ON SITE: Tim Turner fights to the bitter end to take Long John 100 at Unity

Yogi Berra would be proud of Tim Turner.

Proving further the old adage that "it’s never over ’til it’s over," Turner passed Scott Moore not once, but twice, over the final four laps to win the 100-lap Super Late Model feature at Unity Raceway on Sunday.

"I've raced at Unity for years, and you never win it until the last lap," an elated Turner said in victory lane. "You'll be on the last lap going into turn three, and boom, there you go. Until it's over, it's never over."

The race, part of the track’s season-ending 20^th annual Long John event, was the first Super Late Model race held here since a June 2007 race for the PASS North Series. Before Unity abolished the division as part of its weekly program the year before that, Turner called the place home and won consecutive track championships in 1998 and 1999.

But on Sunday it looked like Turner would have to settle for second. Moore appeared to be setup for the win with a great restart on lap 96. There were just five cars on the track and only five laps remaining.

A lapped car slowed Moore on the backstretch, however, and Turner pounced to take the lead. That was short-lived, as Moore rallied back for the lead with two to go.

Turner never stopped pressing, muscling his way under Moore in turn one and emerging with the lead a half a lap from the finish.

"I just drove it down in there and kind of (nudged) him, kind of to say, ‘OK, I’m here. You go out there now,’" said Turner, who could not remember the last time he won a race and who had not been on the Unity track since finishing on the podium in a PASS Outlaw race in the summer of 2006. "You’ve got to go 100 percent here. I love this place."

Moore had seen Turner use the outside groove to his advantage and chose to try and run out there in the closing circuits.

"All of a sudden we got in lapped traffic," Moore said. "I went high and Tim went low, and that’s all it took. But, hey, you win some that way and you lose some that way."

It was hard luck for Moore, who inherited the lead on lap 57 – after pole-sitter Scott Chubbuck inexplicably slowed on the frontstretch with a comfortable advantage.

Turner’s double-bid for the win proved a thrilling ending to a lackluster race, one filled with cautions and had been shortened to just 100 laps when the car count was unexpectedly low. Just 12 cars made the starting field.

Comments

[Onyx]

"The race, part of the track’s season-ending 20th annual Long John event, was the first Super Late Model race held here since the 2006 season finale for the PASS North Series"

Typo in this article - It was actually the first SLM since June of 2007 PASS race...

[Joe Horner]

How could you call it Lackluster? Tim spun out and went from last back to second. His driving was incredible. I guess the author was watching a different car and overlooked Tims unbelievable comeback.

From TB:

Umm, did you see the first 95 laps of the race?