Billy Dunn Gets Second Place Finish in Gander Mountain 150 Race on Saturday at Syracuse; Top Ten in Rain Shortened S.E.F. 200 on Sunday

There were plenty of highlights of the 41^st running of Super DIRT Week for Billy Dunn.  He was amongst the fastest cars all weekend long, he finished second in the Gander Mountain 150 Small Block Modified race on Saturday afternoon, and battled his way back into the top ten in the rain shortened S.E.F 200 Big Block main event on Sunday.

For the past two season’s Billy Dunn has proved to be a perennial contender at Super DIRT Week.  After timing 15^th fastest out of 65 cars during time trials, Dunn started his qualifying heat race on Friday night from the fifth position and quickly moved into third place.  Lap after lap Billy did everything he could to get into second place.  With just three laps remaining, Dunn made a power move to the outside to take second, and at the same time the leader began to slow, and Dunn was able to pass both cars in dramatic fashion.  For the second year in a row, Dunn was a winner in the Friday night triple 20 qualifying heats for the Big Block Modifieds.  Dunn also scored a third place finish in his 358 Modified qualifying heat race.

On Saturday, Dunn’s Big Block Modified sat idle, as the 358 Modifieds took centre stage for the Gander Mountain 150.  Billy started the race from inside row three in the fifth starting spot.  After a caution on lap 42, Dunn stayed out while many others made a pit stop, and he was now in command of the race.  Billy held the lead until lap 52 when he made his mandatory pit stop.  With just under 100 laps to go, Dunn began to work his way back up through the field.  The caution was back out 20 laps later, and he was already back up to 13^th place, and continued to move up the leaderboard when the race continued.  With 100 laps into the race, Dunn had now moved back inside the top ten, running in the ninth spot.  Over the final 50 laps, Billy continued to charge forward, and would end the race with an outstanding second place performance.

“I was hoping for maybe a few more cautions there at the end to get a few more laps (beyond 150),” said Dunn, who was, of course, named the Rookie of the Race. “I know I had a little more gas than the rest of them because we made our pit stop much later.  It is pretty cool for all three of us Watertown guys finish in the top three.  Congratulations to Tim McCreadie and Tim Fuller on their great runs today”.

On Sunday, Billy started the SEF 200 from the sixth starting spot.  He battled inside the top ten for the first 20 laps.  Dunn made his pitstop near the 50 lap mark, and battled back.  With a mandatory pit stop after lap 100 for a tire change, and rain lurking in the distance, having the right strategy would be the key to success in this years 200 lap main event.  With 113 laps in the books, the race was called due to rain, and Dunn was running in the 10^th starting position.

“It is nice to have a top ten finish in this race, but we wanted more then that”, says Dunn.  “We had a strong car, and we hoped the race could have gone the full distance so we could have seen just how good of car we had towards the end of the race but it just didn’t work out”, says Dunn.

This coming weekend, Billy will be at Brockville Speedway.  He will run the 358 Modified Mr. DIRTcar Series race on Saturday afternoon, and will be back in the his own Big Block Modified on Sunday as part of the 1000 Islands RV DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals.  Billy’s 2012 season will conclude November 1-3 at the World Finals in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dunn would like to thank Number One Speed, FastLube of Watertown, SUNY Canton, Frosty’s Ice Cream, American Traditions Motorsports, Finger Lakes Auto Machine, Jiffy Dumpster and Bicknell Racing Products for their continued support for the 2012 racing season.

                                                                                       

For more information on Billy Dunn and the Number One Speed race team, please check out our website, www.billydunn49.com.