RPW Exclusive: Justin Haers Nearly Pulls Off Heist; Finishes Second In Father’s Tribute Race At Land Of Legends

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Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – CANANDAIGUA, NY – While Erick Rudolph won the fifth annual Gerald Haers Memorial, Justin Haers may have been the story fans talked about as they left Land of Legends Raceway for the year.

“T-Bone” made a massive comeback from nearly getting lapped while in 16th to finishing second, 1.2 seconds behind Rudolph, with opportunities to take the lead at various points late race.

After the race honoring his late father, Haers was in victory lane and the pits with a big grin.

“There’s one guy in the pits happier, and it’s Erick Rudolph,” Haers told RPW post-race. “Overall, from what we overcame and the work we put in in the last couple of weeks is great. Glad we ended the year on a strong note.”

After the first caution for a stopped Troy Sperring, Haers gave up a top-five spot for service in the pits and moved to the back. It was a risky move as slower cars in front would affect his momentum. Losing critical tenths each and every second.

In a nearly 60-lap green flag run between laps 15 and 74, Haers would be 20.4 seconds behind the leader, Rudolph. Once lap 41 was put on the pylon, Rudolph would begin to slow up with Alan and Danny Johnson side-by-side for a position in front of him, allowing Haers to get away from being lapped.

“I got the move-over flag and was catching cars in front of me for a position,” Haers said. “I would’ve never held Rudolph up or blocked, but if he showed his nose, I would’ve let him go by. We just kept racing, marching forward, and passing cars. I was like, ‘Wow, we may have a shot to win this.’ Was sixth or seventh, but we hadn’t had a yellow in so long.”

The long run would end for Todd Root spinning over the turn-one banking. Haers was about five seconds behind Rudolph after passing Jordan McCreadie for sixth. Then, the tension started to build amongst the hundreds of fans in attendance. Does Haers have a shot at Erick Rudolph if the race had another long run?

On the subsequent two restarts, Haers would pass two cars each to get to second with just over 20 to go. But cautions breeding cautions would cool the tires too much to where Rudolph would pull away.

Haers would pull up to Rudolph’s door twice, one up high, getting the door shut, and one down low before a yellow flew.

“I would’ve loved to have a longer green flag run,” explained Haers. “He saw me and drove a little different line. I felt like I may have gotten my tires too cool. Cautions are if your tires are ready to fire or not. I needed to get beside him and make the pass, and then I think we would’ve driven away.”

“I’ve seen him there once,” Rudolph said, explaining his perspective. “Moved up a little bit in 3 and 4. Seemed like had to stop too much to hit the bottom. Opted to float it around in the middle. Seemed to work better. Felt a little bit better. Just kept doing the same thing I was doing.”

Despite recording his third consecutive track championship in Canandaigua, Haers had a lot on his mind pre-race in the waning points of the year to win a race. Unfortunately, he closes his season at Land of Legends without a win.

“Sums up how our season went. Right there at the end, but didn’t get the job done.”

The attention now moves forward to Super DIRT Week at Oswego.

“I’ve been going since I was a young boy. Been racing there for 20 years. Obviously, at Oswego now, our biggest race of the year. Gotta make a game plan.”

This event couldn’t have been done without many supporters.

“Phelps Cement Products, Honeoye Auto Parts, Jeff Jolly Masonary, SMV, CX Electric, Todd Kirkwood, my crew chief, has been sick for a month. He stopped by today and hung out for a little bit. My wife and children, Emma and Jonathan, my mom, my brother, nephew Jared, Nick Guererri, who helped put this awesome race on tonight, and everybody that pitched in donated money for the laps, contingency sponsors. An awesome event. People who go to the pay window will be very happy with what they got.”

 
 
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