Sat May 24 16:15:00 2008

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Lia collects first win in Ohio

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Mansfield, OH (Sports Network) - Rookie Donny Lia passed David Starr on the final lap to capture Saturday afternoon's Ohio 250 Craftsman Truck Series race at the Mansfield Motorsports Park. The No.71 Chevrolet driver edged out Starr at the finish line by 0.241 seconds.

The victory was Lia's first Craftsman Truck Series win in just his eighth start.

Starr was doggedly holding onto a lead despite pressure from Lia and Todd Bodine when a record 15th caution flag flew with 11 laps remaining.

The race got back underway with just seven laps left. Lia and Bodine battled hard behind Starr for second at the drop of the green flag. Lia won the fight and on the final lap, he bumped Starr, forcing him to the outside. Lia, Starr and Bodine went three-wide going into Turn 3 and coming to the line, Lia was able to squeeze ahead of Starr and Bodine for the victory.

Terry Cook and Mike Skinner completed the top-five.

After winning his first pole of the season, Johnny Benson led the field to the green flag for 250 laps of short-track racing.

Benson maintained the lead early. But the big story was points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. He made his way through the field and when the first caution flag came out on lap nine he was in the top-10.

Hornaday Jr. continued his march to the front during the restart as he moved into the top-five. He found himself in third when the next caution flag flew on lap 38.

During the caution period Starr, running third, was the only leader to come down pit road. Dennis Setzer and Cook also took pit stops.

The drama started during the lap 44 restart when Hornaday Jr. tried to make his way into the lead. After getting around Skinner for second, Hornaday Jr. and Benson battled side-by-side for the lead. They touched and this allowed Skinner to take the inside lane and pass both drivers. Hornaday Jr.'s persistence for the top spot ended with Skinner sending him into the wall.

The leaders took pit stops during the caution period and Hornaday Jr. took his truck to the garage for major repairs.

Shelby Howard and Jack Sprague inherited the top-two spots by not stopping. They finally took their pit stops when the next caution flag came out for Scott Speed/Brendan Gaughan incident. Benson also stopped during the caution to check for damage since he was behind the crash.

Setzer inherited the lead with Starr, Bodine, Sean Murphy and Cook to the restart. Once again the leaders drove like it was the last lap of the race. It resulted in Starr crashing Setzer out on lap 80.

Starr took over the race lead and kept that position until the wild finish.

Bodine jumped to first in the point standings (1,001) with his third-place finish. Rick Crawford (993) remains in second with his 13th-place finish. Hornaday Jr. (937) finished 35th and dropped to fifth in the standings.

The next race in the series is set for Friday, May 30th at Dover International Speedway.