PORT HARDY—After winning the main event and topping the points standings on opening day at Triport Speedway, Glen Day proclaimed, "It was a good day."
Runnerup Donnie Lawrence was somewhat more expansive.
"Any day you finish running, and all you have to do is wash (the car) up and bring it back, that's a good day of racing," Lawrence said.
That was the general consensus Sunday afternoon as the Triport Motor Sports Club kicked off the 2012 stock car racing season on the quarter-mile dirt oval. A modest field of seven cars began the day and, while three of them were sidelined by mechanical issues, none was irreparably damaged in a clean session of racing.
"I'm done for the day, but nothing's too broke," Paul Weeks said after rolling off the track with an oil leak 16 laps into the 25-lap main event.
Weeks brought two cars to the track and the second one fared somewhat better. By that time it was under the control of Daniel Hovey, whose own vehicle was the first forced to the pits with a broken transmission.
"I could have sat and watched," Hovey said. "But then I saw (Weeks's) No. 4 car sitting there and thought, 'I'm going racing.'"
The day's other casualty was the No. 15 car of track newcomer Ryan Doyle, the victim of a hole in the rear differential that left a trail of fluid on the track and forced him off one lap before Weeks made his exit in the main event.
"I've got the wrong gears anyway, so I'm not too broke up about it," said Doyle, who constructed the racer around a 1981 Chevy Monte Carlo and competed for just the second time at the speedway. "Otherwise, the car itself seems to run well."
Day, who also won the second heat race, took the lead for good with his pass of Lawrence, under the flagman's tower, 15 laps into the main. Lawrence and Justin Reusch both took turns chasing him until forced off with flat tires, leaving Hovey — Day's teammate racing a borrowed vehicle — as the final challenger for the checkered flag.
Hovey made a couple tries at an inside pass coming out of turn four, but rolled into the infield entering the final lap.
"I didn't have any power steering there," Hovey said. "I armstronged it the whole race. I just got tired."
Hovey had the top qualifying time in his own car before it was sidelined, with the top four qualifiers separated by just six-tenths of a second. Lawrence claimed the trophy dash, while Reusch won the first heat followed by Lawrence and Day.
Racing continues June 17 with the annual Father's Day points series. All fathers get free admission into the event, which begins at 1 p.m.