Chris Murray won his third Xtreme Dirt Midget Association of the season Saturday night at Bear Ridge Speedway extending his lead in the points race as he looks to reclaim the championship he won in 2023.
The old saying is that races aren’t won on the first lap, but Murray did his best to dispel that notion as he used an outside power move from the fourth row up to third on the first lap. Murray’s charge to the lead was delayed when the first caution flew for Damon Cote who had a mechanical issue and slowed to a stop. Murray wasted little time on the restart as he took first place from Keith Brown before the second lap was completed. Wayne Koehler was also making noise as he drove into 2nd place on lap three. The second caution flag came out on lap nine for a spin by Johnny Bruno. Koehler had slowly closed on Murray before the caution and the re-start gave him the opportunity to pressure the leader for a few laps. Koehler pulled alongside Murray at one point, but Murray’s car was too strong, and Koehler couldn’t make the pass. Murray slowly pulled away over the final laps to take the win. Koehler finished second, his best finish with the Xtreme DMA midgets. Will Hull dropped back to ninth on the first lap but steadily worked his way up through the field to take over third just past the half-way mark of the feature. Brandon Piastka and John Forlano rounded out the top five.
Murray has three wins and four second-place finishes in the past seven races in the Joe Mancini #76m.
John Egan and Nick Fretto were the heat winners.
The next Xtreme Dirt Midget Association race is at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT on Saturday, August 30.
Feature finish (20 laps): 1. Chris Murray, 2. Wayne Koehler, 3. Will Hull, 4. Brandon Piastka, 5. John Forlano, 6. Nick Fretto, 7. Keith Brown, 8. Dan Piastka, 9. Nikki Ouellette, 10. John Egan, 11. Travis Wilson, 12. Johnny Bruno, 13. Damon Cote
