Santos Tops Battle Of The Bobbys At Lancaster

LANCASTER, N.Y. (June 1, 2024) – The “Bobby and Bobby Show” Saturday night at Lancaster Motorplex was decided by a mid-race caution flag and a wild restart battle.

After polesitter Bobby Komisarski led the first half of the 30-lap Must See Racing Perfit Sprint Car Series feature at the New York half-mile, a restart forced by the slowing car of Kevin Mingus led to one of the most entertaining duels in series history.

Lining up Komisarski on the inside of the front row with asphalt kingpin Bobby Santos III to his right flank, the pair of Bobbys raced as deep as possible into turn one when the green flag waved on lap 16 in an effort to make the other one blink.

The duo stayed side-by-side for an entire lap, then swapped lanes in turn one on lap 17 and repeated the dance before Santos finally edged clear and took the lead for good.

From there, Santos held off a late charge from Canadian superstar Aaron Willison to claim the $5,000 winner’s prize in the No. 22a Classic Corvettes/BMRS-sponsored, DJ Racing-prepared Beast Chassis.

It was Santos’ ninth career Must See Racing sprint car victory and his second in a row, after topping the season opener back on May 18 at Michigan’s Berlin Raceway.

“That was tough, both in the middle and at the end,” said Santos in victory lane. “That 50 car has been the model of [asphalt] winged sprint car racing for a long time now, and then putting someone as talented as Aaron Willison in it is a scary thing. He was coming there at the end, but we had a good race car and were able to hang on to it.

“[Komisarski] was on his A-game tonight, also, so props to him,” Santos added. “He gave me a really good battle there on the restart, and I pushed him just hard enough on the outside that he opened the door an inch on the inside to where we could take advantage. Without that restart, though, he might have had us tonight. His day is coming, for sure.”

With an eight-car inversion putting Komisarski and reigning rookie-of-the-year Mingus on the front row, a dead-even start allowed Komisarski to clear to the lead and begin to put down quick laps in clean air.

Though Santos got to second at the end of the first lap, he quickly found that the dirty air off of Komisarski’s blue No. 7 left him struggling to find a way past as a green-flag run broke out.

Every time Santos would take a peek for the lead, Komisarski moved to cover the opening, allowing the Dayton, Ohio, driver to lead the first 15 laps before Mingus’ No. Z10 lost power in turn one.

That forced the race’s only caution and led to the restart scramble that Santos eventually prevailed in.

Willison, who was wheeling Dick Myers’ potent No. 50m, got to second with 11 laps left and had a bullet underneath him. He cut down Santos’ lead from a second-and-a-half to just car lengths at the white flag.

He ran out of time and real estate, however, to make a move for the win and had to settle for second.

“One or two more laps, and I think we might have gotten him,” said Willison. “It was such a pleasure to drive this 50m for Dick Myers; he put together a rocket tonight. It was rolling really well. It’s a shame that track position got the best of us at the end, but we had fun driving up through the field.”

Komisarski rounded out the podium with a career-best finish, followed by Davey Hamilton Jr. in fourth and fast-timer Joe Liguori in fifth.

Liguori kicked off the program by setting a new qualifying track record of 15.253 seconds ( mph) around the half-mile oval, the ninth fast time of his Must See Racing career.

Rick Holley and Hamilton won their respective eight-lap heat races prior to the main event.

The Must See Racing Perfit Sprint Car Series season continues Saturday, June 15 at the three-eighths-mile Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway, where Hamilton won last year’s event.

The results:

Qualifying (best of two laps): Joe Liguori, 68, Rudolph-15.253; 2. Aaron Willison, 50m, Myers-15.291; 3. Ryan Litt, 07, Litt-15.510; 4. Davey Hamilton Jr., 14, Morgan-15.564; 5. John Inman, 59x, FiveNine-15.742; 6. Bobby Santos III, 22a, Fieler-15.849; 7. Kevin Mingus, Z10, Mingus-15.920; 8. Bobby Komisarski, 7, Fogle-15.949; 9. Rick Holley, 85, Holley-16.424; 10. Justin Harper, 81, Blake-16.596, 11. Joe Speakman, 72s, Speakman-NT (broken driveline).

UEM Heat #1 (8 laps, all transfer): 1. Rick Holley, 2. Bobby Komisarski, 3. Bobby Santos III, 4. Kevin Mingus, 5. Justin Harper, 6. Joe Speakman (DNS). [2:16.128]

JE Pistons Heat #2 (8 laps, all transfer): 1. Davey Hamilton Jr., 2. Aaron Willison, 3. Ryan Litt, 4. Joe Liguori, 5. John Inman. [2:07.232]

Perfit Feature (30 laps): 1. 22a-Bobby Santos III [3], 2. 50m-Aaron Willison [7], 3. 7-Bobby Komisarski [1], 4. 14-Davey Hamilton Jr. [5], 5. 68-Joe Liguori [8], 6. 59x-John Inman [4], 7. 07-Ryan Litt [6], 8. Z10-Kevin Mingus [2], 9. 81-Justin Harper [10], 10. 85-Rick Holley [9], 11. 72s-Joe Speakman (DNS).

Lap Leader(s): Bobby Komisarski 1-16, Bobby Santos III 17-30.

Hard Charger: 50m-Aaron Willison (+5)