RAPID CITY, S.D. – Making it a sweep on the weekend in South Dakota with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, Australia’s Scott Bogucki parked his Sawblade.com No. 28 in victory lane Saturday at Black Hills Speedway.
Taking off with the lead on the start, Bogucki opened his advantage quickly following a caution on lap two.
Finding slower traffic on lap seven with John Carney II and Sam Hafertepe Jr. in pursuit, the race for a second changed hands, with Hafertepe making the pass off the second turn as Carney was held behind a slower car.
Reeling in Bogucki as slower traffic built around the leaders, Hafertepe found the back bumper of the No. 28 on lap 12.
Looking top and bottom for room to pass, Hafertepe found his shot on lap 14 with Bogucki stuck to the bottom entering the first and second turns.
With Ryan Bickett in the mix, Bogucki dove for the slide, but came up short, making contact with Bickett and launching the No. 17b up the track into Hafertepe – who ended up going upside down in the second turn.
Making it into the work area, the team barely made repairs for Hafertepe to rejoin the field.
On the contact, Bogucki noted, “I apologize to those two guys first and foremost. I hadn’t ventured near the bottom the whole race and it was a lot slicker than I thought and things went back. We were fortunate that we didn’t get damaged and were able to stay out front.”
Keeping Carney at bay on the restart, Bogucki again stretched his lead until the caution lights came on again on lap 18 for Jordon Mallett.
Peeling to the bottom of the track on the restart, Carney took his shot at the lead.
Pulling even with Bogucki off the first turn, clean air and momentum again proved the better for the No. 28, despite a scare in slower traffic on the final lap, with Bogucki crossing 1.336 seconds ahead of John Carney II.
“Sometimes that’s the disadvantage of leading and he got a good run on me and luckily I had enough momentum to get back by him where I could cover him and not slip out of the rubber,” said Bogucki on the restart.
Grabbing third was Blake Hahn, with Roger Crockett fourth. Moving up from 12th, Harli White completed the top five.
Matt Covington made up two spots to sixth, while Robbie Price was the night’s hard charger after a run from 17th to seventh. Despite getting upside down and having to secure the top wing in place with a ratchet strap, Hafertepe came back to finish eighth.
Tucker Doughty and Alex Hill filled out the top 10.
The finish:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki [2]; 2. J2-John Carney II [1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn [4]; 4. 11-Roger Crockett [5]; 5. 17W-Harli White [12]; 6. 95-Matt Covington [8]; 7. 21P-Robbie Price [17]; 8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [3]; 9. 2X-Tucker Doughty [6]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill [7]; 11. 17B-Ryan Bickett [9]; 12. 86-Donovan Peterson [10]; 13. 88-Travis Reber [18]; 14. 11M-Mindy McCune [21]; 15. 77-Damon McCune [22]; 16. 0J-Jeremy McCune [11]; 17. 14B-Ben Holmberg [16]; 18. 14-Jordon Mallett [14]; 19. 2K-Kevin Ingle [13]; 20. 8X-Randy Dolberg [20]; 21. 2-Shad Petersen [19]; 22. 15-James Sires [15].
Lap Leader(s): Scott Bogucki 1-25
Hard Charger: Robbie Price (+10)