Collins has big night at Eastbound

Josh Collins held off a hard charging Wayne Walsh on the final lap to win the second stage of the Orangestore 75 NASCAR Division I race Saturday night at Eastbound International Speedway in Avondale.
Collins came from fifth place in the second segment and made a pass for the lead with less than 20-laps to go. A late caution bunched up the field and driver of the No. 23 black, grey and red machine held off 2017 NASCAR Division I champion Walsh for the victory. Mitchell Fahey worked his way through the pack for a third place finish.
In true Collins` fashion, the Placentia driver - who also races in the Pinty Series across Canada - treated the fans to a world class burnout to celebrate his victory.
Walsh took the checkered flag in the first segment as his No. 99 Dodge held off Collins for the victory.
It may have been a different story at the finish had it not been for the lap car of Dean Martin who held the inside lane which is the preferred way around Eastbound for most of the final lap. As Walsh and Collins entered turn three, Martin was pinned down on the bottom and despite Collins closing to Walsh`s bumper, he had no room to complete the pass.
Martin earned the pole for the Orangestore 75 by winning the first qualifying race of the day and Walsh was outside of row one by virtue of his victory in the second qualifier.
The field may be a little lighter Sunday for the Bandolero series Hanlon Realty Inex National following some highly-contested action in the track`s youngest division.
Defending champion Owen Groves cruised to victory in the 20-lap main event for the MNP Performance Series that was marred by a four-car crash and two additional cautions due to accidents.
Sara Thorne was second and challenged Groves all day before finally settling for second place. Joey Arsenault was third.
The mishaps started on the third lap when Kyrsten MacFarlane went for a spin following contact out of turn four.
Then six laps later, another incident occurred entering turn four that collected Nicholas Codner, McFarlane, Arsenault and the No. 59 car of Matthew Rideout. Both Codner and Rideout were taken to the garage on the wrecker and their participation in races on Sunday are up in the air at the time of this story being written.
Codner won the first qualifier in the Bandolero series and Groves took the checkered flag in the second.
Shane Collins had another big day taking home maximum points in the Atlantic Dodge Dealers Hobby Stock Series, winning the series main event, a 30-lap race over second place finisher Stephen Guest.
Collins had to hold off Guest late in the race as they battled the lap traffic of Cody Johnson in the No. 80 car. Guest, who had a stout car all day, was unable to get the low line on the track to complete the pass.
Kevin Lane grabbed the pole for the Atlantic Dodge Dealers Hobby Stock Series by winning the qualifying race and leading the pack down to the green flag for the 30 lap main.
Call it a summer sweep so far for Michael Neary and his No 23 MNR Racing Legends car.
Neary clobbered the field again to capture the 30 lap finale in the tune up event to the Legends INEX Nationals qualifier.
He regularly turned laps in the high 17 second range all day and easily defeated second place finisher Andrew Quinlan and Chris Cooper in third place.
Neary did get a solid challenge early from the No. 59 car of Chad Lawrence, who unfortunately had to bow out later in the race following a collision with the wall coming out of turn two. Neary and Lawrence also finished one-two in the qualifying race.
There is a just as much and more on the line on Sunday as drivers in the Bandolero and Legends divisions look to claim guaranteed berths for world championships at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October (Legends) and Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina in August (Bandolero).
Information on this race and tickets are available at eastboundpark.com, North Atlantic Orange Stores, or at the gates which open at 12 p.m. Sunday.

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