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ESS: Kris Dow wins Merrittville race

Kris Dow Becomes First Female ESS Feature Winner Ever. by Dean Reynolds THOROLD, ONT. - History was made Saturday night at the Merrittville Speedway as Byron, N.Y.'s Kris Dow became the first female feature winner in the 17 year history of the ...

Kris Dow Becomes First Female ESS Feature Winner Ever.
by Dean Reynolds

THOROLD, ONT. - History was made Saturday night at the Merrittville Speedway as Byron, N.Y.'s Kris Dow became the first female feature winner in the 17 year history of the Empire Super Sprints. The talented 1999 rookie of the year started her family owned #80 on the outside pole and lead all 20 laps to collect the very popular win in front of a enthusiastic Canadian crowd.

"Wow, is this a relief!!! Finally we got a win, believe me, it was a long time coming!" said the very happy victor. "The car was just awesome all night, I could run hard no matter where I was on the track. What a night!"

Dow opened up a big lead early, survived three cautions and late race lapped traffic to pick up the win. She became the 14th different winner in ESS sanctioned events so far this season.

"The cautions really didn't worry me too much because I knew it was still early in the race. I knew that I had to just run my own race and not make any mistakes." noted Krissy on her run. "The lapped traffic really wasn't that bad either, I slowed down a bit and that gets you nervous because you just don't know who's behind you. Luckily I didn't see anyone along side me so I guess I went fast enough."

Dow lead Quebec native Alain Bergeron for the first 11 laps before veteran Bobby Podolak took over the runnerup slot. As the final caution was on lap nine, the rest of the event went caution free where the slower cars came into play. Podolak was gaining some ground and was hoping to maybe make a last lap bid to pass Dow for his second win of the 2000 campaign.

On that last lap however, Podolak jumped the cushion and that allowed Lance Yonge to slip by for second. But there was too much distance between Yonge and Dow for any battle to the checkered flag. Even though Kris is the lone girl amoungst the boys, everyone gave her a big "thumbs up" as they passed her in victory lane.

"I really didn't think about being the first female to win with ESS until they said something in victory lane. That kind of makes this night a little extra special for me." said Dow who won many times in micro-sprints at the Lime Rock Speedway in Western, N.Y. "I just have to thank my family and crew for everything. To put all the effort in what they do so me and my brother (Steve, a two-time feature winner this year) can run the ESS tour is just amazing. I can honestly tell you that this just might be one the best nights of my life right now, to win in ESS is something I'll never forget."

Yonge brought his Mal Lane owned #5 home in second in which he closed in on point leader Mike Woodring going into next weeks final point show at Little Valley. Podolak's fine run netted him third place money over Bubby Kerrick and Rob Dietrick. Rounding out the top ten were, Scott Holcomb, Rick Wilson, who earned the Walt's Hobby Hard Charger bonus, Dan Kaszubinski, Doug Emery and Steve Dow.

The first caution was on lap five when Bill Coffey, Woodring, Kaszubinski and Keith Dempster got involved off turn four. Kaszubinski and Dempster returned to action, Woodring made two pit stops but still came back to finish 11th, Coffey was out for the night. On lap eight, Mike Stelter spun his sprinter and one lap later, Stelter's front end gave out ending his night.

Taking the Brodix Cylinder Heads heat events were Podolak, Bergeron and Kris Dow. The Winters Performance Porducts/Walt's Hobby Dash was won by Bergeron.

ESS NOTES: A total of 22 sprints made up the pit log for the third and final visit to the D-shaped oval...With his 11th place finish, Woodring won the Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar/LeBrie Design Canadian Invasion points over Yonge and Emery...Rick Wilson's dash effort has him now tied with Kaszubinski for the Walt's Hobby Dash Series points and the $500 top prize for the title...After Friday night's wild flip, no one thought that the Ron Buckner built sprinter driven by Mike Stelter would see another race. Alas, Buckner and crew had the coil over machine at Merrittville which amazed many...Next Saturday will be the last full point show for the Empire Super Sprint Tour 2000 which will be held at the Little Valley Speedway. <pre> RESULTS: Heat 1 - Bob Podlak, George Ely, Mike Woodring, Bubby Kerrick, Dan Kaszubinski, Bill Coffey. Heat 2 - Alain Bergeron, Steve Dow, Lance Yonge, Rob Dietrick, Mike Stelter, Don Sharp Jr. Heat 3 - Kris Dow, Rick Wilson, Doug Emery, Randy Years, Scott Holcomb, Ray Preston. Winters Performance Products/Walt's Hobby Dash - Bergeron. A-MAIN - KRIS DOW, Yonge, Podolak, Kerrick, Dietrick, Holcomb, Wilson, Kaszubinski, Emery, S. Dow, Woodring, Bergeron, R.C. Faigle, Years, Sharp Jr., Preston, Bobby Seidel, Tim Zimbardi, Keith Dempster, Stelter, Coffey, Ely. Lap Leader - K. Dow 1-20. Walt's Hobby Hard Charger - Wilson (7 pos.) $50. Vicomp Graphics Halfway - K. Dow $50. Winner's Bonuses: Car-Mate Dealers $50, Hank's Performance Products $50, Total Seal $50, Tire Comp. East $75, Griffin Thermal Products $50, Bicknell Racing Products $35, Behrent's Performance Warehouse $30, Red's Speed Shop $25. Other Bonuses: Weld Racing Hard Luck - Stelter $75. Design 500 - Seidel $100, Dietrick $50. C&R Racing Radiator - Bergeron $50. Bailey Racing Products - Kerrick $35. Total Seal - S. Dow $10. Thunder Mtn. Wings - Podolak $20. Powder Birns - Faigle $10. Dave Ely Racing - Woodring, Yonge, Wilson $10. Lauterborn Electric - Podolak $10.

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