CARNE SUPER IN UPIR TRIPLE CROWN FINALE

Full results and final points available at UPIR’s Motor Stats page: http://www.motorstats.com/TrackHome.php?trackId=251

ESCANABA, Mich. (August 21, 2010) – Even kryptonite wouldn’t have been able to stop Dan Carne Saturday afternoon. With a Super Man statue attached to his roof, Carne proved to be faster than a speeding bullet in the Small Car feature at Upper Peninsula International Raceway.

UPIR also determined four champions on the evening. Steve Labre was crowned the Triple Crown champion in the Small Cars. Nick Pinar, Paul Hosking and Brooke Mathias topped their respective divisions of Micro Sprints

Carne, who also won his heat race, started 12th in the Small Car feature field and patiently picked his way through traffic. While Carne began his ascent Robbie Iverson paced the field from his pole-position starting spot. Iverson broke away from second-place Rick Martin, who tangled with Bobby Rose on the second lap. Both Rose and Martin suffered damage and retired.

As Iverson started to put real estate between him and the rest of the 18-car pack, Jim Beauchamp slid to the inside of Chris Dupuis on the third lap. Beauchamp began the task of reeling in Iverson and caught the leader on lap nine. One lap later Beauchamp muscled his way past Iverson into the lead.

A caution on lap 11 erased Beauchamp’s lead over Iverson and the remaining field. Luke Sanville had worked his way to the third spot bringing Bret Widdis and Carne along into the top five.

On the restart Beauchamp, Sanville and Carne started on the inside line of a double-file format. After the green Sanville rocketed to the inside of Beauchamp, causing a three-wide situation with Iverson stuck on the high side. Sanville made contact with Beauchamp sending him out of the lead spot. Track officials penalized Sanville for rough driving.

Carne was able to capitalize on the penalty as he had followed Sanville into the second spot after the restart. Over the final seven laps Carne held off several challenges from Beauchamp, who was forced to settle for second. Ron Sanville and Matt Adams finished third and fourth after transferring from the last chance race and Iverson rounded out the top five.

Labre led Fran Berube by 13 points entering the event. Berube secured a sixth-place finish, but didn’t provide himself enough of a cushion with Labre’s eighth-place finish.

In the Micro Sprints both Nick Pinar and Paul Hosking were denied third consecutive feature wins.

Pinar did register a second place finish to wrap up the title in the 600 Micro Sprints, but couldn’t challenge Scott Degnan in the final laps.

The 600 Micro Sprint feature got off to a rocky start with a wild accident exiting turn two. Entering the first turn on lap one Ben Ives swung to the inside to make a three-wide pass. Ives could not hold his momentum and spun in the second turn. Mike Dolezal clipped the left front of Ives’ machine and flipped twice down the back stretch. He was unharmed. Neither car was able to continue.

Robbie Resch led the field off the restart, which was short-lived due to a stalled machine on lap three. Another caution fell on lap four when Mike Richer spun exiting turn two and collected Jay Baumler Jr.

With the 14-car field down to seven machines, Resch led Pinar and Degnan back to green. Degnan and Pinar swapped the second spot several times over the next three laps until Degnan secured the spot and set his sights on Resch.

Degnan did not need to provide Resch with a challenge to capture the lead. Resch spun exiting turn four on lap six, handing the lead to Degnan. Pinar came close to challenging, but was unable to close up on Degnan in the final laps. Steve Ives finished third, Jason Kressin fourth and Jordan Ives rounded out the top five.

A potential Triple Crown sweep was also in place for the 650 Micro Sprints. However, Paul Hosking, who was looking to complete the task, struggled early in the day with an ill-running machine in the heat race. Hosking was able to start the feature event on the outside of Karen Degnan.

Degnan secured the lead at the drop of the green with John Mathias swiping second from Hosking on the second lap. Mathias jumped away from the battle from second, leaving Degnan and Hosking locked in battle. The two exchanged the runner-up spot several times early in the race, but Degnan broke away in the latter stages.

Mathias was second in standings entering the afternoon, but Hosking’s third-place finish proved to be enough to wrap up the title.

Tanner Resch won his second consecutive Kids Micro Sprint feature. Crowd-favorite Jesse James Liss finished second. Brooke Mathias secured the championship.

Due to the success of the three-race Triple Crown, UPIR has added a fourth date to the 2010 schedule. The UPIR Fall Finale will take place on Saturday, Sept. 18. The Tough Trucks/Cars are scheduled to rejoin the Small Cars and Micro Sprints. A fourth division may be added, as well. More information about the event, including starting times, will be available shortly through the UPIR Web site.

UPIR is an abbreviated 1/8-mile multi-surfaced course carved out of the existing course at the Delta Co. Fairgrounds. A Triple Crown in 2010 was used to gage the interest of race fans in the area and to fund the efforts of reopening the facility in 2011 on a full-time basis as a multi-purpose motorsport facility featuring a 3/8-mile asphalt oval.

Rules and registration are available by contacting Boyd Widdis at 906-450-5112. For more information visit upirracing.blogspot.com or www.deltami.org.