Kyle Di Benedetto bided his time in the early going and then
rallied Mor Winning Ways to a 1:57.1 victory in Monticello
Raceway’s Mayflower Mile for drivers whose heritage can be traced
back to the United Kingdom.
Now before anyone challenges DiBenedetto’s eligibility in
this race, it must be understood that Kyle’s grandmother on his mom’s side was
born in the United Kingdom.
“My mother, Joanne Kyle, was an only child so in order to
keep the Kyle name going my parents decided that they would name me
Kyle,” Di Benedetto explained.
After the late scratch of Elle’s Boy the race got underway
with Beal Hanover and driver Peter Gerry hustling out for the lead from the
pole position and once he fired up the veteran pacer there was no taking
him back.
Gerry and ‘Beal’ had seven lengths on the field when
they passed the half in :55.3 and although the pacer’s strides were
shortening they still had a two-length lead as they passed the third
stanza in 1:26.2.
“It was a long way home from there,” Gerry admitted after
the race was official. “Once I got him (Beal Hanover) going I was just a
passenger the rest of the way.”
While Gerry was cutting up the racetrack the eventual winner
followed the cover supplied by Badlands And Art and driver Bruce Aldrich,
Jr. And Di Benedetto made the most of it.
He was on Aldrich’s back until the pair came off the
final turn where Di Benedetto moved Mor Winning Ways out to challenge and
they burst to the lead and coasted home an easy two-length winner over Badlands
And Art. Wumizoomi finished third for Mike Merton. As for Gerry, he finished
fifth.
“I got lucky and followed live cover to the head
of the stretch and then picked up the pieces,” Di Benedetto
explained.”Certainly the fast early fractions helped all of us who were in the
back of the pack in the early going.”
When he was told that after winning this race he was
ineligible to compete in the upcoming Godfather Pace—another leg of the Heritage
Drivers Series- in October which is limited to drivers of Italian extraction,
Di Benedetto just smiled and said: “That’s OK, today I’m more British than I am
Italian.”
Mor Winning Ways is owned by Greg Decker of
Monticello. He paid $16.00 for win.
The race was the fifth leg of the track’s Heritage Driver
Series which will culminate in a final-- dubbed the All America Cup—and
presented later this year after all eight legs are raced. In the series finale
only the winning drivers of each preliminary leg will be eligible to compete.
Although a date has yet to be finalized, the next leg of the
Heritage Drivers Series will be presented in September. That race-- the ninth
annual Munich Mile-- will be for drivers of German descent.
