McDonald scores Independence 35 at Mohawk Raceway; Swamp, Mere, Forbes also score wins

AKWESASNE, NY -- Brian McDonald made a triumphant return to Mohawk International Raceway (MIR) as he held off Carey Terrance to win the Independence 35 on Friday night in the Frenchie’s Chevrolet 358 Modifieds presented by Burke Excavating and Demolition. Jody Swamp scored his first Action Race Parts Pro Stock win of the season, Scott Mere scored his second Bandit win of the season and Preston Forbes won the SUNY Canton Street Stocks in his first ever appearance at the track.

Brian McDonald made his first appearance of the 2009 season at Mohawk Raceway a memorable one as he held off several challenges from opening night winner Carey Terrance to win the Independence 35 for the 358 Modifieds. McDonald, a former MIR 358 Modified champion as well as a winner in the Empire Super Sprints last season at MIR, grabbed the lead on a restart midway through the event. This race was the second event in the Frenchie’s Chervolet American Revolution series--Terrance, by virtue of his win in the first race in the series and his runner-up finish in the Independece 35, retains the point lead in the mini-series, with the third and final round of the series set for Friday, September 4th.

Perry Francis grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag in the Modifieds and opened a solid lead, but a caution on lap five for the stopped car of Ryan Helm tightened up the field. The restart was decisive as Terrance, McDonald and Mitch Jock all freight-trained past Francis and set off a three-wide battle for the top spot. Terrance pulled ahead, with McDonald tight on his back bumper. Terrance set a quick pace until a lap 14 caution for Simon Perrault, who’d stopped on the speedway after clipping an infield uke tire and shearing off his left front tire.

McDonald and Terrance battled side-by-side on the restart, with McDonald pulling ahead and opening up a four-car length lead over Terrance, while Roy Tarbell shot past Mitch Jock for third. As McDonald put laps up on the scoreboard, Terrance steadily closed the gap. By lap 25, Terrance pulled alongside McDonald to challenge for the lead, with the drivers leaning on each other’s side rails as they battled on the frontstretch, with McDonald again pulling ahead. The caution waved on lap 28 for the stopped racers of Brad Shova and Ryan Helm. As the green flag flew, McDonald maintained the lead, despite Terrance making runs both high and low to try to get the top spot. Terrance made a daring charge to the inside going into turn four on the final lap, pulling alongside McDonald and almost completing the pass, but McDonald maintained his momentum and sped on to cross the finish line first. Terrance hounded McDonald to the finish line, with Tarbell, Jock and

Francis completing the top five.

In the Action Race Parts Pro Stocks, everyone was watching to see if Louie Jackson could score his fourth straight feature win, but his #18 broke a ball joint on the opening lap, sending him to the pits and ending his night. With victory lane certain to see a new face, the battle was fierce as Dion Oakes took the early race lead, with Jody Swamp quickly moving to the runner-up spot. A couple of early cautions kept the field bunched up. Swamp powered to the lead on a lap seven restart, while Dave “Bulldog” Bissonnette moved into the runner-up spot.

A final caution on lap 15 gave Bissonnette a chance to challenge for the top spot, but Swamp stayed on the throttle and held off the Bulldog to grab his first win of the season. Bissonnette scored another top five finish, followed by Dave Papineau, Roch Aubin (coming from the rear of the field after being involved in an early caution) and Dion Oakes.

Preston Forbes won the SUNY Canton Street Stocks in his first ever appearance at Mohawk Raceway, rolling to victory lane and holding off Modified veteran Del LeGrow. The race was a rough and tumble affair that was plagued by numerous caution flags and a lap one red flag after Mike Benedict barrell-rolled his car on the front stretch. Benedict walked away from the incident but was transported by ambulance crews for observation.

Scott Mere was declared the winner in the Bandits, his second feature win of the season. Joey Foster was the first car across the finish line but he was penalized several positions for passing before the green on the final restart. Harold LaVair finished second in his first appearance of the season, with Brad Fish scoring a season-best third place finish.

Next Friday night, July 17th, SUNY Canton presents “Full Fender Frenzy.” The Action Race Parts Pro Stocks will be featured with a 50 lap DIRTcar Mr. DIRT Pro Stock tour feature event paying $1,500 to win. This will be the biggest race for the Pro Stocks in the history of Mohawk International Raceway. The SUNY Canton Street Stocks will have a 25-lap shoot-out paying $700 to win, while the Bandit division will have an extra-distance 15-lap feature paying $200 to win. Racing begins at 7:45 PM. The Modified division will have the evening off so the MIR regulars can attend the Lucas Oil Canadian 358 Series race at Audodrome Granby.

FRENCHIE’S CHEVROLET DIRTcar 358 MODIFIEDS: Brian McDonald, Carey Terrance, Roy Tarbell, Mitch Jock, Perry Francis, Roy Delormier, Casey Swamp, Dave Heaslip, Todd Stewart, Mark Smoke, Ryan Jacobs, Billy Cook, Brad Shova, Ryan Helm, Simon Perrault, Clayton Benedict. DNS: John Lazore.

ACTION RACE PARTS DIRTcar PRO STOCKS: Jody Swamp, Dave Bissonnette, Dave Papineau, Roch Aubin, Dion Oakes, Rod Tarbelle, Gene Tarbell, Billy Woodward Jr., Travis Back, Ricky Thompson, Harvey Arquette Jr., #22, Mike Arquiett, Louie Jackson

SUNY CANTON STREET STOCKS: Preston Forbes, Del LeGrow, Mike Allen, Mike White, Jay Montour, Jerry Jock, Mike Benedict, Preston Mossow

BANDITS: Scott Mere, Harold LaVair, Brad Fish, Scott Kocher, Tammy Rogers, Justin White, Cory Helm, Joey Foster, Josh Jock, Rick Tiernan, Larry Goodspeed, Nolan Swamp, Henry Lamica, Rick Finch, Andrew Fish. DNS: Gary Sharlow

Mohawk International Raceway is located in Akwesasne, NY, one mile east of the International Bridge to Cornwall, ONT. From Route 37, turn south onto Frogtown Road. Racing is held on Friday nights from May through September, featuring DIRTcar 358 Modifieds and Pro Stocks, Street Stocks and Bandits.