AGELESS BENTLEY WARREN SNARES
ISMA OPENER AT SEEKONK SPEEDWAY 

5-6-03

SEEKONK, MA (May 4) -- Long time open wheel ace Bentley Warren captured the ISMA-Lucas Oil 75-lap opener at Seekonk Speedway on Sunday. The 63-year-old Warren, who has raced for nearly half a century, passed Pat Abold (#26) with less than five to go en route to picking up the season opening win. Warren commented after the race, "The Hoosier tires were awesome. The harder I pushed them, the more they responded." Warren added, "They were wicked good tonight." 

Twenty-five cars started the 75-lap affair on Sunday afternoon. Rick Wentworth led from the drop of the green flag before giving way to Pat Abold on lap six. Abold looked to be on his way to the victory, but with three to go, lapped traffic came into play. That is when teammates Bentley Warren and Pat Abold put on a show for the cheering fans. Abold went high around a lapped car while Warren went low making it three-wide before Warren excited the fray with the lead. The driver of the Paul Dunigan #7 defended his top spot to take the season opening win.

Randy Ritskes slipped ahead of Pat Abold to finish in second, while Abold settled for third.
 

Longtime friend of Bentley Warren and Hoosier Open Wheel Asphalt Product Manager Irish Saunders commented about Bentley's win, "It's great to see the "Dream Team" back together again. Seeing Bentley driving and Brian Allgresso back at crew chief and car owner Paul Dunigan all together again is something really special." Saunders added, "I am really very tickled to see Bentley back in victory lane again. He is truly one of my heroes. He works so hard, it's gratifying to me to see all his hard work pay off."

The 63-year-old Warren had a busy week leading up to Sunday's win. On Monday and Tuesday he was in Indiana visiting Irish Saunders where Saunders watched as the hulking driver ran six miles each morning before Saunders had finished his Wheaties. Later on Tuesday, the two traveled to IRP where Warren tested for an upcoming USAC Silvercrown race that will be run on May 10th. On Wednesday, Warren then went to Anderson Speedway to test for the Little 500 before returning to the East Coast to again test on Saturday. This time, it was ISMA testing in preparation for Sunday's season opener. It appears Bentley Warren is well rested from wintering in Daytona Beach, FL and is in top form as the 2003 season opens. 

The next ISMA-Lucas Oil race is May 22nd at Kawartha Speedway followed by another race the following day at Oswego Speedway. The ISMA Series is serviced by Hoosier Dealer Steve Gioia who travels with the series.

Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to include all the ISMA drivers as part of Team-Hoosier, particularly the hard working Bentley Warren who has been a Hoosier supporter for decades. 

Copyright © 2003 Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. All rights reserved.
 Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.

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