By: Ashley McCubbin – Despite getting up on the frontstretch wall in the second half of the event, Sean Cronan raced hard throughout the entire 100 lapper at Sunset Speedway to finish sixth.
Sean Cronan kicked off the afternoon by posting a 14.885 second lap in time trials for the third quickest time, seven hundredths off of Chris Morrow’s quick time of 14.811 seconds. Morrow rolled an 11 for the invert, resulting in Cronan starting the feature in the ninth spot.
Cronan took a solid pace early in the feature, staying out of trouble as the first caution flew on lap nine when Ryan Kimball stalled on the track with heavy front end damage. On the restart, Cronan kept the solid pace going, remaining in the 11th spot at lap 20. Cronan then began his climb to the front of the field, moving to ninth at lap 25. The climb to the front continued as Cronan was up to the seventh spot by lap 39 before the second caution flew for Bruce Rankin going around to bring out the second caution.
On the restart, Cronan continued to move to the front, passing Scott Beatty for sixth and making a couple more spots to be running fourth by the halfway mark when the caution flew for Quesnelle spinning in turn two.
The high-line got the jump on the restart, which allowed Cronan to move into the second spot before the third caution at lap 54 for Kyle Passer spinning in turn three.
On the restart, Cronan would slide high through turn four, climb the frontstretch wall, before coming back down on all four wheels and keep going. In the aftermath behind them, Gresel, Zardo and Witty would get together to bring out the caution once again. Cronan and team would determine that they could continue without pitting as Cronan now ran third behind Bentley and Holdaway.
There’d be a couple cautions in a row and in the process, Cronan would slip back to fourth after being passed by Morrow at lap 55. The caution would fly five laps later when Baker had a flat tire, sliding up the track and making contact with Capirchio, resulting in Capirchio spinning for the sixth caution.
Cronan kept himself running solidly in fourth till just before the final caution at lap 94 when Witty got him for the spot. Cronan restarted fifth with seven to go and would fall back one more spot as he continued to fight the handling on his late model. As a result, Cronan brought home a solid sixth place finish.
Special thanks to The Lockeroom Sports Bar and Grill, McLaren Equipment, Craighurst Auto Pro, Spira Fire Protection and Fox’s Bakery and Deli for their support this season.
Be sure to stay tuned to http://www.cronanmotorsports.com for updates throughout the entire 2014 season.