HOOTERS 250 Race Day Updates
By Paul Warner
Saturday, July 26, 2008 10:38:00 AM

Gordon makes all the right moves in home-track win

Point leader wins second straight race, third of season

Jennerstown, Pa.-Fast cars don’t always win, and good pit strategy doesn’t always guarantee success. But when you put them together, they can add up to a dominating performance, which is exactly what Benny Gordon turned in on Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway.

Gordon won the pole, short-pitted on Lap 30 and retook the lead for good on Lap 115 en route to victory in the HOOTERS 250 presented by Eaton Electrical at Jennerstown Speedway.

"I couldn’t have had a better car tonight," said Gordon, driver of the No. 66n Samuel Metals Ford. "The team was perfect. It was just a perfect weekend. We couldn’t have asked for a better place for it to happen."

Though Gordon won from the pole and led the most laps, Gary St. Amant put a scare into the DuBois, Pa., driver on a late-race restart by jumping alongside going into Turn 1 with 20 laps to go.

"He definitely got my attention," said Gordon, who took home $13,700. "It was a pretty cool move by Gary. He probably thinks I ran him up the track in [Turns] 1 and 2, but really I didn’t. I went in the there and the air off his car made my car not turn and just went right up the track. I kind of glad it did, because it could’ve been trouble if he got by me."

St. Amant’s move ended up costing him second position to Derek Kale, but that wasn’t on his mind after the race.

"We came here for one reason: Win this race for Randy Birk," said St. Amant, driver of the No. 7n JEGS.com/Speedco Chevrolet. "He sponsored our racecar for a lot of years, and he passed away a few months ago. Second wasn’t going to be good enough; I was going to drive it into the wall before I finished second."

After getting by St. Amant, Kale closed on Gordon as the laps wore down. But when the checkered flag waved, Kale, who led 39 laps, finished .374 seconds behind Gordon.

"I felt like if we had 10 more laps, we could have got to Benny," said Kale, driver of the No. 22n Heritage Equipment Chevrolet. "We had something for him, at least. It was a great race for us."

Derrick Kelley, driver of the No. 21n NGA Hooters Golf Tour Ford, posted his best run of the season by coming home fourth.

Jeff Agnew, driver of the No. 73n Team 7 Chevrolet, completed the top five.

Brett Butler, driver of the No. 99n Verve Energy Drink Ford, was the only other leader in the race. Butler led 44 laps in the middle stages of the event before being overtaken by Gordon.

Mikey Kile, driver of the No. 65n VisViva Energy Drink Chevrolet, picked up the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race and $1,000 for his sixth-place finish.

Final Results...