INNISFIL, Ontario (July 3, 2019) — Continuing to get faster each week paid off for Spencer-Walt Motorsports on Sunday afternoon at Sunset Speedway, as Rick Spencer-Walt parked the No. 31 Late Model in victory lane.
The speed was there right from the get go in qualifying, as Spencer-Walt qualified second for the first 35-lap feature with a lap of 14.799 seconds. Starting on the outside of the front row, the past Late Model champion would grab the lead on Lap 1. He would not immediately cruise away from the field, challenged by fellow front runner Travis Hallyburton through the early stages. Though with a car strong on the long haul, he was able to stretch the gap with each lap put down.
With no cautions through the second half, Spencer-Walt was able to maintain the gap, picking up his first checkered flag of the 2019 season.
“I love running Travis,” Spencer-Walt said in victory lane. “Travis and I have been running a long time out here and have a good time doing it. I definitely backed my corners up a bit there. I thought when I cleared him on the restart, I’d be in a little bit better position than I was.
“Jade (Franklin) was spotting for me and he did a good job telling me when he was inside of me so I gave him room. I know he can roll the inside really well, so you just keep them pinched down here and we had a better car than what we showed at the front. Once we took off, we could conserve a bit.”
The invert for the second feature would see Spencer-Walt start from the 12th position, with him beginning to move forward immediately. He would work his way up to sixth by Lap 5, before making a pass three laps later to crack the top-five. The progress continued with Spencer-Walt passing Billy Zardo for fourth on Lap 16, remaining there until the race’s second caution at Lap 23.
Restarting on the outside of row two with 12 laps to go, he would get up to third on the restart before the next caution flag. He then got another good restart, moving up into second with eight laps to go. Through the final laps, he would reel in race leader Gord Shepherd and was all over the back bumper of the No. 10s, but was unable to find a way by before the checkered flag was flown. As a result, he crossed the finish line with a second-place finish.
To date, with six features now in the books for the 2019 campaign, Spencer-Walt has scored a win, four runner-ups and a seventh. As a result, he currently leads the track division standings.
Spencer-Walt will be back in action on Saturday, July 6 for the next night of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I competition at Sunset Speedway.
The Eldon Wallis owned team is proud to receive sponsorship this season from Simcoe Sewer and Water, Gohydrovac.ca, Jim Wilson Chevrolet, Auto Trim Design, Speedy Auto Glass Orillia, Byer’s Equipment Motorsports, Orser Technical Services, Heidi’s RV Superstore, GreenSteelRoof.ca, HOTC, and EPIC Racewear.
Keep up with Rick Spencer-Walt and Spencer-Walt Motorsports by liking their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Walt-Motorsports/524817640964689?fref=ts and following Rick Spencer-Walt on twitter at https://twitter.com/Rwalt31.
Press Release by Ashley McCubbin / AM Marketing – ashleymccubbin17@gmail.com
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