(Lakeside, CA, December 11, 2020) After clinching the second, third, fourth, and fifth-place positions in the inaugural Lucas Oil POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Car Series championship chase, Sexton Gatlin Racing wrapped up its 2020 campaign with November events at the Bakersfield and Merced Speedways.
The first of the two outings for the Lakeside, California based team came in the California Lightning Sprint Car Series sanctioned November Classic at the Bakersfield on November 17th. SGR was represented by Brent Sexton, his 16-year-old son Grant, and 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed at the Kern County clay oval. Nineteen other CLS cars showed up for the race and when the dust settled on the 1/3 mile banked clay oval, Creed, who was contesting his first Lightning Sprint Car race in more than a year and a half, was second fast qualifier with a sizzling lap of 13.006. Grant was sixth fast when he toured the track in a time of 13.165, and Brent was 13th at 13.562.
The heat races certainly were not the highlight of the season for SGR! Grant had a team-best fifth-place finish in his heat. Creed ended sixth in his heat after dropping out on the second lap, and Brent had issues that made him a DNS for his eight-lapper.
Creed, 23, had the best starting spot of the SGR trio in the main as he was coming from the pole. Grant was on the inside of the fifth row and Brent was starting near the back on the inside of row 10. Creed never ran worse than third and looked like he had a podium position locked up. However, that all got tossed aside when mechanical ills knocked the young Alpine, California driver out of the race with six laps to go. Creed’s misfortune advanced Grant to fourth and he stayed there for the duration.
After a rough start with a not so good qualifying lap and missing his heat race, Brent put on a show in the 25-lap main event. The two-time CLS champion sliced and diced his way all the way up to fifth after starting 19th. That sterling effort saw him pass more cars than any other driver and he was named the race “Hard Charger.”
Three nights later SGR journeyed farther north to the Merced Raceway for a Bay Cities Racing Association Midget Lite race that would conclude the Covid ravaged season. The team expanded by 66% for Merced when Dalton Sexton and San Diego’s David Bezio jumped on board. Dalton, who turned 18 in early December, not only was fast qualifier on the team, but he out-qualified the entire field. Grant was sixth fastest in time trials with Bezio eighth. Brent repeated his Bakersfield qualifying performance by ending up 13th on the timesheets.
Unfortunately, Creed had problems and did not get to qualify, run a heat race, or the main event.
Dalton’s impressive night continued when he came from sixth to win his heat race. On the way to the front, he passed his father Brent who started and finished third. Grant, like usual, moved forward in his heat race finishing third after starting fifth. The team “Silent Knight,” Bezio, came from the outside of the second row to win his heat.
It looked great for SGR at the beginning of the main with the four0team cars all starting within the first three rows. Bezio was on the outside of the front row. Coming off his fast time and heat race win, Dalton drew the #4 position and was directly behind Bezio. Grant and Brent started right behind them.
Things started out well enough with Bezio leading several of the early laps as Dalton gave chase in second. Grant and Brent were not far behind. Dalton eventually slipped back to third. However, he spun on the inside of turn four as he was trying to move back into the runner-up spot. That forced him to restart at the back. Unfortunately, he slapped the tall cushion in turn four not long after the restart and flipped on the front straight. The likable driver escaped the tumble without injury but the same could not be said for his pretty #18 car as it was too damaged to continue.
Like his older sibling, Grant’s tenure in the main event was cut short early on. While running fourth, injection problems resulted in him dropping out. To add insult to injury for SGR, Brent stayed in the top five in the main event and was having a great run. However, a bizarre incident ended his night. A red flag was necessitated when a car flipped. Brent stopped for the red, but another driver did not see it or saw it too late and he clobbered Brent from behind. The damage from the blow forced Brent to watch the remainder of the proceedings rather than fighting for the win.
The star of the main event for SGR ended up being Bezio. After leading early on, the veteran driver never slipped out of the top five and he finished fourth on the night.
The race at Merced brought down the curtain for Sexton Gatlin Racing in 2020. However, work is already underway for an expanded 2021 season. If you would like to join the championship caliber team, please use the contact information above to learn all the details.
To keep up with all the exploits of the Sexton/Gatlin Racing Team, be sure to visit it’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Sexton-Gatlin-Racing-1173560279445564/
Sexton/Gatlin Racing would like to thank the following companies for making the 2020 season possible. Sexton Fire Protection, BK Wings, Troy Dirt, Victory Graphix, Swift Powdercoat, Maxima Oil, Infiniti Shocks and an extra special thanks to Scotty and Jimmy Keys.
