Laird crowns season champions

Late model driver Dan Byrnes saved his best for last.

The young and steadily improving Byrnes put forth his best effort of the season and was rewarded with the final checkered flag for the 2004 season at Laird International Raceway on Thursday night.

Byrnes started the feature race on the pole and held on to that position for the entire race. Despite having the field close in after a few caution flags, Byrnes displayed the poise of a veteran and did a masterful job on the restarts to hold his lead.

Byrnes captured his first ever feature win after the race was cut short by three laps due to the 11 p.m. noise curfew the track must adhere to.

With the win, Byrnes collected a first place trophy for claiming the feature on the season championship night.

Drivers in each division who finished first through third in their respective features were presented with trophies in front the fans on the front stretch.

Robert Sartini finished second while Rod Bolduc Jr. finished third.

Byrnes took time following the race to thank his mentor, Sartini, for his help and guidance throughout his racing career.

George Wilson won both late model heats while Bolduc edged Wilson and Chris Furkey in the four car dash.

Michael Gold, who was absent on the final night, had secured the track points championship two weeks ago.

In the factory stock division, David Slingsby earned his long awaited track championship after coming from the back to the front in the nine-car field to win the 20-lap feature over runner-up Steve Kent and third place driver John Fragale, who won both heats.

Slingsby has been close to winning the track championship the past two years but had been edged out late in the season.

Last year, Slingsby fell victim to champion Jason Praysner after losing to Parker Brockelbank by two points in one of most exciting points battles in LIR history in 2002.

In the modified division, Cory Furkey captured the feature race after overtaking track champion Kevin Oicle on the final lap. Randy Hache, who won the opening heat, finished third. Furkey also won the second heat.

Len Bibeau won the pure stock division's final feature of the season ahead of Norm Miller and Corey Diotte. Diotte improved his heat win streak to four straight with another pair of wins on Thursday.

Joe Addison maintained his points lead during the night to capture the track championship.

In the stock four division, Mike Savino claimed the track title after flying through the field to win the feature ahead of Gord Hunt and Dave King.

Scott Syrette won both his heats while Savino and Steve Baraluk took the checkered flags in the second group of heats.

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