INVERNESS, Fla. — Former series champion Davey Hamilton Jr. is back in winning form, finishing first and second in a pair of Southern SprintCar Shootout events at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night.
The event was Hamilton’s last in the south before he embarks a busy season of Silver Crown and Must See Racing sprint car competition.
In the first feature, Hamilton maintained the lead for every lap and through one caution, building up an impressive lead of three seconds over second place Sport Allen in the 30-lap continuation of a January race that was postponed due to weather on lap 10, those ten laps within which Hamilton drove from ninth to first in before the rain fell.
Hamilton almost made it two wins in a row, with a nail-biting drive from 12th to second in the second 40-lap feature that yielded no cautions. Making quick work of the cars ahead of him, he did not give an inch as he battled drivers including defending series champion Daniel Miller and racing veteran Sport Allen while hunting down leader Steven Hollinger, still gaining on the leader as they took the checkered flag.
“Finally able to say winner,” Hamilton said via Facebook. “Super thankful to Kirk, Todd, and Luigi for giving me a hot rod and all working together to keep finding ways to be even better.”
Leading up to Saturday’s feature, the Kirk Morgan Racing team was hard at work to fix a damaged car for Hamilton following a crash at Auburndale.
Hamilton will carry this momentum with him as he embarks on a tour across the country in his USAC Silver Crown season with Legacy Autosport, along with competing in the Must See Racing Series, and the Little 500 in May.
Hamilton is also the promoter of the Open Wheel Showdown, which is scheduled Nov. 22-24 at California’s Irwindale Speedway.