions have already filed entries for the 2010 Summer Season
campaign.
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