SAUGUS SPEEDWAY : Pole-to-Pole Victory Is a First for Monroe

SAUGUS —  Sean Monroe picked a fine time to register his first Sportsman victory.

The Los Angeles resident, who failed to win a Sportsman feature in nine starts this season, earned valuable points and $1,200 as he pulled away to win the fourth leg of the Sportsman Championship Series on Saturday night at Saugus Speedway.

Monroe started on the pole for the 75-lap event and was never seriously challenged.

Ron Daniels of San Bernardino finished a distant second, followed by Simi Valley’s Craig Rayburn and Gary Sigman of Carson.

Defending champion Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill finished ninth in his first appearance since July 2, when he vowed never to return to the one-third-of-a-mile oval following a racing incident.

Saugus points leader Sean Woodside of Saugus was 11th after spinning twice while running in the top five.

In the 30-lap Grand American Modified main event, Canyon Country’s Rick Crow held off a strong challenge from three-time defending champion and current point leader Dave Phipps of Simi Valley to win his first-ever Grand Am feature.

Crow started on the outside of the second row following a restart, but moved into the lead on the third lap when leader Larry Krieger suffered a flat tire.

Phipps finished a half a car length behind Crow, but increased his lead to 30 points over Reseda’s Dave Blankenship, who was third.

Gary Nazaroff entered the night in second place, 11 points behind Phipps, but the Covina resident garnered just two points in the main event and dropped to third, two behind Blankenship.

Dean Grizzaffi of Granada Hills moved past pole-sitter John Cappi with just five laps left and pulled away to win the 25-lap Street Stock oval main event.

Cappi wound up second followed by points leader John Schultz of Valencia, who started 18th in an inverted start.

Schultz also won the four-lap oval trophy dash and increased his lead to 34 points heading into the figure-eight main event, which was not completed by press time.