Thorn Makes Late-Race Charge To Capture First Road Course Victory
Derek Thorn celebrates in Victory Lane at Sonoma after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Carneros 200.
Photo – Getty Images
Derek Thorn charged to the lead late in the event and pulled away in a green-white-checkered finish to win the Carneros 200 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday.
The victory on the 1.99-mile, ten-turn track marked the second win this season, fourth career victory and first road course win for the driver from Lakeport, CA.
Thorn, who finished second at Sonoma a year ago, appeared content to ride in third and save his tires through much of the race as front-runners Michael Self and Cameron Hayley battled for the lead.
“I think they burned up their rear tires,” Thorn said. “It wasn’t on purpose. When I finally got behind Hayley and Self, they were leaving black marks for 50 feet after they got back to the gas up off the corners and I was just kind of biding my time. It worked out for the best, them two being together. I’m glad the two have a rivalry, because it made it easier for me.”
Although he seemed to have his No. 6 Sunrise Ford/Lucas Oil/Eibach Ford in command of the event through the final laps, Thorn said he was not sure of getting the win until the finish.
“I was going into (Turn) 11 and I was like ‘please don’t wheel hop’,’’ he said. “It was nerve wracking when you’re out front like that. It doesn’t take much. This track was pretty hot and your back tires don’t have a lot of grip and your whole car is doing things it hasn’t done all day.”
Thorn became the sixth different leader of the day when he charged past Self on Lap 53. He pulled away in a late-race restart and then charged away again after the seventh caution of the day extended the race for a green-white-checkered finish. He crossed the finish line with a winning margin of 1.493 seconds.
Hayley slipped by Self on the final lap to take second.
“I definitely got as much as I could out of those tires at the end there,” said Hayley, who had won his third pole of the season earlier in qualifying and led 17 laps of the race.
Self, who was trying to extend his three-race win streak, expressed disappointment in finishing third after leading a race high 21 laps.
“We led a lot of laps,” he said. “We had an awesome car. I don’t know if I just got greedy or what it was. We just didn’t have any rear tires left. We burned them off after those last restarts. These guys ran hard. I thought Cameron had used his stuff up early. So I was kind of laughing. Well now he’s laughing.”
David Mayhew followed the trio in fourth, with Paulie Harraka finishing fifth. Completing the top-ten were Travis Milburn, Kelly Admiraal, Dylan Lypton, Eric Holmes and Dave Smith.
With the victory, Thorn regained the lead in the championship standings. He leads with 258 points over Self, with 255. Hayley is third with 247. Greg Pursley, who faded to finish 21st after running up front at Sonoma, is fourth in points at 225. Lupton is fifth at 218. Rounding out the top 10 are Carl Harr at 195, Taylor Cuzick at 185, Dylan Hutchison at 182, Brett Thompson at 182 and Daryl Harr at 178.
This was the sixth of 15 races on this year’s series schedule and the second of three road course events on tap in 2013.
The Carneros 200 is scheduled to air on SPEED on Thursday, July 18 at 3 p.m. ET.
The next event on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule is at Colorado National Speedway in Dacono, Colo., on July 27.
*From NASCARHomeTracks.com
written by Kevin W. Green
Derek Thorn is our next guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR Talk, Monday, July 1st at 9pm ET. Fans can call 347-996-5176 to take part in the Q&A segment with Derek during the LIVE broadcast.
