The Bubba Raceway Dirt Army 3 day USAC Amsoil Sprint Car show was cut to two days by mother nature with the second night being rained out by torrential rains. The rains left the track a soggy wet marsh that track officials and the Sprint car drivers themselves worked all day to make race able. And man were they successful with the closest A main finish in Bubba Raceway history coming between Darren Hagen and Bryan Clauson. The margin of victory .092 seconds.
There was no doubt that the track was going to be fast and the show was going to be furious when the top 3 qualifiers all broke the old track record that was set by Brady Bacon (14.366) on Friday. Darren Hagen broke it first with a lap of 14.282. Levi Jones broke it immediately following with a lap of 14.123. Finally the last qualifier of the night, Justin Grant broke it for the final time with a lap of 14.018. Cars coming dangerously close to the record included Jon Stambourgh, and Cody Swanson.
The four heat races were hard fought and no holds barred events that showed the skills and the determination of all in the field. Four wide was the standard of the day and the power slides were simply breath taking. The four winners, Casey Shuman, Brady Bacon, Chase Stockon, Bud Kaeding would all breathe a sigh of relief knowing their transfer positions were secure.
The B Main was not short on excitement with it’s 6 transfers being Kevin Thomas Jr, Cody Swanson, Wes McIntrye, Hunter Schuerenberg, Robert Ballou, and Mitch Wissmiller. Kyle Cummings would take a provisional to start the A Main.
Coleman Gullick who had earned a front row starting spot had to give up that spot and start at the back of the field when he could not find a replacement rocker arm and had to go to a back up car to start the race. Gullick would manage to finish 13th but never was a factor the rest of the evening.
The A Main was a hard run race with some of the closest racing I have seen in a long time. Two and three wide throughout the pack. The battle of the night was between Bryan Clauson and Darren Hagen. Clauson tried numerous times to take Hagen on the low side pulling up even but not able to make the pass. Hagen held his line until the last lap when he moved to protect the bottom out of three. Clauson then dived to the top and pulled even with Hagen down the front stretch the pair touched right before the start finish line forcing Clauson into the wall at the start finish line and spinning him down into the infield in turn one. Hagen’s margin of victory over Clauson was .092 seconds. Clauson who was unavailable for comment walked away from the car uninjured.
Also in a tight battle all evening were Silver Crown Champion Levi Jones and Jason Grant. Although for they were battling for the 3rd position, the battle couldn’t have been more heated. Grant flexed his muscle in the final 3 laps to finally pull ahead of Jones for the 3rd spot with Jones coming home a very very close 4th.
Also running tonight in Scraven Georgia was the second night of the UNOH ASCOC series. And the A main was incredible. With 15 laps to go the Winged Sprints had already run 53 laps on the track and were forced to stop and fuel the cars under the red flag for a 4 car crash in turn 1. When the green flag flew again the cars at the front of the pack were on a mission. Lead by Jason Sides the top 5 started slicing around the track. On the back stretch Joey Saldana made a daring pass on Tony Stewart. Stewart went high into 3 and took the position back and began his march to the front taking the lead on the next to last lap, Stewart never looked back and took the race in convincing style. When you stop to consider that the track was frozen due to temperatures in the low 30’s it was an incredible feat of driving. “It’s not ideal racing conditions. There is ice on the bottom down there. I am real appreciative of everyone who stuck it out with us here.” Stated Stewart in victory lane. When he was asked if he was holding something back there in the beginning he said, “I wish I could say I was. But the car just came around. I’ve worked my guys to death the last few days. I couldn’t do it without them.”
So ends an incredible weekend of racing and we look forward to yet another next weekend. Many thanks to 3 Wide Life whose broadcasts enabled millions to watch the racing in Florida who could not afford to travel there. Your coverage was incredible! Also thanks to the Dirt Vision folks who broadcasts from Scraven Georgia save a few audio difficulties allowed people all over the world to enjoy the UNOH ASCOC competition and the WoO late models as well. Congratulations to all the winners. Incredible job to all the competitors and teams.
One note of correction from my piece on Friday. I misunderstood the announcer on Friday when he announced where the electric midget was built. The electric midget was built in Columbus, OHIO by Columbus Electric Motorsports, in cooperation with USAC, and with the support of CAR Technologies LLC. I apologize for the error to my readers and the Columbus Electric Motorsports company for the error.
