WEST PLAINS, Mo. — For 42 laps Steve Casebolt was on cruise control in Saturday night’s Missouri Hardwoods Back To The Future 50 at Legit Speedway Park.
However, the Indiana racer had to earn his money during the final eight circuits of the $10,000-to-win affair.
Surviving late-race charges from both Kent Robinson and Payton Looney, Casebolt raced to his first COMP Cams Super Dirt Series victory.
“Things got kind of wild after that last restart. I was wondering who the 15 car on the scoreboard was, and then all of the sudden K-Rob (Kent Robinson) shot to my outside,” Casebolt shared. “We got together there off turn four. I needed this win bad, and I hope Kent isn’t mad at me. I’d expect him to do the same thing tomorrow if the roles are reversed.
Casebolt concluded by saying, “It’s kind of crazy to realize that I just won a $10,000 race on Memorial Day weekend at West Plains.”
Robinson and Casebolt brought the field to the green flag for the feature. Casebolt jumped to the lead and ran fairly unchallenged at the front of the pack until the first caution flag flew on lap 42 of the 50 lapper.
One lap later the caution was displayed again with Casebolt leading the way over Payton Looney, Tony Jackson Jr., Kent Robinson and Logan Martin.
As the green flag flew for the final time the top three runners went to the low side of the speedway entering turn one, while Kent Robinson went to work in the middle of the track. The Bloomington, Ind., driver shot past Jackson Jr. and Looney into the second spot as he began to reel in Casebolt.
Robinson raced to the outside of Casebolt in turn three with four laps to go. The duo made contact with Casebolt leading the field back to the line with just three laps remaining. Looney capitalized on the contact between Robinson and Casebolt to grab the second position.
On the final lap Looney pressured Casebolt for the lead but ultimately settled for a second-place finish with Robinson, Tony Jackson Jr. and Billy Moyer rounding out the top five.
The finish:
1)Steve Casebolt 2)Payton Looney 3)Kent Robinson 4)Tony Jackson Jr. 5)Billy Moyer 6)Logan Martin 7)Rick Rickman 8)Timothy Culp 9)Spencer Hughes 10)Scott Crigler 11)Brian Rickman 12)Kyle Beard 13)Drew Armstrong 14)Terry Phillips 15)Robert Baker 16)Neil Baggett 17)Jesse Stovall 18)Mason Oberkramer 19)BJ Robinson 20)Morgan Bagley 21)Kaleb Stolba 22)Jon Mitchell 23)Tim Manville 24)Joe Godsey